Exodus Chapter 35
I think we need to take a minute and appreciate how intimately involved our God was and is involved in the lives of the Israelite people. He could have simply said that He wanted them to build a tabernacle without any details of what He wanted them to construct. The truth is God gave them very rich details and more importantly He wanted many different people to be involved in the skills and craftsmanship of the tabernacle and its furnishings. If God had just left the design up to them, the finished tabernacle would have been an object of pride in what men had created. Instead, God called men and women to use their skills to create exactly the design that God wanted. And all of this was for the purpose of creating a place where God could dwell with His people.
This should also cause us to reflect on the New Covenant with the promised Messiah coming to earth. God became intimately involved with people when He sent His Son to live amongst us, to teach us, and to die for us. And all of this was so that we could be redeemed and have the Spirit of the Living God living within us.
Let's Reflect
1. The words of the beginning of this chapter may sound harsh. We need to understand that God was establishing a relationship with His people. He wanted them to make Him a priority in their life. When we don’t make God a priority, we humans tend to quickly forget about Him until we need Him. A commentator suggested that we may not have the whole picture since there are different words for the word work.
“The Hebrew language has two words for work: avodah and melachah. Avodah is a general term meaning work, while melachah is a word more related to business and things specifically forbidden on the Sabbath. One might say that here, God allowed some work (avodah) to be done on the Sabbath, but did not allow certain things on the Sabbath, especially business-related things (melachah).” [Guzik]
It has also been suggested that the kindling of fire has to do with building fires for the purpose of doing business or for cooking, but that a fire for keeping warm would have been understood as necessary. The purpose of keeping the Sabbath was to rest and it was a day of what?
2. You will find the instructions from God for completing the tabernacle, given a second time here. Sometimes we need things repeated especially when we allow sin to creep into our lives and corrupt our thinking. The people were going to be involved in crafting all of the tabernacle. They would also be asked to donate some things, what were they?
3. When the people left having heard the words Moses spoke on behalf of God, what were they feeling?
4. Did the contributions given come from just the men?
5. Verse 29 tells us that everything that the people gave for the tabernacle was given in what manner?
6. What was the name of the man who God gifted supernaturally to be the main craftsman of the whole project? We could call him the general contractor. See also Exodus 31:2
7. God filled men with the Spirit of God giving them various skills so they could complete the work. What type of skills or talents did God give these men?
