Midras Kejadian 36:32: Bamidbar Rabbah & Shemot Rabbah

“On the eleventh day, prince of the children of Asher, Pagiel the son of Okhran” (Numbers 7:72).
“On the eleventh day, prince of the children of Asher, Pagiel the son of Okhran” – what was the reason for the prince of Asher to present his offering after the prince of Dan? It is because Dan is named for judgment [din], and Asher is named for its confirmation [ishuro]; that is why the Holy One blessed be He commanded Asher to present his offering after Dan, because the judge must confirm his judgment, just as it says: “Seek justice, confirm it for the oppressed” (Isaiah 1:17).
“His offering was one silver dish, its weight one hundred and thirty; one silver basin of seventy shekels, in the sacred shekel; both of them full of high-quality flour mixed with oil as a meal offering” (Numbers 7:73).
“His offering was [one] silver dish…” – Rabbi Tanḥuma said: The names of all the tribes were called for the redemption of Israel and for their praise. Asher’s name was called for the redemption of Israel, just as it says: “All the nations will praise [ve’ishru] you, as you will be a desired land, said the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 3:12), and for their praise, just as it says: “Happy [ashrei] is the nation for whom this is so; happy is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalms 144:15). Israel’s happiness [ishuran] is only because they chose the Holy One blessed be He to be God for them and the Holy One blessed be He chose them to be a treasured nation for Him. That is why when the prince of Asher came to present his offering, he presented his offering for the sake of the choice, that the Holy One blessed be He chose Israel from all the nations, just as it says: “The Lord has chosen you to be His treasured people of distinction [from all the peoples that are on the face of the earth]” (Deuteronomy 14:2), as it is stated: “Happy is the one whom You choose and draw near…” (Psalms 65:5). Therefore, he presented his offering of a silver dish, corresponding to the nations of the world, who were initially attributed to Abraham.⁶⁶See Genesis 17:5.
“Its weight one hundred and thirty” – these are the seventy descendants of Noah and the sixty queens, as Solomon said: “They are sixty queens” (Song of Songs 6:8). Who were they? They were the sixteen sons of Ketura, Yishmael and his twelve sons, and Esau and his seventeen sons and grandsons. How so? The sons of Elifaz are eight and they are: “The sons of Elifaz: Teman, Omar, Tzefi, Gatam, Kenaz, Timna, and Amalek” (I Chronicles 1:36); they, with Elifaz, are eight. There it is written: “These are the chieftains of the sons of Esau: The sons of Elifaz firstborn of Esau: The chieftain of Teiman,… the chieftain of Koraḥ, the chieftain of Gatam, the chieftain of Amalek…” (Genesis 36:15–16). They are nine,⁶⁷They are nine with the addition of Koraḥ, who is listed in the verse in Genesis but does not appear in the verse in Chronicles. Re’uel with his sons are five, as it is stated: “The sons of Re’uel: Naḥat, Zeraḥ, Shama, and Miza” (I Chronicles 1:37), that is fourteen. The sons of Esau are three:⁶⁸Besides Elifaz and Re'uel. “[The sons of Esau…] Yeush, Yalam, and Koraḥ…” (I Chronicles 1:35), that is seventeen. And the eleven chieftains who are tallied at the end, as it is stated: “These are the names of the chieftains of Esau, according to their families, according to their places, by their names: The chieftain of Timna…” (Genesis 36:40), that is fifty-seven. If you say: Are they not fifty-eight, Timna was the daughter of Elifaz. It is completed with three kings of Edom who were descendants of Edom.⁶⁹See Genesis 36:32–34. They are: Bela son of Beor (Genesis 36:32), who was named after Esau, who was a glutton [bela] and sold his birthright because of his gluttony. “Son of Beor”⁷⁰“Beir” can mean animal; see Exodus 22:4. – the son of one who rendered himself like an animal, as it is stated: “Feed me [haliteni] now from that red stuff, as I am exhausted” (Genesis 25:30), just as it says: One may not forcibly feed an animal, but one may place food in its mouth [malitin].⁷¹Shabbat 155b. The second, “Yovav son of Zeraḥ from Botzra” (Genesis 36:33). Botzra was of Edom, as it is stated: “Who is this, coming from Edom, with crimsoned garments from Botzra, resplendent in His attire, striding in His abundant strength? I speak with justice, potent to save” (Isaiah 63:1). The third, “Ḥusham of the land of the Temanite” (Genesis 36:34), and Teman was the land of Edom, as it is stated: “Your mighty, Teman, will be broken, so that each man from the mountain of Esau will be eliminated by slaughter” (Obadiah 1:9). But the other kings were from other places and other nations, that is sixty. Why did he call all these dishes [ke’arot]? It is because the Holy One blessed be He disqualified all of them. Ke’ara is nothing other than an expression of leprosy, just as it says: “Recessed [shekaarurot], deep green” (Leviticus 14:37). “Silver [kesef]” – due to shame, as they will all go “to reviling and eternal disgrace” (Daniel 12:2). From where is it derived that kesef is an expression of shame. It is as in the Jerusalem Targum, they call disgrace kisufa.
“One silver basin” – this is Israel, whom the Holy One blessed be He separated out from them, just as it says: “For the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself…” (Psalms 135:4). And it says: “I took your father, Abraham, from beyond the river, and I led him throughout the land of Canaan, and I multiplied his descendants, and I gave him Isaac” (Joshua 24:3).
“Seventy shekels, in the sacred shekel…” – just as it says: “With seventy people, your ancestors descended to Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:22). “Both of them full of high-quality flour mixed with oil as a meal offering [leminḥa]” – as the Holy One blessed be He dispatched to the nations of the world and to Israel prophets of them and among them. That is leminḥa, just as it says: “The spirit of the Lord will rest [venaḥa] upon him” (Isaiah 11:2), and it says: “The spirit rested [vatanaḥ] upon them” (Numbers 11:26). The Holy One blessed be He wished to give His Torah to all of them, as it is stated: “He said: The Lord came from Sinai, [and shone from Seir for them, He appeared from Mount Paran]” (Deuteronomy 33:2).
“One gold ladle of ten shekels, filled with incense” (Numbers 7:74).
“One [gold] ladle” – from all of them, the Holy One blessed be He chose only Israel, as it is stated: “Unique is my faultless dove, unique to her mother, pure to the one who bore her” (Song of Songs 6:9). That is why they are the happiest of the nations, just as it says: “Girls see her and laud her, and queens and concubines praise her” (Song of Songs 6:9) – these are the nations. Why did the Holy One blessed be He choose them? It is because all the nations rejected the Torah and did not want to receive it, but these wanted and chose the Holy One blessed be He and His Torah, which is five books corresponding to the five fingers on the hand, and received the Ten Commandments at Sinai. That is, “one gold ladle of ten shekels.” What is “filled with incense”? It is because they all said: “All that God spoke we will perform and we will heed” (Exodus 24:7); they accepted upon themselves Torah study and action.⁷²These are sometimes compared to a pleasant smell. See Vayikra Rabba 30:12.
“One young bull, one ram, one lamb in its first year, as a burnt offering” (Numbers 7:75).
“One goat as a sin offering” (Numbers 7:76).
“One young bull…” – these three species of burnt offering, why? They correspond to the three crowns that the Holy One blessed be He gave to Israel for this: the crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood, and the crown of kingship. The crown of Torah, this is the Ark, as it is written: “You shall craft a gold crown upon it all around” (Exodus 25:11). The crown of priesthood, this is the golden altar, in whose regard it is written: “You shall craft a gold crown for it all around” (Exodus 30:3). The crown of kingship, this is the table, as it is written: “He crafted a crown of gold for it all around” (Exodus 37:11). “One goat as a sin offering” – corresponding to a good name, which is action, just as we learned: Study is not the principal matter but action, as action atones for the person, like what we learned: Repentance and good deeds are a shield before punishment. That crown corresponds to the candelabrum, to realize what is stated: “For mitzva is a candle, and Torah is light” (Proverbs 6:23). Why is Torah called light? It is because it illuminates for the person what he should do. And because the Torah teaches the person how he shall perform the will of the Omnipresent, therefore, the reward of study is great. And one who causes another to perform an action is greater than one who performs it, as it is stated: “The act of righteousness will be peace and the work of righteousness will be quiet and security forever” (Isaiah 32:17).
“And for the peace offering, two bulls, five rams, five goats, five lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Pagiel son of Okhran” (Numbers 7:77).
“And for the peace offering, two bulls…” – as the Holy One blessed be He gave two Torahs to Israel: the Written Torah and the Oral Torah. He gave them the Written Torah, in which there are six hundred and thirteen mitzvot, in order to fill them with mitzvot and accord them merit, as it is stated: “The Lord desires for the sake of His righteousness; He will make the Torah great and glorious” (Isaiah 42:21). He gave them the Oral Torah, so they would excel through it among the other nations. That is the reason that He did not give it in writing, so that the Ishmaelites would not falsify it the way that they did to the Written Torah and say that they are Israel. In that regard, the verse said: “I write for him much of My Torah, but it is regarded like a strange matter” (Hosea 8:12). The Holy One blessed be He said: If I write for Israel much of My Torah – this is the Mishna, which is greater than the Bible – “it will be regarded like a strange matter.”
“Five rams, five goats, five lambs in their first year” – these three species of peace offerings correspond to the priests, Levites, and Israelites. Alternatively, corresponding to the three types of greatness that the Holy One blessed be He conferred upon them in reward for the fact that they received the Torah. They are: being a treasure, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation, as it is stated: “You shall be treasured for Me from among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine. You shall be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5–6). They were three species of five each for a total of fifteen, corresponding to the Torah, that is five books, and the Ten Commandments, which they received, which were written on two tablets, five on this tablet and five on that tablet.
Another matter: It corresponds to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the twelve tribes, as they are the primary chosen ones, just as it says: “Because He loved your forefathers, He chose their descendants after them, and He took you out before Him, with His great power, from Egypt” (Deuteronomy 4:37).
“This was the offering of Pagiel…” – since the Holy One blessed be He saw that he presented the offering in this order, He began lauding his offering: “This was the offering of Pagiel son of Okhran.”

“And you, draw Aaron your brother near to you, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, to serve Me: Aaron, Nadav and Avihu, Elazar and Itamar, Aaron’s sons” (Exodus 28:1).
“And you, draw Aaron your brother near to you,” that is what is written: “From it will come a cornerstone, from it a peg, from it a bow of war” (Zechariah 10:4). Come and see: When the early nations would seek to appoint a king for themselves, they would bring [a man] from anywhere and appoint him over them, as it says: “He reigned in Edom” (Genesis 36:32), from Dinhava, from Basra, and likewise, all of them.¹The Torah (Genesis 36:32–39) lists various kings of Edom and where they were from; the first two were from Dinhava and Basra, respectively. These places were not in Edom. But Israel is not so. Their great ones are from them, their kings are from them, their priests are from them, their prophets are from them, their princes are from them, as it is stated: “From it will come a cornerstone,” this is King David, as it is stated: “The stone that the builders rejected became the cornerstone” (Psalms 118:22).²The Sages apply this verse to King David (see Midrash Tehillim 118), who was a humble shepherd and the youngest and least prominent of his brothers before he was appointed king. “From it a peg” this is the High Priest, as it is stated: “I will affix him as a peg in a secure place” (Isaiah 22:23). “From it a bow of war,” as it is stated: “They were armed with bows, both right and left-handed” (I Chronicles 12:2). “From it every oppressor will be gone together” (Zechariah 10:4), these are the judges’ scribes. And likewise it says: “And you, draw Aaron your brother near to you, and his sons with him.” From where? It is from among the children of Israel.
This is analogous to a king who had a friend and sought to appoint a treasurer, and he appointed [his friend] over his entire treasury. Sometime later, he sought to appoint a military chief of staff, and that friend thought that perhaps he would choose him, but he did not choose him. [The king] said to him: ‘Go and appoint a military chief of staff.’ He said to him: ‘My lord, from which noble family?’ He said to him: ‘From your noble family.’ So too, the Holy One blessed be He sought to appoint someone over the labor of the Tabernacle, and He selected Moses as the administrator over the judges and over everything. When the Holy One blessed be He sought to appoint a High Priest, Moses thought that perhaps he would become the High Priest. The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘Go and appoint a High Priest for Me.’ He said before Him: ‘From what tribe shall I appoint for You?’ He said to him: ‘From the tribe of Levi.’ At that moment, Moses rejoiced. He said: ‘My tribe is so beloved.’ The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘It is Aaron, your brother.’ That is why it is stated: “And you, draw Aaron your brother near to you.”
The Rabbis say: All forty years that Israel was in the wilderness, Moses served in the high priesthood. Some say: He served only during the seven days of inauguration. Rabbi Berekhya says in the name of Rabbi Simon: All forty years Moses served in the high priesthood, as it is stated: “The sons of Amram, Aaron and Moses; [Aaron was separated that he should be most holy, he and his sons forever, to offer before the Lord, to serve Him, and to bless in His name forever]” (I Chronicles 23:13), and it is written: “And Moses, the man of God, [his sons are named among the tribe of Levi]” (I Chronicles 23:14).³The implication of the verse is that Moses’ sons were regular Levites, but he himself functioned as a priest.