Monday, February 14, 2011

Was Betzalel a prophet?

Summary: It might depend on what girsa we have in Onkelos.

Post: In parshat Ki Sisa, we read:

2. "See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah,ב. רְאֵה קָרָאתִי בְשֵׁם בְּצַלְאֵל בֶּן אוּרִי בֶן חוּר לְמַטֵּה יְהוּדָה:
3. and I have imbued him with the spirit of God, with wisdom, with insight, with knowledge, and with [talent for] all manner of craftsmanshipג. וָאֲמַלֵּא אֹתוֹ רוּחַ אֱ־לֹהִים בְּחָכְמָה וּבִתְבוּנָה וּבְדַעַת וּבְכָל מְלָאכָה:

what is this spirit of God with which Betzalel has been imbued? According to Onkelos, it is:

לא,ג וָאֲמַלֵּא אֹתוֹ, רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים, בְּחָכְמָה וּבִתְבוּנָה וּבְדַעַת, וּבְכָל-מְלָאכָה.וְאַשְׁלֵימִית עִמֵּיהּ, רוּחַ מִן קֳדָם יְיָ, בְּחָכְמָא וּבְסֻכְלְתָנוּ וּבְמַדַּע, וּבְכָל עֲבִידָא.


a spirit from before Hashem. I would interpret this as some sort of Divine inspiration guiding his work. To cite Ibn Ezra, the rest of the pasuk explains just what this spirit is: a spirit of wisdom, insight, knowledge, and talent for all manner of craftsmanship:
ואמלא אותו -כמו: ויהושע בן נון מלא רוח חכמה.
וכתוב: ונחה עליו רוח ה'. ופירושו: מה היא רוח ה'. והיא רוח חכמה ובינה.
החכמה - היא הצורות האצורות באחרונית מוח הראש. 
Targum Pseudo-Yonatan renders it as ruach kudsha, that is, ruach hakodesh, which might well be the same thing.

This version of Onkelos as well, from this Chumash from 1482:

(So too our Mikraos Gedolos.) Yet, other sefarim have the extra word nevuah, making it רוח נבואה מן קדם ה. For instance, this one from 1490:

So too here, from a Tanach from Venice in 1518.

Yet, the simple meaning of the verse is that it is not nevuah, per se. It is rather some sort of inspiration. Shadal, in Ohev Ger, discusses this:

He notes that most sefarim have this רוח נבואה, but that based on a sense of peshat, just the word רוח is preferable. And points out a parallel in Vayakhel.

I would add that רוח נבואה smells like an interpolation. It would be one thing if is were simply רוח מן קדם ה vs. רוח נבואה. But it is not. It is רוח נבואה מן קדם ה vs. רוח מן קדם ה! I would expect that in translating ruach elokim, if we are giving it as ruach nevuah, the word nevuah would stand in translation of Elokim, that is, as an adjective -- a Godly spirit. While not impossible, this strikes me as plausibly an insertion after the fact to clarify just what sort of ruach; but min kadam Hashem already translates Elokim.

(Update: I should add that Rashi explains the last of these three attributes, daat, to be Ruach HaKodesh:

3. and I have imbued him with the spirit of God, with wisdom, with insight, with knowledge, and with [talent for] all manner of craftsmanship ג. וָאֲמַלֵּא אֹתוֹ רוּחַ אֱ־לֹהִים בְּחָכְמָה וּבִתְבוּנָה וּבְדַעַת וּבְכָל מְלָאכָה:
  בחכמה: מה שאדם שומע מאחרים ולמד:
  ובתבונה: מבין דבר מלבו, מתוך דברים שלמד:
  ובדעת: רוח הקדש:



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