Day 25. Exodus 25-27

Exodus 25-27

Exodus 25

²Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.

Today's reading is all about building. Exodus 25 is about how to build the Ark of the Covenant.

First though, god needed people to give him things to build everything with: gold, silver, brass, skins, wood, oils, and stones.

¹⁰And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.

Just like the thing in Indiana Jones, in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

¹¹And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.

That's a lot of gold.

¹⁶And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee.

At this point, apparently, they don't have the testimony. Even though in Exodus 16:34, Aaron laid up an omer of Manna next to the testimony.

¹⁷And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.

¹⁸And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.

The mercy seat is the cover.

²²And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.

God, himself, will talk to Moses from the mercy seat.

²³Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.

Next, make a table, and cover it in gold.

²⁹And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover withal: of pure gold shalt thou make them.

God likes to make things color coded. Remember this, if it's gold, it's for god.

³¹And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same.

God needs a gold nightlight.

³⁸And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, shall be of pure gold.

God even wants his candle accessories to be made of gold.

Exodus 26

¹Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them.

Chapter 25 was the ark and things, chapter 26 is the tabernacle, or as I like to call it, the tentbernacle.

The build instructions for the tentbernacle go through verse 33.

³⁴And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place.

God even tells how he would like his gold room laid out.

³⁵And thou shalt set the table without the vail, and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south: and thou shalt put the table on the north side.

God is kind of OCD, he wants things the way he wants them.

Exodus 27

Chapter 27 is about other things god needs built.

¹And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits.

²And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass.

These items are to be overlaid with brass. God's things are gold, the brass things are for the priests.

⁶And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with brass.

Staves are the carrying sticks.

¹⁰And the twenty pillars thereof and their twenty sockets shall be of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver.

Pillars of brass, and fillets of silver.

²¹In the tabernacle of the congregation without the vail, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the LORD: it shall be a statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.

Verse 20 talks about keeping a lamp lit. Here we see that Aaron and his sons are the ones to do it.

There really isn't that much else going on in today's readings. I've read this one before, and this is about as exciting as I can make it.

Points to ponder:

1. The people didn't have time to let their bread rise, but they had enough time to gather enough gold to make these items. They had enough time to gather enough fabric to make a huge tent.

2. Gold things for god, brass for the priests. There will be more colors coming up later.

3. The tabernacle was carried with the people from the point they made it in the wilderness through the age of judges, all the way up to the third king. Either the people lacked initiative, or god likes his tents. He actually likes the tents.