Day 29. Exodus 37-40

Exodus 37-40

Exodus 37

¹And Bezaleel made the ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half was the length of it, and a cubit and a half the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it:

I still wonder how a guy who spent his days making bricks and building a store cities for an unnamed pharaoh was able to make what was supposed to be one of the most beautiful things ever created.

First he made the ark.

¹⁰And he made the table of shittim wood: two cubits was the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof:

Then he made the table.

¹⁶And he made the vessels which were upon the table, his dishes, and his spoons, and his bowls, and his covers to cover withal, of pure gold.

And the things for the table.

¹⁷And he made the candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work made he the candlestick; his shaft, and his branch, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, were of the same:

Then he made the candlestick.

²⁵And he made the incense altar of shittim wood: the length of it was a cubit, and the breadth of it a cubit; it was foursquare; and two cubits was the height of it; the horns thereof were of the same.

Then he made the altar.

²⁹And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, according to the work of the apothecary.

Finally, the guy who was extremely great at making tables and arks and doing other work with gold, was also a great enough guy, to make the hallucinogenic oil.

Exodus 38

¹And he made the altar of burnt offering of shittim wood: five cubits was the length thereof, and five cubits the breadth thereof; it was foursquare; and three cubits the height thereof.

²And he made the horns thereof on the four corners of it; the horns thereof were of the same: and he overlaid it with brass.

After making the fancy gold things, he set about to make the brass things.

¹⁰Their pillars were twenty, and their brasen sockets twenty; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver.

He also did some silver work.

¹⁶All the hangings of the court round about were of fine twined linen.

There wasn't anyone else who was with them in the desert who could have done anything? We are to believe that this guy is a carpenter, goldsmith, silversmith, brass-smith, and now he's also good with fabrics.

¹⁸And the hanging for the gate of the court was needlework, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: and twenty cubits was the length, and the height in the breadth was five cubits, answerable to the hangings of the court.

He does needlework too.

Apparently there were some other people with him.

²²And Bezaleel the son Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the LORD commanded Moses.

²³And with him was Aholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a cunning workman, and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and fine linen.

Well, just Bezaleel and Aholiab. They did it all.

Next we get the weight/volume of the gold, silver, and brass that were used to make the tabernacle.

²⁶A bekah for every man, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that went to be numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men.

Modern christianity seems very caught up in capitalism. Modern christians tend to be right wing republican. They are very anti-socialism. Most of the tea-party people are conservative. (I believe they just don't want to pay to help other people, but they'll claim they are against socialism). One second they will praise the free market, then on Sunday, they'll praise Jesus. They'll claim they believe and follow the whole bible, not just pick and choose the verses they like, even though it's obvious they don't. Verse 26 says that everyone who was numbered paid the same for building the sanctuary. If everyone pays for something for the common good (or bad) of the community, that's socialism. God is a socialist.

Exodus 39

¹And of the blue, and purple, and scarlet, they made cloths of service, to do service in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron; as the LORD commanded Moses.

They can also make clothes.

¹⁴And the stones were according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet, every one with his name, according to the twelve tribes.

They are jewelers.

²⁷And they made coats of fine linen of woven work for Aaron, and for his sons,

The Hebrews were in a hurry to leave Egypt and didn't have time to let their bread rise, but they did have time to take yards of fine linen.

³²Thus was all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation finished: and the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they.

The two guys, who if we believe the story of captivity that they were city building slaves, were able to produce all of these things.

⁴³And Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the LORD had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them.

Moses really like it. Good for Moses.

Exodus 40

God tells Moses:

²On the first day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation.

God then gives instructions of what needs to be done, including washing Aaron and his sons.

¹⁷And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up.

Ohhh, another date.

¹⁸And Moses reared up the tabernacle, and fastened his sockets, and set up the boards thereof, and put in the bars thereof, and reared up his pillars.

Apparently the tabernacle was able to be set up by one man. Moses finally got everything set up correctly.

³⁴Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

Or, Moses was just really stoned.

³⁵And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

But Moses talked to god face to face in the tabernacle before. (Exodus 33:7,11)

Then God showed the people what days they would walk, by his cloud. If the cloud was on the tabernacle, they didn't go anywhere, if it moved, they had to pack up and follow him.

Thus ends Exodus.

Points to ponder:

1. Did two people build all those things?

2. Is it possible for two people to build those things while traveling around in the desert, seemingly without all their tools?

3. Moses has set up a society, where his family is taken care of for eternity.