February 15, 2007

Breadcrumb: Help from my friends

I mentioned in a previous breadcrumb that most of the description of Bezaleel's construction of the tabernacle was in third-person singular ("he made..."). Most of the description of the priestly garments is the same, except for the breastplate. Here, the text uses the plural, "they made..." Why here, and nowhere else? Perhaps Bezaleel was only a mediocre gem-cutter and required help. Perhaps his arms were getting tired. Or perhaps everyone else was just getting tired of Bezaleel stealing all the credit.

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