10 "All who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the LORD has commanded." Exodus35:5-10
While Moses was on the mountain, God had shown him the "blueprint" for the Tabernacle (which was the portable predecessor of the temple.) Now it needed to be built, and it is interesting to see how Moses gets it built.
There are two facets to the building process: Materials and Skills. Moses sketches the vision for the people and they are prompted and empowered by the Spirit to participate.
Have a look at some of the verses that follow:
"Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses' presence, 21 and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved him came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments." (vv.20-21)
"Then Moses said to the Israelites, "See, the LORD has chosen Bezalel and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts-- 32 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 33 to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic craftsmanship. 34 And he has given both him and Oholiab the ability to teach others." (vv31-34)
The wonderful thing is that as people saw the quality of the work and sensed the teamwork, they were even more motivated and so a little later we read "And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning" (36:4) until eventually Moses had to beg them to stop.
It seems to me that the building of the Tabernacle was more about building the people than about building the tent. They learned generosity and teamwork and the power of God's working in them.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
