There are a lot of holes in the bible. There are just some things we don’t know. Where were the Wise Men From? What were their names? How many of them were there? How would Noah’s family be able to repopulate the Earth? And why would God demand the Israelites use dolphin skins in their tabernacle?
Huh?
Here is the passage:
Exodus 25:1-9
25 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Tell the sons of Israel to raise a contribution for Me; from every man whose heart moves him you shall raise My contribution. 3 This is the contribution which you are to raise from them: gold, silver and bronze, 4 blue, purple and scarlet material, fine linen, goat hair, 5 rams’ skins dyed red, porpoise skins, acacia wood, 6 oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 7 onyx stones and setting stones for the ephod and for the breastpiece. 8 Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them. 9 According to all that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, just so you shall construct it.
There it is in verse 5: porpoise skins. The King James Version doesn’t have this. It was only fairly recently that a new interpretation came about that tried to more accurately portray what was said in the Hebrew. We don’t know how they were able to get dolphin skins. Maybe they met traders along the way? We do have an explanation in the Midrash though. But before we get to that let’s explore what the midrash is.
The midrash is essentially rabbinic literature that searches for meaning in the biblical text. There are three parts to a midrash. The “koshi” is basically a problem statement. It explains something in the text that doesn’t make sense. Then we have the explanation. And this is what I find so fascinating. This section is a fictional story that is used to explain the issue. Yes, it is deliberately fictional. Finally we have the moral or spiritual lesson of the story. I think of the midrash as a kind of fable applied to the bible.
So here is a midrash story for the porpoise skins requirement in Exodus.
When the Israelites were walking through the Red Sea, “with the waters forming walls for them on both their right and their left” (Exodus 14.22), it was not only a miracle for the people. It was also a miracle and something completely unexpected for the fish. They did not know what to do, and many were just swimming out into the air, falling on the dry ground, and gasping for air. Fortunately, the dolphins were both intelligent and helpful, and they started patrolling the water side of the walls, warning the fish away from the air and death. Many fish were saved by these brave and kind dolphins. Then, when the Egyptians started pursuing the Israelites into the sea, the dolphins realized that the Israelites were in danger, so they started flicking their tails and splashing some of the water down onto the dry ground. This made it muddy and harder for the Egyptians to chase down the Israelites. “They moved forward with difficulty.” (Exodus 14.25) The dolphins were so busy protecting the fish and stopping the Egyptians that, when “the waters returned to their normal state” and “covered the chariots and the horsemen—Pharaoh’s entire army that followed the Israelites into the sea” (Exodus 14.27-28), many of the dolphins fell onto the upturned spears of the Egyptians and died.
So, when “Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shores of the sea” (Exodus 14.30), they also saw the dead dolphins and realized the brave sacrifices of these wonderful sea creatures. They decided then and there that they would honor the dolphins and use their skins for the holiest of the Israelites’ tents, the Mishkan in which the Shechinah, the Presence of God, would dwell.
Interesting isn’t it?
There is another story in midrash that explains how Moses became a stutterer. The story is that when Moses was a baby he took Pharaoh’s crown and put it on his head. The magicians saw this and feared that Moses was destined to seize Egypt from Pharaoh. So they wanted to kill the child. But one instead came up with a test to see if baby Moses really knew what he was doing when he took the crown. They put a bowl of gold and a bowl containing a hot coal in front of the child. If the child reached for the gold they were free to kill him, but if he reached for the coal this proved the child just liked shiny things and did not know earlier what he was doing. They did this and Moses extended his hand toward the gold but at that moment the angel Gabriel came and pushed his hand toward the coal. He placed the coal in his mouth and burned his tongue. From then on Moses was slow of speech and of tongue.
Midrash is an interesting method of bible study because it forces people to think about what they read. The saying is that the bible is black fire on top of white fire, and both are important. The black fire represents the words on the page, while the white fire represents what isn’t said. We must read between the lines to go deeper in our spiritual study. This can be applied to just about any part of scripture. Here is another example:
Leviticus 19:18
18 “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
In Hebrew this can be voiced in two different ways. The first comes out as we have commonly expected: Love your neighbor as yourself.” But the other, equally valid, way to voice this is “Love your evil as yourself.” Since both are legitimate, which one do we pick? The answer might be that we value both. Instead of dismissing one of the interpretations, we might look for a deeper meaning that encompasses them both. Maybe the passage is saying we can’t fully love someone else until we have addressed our own evils.
Here are some steps to take to try to get to this reading between the lines mentality with scripture.
First, just do a simple reading of the verses. Read it just for a literal meaning. What is the passage saying? What is happening? What is going on as you read? Next, look for hints of deeper meaning. Are there inconsistencies in the text? Does something not make sense at first? Then, investigate these things. Explore the possible meanings. What could explain the inconsistency? Finally, open yourself up to the mysteries that can be revealed to you through your own reading when you put it all together. That is the power of midrash. Take a deep dive into scripture and explore what is there.
God Bless