Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Exodo 31:2

I have called you by My name. I have given you a great distinction; comp. I have called by name Bezaleel (Ex. 31:2); and the distinction is further described in the words thou art mine.

ויקהל משה את כל עדת בני ישראל ויאמר אליהם אלה הדברים אשר צוה ה' לעשות אותם “Moses assembled the entire community of the Children of Israel and said to them: “these are the things that Hashem commanded.” If you take a good look at the order of these things you will find that the construction of the Tabernacle and all its appurtenances have been mentioned many times over. G’d mentioned it to Moses on two separate occasions. The first time it has been mentioned in detail occurred in Exodus 25,2 where the Torah commanded that Moses should accept a contribution from the people, listing the various materials needed for its construction. The second time this commandment is phrased more generally in Ki Tissa (31,2). The third time it is mentioned by Moses at this point in a general way when he commanded them that every wise-hearted person amongst them should get involved and not only donate materials but participate in the conversion of these materials for the construction. The fourth time the Torah reports that the instructions had been carried out (36,8). The Torah mentions the word ויעש, “he constructed” in connection with every stage of the building of the Tabernacle and its components. The fifth time the Torah mentions the Tabernacle and all its components is in Exodus 39,33-42 where separate mention is made of all the components handed over to Moses after they had been completed. The reason the Torah troubles itself to mention all this on five separate occasions is to demonstrate how beloved the Tabernacle and its construction was to G‘d. In Numbers 8,19 where the name בני ישראל occurs five times in the same verse in which the Torah warns that the Israelites must avoid becoming victims of G’d’s retribution, the reason for using the name בני ישראל five times in a row when pronouns would have sufficed is also in order to demonstrate how beloved the people were in the eyes of G’d at that time.
Our sages (Vayikra Rabbah 2,5) comment by illustrating the matter with a parable. A father who had an only son of whom he was extremely fond sent him off to school. When the son would come back, the father would ask him: “did you eat my son, did you drink my son, do you want to go to sleep my son?” We find a similar demonstration of how G’d reports matters which He liked when looking at the conversations conducted by Eliezer, servant of Avraham when he went to secure a wife for Yitzchak. Eliezer’s words are repeated by the Torah in great detail (Genesis, chapter 24). This prompted the sages in Bereshit Rabbah 60,8 to say that the mundane conversations of an Eliezer were more pleasing to G‘d than even the Torah-inspired discourses of later Torah scholars.” The truth of this is best illustrated when we reflect on the fact that the Torah devoted only a single word, or even letter, in order to inform us of some of its commandments. This is so in spite of the fact that the principal function of the Torah is to teach us the commandments.

“See, I have singled out by name Bezalel” [31:2]. The verse teaches us that there was nobody among the Israelites who was appropriate to work on the Tabernacle. They were like peasants in Egypt. They could only dig clay and make bricks. However, they could not work with silk and gold. Therefore, the verse praises Bezalel that he was very wise and could do all the skills for the Tabernacle with gold and silk and other skills. He was only twelve years old when the prophecy came to him.⁹Bahya, Exodus, 31:2.

ובצלאל בן אורי וגו׳ עשה את כל אשר צוה ה' את משה AND BEZALEEL THE SON OF URI etc. MADE ALL THAT THE LORD COMMANDED MOSES — It is not stated here: אשר צֻוָּה (Bezaleel made all that he had been commanded), but “[Bezaleel made] all that the Lord commanded Moses” — even regarding such things which his teacher (Moses) did not tell him, his own opinion was in agreement with what had been told to Moses on Sinai (Jerusalem Talmud Peah 1:1; Bereishit Rabbah 1:14). [For Moses bade Bezaleel to make the vessels first and the Tabernacle afterwards but Bezaleel said to him: “Surely, it is the way of the world (the usual way) first to build a house and then to place the household utensils in it!” He (Moses) replied to him: “So, indeed, did I hear from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He”. Moses further said to him: (בצלאל), you must have been sitting in the shadow of God (בצל אל), for certainly did thus God command me!” And consequently Bezaleel made the Tabernacle first and afterwards he made the vessels (cf. Berakhot 55a).