Commentaire de citation sur Samuel 1 15:30

ועתה ישראל, מה ה' אלוקיך שאל ממך, “and now, Israel, what is it the Lord your G–d asks of you, etc.;” the list that follows comprises all aspects of life, so that it is hard to understand Moses as portraying G–d’s demands upon us as something trivial. According to one view, this question refers only to the last item in the list, i.e. “G–d asks us to do only what is clearly of benefit for us and is good for us and the observance of which will result in our earning a great reward.” However, our sages in the Talmud tractate B’rachot, folio 33 are clearly disturbed by such an interpretation. This is why they distinguish between ordinary folks like ourselves, and Moses, and state that what appeared as relatively easy in Moses’ eyes concerning himself, is a great deal more difficult for the ordinary Jew. Different sages dealing with the same problem arrive at a different conclusion by saying that the opportunity that G–d gave us by our earning merits through the recital of 100 benedictions on each day is what makes it so easy to accumulate all those merits. They arrive at this by not understanding the word מה in our verse as meaning: “what,” but as מאה, “one hundred,” the Torah alluding to how easy it is to accumulate one hundred merit points daily. (Compare Talmud, tractate Menachot, folio 43.) Our author tries to reinforce this daring interpretation by reminding us that whereas the numerical value of the word מה when we read the aleph bet from right to left, adds up to 45, when we read it from left to right these two letters appear as יץ in the matching (corresponding) sequence, and then add up to 100. Some, much later commentaries, such as Tur, Or Hachayim, chapter 46, state that King David, 500 years earlier than Ezra, who had introduced public Torah reading on Mondays and Thursdays, decreed the need to recite one hundred benedictions daily; he bases himself on Samuel II chapter 23,1 according to which 100 men in David’s army died daily and he did not know why, so that he introduced the rule to recite these benedictions to ward off the cause for these mysterious deaths. The numerical value of the word על which follows the word הוקם in that word is 100. and it is reported that the plague that killed one hundred people every day ceased forthwith, i.e. as soon as the people started reciting 100 benedictions daily. There is another interesting source for the benefit of the recital of 100 benedictions daily, which is derived from a verse in Psalms 128,4: הנה כי כן יבורך גבר, “so shall the man who fears the Lord be blessed,” the last four words of this line, seeing that the word has been spelled defectively, i.e. יברך, have a numerical value of 100, were the reason for the inclusion of the benediction מודים אנחנו לך, “we give thanks to You,” in the daily amidah prayer which we recite three times daily at least. We bow down while reciting this benediction. The source of bowing down when reciting these words is found in Samuel I 15,30 where King Sha-ul, after having been rebuked by the prophet Samuel for failing to have killed Agag, the King of the Amalekites, confesses to having sinned and bows down, והשתחויתי לה' אלוקיך, “I prostrated myself bowed down to the Lord your G–d; .Targum Yonathan translates the word והשתחויתי there as meaning: “I have given thanks.” The fact is that we do not prostrate ourselves during the daily amidah prayer when reciting the prayer beginning with the word מודים. The reason may be because the numerical value of the letters in that word is 100. This is another allusion to the fact that reciting 100 benedictions daily is appropriate or mandatory for each one of us. Or, the sages teach us that if one thanks the Lord daily in a proper fashion this is equivalent to having recited one hundred benedictions daily. In other words, it is equivalent to prostrating oneself. This has been attested to by a Rabbi Boon, in the Jerusalem Talmud [I have not found the quote, perhaps it is inaccurately quoted. Ed.]

ועשית שלחן, the table represented the kings of Israel who entertain the Torah scholars at their table This is what David told his son Solomon on his death-bed: “Barzilai’s sons shall be among the people who are regular guests at your table. (Kings I 2,7) We also have a verse in Kings I 5,2 describing the lavishness of King Solomon’s table and the quantities of food consumed on a daily basis.
The Torah, in describing the table in the Tabernacle as overlaid with gold, illustrates that the function of Royalty was primarily to make a great impression on the outside world. After Samuel had told Saul that he would be replaced as king by someone more worthy, Saul still begged the prophet to honour him at least in public as he wanted to maintain the appearance although he realised that this was no longer his position. (compare Samuel I 15,30).
The reason that the length of the table was 21/2 cubits was in order to symbolize two requirements which every king has to meet. 1) He must be competent in meting out justice; 2) he must be competent in waging war. This is what the people had told Samuel when they asked him to appoint a king for them (Samuel I 8,20).
The size and height of the walls [the table did not have legs like our tables, Ed.] which amount to nine cubits cumulatively, symbolise the 9 commandments in the Torah specifically addressed to a Jewish King. 1) “he shall not keep many horses;” 2) “he shall not send the people back to Egypt in order to add to his supply of horses;” 3) “he shall not have too many wives.” 4) “he shall not become haughty;” 5) “he must not turn away from G’d’s commandments either to the left or to the right.” 6) “he shall write for himself two copies of the Torah;” 7) he shall read from the Torah every day of his life;” 8) he shall not amass too much silver and gold;“ 9) he shall not turn away from the commandments.” (Deuteronomy 17,8-20).
The function of the border around the surface of the table was to prevent any of the show-breads from falling off the table for whatever reason. It was intended to protect the show-breads, just as the Levites and the priests are supposed to be on guard against the king deviating from the path of the Torah. We have an example of this in Chronicles II 24,2: “Yoash, the king, did what was right in the eyes of the Lord as long as Yehoyadah the High Priest was alive.” In connection with King Uzziah we read in Chronicles II 26,5: “he applied himself to the worship of G’d during the time of Zecharyah, instructor of the visions of G’d.”
All the details that the Torah writes about in connection with all the vessels of the Tabernacle contain similar allusions of a moral-ethical nature. The Ark represents the righteous people. The table corresponds to the kings of Israel. The Menorah corresponds to the scholars of Israel. The golden altar corresponds to the priests, whereas the copper altar corresponds to the people at large.

Rabbeinu Chananel, in connection with the symbolic/moral meaning of these various furnishings of the Tabernacle writes that the Ark was an allusion to the truly righteous and learned individual whose interior matches his exterior and vice versa. This is the meaning of the Ark being covered with gold both on the inside and on the outside. Just as the bottom of the Ark had an area of two and one half cubits by one and a half cubits giving us a total of 4 square cubits minus one quarter cubit square, so the righteous person should remain constantly aware that the four elements which make up his physicality should not become the sum total of his existence but should be augmented liberally with physical matters such as the performance of good deeds for others, etc. Just as the walls of the Ark when combined were twelve cubits (when measuring the combined total of the outside dimensions 1.5x2.5 1,5+2.5 +1,5+2.5) seeing the long walls measured a total of 7.5 cubits and the shorter walls forming the sides measured 4,5 cubits, so the righteous person is expected to fulfill all the 12 conditions mentioned in Psalm 15,1 as the qualifications for dwelling in G’d’s holy precincts (the entire Psalm is devoted to listing these 12 requirements). If one wishes to attain a loftier level of relative perfection than that of a “mere” righteous individual, the next step up is becoming a נביא a prophet, or at least acquiring the spiritual level expected of a prophet. This is symbolised by the kapporet above the Ark. The fact that the entire kapporet was made of pure gold, that it was not only overlaid with gold, indicates that it symbolises something even purer than the Ark itself. We know that a prophet is considered as כלו צדק, “totally righteous” from Proverbs 8,8 “all the words of my mouth are with righteousness.” The cherubs above the kapporet are an allusion to the angels, beings on an even higher spiritual level than the prophets. They were spreading their wings heavenward in an allusion to their striving to be near the Shechinah which is higher than the angels seeing the angels are the throne, ever ready to welcome the attribute of כבוד, occupant of that throne. This is the meaning of the words in verse 20 אל הכפורת יהיו פני הכרובים, “the faces of the cherubs will be turned toward the kapporet.” They had to look downwards towards the lid and were forbidden to gaze at the Shechinah. Above everything is G’d Himself as is written in Samuel II 6,2: אשר נקרא שם שם ה' צבאות יושב הכרובים עליו, ”to which the Name was attached, the name of the Lord of Hosts Enthroned on the cherubs.” Solomon also constructed the cherubs in the Temple out of wood as is written (Kings I 6,23) “he made in the sanctuary two cherubs out of olive wood.”
The table represented the kings of Israel who entertain the scholars of Israel at their table. This is what David told his son Solomon on his death-bed: “Barzilai‘s sons shall be amongst the people who are regular guests at your table” (Kings I 2,7). We also have a verse in Kings I 5,2 describing the lavishness of King Solomon’s table and the quantities of food consumed on a daily basis.
The Torah, in describing the table in the Tabernacle as overlaid with gold, illustrates that the function of Royalty was primarily to make a great impression on the outside world. After Samuel had told Saul that he would be replaced as king by someone more worthy, Saul still begged the prophet to honour him at least in public as he wanted to maintain the appearance of power although he knew this was no longer his position (compare Samuel I 15,30).
The reason that the length of the table was two cubits was in order to symbolise two requirements of every king. 1) He must be competent in meting out justice; 2) he must be competent in waging war. This is what the people had told the prophet Samuel when they asked him to appoint a king for them (Samuel I 8,20). They said: “that we may be like all the other nations; let our king rule over us and go out at our head and fight our battles.”
The size and height of the walls which amount to nine cubits symbolise the nine commandments specifically addressed to a Jewish King. They are: 1) “he shall not keep many horses,” or 2) “send people back to Egypt to add to his horses;” 3) “he shall not have too many wives.” 4) “He shall not become haughty,” and 5) “he must not turn away from G’d’s commandments to right or to the left.” 6) “he shall write for himself 2 copies of the Torah.” 7) “He shall read in the Torah every day of his life.” 8) “He shall not amass too much silver and gold.” 9) “He shall not turn away from the commandments.” (Deut. 17,8-20.)
The purpose of the border around the table was to prevent the show-breads sliding off it for whatever reason. It was intended to protect the show-breads just as the priests and the Levites are supposed to be on guard against the kings deviating from the path of the Torah. We have an example of this in Chronicles II 24,2: “Yoash (the King) did what was right in the eyes of the Lord as long as Yehoyadah the High Priest was alive.” In connection with King Uzziah we read in Chronicles II 26,5: “he applied himself to the worship of G’d during the time of Zechariah, instructor of the visions of G’d.”
All the details that the Torah writes about in connection with all the vessels of the Tabernacle have similar moral allusions. The Ark represents the righteous people. The table corresponds to the kings of Israel. The Menorah corresponds to the scholars of Israel. The golden altar corresponds to the priests, whereas the copper altar corresponds to the people of Israel at large. Thus far Rabbeinu Chananel.