Commentary on the Torah

by Richard Elliott Friedman

But the wording—“the Tabernacle will be one”—also fits with the centrality of the Tabernacle to Israel’s monotheism. One God, one Tabernacle, one altar, only one place of worship. Later it will be confirmed by divine commandment that Israel may have only one place of sacrifice, and that this one place is in front of the Tabernacle (Leviticus 17). There cannot be more than one place to worship God, because that might suggest that there is more than one God. Or, to put it more essentially: it is inconceivable in the first place in this new religion of a single deity that there could possibly be more than a single sanctuary. Those who claim that Israel’s religion was not a real monotheism until a very late stage (Second Temple) have not appreciated the significance of the commandment of centralization of worship at a single location.