When the offering was completed (1 Chronicles 18:26), the midrash reads it through Song of Songs: the thread of crimson, the image of the veil that separated the holy from the profane. There was no vessel in the Temple more praiseworthy than the veil, Rabbi Berachiah said, citing Tractate Middot: forty cubits long and twenty wide, woven as thick as a handbreadth, requiring three hundred priests to move it. The veil was both barrier and connection — the thing that kept the holy of holies separate was also the thing that acknowledged something worth separating from.
Israel is compared to the veil. As the veil separated holy from profane, God has separated Israel from all the nations. The separation is not rejection of the nations — it is a structural distinction, a set-apart-ness that serves the same function as the Temple's inner curtain. What is set apart is set apart for something. The veil did not merely divide space. It defined what was on the other side of it.
"We will do and we will listen" — Israel's response at Sinai (Exodus 24:7) is the veil in time. The commitment to act before understanding, to accept the covenant terms before hearing all the terms — this is the moment of separation that echoes through history. The veil in the Temple, the vow at Sinai, the thread of crimson on Rahab's window (Joshua 2:18), the scarlet thread marking Zerah's wrist (Genesis 38:28) — the rabbis kept finding the same red thread: the sign that something has been marked and will be remembered.
Chapter (79) 80: Prophets [1] And it came to pass when the offering was completed (1 Chronicles 18:26). This can be compared to the second thread and the end, like a tower, etc. (Song of Songs 4:4) Like the second thread of your lips, you used to say, "We will do and we will listen," like the thread of the veil that separated between holy and profane, so I separated you from all the nations. Why was Israel compared to the veil? Rabbi Berechiah said, "There was no vessel in the Temple more praiseworthy than the veil" (and so we learn in Tractate Middot). It was forty cubits long and twenty cubits wide, woven with seventy-two threads, and the thread was folded twenty-four times. Everyone desired to see it, and whoever saw it was not satisfied, as there was no form in the world as praiseworthy as it, and there was no form in the world that did not have an image, as it is said, "The work of the skillful workman" (Exodus 26:1). He made them in the form of cherubim, arranged in rows, just as you were before, like the second thread of your lips. "And your speech is comely" (Song of Songs 4:3), when you said to Moses, "We are able" (Deuteronomy 5:22). Therefore, I said to Moses, "Well said, all that they have spoken" (ibid. 28), and for the reward they received, they immediately merited to have prophets arise from them, as it is said, "I will raise them up a prophet" (ibid. 18:18). "And your speech is comely," when you speak words of Torah. [Da'at Mikra 1 Chronicles 18:26] "Moreover, your speech is pleasant, and your conduct is seemly. Your conduct is nothing but a custom. And in their custom, they recite blessings as follows: they bless upon the luminaries, they read the Shema and pray, they read from the Torah, the Cohen reads first, the Levite second, and the Israelite third, and they conclude with the Haftarah. They stand and pray, and they pass before the Ark, the Cohanim open their palms, and they bless Israel. This is a proper custom, like the second thread of the ephod. And concerning your conduct, this is the Choshen (breastplate), which contained good stones fixed in order, with the names of the tribes engraved upon them. Rabbi Acha said: Why were the names of the tribes inscribed on the stones? Because they were all called Cohanim at Sinai, as it is said, "And you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests" (Exodus 19:6). The Holy One, blessed be He, said, "Is it possible that they should all offer sacrifices on the altar? Let all their names be inscribed upon the heart of the High Priest, so that whenever he enters to offer the sacrifice, each one of them should be considered as if he himself were the High Priest, vested in his priestly garments, like the blossom of the pomegranate, this is the Tzitz (forehead-plate), which extends over the forehead, and like the garland that is fastened behind, this is the Nezer (crown). Moreover, like the blossom of the pomegranate, your temples. The heads of the people of Israel are filled with commandments like the fruit of the pomegranate. "Through your temples," they assemble and congregate, and stand crowded together in the synagogues, and drink in the words of the Torah with thirst. "As a tower of David," your neck. This is the Temple, which is compared to the neck, and why? Because just as the neck is dearer than all the other members of the body, so that if one of the members of the body were removed, a man could still have life, but if the neck were severed, he could not live, even so Israel cannot exist without the Temple. "As a tower of David," your neck. Just as the neck of man is taller than all his other members, so too the Temple was taller than all the world, as it is said, "He set me down upon a very high mountain" (Ezekiel 40:2)." "As the neck supports the body, so too all of Israel is dependent on Abraham, as it says, 'The shield of Abraham, upon which a thousand shields hang' (Song of Songs 4:4). He does kindness for thousands (Exodus 20:6), and his commandment is for a thousand generations (Psalms 105:8). Through the merit of Abraham, the chain of the generations hangs upon him for a thousand generations, and through the merit of the three patriarchs, even more so. All the conquests of heroes (Song of Songs 3:7) refer not only to heroes but also to the righteous, as it says, 'Mighty heroes who do His bidding' (Psalms 103:20).In addition, "And your speech is comely" refers to the wilderness in which you dwell, which is comely before Me, all the more so the settled areas among you. Who are the wilderness people? These are the ignorant people who neither read nor study nor inquire. They are like a wilderness that does not produce fruit. They enter synagogues and houses of study, and bless, "Blessed be He who formed the luminaries and gives life to the dead," for He created and gives life to the dead, and they answer, "Amen," and say, "We believe that He gives life to the dead and created the world," even if they have nothing but the reward of this "Amen." Therefore, Isaiah praises the Holy One, blessed be He, saying, "Lord, Thou art our God; we will praise Thee" [Isaiah 25:1]. [2] Another interpretation: "Like a thread of scarlet [are your lips]. This refers to the time when God said to the Israelites, "How long will you continue to celebrate Passover?" (I Kings 18:21). Your speech is also beautiful when God said, "The God who answers by fire is the true God" (1 Kings 18:24), and immediately all the people responded and said, "The matter is good" (1 Kings 18:24). Your speech is also beautiful when you declared to the Israelites, "The Lord is God, the Lord is God" (1 Kings 18:39), like the cluster of pomegranates. This refers to the generation that had little merit, yet they were beloved like the pomegranate, because of what they did when they gathered at Mount Carmel, as it is said, "And now, send and gather to me all of Israel at Mount Carmel" (1 Kings 18:19). Like the Tower of David is your neck. This refers to the altar that was built, as it is said, "And he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down" (1 Kings 18:30), which was a source of healing for Israel. A thousand shields refer to the merit of the tribes, as it is said, "And Elijah took twelve stones, one for each tribe of the sons of Jacob" (1 Kings 18:31). All the rulers of the mighty refer to the merit of the patriarchs that was mentioned, and not because of Elijah himself. Rather, all the rulers of the mighty are dependent only on this Tower, and what is this Tower? It is Abraham, for all prayers are dependent on him. Moses said, "Remember Abraham" (Exodus 32:13), David said, "O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever this attitude and thought in the hearts of Your people" (1 Chronicles 29:18), and Elijah also said, "And Elijah approached and said, 'O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel'" (1 Kings 18:36). Therefore, a thousand shields are dependent on him."
