Tafsiran yang Mengutip untuk Yehezkiel 1:1

בארץ מצרים, “in the land of Egypt.” Outside the metropolis, seeing the city was full of abominations preventing a revelation of G’d’s word there. When the Torah has in mind the metropolis, it often adds the word עיר, such as when Moses told Pharaoh that he would leave the עיר, prior to praying to G’d (9,29). In order to reconcile this with the oft quoted statement by our sages that the Shechinah dwelled in Egypt, our sages explained that as long as the land of Israel had not been chosen as the exclusive domain for the Shechinah, all countries were potentially equally fit to receive a communication from G’d by word of mouth (Mechilta 85). After the land of Israel was chosen, all other countries were no longer suited for G’d to address people there. As long as the Temple had not been erected in Jerusalem, the whole city of Jerusalem was fit to receive such communication from G’d. After the Temple had been built even the city itself was no longer a vehicle for such communication by G’d. Only the holy precincts of the Temple qualified for this as we know from Psalms 132,14: “This is My resting-place for all time; here I will dwell, for I desire it.” By the same token, as long as Aaron had not been chosen to be a priest every Israelite was potentially fit to become a priest. As long as David had not been crowned king, any Israelite could have qualified as king as we know from Exodus 19,6: “you shall be for Me a Kingdom of priests, etc.” After the appointment of David as king, all other Israelites were automatically excluded from qualifying for that position. Even while G’d’s word was communicated outside the borders of Israel this occurred only in a place which was pure or situated on a river. This is based on Daniel 8,2: ”and here I was beside the Ulai river.” We have a similar statement by Ezekiel 1,1 who described himself as on the banks of the river Chidekel when receiving a communication from G’d. In Daniel 10,4, Daniel describes himself as on the banks of the river Tigris when receiving a vision by an angel who addressed him.

I have already mentioned in connection with Exodus 16,32 that the Ark constructed by Betzalel was secreted inside the Temple (of Solomon) together with the bottle of manna and certain other sacred vessels at the instruction of King Yoshiah who hid them under an area of the Sanctuary known as מחילה. There was a special reason why these specific vessels were selected for hiding rather than others. The reason that King Yoshiah hid the Ark rather than most other sacred vessels was twofold; one reason was its superior holy status unmatched by other sacred vessels. Seeing that it was the first of the holy vessels to be constructed, its holiness was greater than the vessels fashioned later. It was perceived as a symbol of the celestial throne. As a result of such considerations it was feared that loss of the Ark would be equivalent to a departure of G’d’s presence from the land of Israel. The king knew that the state of Israel was going to be destroyed by Nevuchadnezzar as the prophets of his time had been threatening this if the people did not return to G’d wholeheartedly. It was clear to him that the conquerors would capture and take with them the holy vessels of the Temple to Babylon; this is why he was so concerned with the honour of the Holy Ark that he preferred to bury it and hide it.
The second reason was that the Holy Ark symbolized for him the journeys of the Jewish people. He experienced that the staves of the Holy Ark which protruded a long distance beyond either corner to enable it to be carried. [It was very heavy due to the outer and inner layer of solid gold plus the weight of the Stone Tablets. I have seen a calculation of the total weight of the Ark complete with contents in Eliyahu Ki Tov’s commentary on Parshat Terumah or Tetzaveh. If my memory does not deceive me the weight approximated 3 tons. (76,000 lbs) Ed.]
During the reign of King Yoshiah these staves became visibly shorter, making transportation by means of them impossible. They reverted to the size they had been in Moses’ time. The king viewed this as a bad omen. Originally, the staves could be seen protruding through the dividing curtain of the Sanctuary from the Holy of Holies by causing the curtain to protrude into the airspace of the Sanctuary where it was pushed by these staves. The retraction in the length of these staves meant for King Yoshiah that the Ark was once more destined to travel, just as in the days of Moses. The Israelites, when looking into the open doors of the Sanctuary, could no longer perceive the curtain bulge at the point they were used to see it do so.
The king also saw that when the High Priest Chilkiyah came to perform the service in the Sanctuary (Kings II 22,8) that he found a Torah scroll on the side of the Holy Ark which had rolled into the Sanctuary instead of remaining in its assigned place in the Holy of Holies on top of the Ark (compare Deut. 31,26 and Talmud Baba Batra 14). These occurrences meant for him that the Temple would be destroyed. This is the reason why Targum Yonathan renders Ezekiel 1,1 “it was in the thirtieth year” as a reference to the year that Chilkiyah found the Torah scroll we mentioned. When considering these various omens King Yoshiah decided to hide the Holy Ark so that it would not have to travel into captivity.
We have established that the sanctity associated with the Ark applied to the Ark made by Betzalel, not the box made by Moses to accommodate the Tablets when he would come down from the mountain many months before the Tabernacle had been erected. Moses’ “ark” was strictly a temporary housing for the Tablets pending the construction of the Tabernacle. Concerning the Ark constructed by Betzalel, the Talmud in Eiruvin 63 taught that whenever the Ark and therefore the Presence of the Shechinah were not in their assigned abodes the Israelites were forbidden to engage in marital relations with their wives. It is totally impossible to understand this statement of the Talmud as applying to the ark made by Moses, i.e. the ark that went to war with the people. Seeing that the Holy Ark was held in captivity by the Philistines for seven months (Samuel I 6,1), we cannot assume that during all this time the people did not practice the commandment to be fruitful and to multiply. [I do not understand the author here. He had previously accused the sons of Eli of taking Betzalel’s Ark to war without G’d’s authorization although normally only Moses’ ark would be taken to war. Moreover, note that in Samuel I 4, it is clear that it was not Moses’ ark the people took to war on that occasion. Ed.]
David is also reported to tell Uriah (Bat Sheva’s first husband) to go home and engage in marital relations, all of this while war was in progress (Samuel II 11,8). Surely the prohibition mentioned in the Talmud could have applied only to the Ark of Betzalel. The lesson the sages taught must have been “When the HOLY ARK was not ‘at home,’ i.e. G’d was not at home, how could the people feel “at home,” by indulging in marital relations and carry on “business as usual!”

באלוני ממרא, “at the terebinths of Mamre.” The Torah informs us of the site where the circumcision took place. This was also the place where he received an immediate sign that G’d appreciated Avraham’s deed.
We find that manifestations of G’d’s presence to the prophets occur by means of 1) fire; 2) wind; 3) water, and 4) earth [either of the four basic raw material the terrestrial earth is made of. Ed.] G’d appeared to Moses in a burning bush (Exodus 3,2). He also appeared to the entire Jewish nation in an environment of fire (Deuteronomy 4,36: “He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words out of the fire”). In Exodus 24,17 G’d’s manifestation is described as “a consuming fire on top of the mountain.”
In connection with the ascent to heaven by the prophet Elijah we read in Kings II 2,1 “when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, etc.” In Kings I 19,11 והנה ה' עובר ורוח גדולה וחזק מפרק הרים, ”there was a great and mighty wind; splitting mountains and shattering rocks by the power of the Lord.” We also encounter a manifestation of G’d through a mighty wind in Job 38,1 “Then the Lord replied to Job out of the tempest and said, etc.”
An instance of G’d manifesting Himself by means of water is found in Ezekiel 1,1 “It was in the thirtieth year... when I was in the community of exiles by the river Kevar, etc.” We encounter another example of G’d manifesting Himself by means of water in Ezekiel 1,24 ”I could hear the sound of their wings like the sound of mighty waters, like the sound of Shaddai."
We find G’d manifesting Himself in connection with earth in Ezekiel 43,2 “the whole earth is filled with His glory.” We also find a revelation described as “and the earth was lit up by His Presence.” In this instance, G’d manifested Himself to Avraham by means of a tree. The Midrash uses the word אלוני ממרא to emphasise the fact that these were trees, אילנות. Actually, Mamre was the name of one of Avraham’s close associates as we know from 14,13 “Mamre the Emorite, the brother of Aner and Eshkol who were allies of Avram.” Had the Torah only wanted to tell us that Avraham circumcised himself near the place where Mamre lived, it would have been appropriate to describe the area as ערבות ממרא, “the fields of Mamre.” The emphasis on the word אלוני shows that the Torah wanted to draw our attention to the fact that we are talking about a tree or trees. When Avraham told the men who came to visit to rest “under one of the trees,” this shows that there was more than one tree.
Why did G’d choose a tree to be the site at which He manifested Himself to Avraham on this occasion? It was because the angel was going to tell him that within a year he and Sarah would have a son. He would experience something similar to that which was experienced by an aged tree which still produced fruit. It is written in Job 14,7-9: “There is hope for a tree; if it is cut down it will renew itself; its shoots will not cease. If its shoots are old in the earth, and its stump dies in the ground, at the scent of water it will bud and produce branches like a sapling.” We also have a verse comparing the righteous to trees in Psalms 1,3 “He (the righteous) is like a tree planted beside streams of water which yields its fruit in season.” This is also how Rabbeinu Chananel explains our verse.