Exodus 31: 1 – 18
Only Skilled Applicants Need Apply
31 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. 3 And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, 4 to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, 5 in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship. 6 “And I, indeed I, have appointed with him Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and I have put wisdom in the hearts of all the gifted artisans, that they may make all that I have commanded you: 7 the tabernacle of meeting, the ark of the Testimony and the mercy seat that is on it, and all the furniture of the tabernacle— 8 the table and its utensils, the pure gold lamp stand with all its utensils, the altar of incense, 9 the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the laver and its base— 10 the garments of ministry, the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, to minister as priests, 11 and the anointing oil and sweet incense for the holy place. According to all that I have commanded you they shall do.” 12 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 13 “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. 14 You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16 Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’” 18 And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.
Today’s study reminded me of my High School years. People tend to group up with others who share the same likes. For example we had these groups;.
1. The Athletes- This group included all those who participated on one of the schools sport teams. Cheerleaders were also in this group. Many young men and women in this group never went to college. The players married the cheerleader’s right after high school and had kids right away and spent the rest of their time trying to relive their glory days.
2. The Geeks – these folks were the ones with the brains. Anyone who was part of this group that received less than an A seemed to go through some mental breakdown. This small group of intellectuals went on to become doctors and lawyers.
3. The College bound – These were the boys and girls who had aspirations to further their education at the next level. Many did not know what they wanted to do except that they knew they had to go on to college to find out.
4. The druggies and those into darkness – This group was the easiest to identify. They stayed away from almost everyone who did not wear black. You were looked upon as a squealer or an undercover cop if you tried to befriend any in this group.
5. The pretty people – These were guys and gals who were the gifted in beauty and wealth. You could see some guy because his family was rich driving a new car to school. They had all the finest clothes
6. The Techies – This group was very unique. They would attend classes in the morning with us and then go off to a separate Technical school for the rest of the day. I admired them because they had an idea of what they wanted to do in life. Some wanted to be automobile mechanics, others beauticians, plumbers, construction workers, and computer science experts. Many succeeded in these professions.
7. Those who tried to blend in with some or all of the other groups. This is the group I was in.
I pretty much was a maverick. I quite frankly got along with each group. I played on various sport teams. I enjoyed hitting the books, and I wanted to go on to college. Maybe that is why they picked me to be Vice-President of the senior class. It was a nice do nothing position that allowed me to interact with all groups.
Today we find out a little bit about the importance of the gift of working with your hands in the creations of furniture with the handling of precious metals. We are going to see how our Great God had given a special gift in this area to a man by the name of Bezalel. When you see all that this man was able to do you will be impressed with the anointing our Holy Father God gave to him. I think that if you are a like gifted individual in technical abilities and you have a son, you would do well to name him Bezalel.
This chapter begins by teaching us about the appointment of the specially gifted men for the task of producing all that so far has been described in the previous chapters.
31 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. 3 And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, 4 to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, 5 in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship.
Bezalel name means ‘in the shadow of God’. I love this name because I am thinking of David’s famous remark in Psalm 17 verse 8 which says, “Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me under the shadow of Your wings, This man was picked by The Lord Most High to work on His earthly House. Can you imagine his ancestors being able to comment, ‘Did you know my dad was picked by Jehovah Yahweh to build His Tabernacle and all its furnishings?’ He was from the tribe of Judah and his ancestor Hur may well have been the one who was a prime assistant of Moses. He was a man whose artistic ability was well known.
Our Holy God Is All Knowing. He knows us all even more than by just our name. He knows us. Our Great and Holy Yahweh has ‘called him by name’. From our bibles we learn that this is said of few that I can find and they are Moses and Cyrus. He is personally called to a vital ministry. And he has been carefully prepared for this special task and has now been endued ‘in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge’ by God’s Spirit in order to carry it through.
We may see these attributes working as;
By wisdom = the power to invent and originate and work wisely
By understanding = the ability to receive and take in all guidance from God and all His directions
. By knowledge = the expertise necessary for the task.
This is then expanded to include all manner of workmanship, including intricate work, metal work, jeweler work, and woodwork. As usual when the need arises God has His man especially prepared.
6 “And I, indeed I, have appointed with him Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and I have put wisdom in the hearts of all the gifted artisans, that they may make all that I have commanded you: 7 the tabernacle of meeting, the ark of the Testimony and the mercy seat that is on it, and all the furniture of the tabernacle— 8 the table and its utensils, the pure gold lamp stand with all its utensils, the altar of incense, 9 the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the laver and its base— 10 the garments of ministry, the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, to minister as priests, 11 and the anointing oil and sweet incense for the holy place. According to all that I have commanded you they shall do.”
Chief assistant to Bezalel was to be Oholiab, a Danite. He was a skilled engraver and embroiderer. His name is foreign and probably means ‘a father is my tent’. It probably signifies a ruler whose tent is a father to his clan. Just as we know from scripture that Bezalel is a descendent of an important man – Hur –Oholiab comes from an important leader of the tribe of Dan. It was a very apt name in view of the task that lay ahead. But note that he is not strictly ‘called by name’. He is appointed.
Under Bezalel and Oholiab are bodies of skilled and highly trained men. It should be noted that had these men not done their apprenticeships and qualified in their particular careers they would not have been chosen for this sacred task. Like we see in job postiing today ‘Only skilled workmen need apply.’ They are ‘wise-hearted’, that is, skilled and trained. It behooves all God’s people to seek to fit themselves for His service by proper training, and become wise hearted. But in this time of special need Yahweh Father God will give them more wisdom, enablement for the supreme task that they have been given.
The final response and mark of loyalty and worship is found in the newly established Sabbath. This divided time up for Israel into periods of seven days. Time was usually measured in terms of the moon (moon periods of 28/29 days long) or the sun (in term of keeping the seasons in line). This measurement of time directly connected them with Yahweh and His activity. They were uniquely Yahweh’s people. Time would also later be divided up into seven year periods, the seventh year of such being a kind of Sabbath (Leviticus 25.1-7), and into ‘seven times seven’ periods which ended in the year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25.8).
12 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 13 “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
As we have learned in the previous chapter the offering of incense on the incense altar was evidence of the people’s loyalty and devotion, the payment of the ransom on the numbering of Israel was a further mark of loyalty and we now come to the third mark of loyalty, the Sabbath. This has been recently established to act as a sign whereby all men may know that Israel are His people and loyally serve Him, and as a sign whereby they may themselves recognize that they are His and come to know Him more fully. Every time the Sabbath came round they would recognize that they had been set apart by God as His people and would by God’s grace come to know it fully in their hearts. And like the offering of the incense this was to be so through many generations.
The mention of the Sabbath here was especially apposite as the temptation might have been for the work to continue on the Sabbath because it was ‘God’s work’. The only ones allowed to work on the Sabbath were God’s ministers. But the warning is clear. Nothing justifies the ignoring of the Sabbath because of its deep significance.
14 You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
The importance and solemnity of the Sabbath is stressed. No work at all must be done on it (other than the minimum necessary to ensure the wellbeing of their flocks and herds. In this case it was important that there care was taken care of during the day before the Sabbath). It is a holy day, and to work on it would profane it. For it is a reminder of God’s rest in creation. Thus it applied to all who lived among His people. The complete ban was a blessing for all hired workers and bondmen. Even they could not work on the Sabbath, and no ingenuity of man could get around it. It was a total ban. And it was a sign that Israel was Yahweh’s people. It was a sign of the covenant, of which it was a part, and of their observance of it. And all who were within that covenant were promised that they would find rest.
The warning of death for breaching the Sabbath was an indication that it was a new ordinance, which was why it had to be so solemnly enforced. And the reason for the severe penalty was that a deliberate breaching of the Sabbath would be a deliberate rejection of the covenant, and thus if Israel did not act to punish it they would be seen as participating in the rejection of the covenant.
16 Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’”
The Sabbath therefore was a sign of God’s covenant made with His people Israel. By being obedient and observing the Sabbath they were giving the continual sign that they had accepted that covenant and were maintaining their special relationship with God forever. And it was a mutual sign, for as they were to rest on the Sabbath day, so He also had rested on the Sabbath day. Thus their resting on it demonstrated their new special relationship with their Creator. They were following in His footsteps.
18 And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.
God’s period of fellowship and discussion with Moses which begun in chapter 25.1 was now over and He gave to Moses two tablets which were the confirmation of the covenant and contained the covenant of the ten commandments which had been written by His finger, His personal written covenant with His people.
In this chapter it is made clear that in the service of God we must receive our direction in how to walk the proper way and also receive the wisdom to understand all His ways.
We also learn from this scripture that where God has a work that He wants done He appoints the men to do it. They are individually chosen, but along with them work a whole team of skilful craftsmen, anonymous to us but known to Him, without whom, humanly speaking, the work of God in completing the living, believing church, His temple, will not be completed.
We can also glean that we must set apart a time for God which is wholly for Him, a time when nothing intrudes to prevent our whole attention being on Him. Some may select one particular day, others may select every day, but we must be satisfied in our own minds about what we do (Romans 14.4-6). And the keeping of such a time to God is to be a sign to Him and to the world that we belong to Him.
