Комментарий о цитате к Дварим 10:3

בעת ההוא AT THAT TIME — At the end of forty days He was reconciled with me and said to me, פסל לך HEW FOR THYSELF [TWO TABLETS] and afterwards, ועשית לך ארון עץ MAKE THEE AN ARK OF WOOD. I, however, (see v. 3) made the Ark first (Midrash Tanchuma, Eikev 1), because when I came with the tablets in my hand where could I place them? Now this was not the Ark which Bezaleel made for the Tabernacle, because with the Tabernacle they did not occupy themselves until after the Day of Atonement, for only when he came down from the mountain on that day did he give them the command regarding the construction of the Tabernacle, and Bezaleel made the Tabernacle first and afterwards the Ark and the other articles (Berakhot 55a). It follows, therefore, that this was another Ark; and it was this, that went forth with them to battle, whilst that which Bezaleel made went forth to battle only once, in the days of Eli — and they were punished for this, for it was captured by the Philistines (cf. Jerusalem Talmud Shekalim 6:1).

It is also possible that seeing that prior to receiving the second set of Tablets Moses himself constructed a wooden ark (compare Rashi on Deut. 10,1) in which he placed them as soon as he descended from Mount Sinai, the instructions given here refer to an alternate ark, the one to be constructed by Betzalel. In order to distinguish between these two arks the Torah changed its grammar. G'd had already used direct speech when He commanded Moses to construct the original ark in Deut. 10,1. At that time He added the word לך,"for yourself," to indicate that pending the construction of the permanent housing of the Tablets, Moses was to construct a temporary home for them. Whereas the directives ועשית in our portion always refer to the construction by Betzalel of something permanent, the same word in Deut 10,1 did not refer to something permanent. Moses complied personally with G'd's directive to construct a temporary ark (Deut. 10,3) as we know from: "he placed the Tablets inside" (Deut. 10,5). Phrasing the present directive in indirect plural, i.e. ועשו, was to make plain that G'd spoke of an additional ark. Had G'd merely said ועשית, I would have thought that just as the original ark was meant to be his, personally, i.e. to be paid for out of his own pocket, so the permanent ark was also meant to be paid for by himself. Alternatively, Moses could have thought that G'd spoke of the very ark Moses had already made and that now it was to be overlaid with gold inside and out, have staves attached to it, etc. In order to prevent any misuderstandings, the Torah wrote ועשו.

ונתת את הכפרת על הארון מלמעלה, “you are to position the lid on top of the Ark.” This is followed by the instruction to place the Tablets inside the Ark after G-d would give these to Moses. How is this to be understood? As of the previous month of Ellul, when Moses had received the second set of Tablets they had rested in the ark which Moses had constructed prior to ascending the Mountain in order to receive them, as pointed out in Deuteronomy 10,3, when he said: “I made an Ark of shittim wood, and then I proceeded to carve out the two stone Tablets.” On the 25th day of Kislev following, when the construction of the Tabernacle and all its furnishings had been completed, he put the lid on the ark for the first time. This is what the commandment: “place the lid on the Ark,” (in our verse) refers to. The Tablets remained in the ark which Moses had constructed until the first day of Nissan when the Tabernacle together with all its furnishings was anointed. Concerning that Ark, the Torah said that Moses was to place the Tablets inside the Holy Ark. This was the Ark constructed by Betzalel. Of this Ark the Torah wrote: ואל הארון תתן את העדות, “and put the Testimony inside the Ark.”According to the plain meaning of the text (according to Ibn Ezra), Moses had already placed the Tablets inside, and after that he placed the lid on the Ark. Seeing that the lid had been mentioned already several times it states once more that once the lid had been put on the Ark the entire Tabernacle could be considered as having been completed.