OFFERING Parts 2-3a The Ark, the Table and the Lampstand (Exo 25)

EXO 25
18 And you shall make two golden cherubim. Of hammered gold shall you make them, at the two [front] ends of the ark cover.

Rashi’s Commentary
Cherubim—They had the form of a child’s face (Sukkah 5a).

Of hammered gold shall you make—i.e. you should not make them separately (apart from the actual ark cover) and join them to the ends of the ark cover after they have been made, like goldsmith’s work which is called in old French souder (English solder)—but lay down a large mass of gold (lit., much gold) at the beginning of the construction of the ark cover and beat upon the middle part of it (the gold) with a hammer or with a mallet, so that its ends will project upward (stand out in relief), and then shape the cherubim out of the projecting edges.

. . . and above it were the cherubim of Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But of these things we cannot now discuss in detail. HEB 9:5

20 The cherubim shall have their wings spread upwards [parallel to their heads], overshadowing the ark cover with their wings [a space of ten handbreadths between the wings and the ark cover], with their faces toward one another; turned toward the ark cover shall be the faces of the cherubim.

Rashi’s Commentary
Their wings spread—i.e. that you shall not make their wings touching the body but spread high slightly above but almost on the same level with their heads so that the hollow space between the wings and the ark cover shall be ten handbreadths, as it is explained in Treatise Sukkah 5b.

11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,

12 saying with a loud voice:
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!” REV 5:11-12

24 And you shall overlay it with pure gold, and you shall make for it a gold molding all around [symbolizing the “crown of kingdom”].

Rashi’s Commentary
A gold molding—A symbol of the royal crown, for the table is an emblem of wealth and greatness, as may be seen from the fact that people speak of one’s “royal table” when they wish to state one is exceedingly wealthy (cf. Yoma 72b).

30 And you shall put on the table showbread before me at all times [“showbread,” lit., “face-bread,” so called because it had “faces” (i.e., surfaces) facing two (opposite) sides of the sanctuary].

. . . how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for him to do, nor for those with him, but only for the priests? MAT 12:4

The Lampstand
31 And you shall make a lampstand [candelabrum] of pure gold; of hammered work shall the lampstand be made [“of itself.” Moses being “stymied” by the task, the Holy One blessed be he said to him: “Cast the talent into the fire and it shall be made of itself.”] Its base, its [central] shaft [surmounted by the middle lamp, made in the form of a cup (for the oil and the wick)], its cups [golden ornaments projecting from the branches], its knobs [apple-shaped ornaments around the central branch] and its flowers [flower-shaped figures] shall all be [fashioned (without breaking anything off)] one piece with it [the one piece of gold].

Rashi’s Commentary
Of hammered work shall the lampstand be made—Meaning that it must not be made in separate pieces. Its branches and its lamps should not be made as separate limb—a kind of work called solderez in French, Engl, to solder, but the lampstand was to be made in its entirety from one piece of gold. He (who made it) beat it with the hammer and cut away with the implements of his craft thus making the branches spread out in this direction and in that (cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 61:1).

Shall the lampstand be made—By itself. Because Moses was puzzled by it (the work of the lampstand), the Holy One, blessed be he, said to him, “Cast the talent of gold into fire and it will be made by itself.” For this reason it does not say here ךְתֵּעָשֶׂה (Midrash Tanchuma, Beha’alotcha 3).

Its base—The foot below, which was made in form of a box, three legs coming out from it underneath.

Its shaft—Its middle shaft that rose from the central point of the base vertically upwards. On it was the middle lamp, made in the form of a cup into which to pour the oil and to put the wick.

Its cups—They were like that kind of cups which are made of glass and which are long and slender glass cups; in old French they are termed maderins (cf. Rashi on Gen 44:2). These, however, were made of gold and came out as projections from each branch to the number which Scripture enjoins for them. They were on the lampstand for embellishment only.

Its knobs—These were like apples, globular, projecting all round the middle branch (shaft), such as are made for candlesticks of princely houses (lit., which stand before the princes), and which are called pomeles in French, apple-shaped ornaments. Their number is stated in this section—how many knobs projected from it (the middle branch) and how much was left plain between one knob and the other.

And its flowers—Figures were made on it in the shape of flowers.

Shall all be one piece with it—All shall be of hammered work coming out of this block-shaped piece of gold, and not made separately and then attached to the main shaft.

For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread; this is called the Holy Place. HEB 9:2

32 And six branches projecting from its [the central shaft’s] sides—three lampstand branches from one side and three lampstand branches from the other side [slantwise, one above the other, all rising to the height of the middle branch].

Rashi’s Commentary
Projecting from its sides—On each side slantwise extending on high up to the level of the lampstand proper, i.e. of the middle branch. They came out from the middle branch, one above the other—the lowest being the longest, that above it being shorter than it, and the upper one even shorter than that, for the height of their tops was to be the same as the height of the middle branch—the seventh, the central one, from which the other six branches came out.

33 Three decorated cups shall be shaped like almond flowers on one branch, a knob and a flower, and three decorated cups shaped like almond flowers on one branch, a knob and a flower—so for six branches going out from the lampstand.

Rashi’s Commentary
Decorated—Heb. מְשֻׁקָּדִים, as the Targum [Onkelos] renders מְצַיְירִין. They were decorated in the way that is done on gold and silver vessels, a kind of work called in old French nieler.

A knob and a flower was also on each branch.

And three decorated cups, projecting from each branch.

40 Now see and make according to their pattern, which you are shown [here] in the mountain.

Rashi’s Commentary
Now see and make—See here, in the mountain, the pattern that I am showing you. This teaches you that Moses was puzzled about the workmanship of the lampstand until the Holy One, blessed be he, showed him the pattern of it in a lampstand of fire (Menachot 29a).

Our ancestors had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen. ACT 7:44

This work, “OFFERING Part 2-3a The Ark, the Table and the Lampstand (Exo 25),” is a derivative of:
[“Pentateuch with Rashi's Commentary on Exodus”] (https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Exodus?lang=bi) by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, used under Public Domain.

[“The Rashi Chumash on Exodus 25”] (https://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.25?ven=The_Rashi_chumash_by_Rabbi_Shraga_Silverstein&lang=en&aliyot=0) by [Rabbi Shraga Silverstein,] (https://www.sefaria.org/shraga-silverstein) used under [CC BY 3.0.] (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)

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