XIII. And Moses hasted and did all that God Ex. 34 commanded him, and came down and made the tables <<and the tabernacle>>, and the vessels thereof, and the ark and the lamps and the table and the altar of burnt offerings and the altar 3 of incense and the shoulderpiece and the breastplate and the precious stones and the laver and the bases and all things that were shewn him. And he ordered all the vestures of the priests, the girdles and the rest, the mitre, the golden plate and the holy crown: he made also the anointing oil for the
priests, and the priests themselves he sanctified. And when all things were finished the cloud covered all of them. 2. 1 Then Moses cried unto the Lord, and God spake to him from the tabernacle saying: This is the law of the altar, whereby ye shall sacrifice unto me and pray for your souls. But as concerning that which ye shall offer me, offer ye of cattle the calf, the sheep and the she goat: but of fowls the turtle and the dove. 3, And
| Lev. 14 |
| Lev. 23 |
in the feast of weeks ye shall set bread before me and make me an offering for your fruits. 6. But the feast of trumpets shall be for an offering for your watchers, because therein I oversaw my creation, that ye may be mindful of the whole world. In the beginning of the year, when ye show them me, I will acknowledge the number of the dead and of them that are born, and the fast of mercy. For ye shall fast unto me for your souls, that the promises of your fathers may be fulfilled. 7. Also the feast of tabernacles bring ye to me: ye shall take for me the pleasant fruit of the tree, and boughs of palm-tree and willows and cedars, and branches of myrrh: and I will remember the whole earth in rain, and the measure of the seasons shall be established, and I will order the stars and command the clouds, and the winds shall sound and
the lightnings run abroad, and there shall be a storm of thunder, and this shall be for a perpetual sign. Also the nights shall yield dew, 1 as I spake after the flood of the earth 8. when I (or Then he) gave him precept as concerning the year of the life of Noe, and said to him: These are the years which I ordained after the weeks wherein I visited the city of men, at what time I shewed them (or him) the place of birth and the colour (or and the serpent), and I (or he) said: This is. the place of which I taught the first man saying: If thou transgress not that I bade thee, all things shall be subject unto thee. But he transgressed my ways and was persuaded of his wife, and she was deceived by the serpent. And then was death ordained unto the generations of men. 9. And furthermore the Lord shewed (or, And the Lord said further: I shewed) him the ways of paradise 2 and said unto him: These are the ways which men have lost by not walking in them, because they have sinned against me.
10. And the Lord commanded him concerning the salvation of the souls of the people and said: If they shall walk in my ways I will not forsake them, but will alway be merciful unto them, and will bless their seed, and the earth shall haste to yield her fruit, and there shall be rain for them to
increase their gains, and the earth shall not be barren. Yet verily I know that they will corrupt their ways, and I shall forsake them, and they will forget the covenants which I made with their fathers. Yet will I not forget them for ever: for in the last days they shall know that because of their sins their seed was forsaken; for I am faithful in my ways.
113:3 XIII. 1, 2. altar: thuribulum (lit. censer).
114:1 2-7. This short section contains practically all that is said of the ceremonial law. It is remarkably "scrappy" and unsystematic.
114:2 4-7. This passage is well illustrated by one in the Talmud. Tract. Rosh ha-Shana (tr. Schwab, p. 63): A 4 époques différentes de l'année, le monde est jugé par Dieu: à Pâques pour la récolte; à Pentecôte pour les produits des arbres; à la féte du nouvel-an tous les êtres de la terre passent devant l'Éternel comme les troupeaux devant le berger, puisqu'il est dit (Ps. xxxiii. 15): Celui qui a créé tous les cœurs, qui connaît toutes leurs actions (il sait et scrute tout). Enfin, aux Tabernacles, la question des eaux sera résolue.
This corresponds fairly well with our text. The same four feasts are spoken of in connexion with the Passover. The harvest is not mentioned; it is only said constituetis in conspectu meo panem. At Pentecost (the Feast of Weeks) we have facietis mihi oblationem pro fructibus vestris. At the Feast of Trumpets (the New Year feast) the words are no p. 115 doubt obscure, but they contain mention of a review of the whole creation. "But the Feast of Trumpets shall be for an offering to (or for) your watchers (prospeculatoribus vestris: or pro spec. I suppose angelic guardians to be meant), inasmuch as I reviewed (praespexi, perspexi) the whole creation, that ye may be mindful of the whole world" (the connexion of this clause is obscure): "and at the beginning of the year I will acknowledge, when ye show them, the number of your dead, and of them that are born, and the fast of mercy. For ye shall fast unto me for your souls," etc. This represents the sense of the text as I understand it. Lastly, of the Feast of Tabernacles it is said: "I will remember the whole earth in rain." The comment on this passage of the Talmud makes it clear that this is the meaning of the "question des eaux": prayer for rain was offered at the Feast of Tabernacles (cf. Taanith I.).
116:1 p. 115 7. fin., 8. "As I spake after the flood of the earth, at what time I gave commandment concerning the year of the life of Noah, and said unto him.. These are the years which I ordained after that I visited the city of men (i.e. at the flood) at the time when I showed them (? him) the place of generation and the colour, and said: This is the place whereof I taught the first-formed man," etc. This is the text of VR, p. 116 and on the whole it seems the best, but it is not at all clear. As is remarked in the Introduction, there may be a reference to a passage in Jubilees. It seems to be implied that God showed Paradise to Noah. The words, "and the colour: et colorem" are particularly puzzling. Ought we to read et colubrum "and the serpent"? Two lines below we have de colubro. Or is there a reference to what we find in the Revelation of Moses in Jerahmeel 92:10? God showed him the heavenly temple, and the four different hues in which the tabernacle was made, by means of angels clothed in blue, white, scarlet, and purple.
116:2 9. Here God seems certainly to show Paradise to Moses.