Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Exodo 35:35

It is worth recalling that the reason the Torah spends so much space on the details of this list of the descendants of Cham is to inform us about how many nations were descended from him is to make us aware that Avraham, a descendant of Shem, merited to become the father of the Jewish nation. The Torah hints that the only reason that there was a need for seventy nations in the first place was to ensure that out of all these there would emerge at least the one nation that G’d has chosen to become special to Him.
Our sages (Tanchuma Vayeshev 1) have illustrated the matter by means of a parable. When someone loses a pearl on the beach, he will bring a sieve and sieve the entire sand on the beach in order to retrieve his pearl. Once he has found his pearl he throws the sand back on the beach. The parable intends to illustrate that just as all that sand on the beach only serves to yield up the one pearl, so there was no need for G’d to have all that many different nations except for that large number to eventually yield a Jewish nation. The sages said further (Bereshit Rabbah 1,8) that the concept of a Jewish nation had preceded the concept of all these other nations. We know that in G’d’s mind any end product had been carefully envisioned long before it would become manifest. This is also why the Jewish people did not appear on the stage of history until all the other nations already were in existence.
Normal intelligence dictates that any end product must have been planned before it was brought into existence so that of course it existed in concept long before it was actualized. It is possible to prove this from the construction of the Holy Tabernacle where the Torah specifically instructed Betzalel (Exodus 35,32) ולחשוב מחשבות, “to plan appropriate thoughts,” (for the construction of golden and silver furnishings for the Tabernacle).

SEE, I HAVE CALLED BY NAME BEZALEL THE SON OF URI, THE SON OF HUR. G-d said to Moses, See, I have called by name, and Moses said to Israel, See, the Eternal hath called by name.²⁰⁴And the question appears: Why was that special designation called for? The answer is that it was needed because etc. The reason for this is because Israel in Egypt had been crushed under the work in mortar and in brick,²⁰⁵Above, 1:14. and had acquired no knowledge of how to work with silver and gold, and the cutting of precious stones, and had never seen them at all. It was thus a wonder that there was to be found amongst them such a great wise-hearted man who knew how to work with silver and gold, and in cutting of stones [for setting] and in carving of wood, a craftsman, an embroiderer, and a weaver.²⁰⁶See further, 35:35. For even amongst those who study before the experts, you cannot find one who is proficient in all these crafts. And even those who know them and are used to doing them, if their hands are continually engaged in [work with] lime and mud, lose the ability to do with them such artistic and delicate work. Moreover, he [i.e. Bezalel] was a great Sage in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge,²⁰⁷Verse 3. to understand the secret of the Tabernacle and all its vessels, why they were commanded and to what they hinted. Therefore G-d said to Moses that when he sees this wonder he should know that I filled him with the spirit of G-d,²⁰⁷Verse 3. to know all these things in order that he would make the Tabernacle. For it was His Will to make the Tabernacle in the wilderness, and He created him for His glory,²⁰⁸See Isaiah 43:7. And in Chapter Kinyan Torah: “Whatsoever the Holy One, blessed be He, created in His world He created it but for His glory.” Bezalel thus was born for that sacred purpose, as the thought continues to be unfolded by Ramban. for it is He that called the generations from the beginning,²⁰⁹Isaiah 41:4. — See Vol. I, p. 59, Note 240, for important note on this topic. it being similar in meaning to the verse, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee.²¹⁰Jeremiah 1:5. The same type of expression we find in the verse, See that the Eternal hath given you the Sabbath; therefore He giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days.²¹¹Above, 16:29. Here too the sense of the verse is: “See the wonder…”
Our Rabbis have on this topic a Midrash:²¹²Shemoth Rabbah 40:2. “G-d showed Moses the book of the first man and told him: ‘Each person I have given a role from that moment on, and Bezalel too I have given a role already then, as it is said, See, I have called by name Bezalel.’” This is similar to what I have explained. The Rabbis have also said:²¹³Berachoth 55a. “Bezalel knew how to combine the letters with which heaven and earth were created.” The purport of this saying is that the Tabernacle alludes to these matters [heaven and earth], and he knew and understood its secret.

A Midrashic approach (Tanchuma 11): Betzalel, Oholiov, and all the artisans were endeavouring to erect the Tabernacle but were unable to do do so. This is the meaning of the words in 39,33: “they brought the Tabernacle to Moses.” The reason they brought it to Moses was their inability to erect it so that it would remain standing. Moses felt very badly about all this, seeing he had not had a personal share in working on the Tabernacle. G’d consoled him telling him that no other human being would be able to put up the Tabernacle, whereas as soon as Moses would begin to busy himself with erecting it, it would erect itself. This would teach the Jewish people that if Moses would be unable to erect the Tabernacle it would never become functional. G’d told him that He would record in the Torah that the Tabernacle had been erected by Moses personally, unassisted. This is the meaning of our verse in which Moses is instructed to erect the Tabernacle on the date mentioned. After hearing this, Moses said to G’d: “I do not know how to put it up.” G’d answered him: “you begin to busy yourself with it, and seeing that you have been shown it when it stood, it will stand by itself corresponding to the vision you have had.” This is the meaning of the words הוקם המשכן, “the Tabernacle was erected” (verse 17). G’d added further that He would write that the erection of the Tabernacle was credited to Moses. This is why the Torah also wrote: “Moses put up the Tabernacle” (verse 18). This is also what Psalms 45,15 may have had in mind when the sons of Korach wrote “the princess wearing an embroidered dress is led inside to the king;” this is a reference to the Tabernacle which contained many colours as we know from Exodus 35,35: “and embroider it with blue wool, purple wool and red wool.” The words תובל למלך in our verse from Psalms are a reference to Moses of whom the Torah says in Deut. 33,5 “he was king in Yeshurun.” The words בתולות אחריה “maidens in her train” in the same verse, refer to the Jewish people who are referred to as maidens in Song of Songs 4,12, seeing they are also defined as companions to the Lord, based on Psalms 122,8 where they are described: “for the sake of my kin and friends;” in each instance the Hebrew word for “my friends” being ריע. Finally, the last words in that verse in Psalms 45,15 are מובאות לך “brought to you,” a reference to Moses to whom the Tabernacle was brought in order for him to erect it.