The Context

Parshas Tetzava is the only parshah since Moshe’s birth where Moshe’s name does not appear. The Baal Haturim offers an explanation: When Moshe was pleading the Jewish people’s cause with G-d after the sin of the Golden calf, he vowed that if G-d did not forgive the people, “then erase me from the book You have written.” G-d did forgive the people, but we are also taught that the oath of a righteous person, even if the condition is not met, is still fulfilled in some way. Moshe’s erasure from this parshah is the fulfillment of that oath.