Comentários de Citação sobre Oséias 5:15

Just as the covenant of circumcision serves two distinct purposes [Genesis 17:1; Genesis 17:11], so it is possible for a single commandment to serve many different purposes — like the commandments of the burnt-offering and other sacrifices: 1) In offering up the appropriate portion at the appropriate time, we who have a portion in the world to come are apportioned proportionately. Thus the word “to atone” literally means “to ransom” (this is evidenced in the beginning of the parasha of Ki Tis̀s̀a [Exodus 30:12], and it explains the phrase “lest he strike us with pestilence” [Exodus 5:3]). 2) The burnt offerings also contain profound allusions to natural history. 3) By studying each sacrifice, one may come fundamentally to understand the nature of sin, and the nature of our obligations to sustain the teachers of the Torah. God called to Moshe Since Scripture has already stated that “Moshe was not allowed…” [Exodus 40:35], God must have called him from within the Tent of Assembly, telling him to enter therein, where He would speak to him. Moshe used to go behind the Partition, where the Glory resided (for so it is written [Exodus 25:22]). The reason for mentioning the sacrifices before the other commandments is that the Divine Presence would depart if they did not keep the law of the daily burnt-offering (which eventually happened). Perish the thought that God should need a burnt-offering! As it is written: “If I were hungry, I would not tell you” [Psalms 50:12]. The subject is admittedly too profound to explain easily.

Now the exile was not completed⁸Ramban is now aiming to explain why the second book of the Torah, which as explained above is the book of the first exile and the redemption therefrom, does not close with the actual exodus or with the Revelation on Sinai, but instead proceeds with the account of the building of the Tabernacle. Ramban’s answer is most illuminating and inspiring. until the day they returned to their place⁹See Hosea 5:15. and were restored to the status of their fathers. When they left Egypt, even though they came forth from the house of bondage, they were still considered exiles because they were in a land that is not theirs,.¹¹Genesis 15:13. entangled in the desert.¹⁰See further, 14:3. When they came to Mount Sinai and made the Tabernacle, and the Holy One, blessed be He, caused His Divine Presence to dwell again amongst them, they returned to the status of their fathers when the ‘sod eloka’ (counsel of G-d) was upon their tents¹²See Job 29:4, and Ramban’s commentary thereon, (in my Kithvei Haramban: Vol. I, p. 90), where he interprets the verse as follows: “Job is saying that sod eloka — the counsel of G-d - was known in his tent, as if He foretold all future events. Thus Job and all who were with him were guarded from mishaps and troubles. It may be that sod eloka is a reference to the angels of the Supreme One and the host of the heavens that dwelled upon his tent to guard him from all evil, etc.” Ramban is thus intimating here that the complete redemption of the Israelites from their first exile was not achieved until they were restored to the same position held by the patriarchs. Whereas the Divine Presence rested upon the tents of the patriarchs — see Shabbath 55b, where Rashi clearly states that before the building of the Tabernacle, the Divine Presence was to be found upon the tents of the righteous — so Israel regained its original status only when the Divine Glory came to rest upon the Tabernacle at the time of its completion. See end of Book of Exodus. It is for this reason that the second book of the Torah — devoted as it is to the first exile and the redemption therefrom — continues with the account of the building of the Tabernacle. and “they were those who constituted the Chariot of the Holy One.”¹³Bereshith Rabbah 47:8. See Vol. I, p. 224. Then they were considered redeemed. It was for this reason that this second book of the Torah is concluded with the consummation of the building of the Tabernacle, and the glory of the Eternal filling it¹⁴Further, 40:35. always.¹⁵Numbers 9:16: So it was always: the cloud covered it…

Who is she who comes up from the desert?: This is the tenth of the ten journeys which the shekhinah undertook. As our Sages said: “The shekhinah undertook ten journeys when she departed the Temple: from the altar cover to the cherub, from the cherub to the threshold of the Temple, from the threshold to the court, from the court to the altar, from the altar to the Temple roof, from the roof to the wall, from the wall to the city, from the city to the mountain, from the mountain to the wilderness. From the wilderness she ascended and dwelt within her place as it is written: ‘I will go and return to my place’ [Hosea 5:15].”²⁰³Rosh ha-Shanah 31a.