Take this one: "His hands are rods of gold set with beryl; his belly is a slab of ivory covered with sapphires." (Song of Songs 5:14). Beautiful imagery, but what does it mean?
Well, Shir HaShirim Rabbah, a classic commentary on Song of Songs, dives deep into that very verse. And what they find is…well, let’s just say it involves the Ten Commandments, the Tablets of the Covenant, and even a little bit of sunshine.
Let’s unpack it, shall we?
The commentary starts by focusing on the phrase “His hands are rods of gold.” Shir HaShirim Rabbah equates these "rods of gold" (gelilei zahav) with the Tablets of the Covenant themselves. : Exodus 32:16 tells us, "The tablets were God's handiwork." It’s a pretty powerful image. And the "rods of gold," according to this interpretation, also represent the words of Torah. Words so precious, Psalm 19:11 says "They are more desirable than gold, than much fine gold!"
But it gets even more intriguing. Rabbi Yehoshua bar Neḥemya suggests these tablets were a miraculous creation, rolled up like a scroll (niglalin). They were crafted from sapphire and designed to be scrolled! Rabbi Menaḥama, quoting Rabbi Avun, takes it a step further: these tablets, he says, were hewn from the very orb of the sun (migalgal)! Can you picture that? Tablets born from pure sunlight?
Okay, so we’ve got these radiant, sapphire tablets. But how were the Ten Commandments inscribed on them? This is where things get really interesting, because the Rabbis couldn’t agree.
The text asks: How were they inscribed? Five on this tablet and five on that tablet, as it is stated: “His hands are rods of gold,”—Just as a person has two hands with five fingers on each, there were two tablets with five commandments on each. in accordance with the statement of Rabbi Ḥanina ben Gamliel: That is what is written: “He inscribed them on two tablets of stone” (Deuteronomy 4:13).
One opinion, attributed to Rabbi Ḥanina ben Gamliel, drawing on Deuteronomy 4:13, suggests a simple, elegant symmetry: five commandments on one tablet, five on the other. Makes sense. But other Rabbis weren't so sure.
Some argued, based on the same verse in Deuteronomy (4:13) – “He told you His covenant that He commanded you [to perform], the Ten Commandments, and He inscribed them on two tablets of stone” – that all ten commandments were inscribed on each tablet! Imagine that – a complete set on both sides.
And then Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai enters the conversation. He agrees with the Rabbis's derivation based on the verse in Deuteronomy 4:13, and since an additional verse (Deuteronomy 5:19) also states that God wrote ten commandments on the tablets, Rabbi Shimon derives that there were twenty commandments on each tablet. “He inscribed them on two tablets of stone” (Deuteronomy 5:19) – twenty on this tablet and twenty on that tablet.
Rabbi Simai takes it even further, saying there were forty on this tablet and forty on that tablet, as it is stated: “Tablets that were written on both their sides; from this side and from that side they were inscribed” (Exodus 32:15) – fourfold.
So, to recap: we've gone from five commandments per tablet to ten, then twenty, and finally, forty! It's a fascinating example of how rabbinic interpretation can expand and explore the meaning of scripture.
What are we to make of these wildly different interpretations? Is it simply a disagreement about the literal inscription on the tablets? Or is something deeper going on here? Perhaps the number of commandments on each tablet isn't the point. Maybe the Rabbis are trying to tell us something about the multifaceted nature of the Torah itself – how it can be understood and applied in countless ways, each as valid as the last.
Maybe the "rods of gold set with beryl" represent not just the literal tablets, but the inexhaustible richness of divine wisdom, shining as brightly as the sun from which they were hewn. What do you think?