출애굽기 40:5의 인용 해설

AND THOU SHALT MAKE AN ALTAR TO BURN INCENSE UPON. Now the altar of incense being one of the articles in the inner part of the Sanctuary, it should have been mentioned with the table and the candelabrum together with which it was placed, as indeed they are mentioned at the actual construction in the section of Vayakheil.²³²Further, 37:25 — next to the making of the candelabrum. But the reason for mentioning it here after the Tabernacle and all its vessels and the sacrifices [for the seven days of consecration], is because of what He said at the completion of them all, and the Tent shall be sanctified by My Glory;²³³Above, 29:43. and I will dwell among the children of Israel.²³⁴Ibid., Verse 45. Therefore He now said that they will yet be obliged to make an altar for the burning of incense — to burn it for the glory of G-d. This was a secret which was transmitted to Moses our Teacher,²³⁵Shabbath 89a. that the incense checks the plague.²³⁶Numbers 17:11-13. For the incense is of the attribute of justice, as it is said, they shall put incense ‘b’apecha’,²³⁷Deuteronomy 33:10. It is generally translated: “before Thee,” but Ramban suggests that b’apecha is of the root aph (anger). which is of the root v’charah api (My wrath shall wax hot).²³⁸Above, 22:23. It is for this reason that He said of strange incense, and before all the people I will be glorified,²³⁹Leviticus 10:3. meaning that they will know My glory, for He will not pardon your transgression.²⁴⁰Above, 23:21. For this reason too He said here [of the altar of incense], And thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the Testimony, before the ark-cover that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with thee.²⁴¹Verse 6. For why is it necessary to speak at length of all these matters, and why did He not say briefly, “and thou shalt put it before the ark of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting,” as He said in the section of Vayakheil?²⁴²It is found in the section of Pekudei (further, 40:5). But the extended form of the verse here indicates the purport [of the altar of incense].

AND IT CAME TO PASS IN THE FIRST MONTH… ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE MONTH. In the opinion of our Rabbis [who hold, as mentioned above,⁸⁴Above, Verse 2. that the eighth day of the installation was on the first of Nisan], Scripture stated that the Tabernacle was first put up on a permanent basis on the first day of the first month, as He had commanded.⁸⁴Above, Verse 2. It states, And Moses put up the Tabernacle,⁸⁵Verse 18. in order to tell us what he did when putting it up from the first day that he began to do so, which was on the twenty-third day of Adar. Scripture does not mention here the anointing of the Tabernacle and its vessels, nor the anointing of Aaron and his sons and the offerings of the installation, since Moses did not do these until he had finished putting up the Tabernacle [on each of the seven days of the installation],⁸⁶See my Hebrew commentary p. 538, where I have shown that this is perforce the meaning of Ramban. and was commanded thereon a second time, Take Aaron and his sons,⁸⁷Leviticus 8:2. as is explained in the section of Tzav.⁸⁷Leviticus 8:2. Now the Tabernacle and its vessels were only sanctified for the Divine Service through their anointing, just as it is said, and thou shalt anoint the Tabernacle, and all that is therein, and shalt hallow it, and all the vessels thereof.⁸⁸Above, Verse 9. Therefore the meaning of the verses, And he set a row of bread upon it,⁸⁹Further, Verse 23. And he lighted the lamps,⁹⁰Ibid., Verse 25. must be that he did so at the time that was appropriate for them, that is, after they were anointed [on each of the seven days of the installation], and the sense of the verses is that such was their ultimate purpose [i.e., he put the table in the Tent of Meeting so that he would later on be able to set a row of bread upon it; he put the candelabrum so that he would be able to light the lamps]. And that which Scripture states above, And thou shalt bring in the table, and set in order the bread that is upon it,⁹¹Above, Verse 4. also means that he is to set the bread upon it after the anointing of the table. The same meaning applies to the verse, And thou shalt set the golden altar for incense.⁹²Ibid., Verse 5. Similarly, and he offered upon it the burnt-offering and the meal-offering⁹³Further, Verse 29. means at its proper time, for the court around the Tabernacle had not yet been put up,⁹⁴For that is only mentioned further, in Verse 33. and no sacrifices can be brought without the hangings of the court, for that would be considered slaughtering outside [the Tabernacle].⁹⁵A matter strongly forbidden in Leviticus 17:1-9. But all these mean that they were done at their proper time.
And he took and put the Testimony into the ark.

,ויקטר עליו קטורת סמים “he burned up incense on it.” According to Rashi the subject of the word ויקטר is Aaron. Nachmanides writes that this is a scribe’s error, and it has to be Moses who offered this incense for he had been doing so for all the eight days of the inaugural rites. The same applies to such statements as (verse 23) ויערוך עליו ערך לחם, that he arranged the show-breads on the table, or verse 25) “that he lit the Menorah, or (verse 29) that he offered burned offerings on the altar. All the directives commencing with 40,2 were given for Moses personally to carry out. [Nachmanides is borne out by Rashi writing on verse 29 that Moses performed all these tasks on the eighth day just as he had during the preceding seven days. Ed.] The words עולת תמיד לדורותיכם in Exodus 29,42 where the priests have been charged with the Temple service (commencing with 29,38) are meant to become operative after conclusion of the inaugural rites on the first of Nissan. Even though in the chapter commanding Moses to perform all these rights, no specific mention is made of Moses also offering the incense, he understood this to be an integral part of all the other steps of the Temple service he was to perform during these seven days of inaugural consecration rites. Alternately, the presenting of the incense is automatically included in the commandment (40,5) ונתתה את מזבח הזהב לקטורת לפני ארון העדות, וגו', “you are to place the golden altar for burning incense in front of the ark of testimony, in front of the dividing curtain.” As to Exodus 30,6 where the Torah commands Moses to place the golden altar for incense in front of the dividing curtain, and for Aaron to offer incense on it, every morning, etc., this refers to the duties Aaron is to perform on a regular basis after the conclusion of the inaugural rites. We know that Aaron’s commencing his duties began with his lighting the lamps on the Menorah on the evening of the 1st of Nissan, i.e. at the end of the eighth day. In other words, he did not offer incense before, as Moses was specifically described as lighting the Menorah on the evening preceding the 1st of Nissan (40,25) as he had been commanded in 40,4.

עד בכור השבי UNTO THE FIRSTBORN OF THE CAPTIVE — because they rejoiced at the misfortune of the Israelites (Midrash Tanchuma, Bo 7); and a further reason why they were slain is that they should not say, — if they remained alive — it was our god who brought punishment upon our oppressors, the Egyptians (Mekhilta) The firstborn of the handmaid, threatened with death in 40:5 but not mentioned here as having been slain, is included in those stated here to have been slain since it enumerates here (i. e. the terms used here are intended to include everyone) from the most important amongst all of them to the least important, and the firstborn of the handmaid as belonging to the Egyptian people, is certainly more important than the firstborn of the captive (cf. Rashi on 11:6).