Commentaire de citation sur Rois 1 10:20

with perfect beauty Heb. בַּעֲדִי עֲדָיִם, [a form] expressing perfection. But Menachem (p. 131) explained בַּעֲדִי עֲדָיִם as related to the word עַד, eternity, as (Isa. 26:4): “Trust in the Lord forever (עֲדֵי עַד)”; enjusque a s(i)egle in Old French, to eternity [lit. for centuries]. Dunash (p. 83), however, interpreted it as a word for ornaments. The declension of עַדִי עֲדָיִם is one of the ten nouns: lion, lions (אֲרִי אֲרָיִם) ; deer [sing.], deer [pl.] (צְבִי צְבָיִם) ; kid, kids (גְדִי גְּדָיִם).

והיתה ללחם לאזכרה, “it will serve as a remembrance for the bread.” Seeing that normally some parts of a sacrifice always wind up on the Altar and in the case of the show-breads this is not the case, the frankincense is the only reminder to G’d that a sacrifice has been offered. Once the frankincense has been offered up this triggers remembrance of the show-breads which had been presented on the Table. Following this, the blessing of our sources of food which is the objective of this procedure can be applied by G’d. This is also the significance of there being twelve such show-breads, i.e. that all the twelve angels surrounding the celestial throne receive Divine input in the form of such blessing. These twelve angels are also known as the four camps of the Shechinah. The encampments of the Jewish people in the desert around the Tabernacle were patterned after what is known about similar procedures in the celestial regions. The four “camps” in the celestial regions serve as the point of departure for directing G’d’s blessing to the four directions on earth, i.e. North, East, South, and West. Three of these angels face each direction. The whole concept is like the significance of the four flags of the four camps of the Israelites in the desert. This concept was later on illustrated in the throne of King Solomon which featured 12 lions (Kings I 10,20). The total amount of flour comprised by the twelve show-breads was “24 tenths” (of the epha). This was an allusion to the twelve tribes of Israelites on earth and the twelve angels in the celestial regions.

Personally, I believe that this verse is an allusion that all of existence is due only to the merit of the twelve tribes of Israel. This is the true meaning of the words כל אלה, “all of these.” The same expression has been used by the prophet Isaiah to describe the entire universe (Isaiah 26,2) “all of these My hand has created.” This is also what the sages in Bereshit Rabbah 1,4 had in mind when they said that prior to creating the universe G’d planned the creation of the Jewish people. This may be why the number 12 is so prominent in all three parts of the universe. In the “highest” part of the universe, the throne of G’d is “surrounded” by 12 angels just as Solomon’s throne which represented G’d’s throne on earth was guarded by 12 lions which faced each other on the 6 steps leading up to that throne (Kings I 10,20). Jeremiah added that no such throne was ever made for any other Kingdom. The central part of the universe contains 12 horoscopes which symbolize the forces which govern that part of the universe; finally, in our terrestrial part of the universe the twelve tribes of Israel represent the forces without which this part of the universe would cease to exist. This is the deeper meaning of what Solomon meant when he said in Kohelet 7,14 “the one no less than the other was G’d’s doing.”