Why Bezalel Began the Tabernacle With the Ark and Light

(Exodus 37:1:) "And Bezalel made the Ark." This is what Scripture said (Psalms 119:130): "The opening of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple." Rabbi Shimon [ben Yehotzadak] asked Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman, "Since you are a master of Aggadah, tell me, how did the Holy One, blessed be He, create the world?" He said to him: When the Holy One, blessed be He, sought to create the world, He wrapped Himself in light and created His world, as it is said (Psalms 104:2): "Wrapping Himself in light like a garment." Afterward (in the same verse): "spreading out the heavens like a curtain." Therefore, "the opening of Your words gives light," and so forth. Rabbi Yehudah said: To what is the matter comparable? To a king [who sought to build] himself a palace, and that place was dark. What did he do? He kindled the lamps, and afterward he built the palace. So too the Holy One, blessed be He, when He built the world, it was entirely darkness. What did He do? He wrapped Himself in light and created it. This is, "the opening of Your words gives light," and so forth. From the Holy One, blessed be He, the righteous learned that they should begin with light. When the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him (Exodus 25:8): "And let them make Me a sanctuary," Moses told Bezalel to make a Tabernacle. With what did he begin first? The work of the Ark. (Exodus 37:1:) "And Bezalel made the Ark."