Ancient Oral priestly patterns are replaced by Creative Moral Midrash Halacha

The oldest, still ongoing, sacred scriptures of the Vedas in Hinduism and the Torah in Judaism begin with centuries of extensive oral transmission of both dramatic narratives and complex priestly details.

Everyone who has read the Book of Exodus in the Torah, has noted the major change that takes place after chapter 24; from dramatic narratives of escape from Egyptian oppression, and the experiencing of God’s covenant revelation at Mount Sinai; to the tiny details of the Tabernacle and its priests garments: “According to all that I am going to show you; use the pattern of the Tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, so you shall construct it.” (Exodus chapters 25: 8 to 31:11)

Not only are the Tabernacle’s details tiny, but all attempts to actually construct a Tabernacle according to the Torah’s detailed directions, and its furniture, and its priests garments, have failed. So why were these chapters of an unbuildable Tabernacle placed into the Torah? Perhaps because avoiding uncreative and unbuildable religious perfectionist ideals might be the lesson the Torah is teaching us.

God chooses Bezalel, his assistant Oholiab, and every skilled craftsman that God has found (male or female) (Exodus 31:1-6). Skilled craftsmen, like God, are creative. They, like the Sabbath, are the creative partners of God’s covenant, and to use their creativity to reject the Sabbath is to die Jewishly.

So the text suddenly turns to the Sabbath: 31:12 “And the Lord said to Moses, 13 “Speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. 14 You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you.”

The Sabbath was created for people. People were not created for the Sabbath. Creativity reforms the perfectionist. As Prophet King Solomon taught: “Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself?” (Ecclesiastes 7:16)

“Everyone who profanes it (the Sabbath) shall be put to death. Whoever does any (profitable) work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any (uncreative) work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death.

16 Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a forever covenant. 17 It is an ongoing sign between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he paused and was (spiritually and vitally) refreshed.’”

The seven day week now is a worldwide experience that shows the spiritual creativity of both Jews and non-Jews, and thus:18 he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.”

For more than 3,200 years, the Jews who kept the Sabbath experience, saw that the creative Sabbath experience kept the Jewish People alive.

Now the dramatic narrative of the experiencing of God’s covenant at Mount Sinai continues until Exodus 35:3 when the tiny details of the Tabernacle continues into the details of the Jerusalem Temple Priestly offerings which end with Leviticus 9:24.

These Temple Priestly offerings ended with the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. which enabled the scholarly, literary, creativity of the rabbis and Torah study, to replace the thousand years of Jerusalem’s Temple Priestly animal offerings, and the twelve hundred years of looking at the high priest’s complex designed garments.