Unsung Heroines-The Women Who Prepared Materials For The Tabernacle

Introduction: The Tabernacle. For the first time in history, the God of Heaven agreed to dwell in one location with His special people, Israel. Sometimes it’s easy to get lost in the details of the construction, the listed steps and instructions, and other things but it’s important to remember: God Himself gave Moses these instructions. God also gave Moses the responsibility to build this tent of meeting, where God would indeed meet with His people.

Another thing easy to overlook (I know, I’ve done it too!) is the role of both men and women in preparing materials for the Tabernacle. This passage doesn’t give any names or very many details about the people, but much more about what they gave. Let’s take a look:

Text: Exodus 35:20-29, KJV: 20 And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. 21 And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the LORD'S offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments. 22 And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted, and brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold: and every man that offered offered an offering of gold unto the LORD. 23 And every man, with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, and red skins of rams, and badgers' skins, brought them. 24 Every one that did offer an offering of silver and brass brought the LORD'S offering: and every man, with whom was found shittim wood for any work of the service, brought it. 25 And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen. 26 And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats' hair. 27 And the rulers brought onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate; 28 And spice, and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense. 29 The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the LORD, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses.

Thoughts: Incredibly, this offering and contributions for the Tabernacle came very shortly after the incident of the golden calf just a couple chapters back (Exodus 32). Judgment fell swiftly on at least 3000 Israelites who seem to have been converted back to idol worship. Moses went up to the mountain again and interceded with God to forgive the nation. And God did so!

Now came the request to provide, basically, raw materials for the Tabernacle. The text lists a variety of items: skins, wood, articles of gold, silver, “brass (or, bronze)” and even goats’ hair. How long this went on is not stated, but the people gave so much that eventually, Moses had to tell the people to stop giving! Exodus 36:6-7 says, “6 And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. 7 For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much (KJV).”

You may be wondering what, if anything, this has to do with the men and the women who brought these offerings. First, remember, this was all free-will, and nobody was under any pressure to give anything if they didn’t want to (verses 21-22). Second, each one who wanted to give something gave what they had. Implied, for example, in verse 24 is that not everybody had “shittim” or acacia wood. Good thing, too—can you imagine finding lumber of any kind while out in the desert?

Third, here is the good thing, the people (men and women alike) got personally involved with reworking some of the gifts sent in. Chapter 36 details some of what the men did, preparing the curtains, but verses 25-26 detail what the women did. These ladies “spun with their hands” various colors and linen, and also spun “goats’ hair”. I’ve seen a man who had a home-made spinning wheel, spinning goats’ hair (or, could have been raw wool, I don’t recall) into some very fine threads. We’re not told if these Hebrew ladies had anything like that, but we do know they used what they had, and did what they could, to help build the Tabernacle.

We know nothing about their names, tribes, immediate families, or anything like that but we do know they helped in a significant way. You and I may be nameless, unknown, people, working where we are, doing what we do, but just like these unsung heroines, we may be doing a lot more than we realize. The ladies may have wondered “why am I spinning this goats’ hair?” but when they saw the Tabernacle completed, they had to rejoice that God gave them a chance to be part of how it all came together!

Never lose sight of what you’re doing. Even small things done for Jesus amount to big things when it’s all put together!

Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).