Exodus Ki Tisa

Ki Tisa
Exodus 30:11 −34:35

I. Summary

A. Ki Tisa = (God said to Moses: when you take a) “census” (of the Israelite men)

B. God tells Moses to take a census of the Israelites and collect a half-shekel (significance of no more and no less?) from every male over 20 years of age. (Ex 30:11-16)

C. God tells Moses to 1) construct a water basin for priests to use for maintaining ritual cleanliness and 2) prepare annointing oil and incense mixtures (for public but not private use) for the ordination of the priests. Bezalel and Oholiab, skilled artisans, are assigned to make objects for the priests and the Tabernacle. (Ex 30:17-31:11)

D. God tells Moses to instruct Israelites to keep the Shabbat during Tabernacle construction as a sign of the covenant (holy time more important than holy place/Tabernacle). God gives Moses the two tablets inscribed with “the finger of God”. (Ex 31:12-18)

E. The Israelites lose patience (and/or faith) and demand a visible sign of God's Presence so ask Aaron to build them a golden calf (which breaks the terms of the covenant). Upon being told by God of the golden calf, Moses successfully implores God not to destroy the people. (Ex 32:1-14)

F. Moses comes down from the mountain. When he sees the idol, he breaks the two tablets on which the Ten Commandments are written. He grinds the idol to powder and makes the Israelites drink it in water (analogy to ordeal of drinking water for suspected adulteress … Num 5:11-31?). Aaron makes excuses (for letting Israelites get out of control). Moses commands the men of Levi to “slay sibling, neighbor and kin” in God’s name resulting in death of 3,000 people (righteous killing?). God punishes the Israelites further with a plague. (Ex 32:15-35)

G. God instructs Moses to take the Israelites to the Promised Land but God refuses to go in their midst since Israelites are stiff-necked and lest God destroy them. (33:1-11)

H. Moses wins God’s forgiveness and persuades God to personally lead the Israelites, i.e. reversing God’s previous decision not to lead (“I will not go in your midst” … Ex 33:3). Emboldened, Moses asks to see God. (33:12-18)

I. God agrees to reveal God’s essential nature (“all My goodness”) to Moses but prohibits Moses from seeing God's face. God permits Moses to see only the shadow/back of God from a cleft in a rock and protected by God’s hand. (Ex 33:19-23)

J. God instructs Moses to carve two tablets so that God can inscribe “the words that were on the first tablets”. Moses carves the tablets and goes up the mountain again. (34:1-5)

K. God reveals Adonai's thirteen divine attributes to Moses on Mount Sinai: 1) compassion for a person about to sin, 2) compassion after a person sins and repents, 3) compassion for both Jews and non-Jews, 4) graciousness to those who have merit, 5) graciousness to those without merit, 6) patience with violators in hope they will repent, 7) kindness to those in need of kindness, 8) faithfulness to those who do God’s will, 9) remembering kindness for a thousand generations, 10) forgiving of deliberate wrongdoing, 11) forgiving of malicious rebellion, 12) forgiving of unintentional wrongdoing, 13) willingness to cancel punishment for those who are repentant and for their descendants. (34:6-7)

L. Moses asks God to forgive Israelites (for golden calf) and to take back the Israelites “”for Your own”.(Exod. 34:7-9)

M. God renews the covenant and warns Moses against forming alliances with the inhabitants of the lands against which the Israelites will advance. (34:10-17)

N. God commands the Israelites concerning the Pilgrimage Festivals (Shavuot, Sukkot, and Pesach). (34:18-26)

O. God tells Moses to write down the terms of the covenant on the tablets (contrary to God’s stated intent to inscribe “the words that were on the first tablets” ... 34:1). Moses remains on Mount Sinai for forty days (during which time Moses neither eats nor drinks). Moses comes down with a radiant face (a result of speaking with God). Moses instructs the Israelites “concerning all that God had imparted to him on Mount Sinai”. Moses then veils his face and takes it off only when speaking to God and delivering God’s words to Israelites. (34:27-35)

II. Commentary (Plaut, various websites and prior Hevreh discussions)

A. Counting (census) – Appears here as 1) necessity for collecting silver used for Tabernacle, 2) preventative re: plague (Ex.30:12) and 3) expiation/atonement to protect people counted (Ex. 30:15). Counting considered a privilege belonging to God whereas humans conducting a census without divine approval place themselves in danger. Counting is a divine act. Humans cannot count love, faith, patience or belief but God can. Note Talmudic dicta not to count Israelites directly; hence the half-shekels are counted rather than the people (explains why all must pay the same amount).

B. Timing of golden calf re: Tabernacle - Almost everything between Moses ascending mountain (Ex. 24:18) and golden calf (Ex. 32:1) is about the building of the Sanctuary and the priestly garments. If Tabernacle construction viewed as a response to the Torah's most infamous idolatrous incident, Tabernacle construction should follow golden calf story.

C. Timing of golden calf re: later (hundreds of years) history - Jeroboam I (first King of Northern Kingdom after post-Solomon split into North and South) introduced calf/bull worship in order to detach people from allegiance to Temple in Jerusalem (“the king took counsel and made two golden calves … You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough. This is your god (lower case), O Israel” … First Kings 12:28). Some say Jeroboam tale is “primary” and Exodus story legitimizes Jerusalem Temple and illegitimizes northern worship sanctuaries (Israelites become “Jews” when worship decentralized from Jerusalem temple.) Others say Jeroboam could not have succeeded without pre-existing propensity to favor bull worship, i.e. Exodus happened first and planted ancient seed of post-Exodus idol worship.

D. Sin of golden calf – Golden calf not an idol but the new link with God (meant to replace Moses as intermediary with God). Reinforced by gold used both for idol (Divine throne as Israelites imagined it) and for cherubim on ark cover (also Divine throne). Note that cherubim were permitted and even required by God but golden idol was neither. Hence, Israelite sin was breach of trust rather than rejection of God or a return to idolatry.

E. Positive aspects of golden calf incident – 1) Forging a community - “When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron” (Ex 32:1). This is the first time that the group that left Egypt is described as having gathered as a kahal, “community,” rather than a chorus of malcontents. 2) Growth opportunity for Moses - He had been passive but now takes decisive action (shatters the tablets, persuades God not to destroy people and changes God’s mind about personally leading people). Unlike Aaron, who refers to the Israelites as a “they” who are inclined to evil, Moses identifies with the people. Suggests importance of remaining cognizant of covenantal values even in the midst of a crisis.

F. Moses’ seeing “shadow” of God – Having had his request to see God denied, Moses instead finds himself humbly bowing low in the cleft of a rock. Some say that all Moses really saw was the shadow that falls on our lives when God is no longer there. He was able to distinguish between those actions and situations that are filled with holiness and those that are not. Others teach that God's presence may be perceived only after the fact, when we look back on the experiences of our lives. These interpretations recognize God’s acknowledgment of the legitimacy of our need to be connected more directly to what is godly and to somehow “see” God's presence v. simply believing and having faith in God.

G. Why did Moses break tablets? – 1) To punish Israelites for their apostasy (renunciation of faith). 2) To save Israelites from God's wrath, i.e. if Israelites hadn't yet received the laws, they couldn't be expected to keep them! 3) To deflect some of God's anger onto himself - When he realized that there was no future hope for Israel, he linked his own fate with theirs and broke the tablets so that God would have to save Israelites in order to forgive him.

H. Radiance in Moses’ face - "And as Moses came down from the mountain bearing the two tablets of the Pact, Moses was not aware that the skin of his face was radiant, since he had spoken with God. Aaron and all the Israelites … shrank from coming near him." (Ex 34:29-30). Commentators have analyzed the origin of these rays, variously called "beams of splendor," "divine rays of glory," or (incorrectly) "horns" (“ka-ran” = radiant v. “ke-ren” = horn - basis for the belief that Jews have horns i.e. Christian tradition of “transfiguration of Moses”).

I. Nature of God – Jewish tradition views Ex. 34:7 as setting out the 13 attributes of God v. Maimonides claims 13 attributes describes actions of God but not the nature of God, i.e. text only shows God was unknowable.

J. Tablets as object – Note irony of tablets given by God being tangible object representative of God and covenant (approximating prohibited idol?).

K. Constancy of faith – Questioning of faith in God by Moses (indicated by his request of God to see God’s face as an expression of their ultimate and intimate relationship?) and by Israelites (in golden calf incident?) suggests that faith is not necessarily constant. Should we regularly test our faith, i.e. does periodic questioning and subsequent recovery of faith strengthen faith?

L. Issues re: individual roles of Israelites, Moses, God and Aaron in golden calf

1. Israelites – i) Why did Israelites build golden calf? Anxiety and restlessness over absence of visible leadership (organizational shortcoming)? Sense of abandonment by God (loss of faith)? ii) What was Israelite sin? Breach of God’s trust rather than idolatry (see II.D. above). Post-exilic idol worship arguably OK (see II.C. above) so making of golden calf in and of itself not a sin. It’s possible that when people saw Aaron himself making the golden calf, they thought it was officially ok to worship.

2. Moses – i) Did Moses over-react when he a) broke tablets = voiding covenant (why did he break them? Was it his call to make?) and b) commanded Levites to “slay sibling, neighbor and kin” in God’s name resulting in death of 3,000 people (Moses’ anger or intermediary for God’s anger shown through Moses as God’s intermediary?). ii) Note Moses’ role in convincing God not to destroy Israelites (reminiscent of Abraham’s negotiation with God to save Sodom - Gen. 18:23-30). Suggests flexibility and compassion of God? iii) What was Moses’ motivation for asking to see God? Reassurance in light of doubt and anxiety? Emboldened by having persuaded God to not destroy Israelites and personally lead people? Need perceived by Moses to allow him to more effectively lead Israelites? iv) Why did Moses need to go up on a mountain and alone to meet with God? What was so special about all of this that he had to be completely isolated from the Israelites? Was it a spiritual journey (up on the mountain all by himself with no food or water but just listening to God)?

3. God – i) Was God compassionate when Moses persuaded God not to destroy Israelites? Reconcile with plague brought upon Israelites by God and God allowing Moses to command Levites to kill 3,000. ii) God responds positively to Moses’ request to see God (lets Moses see God’s shadow) yet is angry at Israelites for their desire to see sign of God’s presence (embodied in their minds in golden calf). iii) Did God have some responsibility? by exposing Israelites to idolatry by bringing them to Egypt? by giving Israelites gold (borrowed from Egyptians) when they left Egypt?

4. Aaron – Was Aaron a collaborator? a well-intended victim of the people (trying delay tactics until Moses’ return)? an ineffective and non-confrontational leader of the moment? Arguably, Aaron should not have been held responsible for golden calf (he hadn’t yet been appointed kohen gadol). The people as a whole gave him the authority to act on their behalf and he simply made the casting of the statue, i.e. Aaron responded to the will of the people at the time. Does one have no responsibility because one doesn’t have an official title or are we supposed to speak up and do what we can no matter what our title is? Lesson = even spiritual leaders are capable of leading or following their people up the wrong spiritual tree even when they should know better … we should never follow anyone blindly .

M. What parasha means for us today

1. Dealing with authority – Moses’ “negotiation” with God suggests we respect authority but also stand up to authority for what we believe is right and just (tempered by 1) need to recognize greater good outweighing personal preference and 2) possibility of poor personal judgment).

2. Power of prayer - Moses' prayers (his requests of God) allowed the Israelites a second chance and saved them from destruction by God. Similarly, we can improve our lives by tapping into the power of prayer.

3. Importance of mercy and forgiveness - God giving Israelites a second chance through the second set of tablets and renewal of covenant demonstrates the importance of mercy and forgiveness. God’s behavior tells us 1) we can recover from our mistakes and 2) we should show same merciful and forgiving behavior as God showed to Israelites.

4. Renewal - Pesach is observed in the spring, the time when all of nature is renewing itself. We, too, can renew ourselves by realizing that repentance and forgiveness are available to us all during the year.

5. Attributes of God – Recognition of attributes of God should motivate us to portray similar attributes in our own lives.

Revised 3/5/10