The seemingly redundant words, “so they did” actually mean, “precisely they did.” Bnei Yisrael were tested after receiving the Torah at Sinai. At Sinai they had learned the lesson of perfect obedience to Hashem’s word through Moshe, without concern for their own reasoning. The construction of the Mishkan, which encompassed thousands of details almost for which no reason had not been given, demanded an exemplary from of compliance. This type of obeidence was demanded of the many thousands of individuals who had participated, who quite possibly could have substituted many more desirable designs. They never questioned what difference one slight insignificant alteration would make in the total arrangement!All of them had already learned the all important Torah lesson: Hashem’s words through Moshe were to be fulfilled with the utmost precision, faithful even in the most hair-splitting detail. This generation of great minds learned and understood the universal importance of Hashem’s word, even in its most minuscule detail. This important attitude has been traditionally maintained by their descendants after them, as is evident throughout the Mishnah, Talmud, and later Codes. Throughout Halacha we may note this unswerving loyalty to every technicality. The nations look on in amazement at how our Chazal have disagreed with each other over seemingly unimportant details, devoting pages of our sacred Talmud to these discussions. Klal Yisrael, however, learned a fundamental axiom: the infinite greatness of Hashem has bestowed an infinite greatness on even the smallest portion of His commandments; for infinity cannot be divided into finite segments.
