(Numb. 8:2:) “When you set up the lamps.” This text is related (to Is. 42:21), “The Lord was delighted because of His [servant's] righteousness to magnify and glorify Torah.” The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, It was not because I need your light that I am telling you to light a lamp.3Below Numb. 3:5; Numb. R. 15:2. Rather [I am doing so] in order to have you acquire merit (by fulfilling a commandment).” It is likewise written, (in Dan. 2:22), “and the light dwells within Him”; and [similarly] it says (in Ps. 139:12), “Even darkness is not dark to You; for night shines as the day, and darkness becomes like the light.” [Scripture says these things] to inform you that He does not need the lamps of flesh and blood. You yourself know [this truth]. When a person builds a house and makes windows within [his house], he makes windows narrow on the outside and broad on the inside, so that the light will enter from the outside and shine on the inside. But when Solomon built the Temple, he did not make the windows like that.4See above Exod. 8:5; PRK 21:5; Lev. R. 31:7. Rather they were narrow on the inside and broad on the outside so that the light would go out from the Temple and shine outside. It is so stated (in I Kings 6:4), “And for the house he made windows broad and narrow.”5Literally: CLEAR and CLOSED. While the Hebrew is obscure the translation here follows the Targum in order to fit the midrashic context. [This text] is to inform you that He is all light and that He has no need for its light. So why did He command you [to set up the lamps]? In order to have you acquire merit (by fulfilling a commandment). It is therefore stated (in Numb. 8:2), “When you set up the lamps.”6Beha‘aloteka et-hanerot. These words can also mean, IN ELEVATING YOU WITH THE LAMPS. Ergo (in Is. 42:21), “The Lord was delighted because of His [servant's] righteousness.” The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel, “Be careful to light lamps for My sake, and I will shine a great light for you in the future to come.” It is so stated (in Is. 60:3), “And nations shall walk by your light, even kings by the brightness of your rising.”
בְּהַעֲלוֹתְךָ אֶת הַנֵּרוֹת. זֶה שֶׁאָמַר הַכָּתוּב: ה' חָפֵץ לְמַעַן צִדְקוֹ, יַגְדִּיל תּוֹרָה וְיַאדִּיר (ישעיה מב, כא). אָמַר לֵיהּ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְמֹשֶׁה, לֹא בִּשְׁבִיל שֶׁאֲנִי צָרִיךְ לְנֵרוֹת שֶׁל בָּשָׂר וָדָם הִזְהַרְתִּי עַל הַנֵּרוֹת, אֶלָּא כְּדֵי לְזַכּוֹתָם. וְכֵן הוּא אוֹמֵר, וּנְהוֹרָא עִמֵּהּ שְׁרֵא (דניאל ב, כב). וּכְתִיב: גַּם חֹשֶׁךְ לֹא יַחֲשִׁיךְ מִמֶּךָּ וְלַיְלָה כַּיּוֹם יָאִיר כַּחֲשֵׁכָה כָּאוֹרָה (תהלים קלט, יב). לְלַמֶּדְךָ, שֶׁאֵינוֹ צָרִיךְ לַנֵּרוֹת שֶׁל בָּשָׂר וָדָם. תֵּדַע לְךָ, כְּשֶׁאָדָם בּוֹנֶה בַּיִת, עוֹשֶׂה לוֹ חַלּוֹנוֹת צָרוֹת מִבַּחוּץ וּרְחָבוֹת מִבִּפְנִים, כְּדֵי שֶׁיְּהֵא הָאוֹר נִכְנַס מִבַּחוּץ וּמֵאִיר מִבִּפְנִים. וּשְׁלֹמֹה בָּנָה בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ וְלֹא עָשָׂה כֵן, אֶלָּא עָשָׂה חַלּוֹנוֹת צָרוֹת מִבִּפְנִים וּרְחָבוֹת מִבַּחוּץ, כְּדֵי שֶׁיְּהֵא הָאוֹר יוֹצֵא מִבִּפְנִים מִבֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ וּמֵאִיר לַחוּץ. שֶׁכֵּן הוּא אוֹמֵר, וַיַּעַשׂ לַבַּיִת חַלּוֹנֵי שְׁקוּפִים אֲטוּמִים (מל״א ו, ד). לְהוֹדִיעֲךָ, שֶׁכֻּלּוֹ אוֹר וְאֵינוֹ צָרִיךְ לְאוֹרָהּ. וְלָמָּה צִוָּה אֶתְכֶם. כְּדֵי לְזַכּוֹת אֶתְכֶם. לְכָךְ נֶאֱמַר: בְּהַעֲלוֹתְךָ אֶת הַנֵּרוֹת. הֱוֵי, ה' חָפֵץ לְמַעַן צִדְקוֹ, יַגְדִּיל תּוֹרָה וְיַאדִּיר. אָמַר לָהֶם הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, הֱווּ זְהִירִין לְהַדְלִיק אֶת הַנֵּרוֹת לִשְׁמִי, וַאֲנִי מֵאִיר לָכֶם אוֹרָה גְּדוֹלָה לֶעָתִיד לָבֹא. לְכָךְ נֶאֱמַר: קוּמִי אוֹרִי כִּי בָא אֹרֵךְ וְגוֹ' (ישעיה ס, א). וּכְתִיב: וְהָלְכוּ גּוֹיִם לְאוֹרֵךְ, וּמְלָכִים לְנֹגַהּ זַרְחֵךְ (שם פסוק ג).
(Numb. 8:2:) “When you set up the lamps.” This text is related (to Is. 42:21), “The Lord was delighted because of His [servant's] righteousness to magnify and glorify Torah.” The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, It was not because I need your light that I am telling you to light a lamp.3Below Numb. 3:5; Numb. R. 15:2. Rather [I am doing so] in order to have you acquire merit (by fulfilling a commandment).” It is likewise written, (in Dan. 2:22), “and the light dwells within Him”; and [similarly] it says (in Ps. 139:12), “Even darkness is not dark to You; for night shines as the day, and darkness becomes like the light.” [Scripture says these things] to inform you that He does not need the lamps of flesh and blood. You yourself know [this truth]. When a person builds a house and makes windows within [his house], he makes windows narrow on the outside and broad on the inside, so that the light will enter from the outside and shine on the inside. But when Solomon built the Temple, he did not make the windows like that.4See above Exod. 8:5; PRK 21:5; Lev. R. 31:7. Rather they were narrow on the inside and broad on the outside so that the light would go out from the Temple and shine outside. It is so stated (in I Kings 6:4), “And for the house he made windows broad and narrow.”5Literally: CLEAR and CLOSED. While the Hebrew is obscure the translation here follows the Targum in order to fit the midrashic context. [This text] is to inform you that He is all light and that He has no need for its light. So why did He command you [to set up the lamps]? In order to have you acquire merit (by fulfilling a commandment). It is therefore stated (in Numb. 8:2), “When you set up the lamps.”6Beha‘aloteka et-hanerot. These words can also mean, IN ELEVATING YOU WITH THE LAMPS. Ergo (in Is. 42:21), “The Lord was delighted because of His [servant's] righteousness.” The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel, “Be careful to light lamps for My sake, and I will shine a great light for you in the future to come.” It is so stated (in Is. 60:3), “And nations shall walk by your light, even kings by the brightness of your rising.”