Are There Contradictions in The Torah? - נשא

Are There Contradictions in The Torah? 

What do we do when we find two Torah verses contradicting each other? Call the publisher and ask if, by chance, it is a printing mistake? Assume that one of the verses is somehow incorrect? The answer is simple: look for a third verse that will reconcile the apparent contradiction. 

One example of the above principle, one of the thirteen general principles by which the Bible is interpreted, is in the final verse of our Parsha, where the Torah describes how Moses would hear the word of G-d in the Tabernacle - the “tent of meeting”. The verse states: 

When Moses would come into the Tent of Meeting to speak with Him, he would hear the voice speaking to him from the two cherubim above the covering which was over the Ark of Testimony, and He spoke to him. (Numbers 7:89)

Rashi points out that there are other verses that diverge in the description of where the voice of G-d emerged from: 

When Moses would enter: two contradictory verses, the third one comes and reconciles them. One verse says, “the Lord spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting” (Leviticus 1:1), and that implies outside the curtain, whereas another verse says, “and speak to you from above the ark cover” (Exodus 25:22) . This comes and reconciles them: Moses came into the Tent of Meeting, and there he would hear the voice coming from above the ark cover. 

In the book of Exodus, the Torah states that the voice came from the “tent of meeting” implying in the outer chamber of the tent. In the book of Leviticus, however, the Torah states that the voice came from the inner chamber, “from above the ark cover”. What do we do about this contradiction? We look to the book of Numbers which reconciles the matter. Moses stood in the tent of meeting, in the outer chamber of the sanctuary, and heard the voice emerging from the inner chamber. 

Ok, crisis averted, contradiction resolved. 

But we still need to understand why does the Torah communicate in such a cumbersome manner? Why not state only the third verse? Why first create the apparent contradiction? 

The apparent contradiction captures a tension. Whenever opposite points converge, the Torah highlights each of the extremes, which creates the apparent contradiction, and then introduces the third verse to highlight that within this space, both extremes are fused. 

The temple represents the fusion of matter and spirit, a fusion of the physical and the spiritual. The temple is the connection point between the infinite G-d and mortal man. There can be no greater contradiction than bringing together these extremes. The Torah, therefore, lays out two distinct verses, one describing the voice of G-d emerging from between the Cherubim, in the inner chamber of the temple, the place where no human would enter (except for the High Priest who would enter but once a year on Yom Kippur), representing the domain of the infinite G-d, and another verse highlighting the opposite extreme, the voice emerging from the tent of meeting, the space within the temple that is the human domain. For, in essence, the temple is a contradiction, a seemingly absurd attempt to fuse the finite and the infinite.  

And then comes the third verse, which reconciles the two and highlights the power of the Jewish people to create a home for G-d that will fuse the two extremes of heaven and earth, physical and spiritual, and affect the marriage between God and the Jewish people.  

Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Shabbos Naso 5749 (1989)