פירוש על שמות 25:16

ונתת אל הארן — It must be explained as though it were written בארון: [AND THOU SHALT PUT] INTO THE ARK,

ונתת אל הארון, the details were spelled out seeing this vessel had nothing to do with, and would not have been suitable for, sacrificial service.

את העדות, the Tablets which represented the testimony and covenant between G’d and Israel. This is also the reason why Moses refers to them as לוחות הברית, “Tablets of the covenant,” in Deuteronomy 9,9.

The Torah, which is testimony. . . [Question:] It is written in 40:20, “He took the Testimony and placed it into the ark,” and Rashi explains it means the Tablets. Furthermore, the Torah was not written until the end of the forty years. [Why then does Rashi here say that “Testimony” means the Torah?] It seems the answer is: In our verse it is written, “The Testimony that I will give you,” in the future tense. But, the Ten Commandments were already given! Although the Tablets were broken, Moshe assumedly wrote it down or he prayed that the Tablets be restored to their original form. Perforce, our verse refers to the entire Torah, which would be written later.

V. 16. ונתת אל הארן את העדות: Dem mit goldgleicher Gediegenheit und Festigkeit und mit baumgleicher Entwicklungsfrische zum ewigen Forttragen des Gesetzes bereiten Volke wird das Gesetz anvertraut. Des Gesetzes Repräsentanz sind die עדותTafeln, deren Dasein selbst allen Folgegeschlechtern die Tatsache der Offenbarung des Gesetzes bezeugen und daher עדות: Zeugnis heißen. Von vornherein hat somit Gott auf Leugner und Verächter seines Gesetzes gerechnet, für deren Belehrung und Warnung er das "Zeugnis" niederlegte. Ist ja ein Zeugnis nur Zweiflern und Leugnern gegenüber vonnöten.

ונתת אל הארון את העדות, “you (Moses) will place within it the testimony which I will give to you.” This verse does not contain the essence of this commandment, as in verse 21 this line has been repeated. The reason it appeared in our verse is merely to tell us why the Ark was not to be moved, (unless for accompanying the Israelites on their journey through the desert). It sanctity was such that any unnecessary moving of the Ark would diminish its sanctity in the eyes of the beholder. It possessed such sanctity already on account of housing the Testimony and the original Torah scroll in the future, after G–d would give the Tablets to Moses upon his having completed his lengthy visits to the top of Mount Sinai.

'ונתת אל הארון וגו, “you are to deposit inside the Ark, etc;” this verse provides the justification for the words written earlier that the Ark be treated with the utmost reverence. This was because it contained the Tablets upon which the words of the covenant between G-d and the Jewish people had been written by G-d himself.

העדות THE TESTIMONY — the Torah (the Tablets; cf. Rashi on Exodus 40:20) which is a testimony between Me and you that I have ordained the commandments written in it (Midrash Tanchuma, Pekudei 4).

The word אל here has been chosen instead of the prefix letter ב, which means “in,” or “into.” This is not a unique construction as we have found it also in Exodus 15,25: וישלך אל המים, “he threw it into the water,” as well as in Numbers 19,6: אל תוך שרפת הפרה, “into the fire consuming the cow;” or Numbers 19,17: מים חיים אל כלי, “fresh water from a well into a vessel.”