Exodus 35-38

The Tabernacle commands end with the Sabbath (Exodus 31:12-17) and Moses’ repetition of the Tabernacle commands begins with a mention of the Sabbath. How are these two things connected? The Tabernacle sanctifies space, whereas the Sabbath sanctifies time.[1]

In Exodus 35:10 we read, “All who are skillful among you shall come and make all that the Lord has commanded...” Bezalel was not the only one gifted and skilled to fashion the Tabernacle and its contents. He was the leader in this effort, but many others were invited by Moses to work with and under Bezalel. So too, in the Church today, accomplishing the Lord’s work must always be a team effort.

Even those who were not skilled to actually fashion the contents of the Tabernacle had a part to play. All were invited to contribute offerings of materials to fashion the space where YHWH would be worshipped. “Everyone whose heart was stirred” is a repeated refrain in these chapters. This is a much better way, I think, to encourage offerings in the Church today. People should not be compelled or guilted into giving. It is important that giving proceeds from a cheerful heart. “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7)

The Torah usually emphasises the role of the men in the Israelite community, or uses male terminology to refer to all of Israel. However, in Exodus 35:29 we read that, “All the Israelite men and women whose hearts made them willing to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done, brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord.” Then in 38:8, there is the first mention of female workers in the Tabernacle. Even in the patriarchal society of ancient Israel, the important role of women is not completely forgotten.

In Exodus 36, we find that relying on God to stir the hearts of the people to give to the work of constructing the Tabernacle results in more than enough supplies to complete the job. With God there is always more than enough, if we will simply rely on him instead of our own methods. Furthermore, as has often been noted, one cannot out-give God. Jesus says, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.” (Luke 6:38)

Friedman notes that “Chapters 36-39 contain a repetition of nearly all the Tabernacle details, now reporting that the work was all carried out. It doubles the message that the Tabernacle is supremely important: the channel through which divine and human communicate.”[2]

Without the Tabernacle in existence today, what is the channel through which divine and human communicate?

[1] Friedman, Commentary on the Torah, 295

[2] Ibid, 299

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