Exodus 30:11-34:35 – 1 Kings 18:1-39 – Luke 9:1-17

This week's edition of The Set Table contains:

Questions and Commentary on Ki Tissa
Chayyei Yeshua - A Devotional Commentary on the Besora Reading
In Summary
Looking Ahead

Questions & Commentary on Parashat Ki Tissa

1. This week's parasha tells us that after Moses' encounters with God in the Tent of Meeting, his attendant would not stir from the Tent (Exodus 33:11). Translations of this verse normally render the name of Moses' attendant as Joshua son of Nun. The Hebrew for "son" here is bin not the normal ben. Why is bin used instead of the more common ben?

Rabbi Jonathan Kaplan

Normally in the Torah, when you have the phrase "son of," you expect to find the form of the noun for "son" ben. Here in our verse, Exodus 33:11, you find instead bin. This is indeed the form of the noun you find when pronouns are attached to the word as in the Aqeda when the angel speaks with Abraham after his near sacrifice of Isaac. There he commends Abraham, "Because you have done this and have not withheld your son (binkha), your favored one" (Genesis 22:16). Historians of Hebrew Grammar, on basis of comparison with other Semitic languages, tell us that bin in Exodus 33:11 is actually the older pronunciation of the word, and not the one current when the Masoretes were providing vowel points for the text in the 10th century C.E. In preserving the pronunciation bin-Nun, they were thus preserving an older pronunciation of Joshua's name.

Nachmanides (13th century C.E. Spanish commentator) understands the phrase bin-Nun not as a name telling Joshua's lineage but as a nickname, binun, which comes from the same root as the word for "understanding" bina. Joshua is thus "Joshua the understanding one." Nachmanides does not derive his understanding of Joshua's name simply from his vast understanding of the Hebrew language. Standing behind it is an understanding of Joshua as a leader who had cultivated the values of chokhma ("wisdom") and bina ("understanding") through his relationship with Moses. These were the values that would enable him to take Moses' place as leader of the Jewish people. After Moses' death, the Torah describes him in just such terms.

. . . The period of wailing and mourning for Moses came to an end. Now Joshua bin-Nun was filled with the spirit of chokhma because Moses had laid his hands upon him; and the Israelites heeded him just as the LORD commanded Moses.

Deuteronomy 34:8-9

What enabled Joshua to reach a place where he exhibited the important leadership traits of understanding and wisdom? First, Joshua was mentored by a person who himself exhibited these traits, Moses. Their mentoring relationship lasted well over 40 years and enabled Joshua to be able to lead the people. There is an important practical lesson here: one should seek out mentors who exhibit the traits one seeks to exhibit in one's character. Just as Moses possessed wisdom and understanding, so also Joshua came to exhibit those traits. Second, Joshua's character was also shaped by his encounter with God. As our verse tells us, Joshua "would not stir from the Tent." Joshua sought to remain in the place of God's presence and thus sought to orientate his life around the service of God in the world. Not only through his relationship with Moses but also through his encounter with God were the values of chokma and bina cultivated in his life.

Yeshua also exhibited the same type of zeal for mentoring and the presence of God in his youth. In the besora of Luke we hear the following story,

Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Yeshua stayed behind and his parents did not know it. . . . When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. . . . And Yeshua increased in wisdom and in years and in divine and human favor.

Luke 2:41-43, 45-46, 52

Like Joshua, Yeshua sought never to stir from the place of God's presence and thus grew in both understanding and wisdom, the traits of the leader of Israel.

2. Why did Moses destroy the first set of tablets?

Rabbi Jonathan Kaplan

When Moses comes down from meeting with God, he comes up the Israelites in the midst of their devotion to the golden calf. Our parasha recounts Moses' response to their idolatry, "When Moses approached the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing, and he became enraged. He threw down the tablets and broke them at the base of the mountain" (Exodus 32:19). What is striking about our passage is that the Torah does not tell us here what motivated Moses' rage. Exodus Rabba, the late haggadic commentary on Exodus offers three possible motivations for Moses' actions.

Exodus Rabba, first, offers an interpretation that speaks to a greater moral lesson in Moses' actions; Moses wanted to teach Israel not to believe a report of evil action until one has seen it in person:

You find that when the blessed Holy One said to Moses, "Go, descend, for your people have acted sinfully" (Exodus 32:7), Moses was still grasping the tablets in his hand, and refused to believe that Israel had sinned. He said, "If I do not see it, I will not believe it." As it says, "As soon as he approached the camp, etc." (Exodus 32:19). He did not break them until he had seen with his own eyes. . . . Moses intended to teach Israel appropriate moral behavior. Although a person may hear something from the most trustworthy source, it is forbidden to receive the testimony or act on it until one has seen with his own eyes.

Next, Exodus Rabba suggests that Moses broke the tablets so that Israel, not having received the tablets from God, would not be obligated by them or their attendant punishments.

A parable of a prince who took for himself a wife and wrote for her a marriage contract which he gave to the bride's agents [the text is unclear to me here]. After some time, an evil report circulated about her. What did the agent do? He tore up the marriage document, saying, "It would be better for her to be judged as an unmarried woman than as one married." Thus Moses did. He said, "If I do not break the tablets, Israel will be unable to endure, as it says, ‘He that sacrifices to gods, God will destroy' (Exodus 22:19)." For this reason, he broke them saying to the blessed Holy One, "They do not know what was written therein."

Finally, Exodus Rabba suggests that Moses committed a transgression by breaking the tablets and, thus, identified himself with Israel's sinful behavior. Moses was such a righteous person that God would not destroy either him or sinful Israel.

"I looked and I beheld and you had sinned against the LORD your God." When he saw that they would not endure, he stood with them and broke the tablets, saying to the blessed Holy One, "They have sinned and I have sinned for I broke the tablets. If you forgive them, forgive me also. As it says, ‘If you will forgive their sin,' thus forgive mine; ‘and if you do not' forgive them do not forgive me either, but ‘blot me out of your book which you have written' (Exodus 32:32).

Thus, tradition sees Moses modeling the values of deep concern for Israel's future and appropriate moral behavior. What other lessons can we learn from Moses' breaking the first set of Tablets?