Lingering in the Tent

Parashat Ki Tisa, Exodus 30:11-34:35

Chaim Dauermann, Brooklyn, NY

As a congregational leader, I am often asked questions pertaining to belief. People want to know the biblically correct perspective on eschatology, salvation, the nature of God, and any number of other things. I am always happy to answer these questions to the best of my ability. To be honest, it’s far less frequently that I’m asked more practical questions: How should I live? What should I do? What sort of person should I strive to be? The deeper I get into my walk with Yeshua, the more often I find myself meditating on this latter category of questions, although never at the expense of questions of belief. Perhaps this is why I love the yearly cycle of readings through the Torah. Each week is a fresh opportunity to bring our questions to the text, and each week we are left with practical answers ready to be applied.

This week, our parasha sees much drama, with the incident of the Golden Calf and its consequences occupying the bulk of the narrative. But between the giving of the first set of tablets and the second, we are treated to an aside that proves intriguing. Moses, it is said, “used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the Tent of Meeting” (Exodus 33:7). When Moses would enter the tent, the Lord would descend in a pillar of cloud, and there “Adonai spoke with Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.” Now comes the intrigue: “Then he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the Tent.”

What was Joshua doing in the tent? And why would he remain after Moses departed? No other details about this are given. In fact, relatively little personal detail is given about Joshua before the mantle of leadership passes to him from Moses. Thus, for lack of other material, the Sages infer much about Joshua’s character from this small detail at Exodus 33:11.

Rabbi Yonatan explains: The Holy One, Blessed be He, saw Joshua and observed that the words of Torah were very precious to him, as it is stated: “And the Lord spoke to Moses face-to-face . . . and his servant Joshua, son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the Tent.” The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Joshua: Joshua, are the words of Torah so precious to you? I bless you that “this Torah scroll shall not depart from your mouth.” Menachot 99b

This is but one of many places in the traditional literature where the Sages portray Joshua’s remaining in the Tent as an indicator of his zeal for Torah. And, in citing Joshua 1:8 here (“this Torah scroll shall not depart from your mouth”) this zeal becomes connected with God’s commissioning of Joshua for leadership.

For the Sages, also in view is Joshua’s zeal for serving his master, Moses:

“The guardian of a fig tree will eat its fruit” (Proverbs 27:18) – your sons sat idly and did not engage in Torah study. Joshua served you very much and accorded you great honor, and he would come early and stay late at your house of assembly. He would arrange the benches and spread the mats. Because he served you with all his might, he is worthy of serving Israel, as he will not be deprived of his reward. Bamidbar Rabbah 21:14

Why was Joshua chosen to lead Israel after the death of Moses? Consider that the leadership of Bnei Yisrael had been a family affair throughout the wilderness years. With Moses, Aaron, and Miriam all ministering to the needs of the nation, it was not unreasonable to wonder what qualified Joshua, a man of no direct familial relation, for the role. For the Sages, the answer is clear: Joshua’s love of God’s commandments, and of his teacher Moses, qualified him to lead others.

In the Brit Chadashah, there’s an unexpected connection to be found. Matthew’s gospel points us subtly back to this situation with Joshua, even as it points us forward in showing how disciples of Yeshua ought to walk. At the end of his account, Matthew preserves for us what has come to be known as the “Great Commission.”

And Yeshua came up to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, immersing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Ruach ha-Kodesh, teaching them to observe all I have commanded you. And remember! I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18–20.

Commentators typically place their emphasis on the “sending” element of this passage—that the disciples are being enjoined to reach the world with the Good News of Yeshua. Less often do we see emphasis on the second part of Yeshua’s instructions. But in this part, we hear an echo of a previous text. If we are mindful that Matthew frames his account to emphasize Yeshua as a “new Moses,” then the parallels between Yeshua’s final instructions to his disciples and God’s commissioning of Joshua (in Joshua 1) become rather striking. God gives Joshua the imperative to go forth to a new place (verse 2); this imperative is given on the basis of authority (verse 3); Joshua is instructed to embody the commandments of God in word and deed (verses 7 and 8) and is promised that God will be with him wherever he goes (verse 9).

If we allow the words of the Sages to inform our interpretation of these two parallel passages, a fuller pattern begins to emerge. While Matthew’s Great Commission echoes Joshua’s commissioning in Joshua 1, the Sages remind us that Joshua’s calling didn’t begin there—it began in the Tent of Meeting, where his devotion to Torah and to Moses were on display.

In applying the Great Commission to ourselves as Yeshua’s disciples, it may not be enough for us to think of ourselves as receiving these words as would the apostles. If it was Matthew’s intent to portray the apostles as Joshuas to Yeshua’s Moses, then our own marching orders become ever clearer, and the wisdom of the Sages suddenly takes on a more personal tone. When I read Exodus 33:11 through this lens this week, I asked myself: “Am I, like Joshua, inclined to linger in the Tent of Meeting? Are the words of the Torah precious to me? Do I desire to serve Yeshua very much, and do I come early and stay late in the house of his assembly? Do I serve him with all of my might?”

The Scriptures and the words of the Sages inquire of us. And Yeshua calls us daily. Let them find us lingering in the Tent.

All Scripture quotations are taken from the TLV.