The ninth weekly biblical reading in Exodus Ki Tissa (30:11-34:35) tells us significant details about God, the Torah, and the Shabbat, revealing deep meaning and significance that should affect our thinking and behavior.
God’s finger
Verse 31:18 states that God’s finger composed the two tablets of stone containing the Decalogue. The word “Decalogue” is Greek for “Ten Statements.” The tablets are commonly misunderstood as the Ten Commandments,” even though the Torah does not say it contains ten commands but ten statements, the meaning of the word Decalogue. The tablets have about twenty commands, but scholars differ in the count.
The words “finger of God” instead of “hand of God” emphasize that every statement in the Decalogue and the entire Torah was carefully written to contain many important messages to help people be all they can be and do the same for all that God provided.
It is like the soft, loving stroke a wife gives her husband, which promises much. It is the opposite of the firm handshake that her husband gives his friends, which only shows friendship.
God spoke to Moses “face to face”
The metaphoric language in verse 33:11, “The Lord spoke to Moses face to face,” also highlights the careful composition and importance of the Torah’s words. Loving couples seek to communicate face to face, rather than by letter or telephone, because so much more is revealed in close encounters.
The Torah wording reveals that Moses’s understanding of God’s Will far exceeded that of others before and after him. This is one reason Moses is called Moshe Rabbenu, “Moses our teacher,” for he was the best of those who taught us. Many also say, “No one was like Moses from Moses to Moses.” The first Moses is Moshe Rabbenu. The second was Maimonides.
The Shabbat
Verse 31:14 reveals much when it calls the Shabbat “holy.” The Hebrew word for “holy” is kodesh, meaning “unique,” “set apart,” and “dedicated for or having a special, important purpose.”
The Shabbat is more important than the tabernacle, temple, and synagogue. Even more important than the Land of Israel.
Its significance is seen in that it is the only “holy” matter mentioned in the Decalogue.
Mystics use the word Shabbat to refer to the messianic age because that age is the ultimate Shabbat, the time of peace, the ultimate period of rest.[1]
Many Jews stand for at least the first half of the prayer over wine, the kiddush, that precedes the Shabbat meal. The first part of the kiddush is a quote from the Torah that states God created the world. Traditional Judaism requires witnesses to stand when they testify. Jews emphasize that they are testifying to an important matter, the creation and its completion before the first Shabbat.
Unlike much else, the Shabbat does not rely on the physical. It focuses on the significance of time.
It reminds us of the time that God created and formed the world in six metaphorically speaking days. On the seventh day, God ceased creating and let the forces of nature that God created function, needing no further adjustments. So, too, on Shabbat, Jews cease creative acts to recall and highlight the supreme creation.
Like a married couple celebrating their anniversary by focusing on each other, the Jew does not focus on outside interests on Shabbat but on God’s activity in ancient times.
As the couple thinks of love, Jews think of time’s importance. They realize that wasting time violates what is most holy and is one of the most significant misdeeds.
Understanding the lessons of this biblical tradition proves the brilliance of my dad, who, 68 years ago, drove me to the airport to report to my first military assignment. He said, “Israel, remember to keep the Shabbat, for more than you keeping the Shabbat, the Shabbat will keep you.”
[1] An example is the mystical poem Lecha dodi, which is a significant part of the Friday night service. It starts by saying, “Come, my beloved, toward the bride, toward the Shabbat.” The author is referring to the messianic period, not the seventh day.
It reminds us of the time that God created and formed the world in six metaphorically speaking days. On the seventh day, God ceased creating and let the forces of nature that God created function, needing no further adjustments. So, too, on Shabbat, Jews cease creative acts to recall and highlight the supreme creation.
How can we prove this to be true?
For instance, if we believe in evolution.
Doesn’t God play a role in creating humans to be specialized with organs?
For instance, why don’t we have 3 eyes or 4 arms?
Why are we so beautiful did God not force our DNA to change?
Why aren’t we hairy like spiders or terrifying like sea animals?
We cannot prove any of this. Additionally, much should not be taken literally, such as God needing and using 6 days to create. However, we can see that there are wonderful things in this world and think, these must have come from somewhere or something we call God. People see it as in the following example: We find a remarkable building in the desert and conclude,it must have been built by someone.
The metaphoric language in verse 33:11, “The Lord spoke to Moses face to face,” also highlights the careful composition and importance of the Torah’s words. Loving couples seek to communicate face to face, rather than by letter or telephone, because so much more is revealed in close encounters.
If this is true why does God or Moses give us the Torah and not speak with us face to face?
We will have to ask God this question when we meet him in a few or more years.
Tell God i said hello.
I hope I do not meet Him for awhile and that when so much time passes, I remember to pass on your greeting to Him.
Is shabbat the only holy thing?
Because we can’t soil it ?
Some other things are also holy but the Shabbat is at the top of the list.
Since God has no fingers & no mouth, then how did Moshe know of the 10 Statements and how where they inscribed on the stone tablets? Todah
This question bothered Jewish and non-Jewsish thinkers even centuries ago. Some concluded that this proves the Torah is a human document.Others said, God inspired Moses. I will ask him what happened when I see him when my 120 years expires. In the interim, I will continue to praise the Torah for all the wisdom it contans.
I like Rabbi Drazin’s answer. Here is my take. I think we should not imagine that God was there on the mountain with Moses, and talked to him and wrote the law with his finger on the two stone tablets, as it says, and the other actions that are written there. These are actions that are incompatible with an infinite, incorporeal God, for God has no fingers to write with and no mouth to speak with. Moses probably chiseled it himself. He could have derived the laws on his own. Thus, it was not done by God but by Moses. They contain some good moral precepts such as any man qualified to be a lawgiver or a legislator could produce himself, without having recourse to supernatural intervention.
What you write is possible.
Since God has no fingers & no mouth, then how did Moshe know of the 10 Statements and how where they inscribed on the stone tablets? Todah
Some ancient Jewish sages try to answer the question by saying God created a voice to speak to Moses. Saaadiah Gaon was one of them. I do not like this idea. I think that either God somehow inspired Moses or Moses was inspired by what he thought God would have wanted. The answer to this excellent question, although the question is good, is not important. What is important is the need to study what is in the Torah, find the wisdom in it, and use that wisdom to better ourselves, others, and all that God placed in the earth and in the sky.
Unlike much else, the Shabbat does not rely on the physical. It focuses on the significance of time.
What is time?
is it planning out what we should aim and strive for?
Is it making sure we don’t waste time doing things we enjoy?
Is it making sure we spend our time wisely with people we like?
As the couple thinks of love, Jews think of time’s importance. They realize that wasting time violates what is most holy and is one of the most significant misdeeds.
How do we not waste time rabbi?
How do we value our time?
But, can we over-value our time?
I like your interpretation that the “finger of God stresses the view that the Decalogue was composed very carefully to disseminate the commands. Additionally, one should not imagine that God was there on the mountain with Moses, and talked to him and wrote the law with his finger on the two stone tablets, as it says, and the other actions that are written there. Those are actions that are incompatible with an infinite God, for God has no fingers to write with and no mouth to speak with etc.
We agree entirely, my friend.
The Torah’s description of God speaking to Moses “face to face” suggests a profound intimacy and depth of understanding that is unparalleled in human experience. I must concur that it signifies a higher level of communication, one that transcends the ordinary bounds of human language and comprehension. It is as if the veil of the unknown is lifted, and the truth is revealed in all its splendor, dear Rabbi Israel Drazin ! The phrase “No one was like Moses from Moses to Moses” is a testament to the enduring legacy of our tradition. Best: stephen
As usual, we agree.