Parashat Vayakhel (Exodus 35:1-38:20)
(Parashat Vayakhel and the subsequent Parashat Pekudei are often read together in the same week, in a non leap Jewish year. See https://aish.com/double-torah-portion/.)
Exodus 35
35:3 Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day.
Comment: Jews don’t cook with fire on Sabbath. Instead they have cooked the meals ahead of time. That may be why the day before the sabbath is called the preparation day in the New Testament (e.g., Mark 15:42).
Practically, this saves the work of cooking for the day and one can relax better and meet with his Creator with less distractions. Fire is kindled after the sabbath to signal the start of the new week, in a ceremony called Havdalah (separation). See, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havdalah.
Exodus 36
36:5 And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make.
Comment: Compare this with Exodus 32:1-3. These people were enthusiastic in building the golden calf and suffered punishment severely. Now they know what is the proper way of worshiping the true Gd, their enthusiasm turns into a positive characteristic trait for them. I grew up in China, where the old tradition was idol worship and the new tradition is atheism. I found quite a few examples where idol worshipers were transformed into earnest believers of the true Gd. Unlike the atheists, they already had an urge to look for something beyond themselves to help them, they knew that they themselves were not sufficient. Once they get to know about the true Gd and have repudiated their former false religion, they have the potential to become enthusiastic believers and valiant warriors for the true Gd.
Exodus 37
37:1 And Bezaleel made the ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half was the length of it, and a cubit and a half the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it:
Comment: A cubit is an elbowlength, which is 6 handbreaths. So the perimeter of the top surface of the ark is (2.5+1.5+2.5+1.5)*6=48 handbreadths. The ark contains the two tablets inscribed with the ten commandments from the Torah.
37:2 And he overlaid it with pure gold within and without, and made a crown of gold to it round about.
Comment: Based on the computation in v1, the perimeter of the ark’s golden crown is (2.5+1.5+2.5+1.5)*6=48 handbreadths, corresponding to the 48 cities assigned to the Levites (Numbers 37:5) who teach Torah (Deuteronomy 33:8-10). The crown of the ark corresponds to the crown of Torah, which is said to be acquired with 48 virtues in Pirkei Avot 6:6 (https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.6.6) . (One of these 48 virtues stresses the importance of citing other peoples’ work.)
(For the function of the 48 Levite cities as centers of Torah instruction, see: Harvie M. Conn, Manuel Ortiz， Urban Ministry: The Kingdom, the City the People of God， InterVarsity Press, Feb 12, 2010 , p89.)
37:10 And he made the table of shittim wood: two cubits was the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof:
Comment: The table’s perimeter is (2+1+2+1)cubits*6handbreadth/cubit=36handbreaths. The table may allude to the Jewish kingship/rulership, which belongs to David and his descendants. Scripture allusions may be found at David’s Psalm 23:5 “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies”, as well as at Ezekiel 44:3 “the prince, he shall sit … to eat bread before the LORD”.
37:11 And he overlaid it with pure gold, and made thereunto a crown of gold round about.
Comment: The golden crown of the table’s has a perimeter of (2+1+2+1)cubits*6handbreadth/cubit=36handbreaths. This crown of the table in Jewish tradition symbolizes the Jewish kingship/rulership (https://aish.com/84338802/). Naturally we may wonder: does this 36handbreadths imply that kingship requires 36 virtues? However, the Jewish tradition says that kingship requires 30 virtues (Pirkei Avot 6:6). [The value 30 is related to the numerical value of Judah יהודה (https://www.betemunah.org/thirty.html), the name of the tribe to which kingship belongs until the time of the messiah (Genesis 49:10).]
How do we explain this difference between 36 and 30?
It may be possible that the IDEAL kingship, i.e., that of the messiah, requires 30+6=36 virtues.
The additional 6 virtues come from the Holy Spirit for the ideal king messiah (https://aish.com/48944241/), as mentioned in Isaiah 11:2: “And the spirit of the LRD shall rest upon him, the spirit of (1) wisdom and (2) understanding, the spirit of (3) counsel and (4) might, the spirit of (5) knowledge and of (6) the fear of the LRD.”
If so, then the number related to the ideal kingship is 36, which matches the same numerical value of Leah לאה, a maternal ancestor of the Messiah, instead of the numerical value 30 of the patriarch Judah יהודה. This hints at the New Testament account of the birth of the Messiah, as conceived from the Holy Spirit and born by a woman.
The New Testament accounts for the Messiah’s ministry starting at age 30, when he receives the Holy Spirit, which endows him with the extra 6 spiritual gifts for the messiah. These values also add to 36. (Source: Luke 3:22-23 “And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, …”)
37:25 And he made the incense altar of shittim wood: the length of it was a cubit, and the breadth of it a cubit; it was foursquare; and two cubits was the height of it; the horns thereof were of the same.
Comment: The incense altar has a perimeter of (1+1+1+1)cubit*6handbreath/cubit=24 handbreaths. The incense altar is a place of service for the priests, who are descendants of Aaron (Exodus 30).
37:26 And he overlaid it with pure gold, both the top of it, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns of it: also he made unto it a crown of gold round about.
Comment: The incense altar’s golden grown has a perimeter of (1+1+1+1)cubit*6handbreath/cubit=24 handbreaths. This corresponds to the 24 shifts of the priests (I Chronicles 24). So the crown of the incensed altar symbolizes the crown of priesthood. Pirkei avot 6:6 mentions that the crown of priesthood requires 24 virtues.
Since priesthood comes from the male descendants of Aaron and the kingship comes from the male descendants of David, many Jews cannot “obtain these two crowns” by birth. However, the crown of Torah is accessible to all Jews, from any family (https://www.sefaria.org/Rabbeinu_Bahya%2C_Shemot.25.11?lang=bi) ;
and the crown of the torah is also the largest of the three crowns.
The crown of torah corresponds to the crown of ark, which is not only the largest, but is also the only crown located in the holy of holies. From the perspectives of the New Testament, “the crown of Torah (God’s word in writing)” corresponds to the crown of the Messiah in his highest divine identity, Gd’s word in flesh (John 1). Since the messiah also functions both as the king and as the high priest (Hebrews 4:14), he in fact (figuratively) wears all three crowns on his head (crown of Torah, crown of king, and crown of priest). His followers will reign together with him on the ideal earth in the thousand year millennium, teaching Gd’s words , bringing people to Gd. So they will also figuratively wear all three crowns: of the kings, priests, and the Bible teachers (Matthew 28:19-20). This is alluded to in the New Testament (Revelation 20).
Exodus 38
38:8 And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the lookingglasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Comment: In old times, mirrors (lookingglasses) were made of copper, and they were used by women who loved good appearances. In Rashi’s comments here, we see that the scripture phrase of the “women assembling’’ uses an uncommon Hebrew expression related to the“army’’. This uncommon usage can be applied to teach, that although the mirrors were used for seemingly very mundane purposes by the Israelite women to attract their husbands, Moses was taught to accept them for a very holy purpose- these mirrors were turned into a copper laver that was used to purify the priests who serve Gd. The uncommon word usage related to “army” is used to remind the readers that during the Egypt persecution, the Israelite women adorned themselves in front of those copper mirrors and attracted their husbands to keep producing children – who later became the army of Gd. On a deeper level, this is indeed a holy act.