Exodus 40: A Little Help From My Friends

“In the first month of the second year, on the first of the month, the Tabernacle was set up/ Moses set up the Tabernacle, placing its sockets, setting up its planks, inserting its bars, and erecting its posts.” (verses 17–18)וַיְהִי בַּחֹדֶשׁ הָרִאשׁוֹן בַּשָּׁנָה הַשֵּׁנִית בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ הוּקַם הַמִּשְׁכָּן׃וַיָּקֶם מֹשֶׁה אֶת־הַמִּשְׁכָּן וַיִּתֵּן אֶת־אֲדָנָיו וַיָּשֶׂם אֶת־קְרָשָׁיו וַיִּתֵּן אֶת־בְּרִיחָיו וַיָּקֶם אֶת־עַמּוּדָיו׃The use of passive voice in the verse is puzzling. Moshe is the one who puts the building together and the people create the Mishkan. Why does verse 17 not have an active subject building the Mishkan and the very next verse say that Moshe put up the Mishkan? Rashi explains that the people did not know how to erect the actual Mishkan structure, so they brought it all to Moshe. The problem was that the Mishkan was extremely heavy and no one person could build it on their own. God performed a miracle for Moshe so that when he went to build it, the various pieces stood up on their own making it easy for Moshe. The Midrash explains that these were two different Mishkans. Verse 17 was the celestial Mishkan that was erected on the same day that Moshe built the earthly Mishkan. The two Mishkans are hinted at by the absence of the word “et” in verse 17 before the word “Mishkan” in the Hebrew. It’s also possible that the Torah wants to emphasize that the Mishkan building was a partnership between the people and Moshe. Although verse 18 describes Moshe building the Mishkan for the first time, the Mishkan itself would not have been possible without the work of the people listed in the previous chapters. Verse 17 is the hinge between the “building” done by the people and the building that Moshe does from verse 18 until the end.