Exo 30:13-31:17

EXO 30

13 This they shall give, each one who goes through the counting in the census: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as an offering to the Lord.

Bekhorot 50a:3

Rava says: The biblical sela coins, i.e., the shekels that must be given for the redemption of the firstborn son, are each three and one-third dinars in weight, not four dinars. As it is written: “The shekel is twenty gerahs” (Exo 30:13), and we translate “twenty gerahs” as twenty ma’oth. And it is taught in a baraita: Six silver ma’oth equal a dinar. If so, twenty ma’oth, which is equal to the sela of the law, is worth three and one-third dinars.

Rashi’s Commentary

This they shall give—He (God) showed him (Moses) a kind of fiery coin the weight of which was half a shekel and said to him, “Like this they shall give” (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 9).

Who goes through the counting—It is the practice of those who count animate beings to make these pass before them one after the other, counting them as they pass, and so too the word יַעִבֹר in “each one that passes under the herdsman’s staff” (Lev 27:32), and so the word תַּעִבֹרְנָה in “flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them” (Jer 33:13).

Half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary—After the weight of the shekel which I have appointed for you as the standard by which to weigh the shekels of the sanctuary, as, for instance, those shekels mentioned in the section dealing with personal evaluations (Lev 27:1-8) and in the section concerning inherited fields (Lev 27:16-21).

The shekel is twenty gerahs—For a full shekel is four zuzim and a zuz was originally five ma’oth only that they increased it by one sixth and so raised its value to six ma’oth of silver. Now half this shekel of which I have spoken to you they shall give as an offering to the Lord.

The shekel is twenty gerahs—Now he tells you exactly how much it is.

גֵרָה in Hebrew denotes what is called a ma’ah, a coin of small value. Likewise, “shall come to implore him for a piece of silver (אִגוֹרַתכֶּסֶף) or a loaf of bread” (1Sa 2:36).

So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” MAT 27:24

19 with which Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet.

Arakhin 19b:5

The Tosefta teaches with regard to one who says: It is incumbent upon me to donate the weight of my forearm [yad], that Rabbi Yehuda says: He brings a barrel and fills it with water and inserts his forearm up to the elbow. This indicates that the term yad denotes the forearm until the elbow. And the Gemara raises a contradiction from another baraita (Tosefta, Yadayim 2:1): Since it is written: “and let Aaron and his sons wash their hands [yedeihem] and their feet” (Exo 30:19), the priests are obligated to sanctify their hands and their feet in the temple up to the wrist.

Rashi’s Commentary

Their hands and their feet—The priest would wash his hands and feet simultaneously. Thus we learn in Zevachim 19b: How was the procedure in washing hands and feet? He placed his right hand upon his right foot (knee) and his left hand upon his left foot (knee) and thus washed both simultaneously.

Zevachim 21a:3

A dilemma was raised before the Sages: What is the halakha with regard to a priest who wishes to sanctify his hands and feet by dipping them in the basin rather than letting the water run from it onto them? Must one say that the priest may not do so, since the merciful One states: “and let Aaron and his sons wash their hands and their feet from it” (Exo 30:19), and not inside it? Or perhaps the priest may even use water still inside it.

8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”

9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”

10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” JOH 13:8-10

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,

10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1CO 6:9-11

he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, TIT 3:5

but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation. HEB 9:10

let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. HEB 10:22

5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood

6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. REV 10:5-6

31 And you shall say to the people of Israel, “This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations.”

Horayot 11b:8

Rabbi Yehuda said to him: And was it merely one miracle that was performed with regard to the anointing oil? But wasn’t it initially only twelve logs, and from it the tabernacle, and its vessels, Aaron, and his sons were anointed for the entire seven days of inauguration, and all of it remains in existence for the future, as it is stated: “This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations” (Exo 30:31)? Since the entire existence of the anointing oil is predicated on miracles, it is no wonder that its preparation also involved a miracle.

Keritot 5b:19

The halakha that the anointing oil was to be kept together with the ark is derived through a verbal analogy between the words “generations” and “generations.” This term is stated with regard to the jar of manna: “To be kept throughout your generations” (Exo 16:33), and also with regard to the anointing oil: “This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations” (Exo 30:31).

Rashi’s Commentary

This—Heb. זֶה. In gematria, this equals 12 “logs” (Horayot 11b).

Throughout your generations—From here our Rabbis derived that it (the anointing oil) was miraculously preserved in its entirety for the time to come (Horayot 11b).

34 The Lord said to Moses, “Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part),

Keritot 5a:26

Rav Pappa said to Abaye: When one weighs these substances, does he weigh the ingredients with a slight surplus, so that they tip the scales, or does he weigh the ingredients with precision? Abaye said to him that the merciful One writes: “Of there shall be an equal part” (Exo 30:34), which indicates a precise measure, and you say it is possible that one weighs the ingredients with a surplus? The Gemara raises a difficulty: But doesn’t Rabbi Yehuda say: The Holy One, Blessed be he, knows the amount of surpluses that should be added. Evidently, there is a surplus involved in these measures.

Keritot 6b:7

Rabbi Yoḥanan says: The eleven ingredients of the incense were stated by God to Moses at Sinai, as not all of them are specified in the verses. Rav Huna said: What is the verse from which it is derived? “Take for you sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense” (Exo 30:34). The plural form of the phrase: “Take for you sweet spices” is referring to two ingredients; “stacte, and onycha, and galbanum” are three ingredients; this results in a total of five; and the other mention of “sweet spices” indicates that there are another five, i.e., that one should double the previous total, and this results in a total of ten. And finally, “pure frankincense” is one, and this results in a total of eleven.

Yoma 3b:4

The Gemara rejects this: They disagree only with regard to instances of taking in general and instances of making in general: Instances of taking in general are as in the verse: “Take you sweet spices” (Exo 30:34); and instances of making in general are as in the verse: “Make you two silver trumpets” (Num 10:2). However, in these cases of inauguration and of the Day of Atonement the verses explicitly teach that the offerings must be from your own property. With regard to the inauguration, now, since it is written: “And to the people of Israel you will speak, saying, ‘Take a goat kid for a sin offering, and an unblemished year-old calf and lamb for burnt offerings’ ” (Lev 9:3), with regard to the verse: “And he said to Aaron, ‘Take you a young calf for a sin offering’ ” (Lev 9:2), why do I need this clear difference between the formulation of the command to the Jewish people and the formulation of the command to Aaron? Learn from it that in this context the phrase: Take you, means from your own property.

And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. MAT 2:11

35 and you shall make an incense blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy.”

Rashi’s Commentary

Seasoned with salt—Understand this as the Targum renders it: מְעָרֵב, mixed—that they should thoroughly intermix the powder of the ingredients. Accordingly, I say that the following are similar to this: “Then the mariners (הַמַּלָּחִים) were afraid” (Jon 1:5); “your mariners (מַלָּחַיִךְ) and your pilots (Eze 27:27), who are so called because they turn over (stir up) the water with oars when they propel the ship—like a person who stirs up beaten eggs with a spoon in order to mix them with water. Anything that a person wishes to mix up thoroughly he stirs up with his finger or with a spoon.

Seasoned with salt, pure and holy—It shall be seasoned with salt; it shall be pure, and it shall be holy.

EXO 31

17 It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.

Beitzah 16a:10 

The Gemara cites a further statement with regard to the gift of the Sabbath to the Jewish people. Rabbi Yoḥanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai: All the commandments that the Holy One, blessed be he, gave to the Jewish people, He gave to them in public except for the Sabbath, which he gave to them in private. As it is stated: “It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel” (Exo 31:17), meaning that in a sense, it is a secret between God and the Jewish people.