Sforno (Shemos 24:12) “which I (the Lord) have written.” If it had not been for the sin of the golden calf, the entire Torah would have been handed to the Jewish people (Moses) as a signed and sealed document just like the Tablets with the Ten Commandments. Instead, Moses wrote down the Torah at G’d’s command. In fact, Moses only brought the Tablets to within sight of the people in order to smash them before their eyes, so that they would understand what they had forfeited due to their disloyalty to G’d. This demonstration of Moses having smashed the Tablets was designed to shock the people into penitence.
Looking at the historical context of the times, there's a contradiction here.
ReplyDeleteThe Mishkan clearly resembles portable Egyptian army shrines that they took with them on missions. This makes perfect sense because our ancestors would've been familiar with them and understood them as a place of worship, just like shuls across Europe were built in a smiliar style as churches and across the Arab world similar to mosques.
Same thing with sacrifices if we follow the Rambam. It's what the people knew so in order to wean us off the idolatrous rites of Egypt, this was a transition stage where familiar forms of worship were redirected towards God.
But then suddenly there's a line no one expected. You can have a shrine similar to the idolators. You can sacrifice animals similar to the idolators. But you can't have a physical symbol of the deity you're sacrificing to. And they didn't quite get that part.