וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃
E Hashem falou a Moshe, dizendo:
Midrash Tanchuma Buber
It is written (in Prov. 3:4): SO YOU SHALL FIND GRACE AND GOOD FAVOR IN THE EYES OF GOD AND HUMANITY. You have one who is pleasing to the king but is not pleasing to the people of the king's palace.31Gk.: palation; Lat.: palatium. There is also one who is pleasing to the people of the palace and not pleasing to the king. In the case of the righteous, however, when they are pleasing before the Holy One, they are pleasing before angels and before mortals. This is what you find in < the case of > Daniel. When the angel came to him, he called that person beloved three times: (Dan. 10:11:) < O DANIEL >, GREATLY BELOVED ONE, UNDERSTAND THE WORDS. It is also written (in Dan. 10:19): FEAR NOT, O GREATLY BELOVED ONE! (Dan. 9:23:) AND I HAVE COME TO DECLARE < IT > BECAUSE YOU ARE {ONE WHO IS} GREATLY BELOVED. And why did he call him GREATLY BELOVED three times? It is simply that a person is blessed when the angel brings him good news and says: You are beloved before the Holy One. You are also praised among the heavenly beings and beloved with your generation. Bezalel also was praised before the heavenly beings and among lower beings as well. Where is it shown? Where it is stated (in Exod. 31:2f.): SEE, I HAVE CALLED BEZALEL < … > BY NAME; < AND I HAVE FILLED HIM WITH THE SPIRIT OF GOD, IN WISDOM >…. It is also written (in Exod. 35:30f.): THE LORD HAS CALLED BEZALEL < … > BY NAME; < AND HE HAS FILLED HIM WITH THE SPIRIT OF GOD, IN WISDOM >…. See, < he is praised in one verse > among the heavenly beings; see, < he is praised in the other verse > among the lower beings. Ergo, it says (in Prov. 3:4): SO YOU SHALL FIND GRACE < AND GOOD FAVOR IN THE EYES OF GOD AND HUMANITY >.
Midrash Tanchuma
And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying: “See, I have called by name Bezalel” (Exod. 31:1). Solomon said: Whatsoever cometh into being, the name thereof was given long ago, and it is foreknown what man is (Eccles. 6:10). Scripture also says elsewhere in reference to this: Who hath wrought and done it? He that called the generations from the beginning (Isa. 41:4). The Holy One, blessed be He, declared: When I determined at the very beginning of time to build the Sanctuary, I already announced his name, and made his name known. And it is foreknown what man is. Even when the first man was a lifeless mass, the Holy One, blessed be He, showed him all the righteous men who would descend from him. Some hung from his head, others were suspended from his hair, and still others from his neck, his two eyes, his nose, his mouth, his ears, and his arms. Proof of this is in the fact that when Job complained against his Creator, saying: O that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come even unto His seat! I would order my cause before Him, and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know the words which He would answer me, and understand what He would say unto me (Job 23:3–5). The Holy One, blessed be He, replied to him: Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? (ibid. 38:4). R. Simeon the son of Lakish maintained: Where wast thou is written because the Holy One, blessed be He, was in fact asking Job: Where were you suspended from the first man? Was it from his head, his hair, his neck, his eyes, or from one of his limbs?
Shemot Rabbah
“The Lord spoke to Moses saying: See, I have called by name Betzalel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah” (Exodus 31:1–2).
“The Lord spoke…See, I have called by name Betzalel,” this is how Rabbi Tanḥuma bar Abba began: “Then He saw it and related it, prepared it, and also studied it” (Job 28:27). The Holy One blessed be He foresaw that Israel would accept the Torah, as had it not been so, He would not have created the world, as it is stated: “Then He saw it and related it.” What is written thereafter? “He said to man [adam]: Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom” (Job 28:28). Adam is nothing other than Israel, as it is stated: “You, My flock, flock of My pasture, you are man [adam]” (Ezekiel 34:31). “Then He saw it and related it,” at Sinai; “prepared it,” in the Tent of Meeting; “and also studied it,” on the plains of Moav in the book of Deuteronomy.
Another matter, “then He saw it and related it,” the Rabbis said: A person must take an example1From God. in saying his chapter of halakha, his aggada, or his midrash. When he seeks to say them in public, he should not say: ‘Since I know it well, when I enter to lecture I will speak.’ Rav Aḥa said: You learn it from God. When He sought to relate the Torah to Israel, He said it four times to Himself before He said it to Israel, as it is stated: “Then He saw it and related it, prepared it, and also studied it” and then: “He said to man…” Likewise, “God spoke all these matters” (Exodus 20:1), and then “saying” (Exodus 20:1) to Israel. The Rabbis say: One time Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Toreta came before Rabbi Akiva. [Rabbi Akiva] said to him: ‘Stand and read the Torah.’ He said to them: ‘I did not review the portion,’ and the Rabbis praised him. That is, “then He saw it and related it.”
Rabbi Hoshaya said: Anyone who is knowledgeable but lacks fear of sin has nothing, [just like] a carpenter who does not have his tools is not a carpenter. Why? It is because the chains supporting the Torah are the fear of God, as it is stated: “The fear of the Lord, that is his treasure” (Isaiah 33:6).2The beginning of that verse is expounded as a reference to the six orders of Mishna; nevertheless, the true treasure is the fear of God.
Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Anyone who is knowledgeable in Torah but does not perform, it would have been preferable for him had the placenta overturned and he had not come into the world. That is why it is stated: “He said to man [adam]: Behold, the fear of the Lord, [that is wisdom]” (Job 28:28).
Rabbi Ḥiya bar Abba said: What is “Behold, the fear of the Lord…”? God said: ‘If you had good deeds, I will give you reward.’ What reward? Torah, as it is stated: “He said to man: Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and turning away from evil is understanding” (Job 28:28). ‘If you turned away from evil, I will produce from you people who have understanding of the Torah.’ From where do you derive this? From Yokheved and Miriam, when they feared God; as it is written: “The midwives feared God” (Exodus 1:17). Rabbi Berekhya said in the name of Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba: The reward for fear is Torah as, from Yokheved, the Holy One blessed be He produced Moses, and he was privileged that the Torah would be ascribed to him, as it is stated: “Remember the Torah of Moses, My servant” (Malachi 3:23), and it is written: “Moses commanded us the Torah” (Deuteronomy 33:4). Miriam, because she distanced herself from evil and from sin, the Holy One blessed be He produced Betzalel from her, and he merited wisdom and understanding. That is what is written: “See, I have called by name Betzalel” (Exodus 31:2), and it is written: “I have filled him with the spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding and with knowledge” (Exodus 31:3).
“The Lord spoke…See, I have called by name Betzalel,” this is how Rabbi Tanḥuma bar Abba began: “Then He saw it and related it, prepared it, and also studied it” (Job 28:27). The Holy One blessed be He foresaw that Israel would accept the Torah, as had it not been so, He would not have created the world, as it is stated: “Then He saw it and related it.” What is written thereafter? “He said to man [adam]: Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom” (Job 28:28). Adam is nothing other than Israel, as it is stated: “You, My flock, flock of My pasture, you are man [adam]” (Ezekiel 34:31). “Then He saw it and related it,” at Sinai; “prepared it,” in the Tent of Meeting; “and also studied it,” on the plains of Moav in the book of Deuteronomy.
Another matter, “then He saw it and related it,” the Rabbis said: A person must take an example1From God. in saying his chapter of halakha, his aggada, or his midrash. When he seeks to say them in public, he should not say: ‘Since I know it well, when I enter to lecture I will speak.’ Rav Aḥa said: You learn it from God. When He sought to relate the Torah to Israel, He said it four times to Himself before He said it to Israel, as it is stated: “Then He saw it and related it, prepared it, and also studied it” and then: “He said to man…” Likewise, “God spoke all these matters” (Exodus 20:1), and then “saying” (Exodus 20:1) to Israel. The Rabbis say: One time Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Toreta came before Rabbi Akiva. [Rabbi Akiva] said to him: ‘Stand and read the Torah.’ He said to them: ‘I did not review the portion,’ and the Rabbis praised him. That is, “then He saw it and related it.”
Rabbi Hoshaya said: Anyone who is knowledgeable but lacks fear of sin has nothing, [just like] a carpenter who does not have his tools is not a carpenter. Why? It is because the chains supporting the Torah are the fear of God, as it is stated: “The fear of the Lord, that is his treasure” (Isaiah 33:6).2The beginning of that verse is expounded as a reference to the six orders of Mishna; nevertheless, the true treasure is the fear of God.
Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Anyone who is knowledgeable in Torah but does not perform, it would have been preferable for him had the placenta overturned and he had not come into the world. That is why it is stated: “He said to man [adam]: Behold, the fear of the Lord, [that is wisdom]” (Job 28:28).
Rabbi Ḥiya bar Abba said: What is “Behold, the fear of the Lord…”? God said: ‘If you had good deeds, I will give you reward.’ What reward? Torah, as it is stated: “He said to man: Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and turning away from evil is understanding” (Job 28:28). ‘If you turned away from evil, I will produce from you people who have understanding of the Torah.’ From where do you derive this? From Yokheved and Miriam, when they feared God; as it is written: “The midwives feared God” (Exodus 1:17). Rabbi Berekhya said in the name of Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba: The reward for fear is Torah as, from Yokheved, the Holy One blessed be He produced Moses, and he was privileged that the Torah would be ascribed to him, as it is stated: “Remember the Torah of Moses, My servant” (Malachi 3:23), and it is written: “Moses commanded us the Torah” (Deuteronomy 33:4). Miriam, because she distanced herself from evil and from sin, the Holy One blessed be He produced Betzalel from her, and he merited wisdom and understanding. That is what is written: “See, I have called by name Betzalel” (Exodus 31:2), and it is written: “I have filled him with the spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding and with knowledge” (Exodus 31:3).