Parashat Eikev

Among the ensemble of various topics discussed in Parashat Eikev appears Moshe’s recount of Ma’aseh Eigel HaZahav and his plea to HaKadosh Baruch on behalf of the nation’s survival. The full Teshuva process took Moshe eighty tiresome days and nights – from the 19th of Av until Yom Kippur – before Hashem acquiesced, replaced our Luchos, and restored our Bris; Moshe spent the first forty days appeasing Hashem, and Hashem spent the latter forty rewriting the Aseres HaDibros. Rashi, quoting the Midrash Tanchuma (Eikev, 10), details Moshe’s description of the transition between these two stages of atonement:

At the end of the [first] forty days, [Hashem] gave in to [my request] and said to me, “carve [two stone Luchos like the first pair of Luchos,]” and then He said, “and make for yourself a [wooden] closet [to hold the Luchos].” However, I first made the closet, for when I would come [in front of Hashem] with the Luchos in my hand, where would I place them [but inside of their closet]?
Rashi, Devarim 10:1

Rashi continues by explaining that the closet described in this account is not the Aron HaKodesh, which Betzaleil did not build until after Yom Kippur, the day Hashem instructed him to build the Mishkan. Instead, this was either the Aron that traveled with the Bnei Yisrael to war, according to Rabbi Yehuda Bar Rabbi Ila’I, or it was a temporary Aron that held the Luchos until completion of the Aron HaKodesh, according to the Rabbanan. But before we delve into the technical details of this Rashi, it would be wise to address a few subtle problems with the Midrash Tanchuma’s take on our parasha’s story.

First and foremost, do we really believe Moshe Rabbeinu would alter Hashem’s instructions? If Hashem explicitly commands him to first carve the stone and afterwards build its box, how could Moshe ever consider reversing these orders? Does Moshe think Hashem forgot to consider where the Luchos would go once he brings them to the top of Har Sinai? Obviously if Hashem tells Moshe to make the Aron last, Hashem has a place to keep the Luchos once Moshe ascends!

The Gur Aryeh answers that Moshe in no way altered his orders; rather, he understood Hashem’s commands not as a step-by-step process but as a spoken out thought process. Hashem first mentions the Luchos because they are they are the ultimate plan behind reestablishing His Bris with the Bnei Yisrael. But the Luchos cannot first be made until they have an Aron. The Aron must therefore be constructed first; nonetheless, it is mentioned second because it is not the Tachlis HaMa’aseh.

However, it is hard to believe that these pasukim are written in the order of Hashem’s thought process. Hashem details five steps: 1) Carve the Luchos, 2) Bring them up Har Sinai, 3) Make an Aron, 4) I will write the Aseres HaDibros onto the Luchos, and 5) Place the Luchos into the Aron. The pasukim certainly do not detail a chronological step-by-step process, for it is impossible to expect Moshe to build an Aron out of wood while he is standing in Shamayim. But it is just as implausible to suggest that Hashem thought Moshe to construct an Aron before He ever thought of writing anything on the Luchos! If the pasukim were to first detail Tachlis HaMa’aseh, wouldn’t we expect Hashem to say “VaEchtov Al HaLuchos” before making any mention of an “Aron Eitz”?

But before we fuss over the Gur Aryeh, there are more serious problems to be addressed with this Midrash Tanchuma. Moshe expresses a need for an Aron when he takes the Luchos up to Hashem to be carved; after all, “Heichan Etineim,” where else could he put them? Yet if we look ahead to pasuk 5, we find that Moshe doesn’t place the Luchos inside the box until after Hashem writes the Aseres HaDibros on them! If Moshe didn’t need the box until after Hashem returns the Luchos, what difference did it make if he built the Aron or carved the stones first, so long as both were done before going up to Har Sinai?! And if it was such an urgency to get the Luchos into the Aron, one would expect Moshe to bring the Aron up to Har Sinai with him, yet Moshe says “VaEifen VaEireid Min HaHar Va’Asim Es HaLuchos Ba’Aron,” he first descended the mountain and then placed them in the Aron! What happened to the urgency of Heichan Etineim?!

Clearly, we are missing something very primary to the message of this Midrash. Perhaps the question we should be asking is why did it all of a sudden bother Moshe that he didn’t have an Aron for the Luchos if the first set of Luchos never required any box altogether! Moshe never made an Aron his first time up Har Sinai, so why was it such an utter necessity this second time around?! The Ohr HaChaim offers a rather satisfying answer, but first refers us to an earlier event in the episode of Ma’aseh Eigel:

“And I grasped onto the two Luchos, and I threw them down from my two hands, and I broke them before your eyes.” (9:17)
One begs to know why did Moshe need to grasp the Luchos [before throwing them down]; weren’t they already in his hands? Perhaps, while the Bnei Yisrael had not yet sinned, the Luchos would float above Moshe’s hand, and he didn’t need to physically hold them, just as the earlier pasuk (15) specified “and the two Luchos HaBris were on my two hands,” instead of in his two hands… and after he saw the Eigel, the Luchos’ Kedusha weakened and [Moshe] needed to grab onto them with his hands.
Ohr HaChaim, Devarim 9:17

Building on this idea, the Ohr HaChaim suggests that the first Luchos did not need an Aron for they were of supernatural quality. The second Luchos, however, were a Ma’aseh Yidei Adam, and therefore needed to be treated on such a level. Just as ordinary tablets belong in a closet, these second Luchos required an Aron. In essence, the relationships established through the two sets of Luchos were not the same. The first Luchos represented HaKadosh Baruch Hu’s presence in our world in a supernatural form; they therefore floated in midair, and they did not require a box. But the second Luchos were intended as a natural manifestation of Hashem in our world, and they therefore were treated as part of our everyday world. They are called the Luchos Avanim, and their receptacle is the Aron Eitz; every component is derived directly from nature. And it is only natural for tablets to be kept in an Aron, and for that Aron to be built before the tablets are carved.

We therefore see that the need for an Aron is not as much a matter of transportation or shelter as much as it defines the Luchos Shnee’os as a purely natural relationship with Hashem. The Aron’s presence defines the Luchos as ordinary worldly tablets with an ordinary storage box, whether the tablets permanently stay in their box or are occasionally removed or even relocated to a different box – namely the Aron HaKodesh. Hashem’s command to build an Aron might not be the central focus of the Tachlis HaMa’aseh, the replacement of the Luchos, but it is a very important aspect.

We may now return to our question on the Gur Aryeh. Why does Hashem wait until pasuk 2 to talk about rewriting the Luchos; shouldn’t that immediately follw His command to Moshe to carve two stones and bring them up Har Sinai? Perhaps we should note that these five aforementioned steps Hashem details to Moshe are split into two groups. The three steps in pasuk 1 – carving the stone, bringing it up the mountain, and building an Aron – are different from the other two steps because they highlight the changes between the first Luchos and the second Luchos, the change in our relationship with Hashem. Now Moshe had to carve the stones himself from earthly materials. Moshe was also burdened to bring these materials up to Shamyim; until now, things had only descended from Shamayim to the Earth, like the first Luchos. And lastly, the Luchos now required a box, they needed to be treated as earthly materials even after traveling through the heavens. In pasuk 2, Hashem describes the other steps, how He will again write the words onto the Luchos, and how Moshe will then put his box to good use, but these steps are not a part of the message directed in pasuk 1.

The Midrash Tanchuma begins with the comparison between Hashem’s instructions and Moshe’s actions, but Rashi first explains that the words “BaEis HaHee” to mean “at the end of Moshe’s first forty days on Har Sinai, after Hashem gave in to his request.” What do Rashi’s extra comments add? Perhaps they show us that everything Hashem says in this first pasuk comes as an immediate and direct response to Moshe’s plea for the Bnei Yisrael to be given a second chance. At first glance, Hashem’s words suggest we are fully forgiven and He is ready to reestablish his Bris with us; but Rashi shows us that these words are not the beginning of the latter forty days, not the step-by-step details of how to reestablish the Bris, but rather the end of the first forty days, when Hashem tells Moshe the nation won’t be annihilated but their relationship with Him won’t be restored to the same level as it previously stood. Instead, they will natural lives and He will interact with them in a less supernatural fashion. It is a somber message, but Moshe still breathes a sigh of relief; at least he has saved Am Yisrael and restored their chance to inherit their forefathers’ land.