Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Behold, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all kinds of workmanship, to devise skillful works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze, and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all kinds of workmanship. Behold, I myself have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and in the heart of all who are wise-hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded you: the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the covenant, the mercy seat that is on it, all the furniture of the Tent, the table and its vessels, the pure lamp stand with all its vessels, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering with all its vessels, the basin and its base, the finely worked garments—the holy garments for Aaron the priest, the garments of his sons to minister in the priest’s office— the anointing oil, and the incense of sweet spices for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded you they shall do.”
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Most certainly you shall keep my Sabbaths; for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies you. 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 therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to Yahweh. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death. Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.’ ”
When he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, he gave Moses the two tablets of the covenant, stone tablets, written with God’s finger.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 6, 8, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18 I have chosen and made meet, Exod. 35:30.
I have chosen and made meet, Exod. 35:30.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 Exo 31:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Exo 31:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Ver. 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses.] At "sundry times," during those forty days, and not all at once, were these directions delivered to Moses.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 6, 8, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 He seems to be the same mentioned 1Ch 2:20
He seems to be the same mentioned 1Ch 2:20
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 12 A great deal of fine work God had ordered…
A great deal of fine work God had ordered to be done about the tabernacle; the materials the people were to provide, but who must put them into form? Moses himself was learned in all the learning of the Egyptians, nay, he was well acquainted with the words of God, and the visions of the Almighty; but he knew not how to engrave or embroider. We may suppose that there were some very ingenious men among the Israelites; but, having lived all their days in bondage in Egypt, we cannot think they were any of them instructed in these curious arts. They knew how to make brick and work in clay, but to work in gold and in cutting diamonds was what they had never been brought up to. How should the work be done with the neatness and exactness that were required when they had no goldsmiths or jewellers but what must be made out of masons and bricklayers? We may suppose that there were a sufficient number who would gladly be employed, and would do their best; but it would be hard to find out a proper person to preside in this work. Who was sufficient for these things? But God takes care of this matter also.
I. He nominates the persons that were to be employed, that there might be no contest about the preferment, nor envy at those that were preferred, God himself having made the choice. 1. Bezaleel was to be the architect, or master workman, Exo 31:2. He was of the tribe of Judah, a tribe that God delighted to honour; the grandson of Hur, probably that Hur who had helped to hold up Moses's hands (ch. 17), and was at this time in commission with Aaron for the government of the people in the absence of Moses (Exo 24:14); out of that family which was of note in Israel was the workman chosen, and it added no little honour to the family that a branch of it was employed, though but as a mechanic, or handicraft tradesman, for the service of the tabernacle. The Jews' tradition is that Hur was the husband of Miriam; and, if so, it was requisite that God should appoint him to this service, lest, if Moses himself had done it, he should be thought partial to his own kindred, his brother Aaron also being advanced to the priesthood. God will put honour upon Moses's relations, and yet will make it to appear that he takes not the honour to himself or his own family, but that it is purely the Lord's doing. 2. Aholiab, of the tribe of Dan, is appointed next to Bezaleel, and partner with him, Exo 31:6. Two are better than one. Christ sent forth his disciples who were to rear the gospel tabernacle, two and two, and we read of his two witnesses. Aholiab was of the tribe of Dan, which was one of the less honourable tribes, that the tribes of Judah and Levi might not be lifted up, as if they were to engross all the preferments; to prevent a schism in the body, God gives honour to that part which lacked, Co1 12:24. The head cannot say to the foot, I have no need of thee. Hiram, who was the head workman in the building of Solomon's temple, was also of the tribe of Dan, Ch2 2:14. 3. There were others that were employed by and under these in the several operations about the tabernacle, Exo 31:6. Note, When God has work to do he will never want instruments to do it with, for all hearts and heads too are under his eye, and in his hand; and those may cheerfully go about any service for God, and go on in it, who have reason to think that, one way or other, he has called them to it; for whom he calls he will own and bear out.
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II. He qualifies these persons for the service (Exo 31:3): I have filled him with the Spirit of God; and (Exo 31:6) in the hearts of all that are wise-hearted I have put wisdom. Note, 1. Skill in common arts and employments is the gift of God; from him are derived both the faculty and the improvement of the faculty. It is he that puts even this wisdom into the inward parts, Job 38:36. He teaches the husbandman discretion (Isa 28:26), and the tradesman too; and he must have the praise of it. 2. God dispenses his gifts variously, one gift to one, another to another, and all for the good of the whole body, both of mankind and of the church. Moses was fittest of all to govern Israel, but Bezaleel was fitter than he to build the tabernacle. The common benefit is very much supported by the variety of men's faculties and inclinations; the genius of some leads them to be serviceable one way, of others another way, and all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, Co1 12:11. This forbids pride, envy, contempt, and carnal emulation, and strengthens the bond of mutual love. 3. Those whom God calls to any service he will either find, or make, fit for it. If God give the commission, he will in some measure give the qualifications, according as the service is. The work, that was to be done here was to make the tabernacle and the utensils of it, which are here particularly reckoned up, Exo 31:7, etc. And for this the persons employed were enabled to work in gold, and silver, and brass. When Christ sent his apostles to rear the gospel tabernacle, he poured out his Spirit upon them, to enable them to speak with tongues the wonderful works of God; not to work upon metal, but to work upon men; so much more excellent were the gifts, as the tabernacle to be pitched was a greater and more perfect tabernacle, as the apostle calls it, Heb 9:11.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–18 And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... After the Lord…
And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... After the Lord had given Moses instructions about building a tabernacle, the model of which he had shown him, and what should be the furniture of it, who should minister in it, and what clothes they should wear, he acquaints him that he had provided artificers for this service; which would prevent doubts and objections that might rise up in the mind of Moses, how and by whom all this should be done; since the children of Israel had not been brought up, nor used to any curious work in Egypt, out of which they were but just come:
saying; as follows:
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 In this chapter,
In this chapter,
I. God appoints what workmen should be employed in the building and furnishing the tabernacle, ver. 1-11.
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II. He repeats the law of the sabbath, ver. 12-17.
III. He delivers to Moses the two tables of the testimony, ver. 18.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18 Bezaleel appointed for the work of the tabernacle, 1-5.
CHAPTER XXXI
Bezaleel appointed for the work of the tabernacle, 1-5.
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Aholiab appointed for the same, 6.
The particular things on which they were to be employed, the
ark and mercy-seat, 7.
Table, candlestick, and altar of incense, 8.
Altar of burnt-offering and the laver, 9.
Priest's garments, 10.
Anointing oil and sweet incense, 11.
God renews the command relative to the sanctification of the
Sabbath, 12-17.
Delivers to Moses the two tables of stone, 18.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXXI
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 13, 14, 17, 18 Exo 31:1-2. See, I have called Bezaleel — The…
Exo 31:1-2. See, I have called Bezaleel — The grandson of Hur, probably that Hur who had helped to hold up Moses’s hands, chap. 17., and was at this time in commission with Aaron for the government of the people in the absence of Moses. Aholiab, of the tribe of Dan, is appointed next to Bezaleel, and partner with him. Hiram, who was the head workman in the building of Solomon’s temple, was also of the tribe of Dan, 2Ch 2:14.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 12, 18 Exo 35:30-35. This solemn call of Bezaleel and Aholiab…
Exo 35:30-35. This solemn call of Bezaleel and Aholiab is full of instruction. Their work was to be only that of handicraftsmen. Still it was Yahweh Himself who called them by name to their tasks, and the powers which they were now called upon to exercise in their respective crafts, were declared to have been given them by the Holy Spirit. Thus is every effort of skill, every sort of well-ordered labor, when directed to a right end, brought into the very highest sphere of association.
There appears to be sufficient reason for identifying Hur, the grandfather of Bezaleel, with the Hur who assisted Aaron in supporting the hands of Moses during the battle with Amalek at Rephidim Exo 17:10, and who was associated with Aaron in the charge of the people while Moses was on the mountain Exo 24:14. Josephus says that he was the husband of Miriam. It is thus probable that Bezaleel was related to Moses. He was the chief artificer in metal, stone, and wood; he had also to perform the apothecary’s work in the composition of the anointing oil and the incense Exo 37:29. He had precedence of all the artificers, but Aholiab appears to have had the entire charge of the textile work Exo 35:35; Exo 38:23.
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Exo 31:3
Wisdom, understanding, Knowledge - Or, that “right judgment in all things” for which we especially pray on Whitsunday; the perceptive faculty; and experience, a practical acquaintance with facts.
Exo 31:4
To devise cunning works - Rather, to devise works of skill. The Hebrew phrase is not the same as that rendered “cunning work” in respect to textile fabrics in Exo 26:1.
Exo 31:10
And the cloths of service - Rather, And the garments of office; that is, the distinguishing official garments of the high priest. The three kinds of dress mentioned in this verse appear to be the only ones which were unique to the sanctuary. They were:
(1) The richly adorned state robes of the high priest (see Exo. 28:6-38; Exo 39:1 following).
(2) the “holy garments” of white linen for the high priest, worn on the most solemn occasion in the year (see Exo 28:39; Lev 16:4).
(3) the garments of white linen for all the priests, worn in their regular ministrations (see Exo 28:40-41).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 18 By name. I have fixed upon and taken into…
By name. I have fixed upon and taken into my service, as Isaias xliii. 1.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 IV. The Architects. Exo_31:1-11
IV. The Architects. Exo_31:1-11
The summoning of Bezaleel and his assistants, Aholiab and other master-workmen, is at once a definition of sacred art and a recognition of natural artistic talent. The idea of the sanctuary is indeed a gift of Jehovah, transmitted by Moses to Bezaleel. Yet even in the wider sense the fact respecting art is that the artist exhibits himself more purely, the more he follows objective images, found in actual life, and formed by God. This limitation does not exclude the originality of the wise-hearted; but it shows itself in four ways: (1) In the plastic impulse, or the talent of construction, such as was shown by Wisdom, as artist, at the formation of the earth (Genesis 1; Proverbs 8). Wisdom effects the execution of the impulse in beautiful phenomenal forms. (2) But what she creates in general, must be realized in particular by perception, or good sense, in its patient studies. Then (3) in order to true creation there is needed furthermore, on the one hand, knowledge, in the form of ideal reflection, standing over the plastic impulse, and, on the other hand, (4) practical understanding, such as enables one to work up the material. But the artistic talent of the “wise-hearted” becomes sacred art only through the Spirit of God. Keil understands by this a supernatural endowment. It is not to be denied that there is something supernatural in every sanctification of a natural endowment. But it is a question whether he so meant it. As to the names Bezaleel and Aholiab, vid. the Encyclopedias. On the obscure expression בִּגְדֵי הַשְּׂרָר, comp. Keil. The context confirms his assumption, that this phrase denotes those garments which belonged to the high-priest alone, while the other garments belonged to him and his sons alike. See other very divergent explanations in Keil. Gesenius refers the word to the curtains of the tabernacle—an interpretation which does not accord with the explanatory expression. “to do service in the holy place” [Exo_35:19]. Perhaps, in accordance with the meaning of שָׂרַד II. [in Gesenius], the phrase may designate an exceptional kind of clothing, to be distinguished from all other garments.
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V. The Condition of Vitality in the Ritual Worship, the Sabbath, Exo_31:12-17. Conclusion, Exo_31:18
The reason why the observance of the Sabbath is here again so strictly inculcated, Keil finds in the fact that one might easily regard the neglect of the observance as permissible in the construction of a great work designed for the worship of Jehovah. Similarly Knobel. But the perpetual observance of the Sabbath is here enjoined—a fact which Keil himself afterwards notices, but which does not accord with this merely outward reason for the injunction. It should also be observed that in Exo_35:1 sqq. the command respecting the Sabbath recurs again, and this time precedes the order concerning the erection of the tabernacle. The Sabbath belonged as essentially to the tabernacle and the temple as the Christian Sunday to Christian worship.—A sign between me and you. i. e., so to speak, the public symbol of the relation between Jehovah and Israel. Hence breaking the Sabbath is punished as a capital crime. This doom is twice denounced, and the Sabbath itself is called by the emphatic name שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן. “Properly,” says Knobel, “rest of restfulness [Ruhe der Ruhigkeit] i.e., entire rest, complete abandonment of business, the combination of synonyms (?) enhancing the notion (vid. x. 22). This term is applied only to the Sabbath (Exo_35:2; Lev_23:3), the day of atonement (Lev_16:31; Lev_23:32), and to the Sabbatical year (Lev_25:4).”—Keil feels constrained to take the words of Exo_31:18 literally. According to Exo_32:16 the tables also are a work of God. Only, he says, we are not to think of a bodily finger of God as implied in the statement about the tables being written with His finger. It is true that Moses’ co-operation with Jehovah (for he did not need to be on the mountain forty days merely in order to receive the tables) is to be conceived as absolutely merged in God’s authority and authorship. Conjectures on the size of the tables vid. in Keil.1 Alleged contradictions vid. in Knobel, p. 310.
Footnotes:
[1][The tables, Keil remarks, could hardly have been as long and wide as the interior of the ark (into which they were put); for two stone tablets, each four feet long and over two feet wide, and thick enough not to break with their own weight, must have been too heavy for any one but a Samson to carry down the mountain. As they were written on both sid s, and had to contain only one hundred and seventy-two words, a length of about two feet and a width of one and a half feet would have been ample.—Tr.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv3, 6, 12, 18 I have filled him with the spirit of God--It…
I have filled him with the spirit of God--It is probable that he was naturally endowed with a mechanical genius, and had acquired in Egypt great knowledge and skill in the useful, as well as liberal, arts so as to be a first-class artisan, competent to take charge of both the plain and ornamental work, which the building of the sacred edifice required. When God has any special work to be accomplished, He always raises up instruments capable of doing it; and it is likely that He had given to the son of Uri that strong natural aptitude and those opportunities of gaining mechanical skill, with an ultimate view to this responsible office. Notwithstanding that his grand duty was to conform with scrupulous fidelity to the pattern furnished, there was still plenty of room for inventive talent and tasteful exactness in the execution; and his natural and acquired gifts were enlarged and invigorated for the important work.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 6, 10, 12, 14, 18 BEZALEEL AND AHOLIAB, Exo_31:1-11.
BEZALEEL AND AHOLIAB, Exo_31:1-11.
2. I have called by name — The artistic construction of the house of God is no ordinary work, and after its plan and dimensions and the most minute details of its furniture and materials had been given to Moses, Jehovah designated a chosen architect, as called and qualified (Exo_31:3) for carrying out the plans and specifications. This distinguished workman was Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. Aaron and Hur had stayed up the hands of Moses during the conflict with Amalek, (Exo_17:10-13,) and now the grandson of that Hur is made the chief assistant of Moses in the construction of the tabernacle. May not the piety of the grandfather have had something to do with the mechanical ability of the grandson?
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 1–6. The nomination of Bĕẓal’çl and Oholiab.
1–6. The nomination of Bĕẓal’çl and Oholiab.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18 (1-11) The instructions needed for the making of the…
XXXI.
THE APPOINTMENT OF BEZALEEL AND AHOLIAB.
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(1-11) The instructions needed for the making of the tabernacle, its furniture, and the priests’ dresses, were now complete. Moses was sufficiently informed, by what he had heard and seen, both as to the “Tent of Meeting” itself, and as to all its appurtenances and paraphernalia. But Moses was not himself an artist. Among the branches of knowledge comprised in his Egyptian education the skill of the artistic constructor had not been included. (See Excursus B. at the end of the Book.) It was therefore necessary that the manual work of carrying out the instructions given him should be entrusted to others. We might have expected that it would have been left to Moses to select the individuals from among the thousands of artificers who had accompanied him out of Egypt. But God saw fit to mark the importance of the work by taking the direct appointment of the persons to be employed upon Himself. He knew what was in man. He knew to whom he had given the highest artistic power, and who at the same time that they possessed it would work in the most religious spirit. He accordingly named two persons, Bezaleel and Aholiab, as those to whom the superintendence of the whole business should be given. Bezaleel was to be leader and chief, Aholiab assistant. Bezaleel’s task was to be general, Aholiab’s, apparently, special (Exo_38:23). Both, however, were to receive the special assistance of God’s Holy Spirit for the due execution of their respective tasks (Exo_31:3-6), and both, as chosen instruments of God, and faithful workers in His service, had their names equally commemorated in His Holy Book, and were thus upheld as examples to future ages.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. H. Mackintosh 1880 · Public Domain On v1 Exodus 31
Exodus 31
The opening of this brief chapter records the divine call and the divine qualification of "Bezaleel and Aholiab" to do the work of the tabernacle of the congregation. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: and I have "filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship..... And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise-hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded." Whether for "the work of the tabernacle" of old, or "the work of the ministry" now, there should be the divine selection, the divine call, the divine qualification, the divine appointment; and all must be done according to the divine commandment. Man could not select, call, qualify, or appoint to do the work of the tabernacle; neither can he, to do the work of the ministry. Furthermore, no man could presume to appoint himself to do the work of the tabernacle; neither can he to do the work of the ministry. It was, it is, it must be, wholly and absolutely divine. Men may run as sent of their fellow, or men may run of themselves; but let it be remembered that all who run, without being sent of God, shall, one day or other, be covered with shame and confusion of face. Such is the plain and wholesome doctrine suggested by the words, "I have called" "I have filled," "I have given," "I have put," "I have commanded." The words of the Baptist must ever hold good, "a man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven." (John 3: 27) He can, therefore, have but little room to boast of himself; and just as little to be jealous of his fellow.
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There is a profitable lesson to be learnt from a comparison of this chapter with Genesis 6. "Tubal-cain was an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron." The descendants of Cain were endowed with unhallowed skill to make a cursed and groaning earth a delectable spot, without the presence of God. "Bezaleel and Aholiab," on the contrary, were endowed with divine skill to beautify a sanctuary which was to be hallowed and blessed by the presence and glory of the God of Israel.
Reader, let me ask you just to pause and put this solemn question to your conscience, "Whether am I devoting whatever of skill or energy I possess to the interests of the Church, which is God’s dwelling place, or to beautify an ungodly, Christless world?" Say not, in thine heart, "I am not divinely called or divinely qualified for the work of the ministry." Remember that though all Israel were not Bezaleels or Aholiabs, yet all could serve the interests of the sanctuary. There was an open door for all to communicate. Thus it is now. Each one has a place to occupy, a ministry to fulfil, a responsibility to discharge; and you and I are, at this moment, either promoting the interests of the house of God - the body of Christ - the Church, or helping on the godless schemes of a world, yet stained with the blood of Christ and the blood of all His martyred saints. Oh! let us deeply ponder this, as in the presence of the great Searcher of hearts, whom none can deceive - to whom all are known.
Our chapter closes with a special reference to the institution of the Sabbath. It was referred to in Ex. 16 in connection with the manna; it was distinctly enjoined in Ex. 20, when the people were formally put under law; and here we have it again in connection with the setting up of the tabernacle. Whenever the nation of Israel is presented in some special position, or recognised as a people in special responsibility, then the Sabbath is introduced. And let my reader carefully note both the day and the mode in which it was to be observed, and also the object for which it was instituted in Israel. "Ye shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death." This is as explicit and absolute as anything can be. It fixes "the seventh day" and none other; and it positively forbids, on pain of death, all manner of work. There can be no avoiding the plain sense of this. And, be it remembered, that there is not so much as a single line of Scripture to prove that the Sabbath has been changed, or the strict principles of its observance, in the smallest degree, relaxed. If there be any Scripture proof, let my reader look it out for his own satisfaction.
Now, let us inquire if indeed professing Christians do keep God’s Sabbath on the day and after the manner which He commanded. It were idle to lose time in proving that they do not. Well, what are the consequences of a single breach of the Sabbath? "Cut off" - "Put to death."
But, it will be said, "we are not under law, but under grace." Blessed be God for the sweet assurance! Were we under law, there is not one throughout the wide range of Christendom who should not, long since, have fallen beneath the stone of judgement, even upon the one solitary point of the Sabbath. But, if we are under grace, what is the day which belongs to us? Assuredly, "the first day of the week," "the Lord’s day." This is the Church’s day, the resurrection day of Jesus, who, having spent the Sabbath in the tomb, rose triumphant over all the powers of darkness, thus leading His people out of the old creation, and all that pertains thereto, into the new creation, of which He is the Head, and of which the first day of the week is the apt expression.
This distinction is worthy of the serious attention of the reader. Let him examine it prayerfully in the light of Scripture. There may be nothing and there may be a great deal in a mere name. In the present instance, there is a great deal more involved in the distinction between "the Sabbath" and " the Lord’s day " than many Christians seem to be aware of. It is very evident that the first day of the week gets a place, in the Word of God, which no other day gets. No other day is ever called by that majestic and elevated title, "the Lord’s day." Some, I am aware, deny that Rev. 1: 10 refers to the first day of the week; but I feel most fully assured that sound criticism and sound exegesis do both warrant, yea, demand the application of that passage, not to the day of Christ’s advent in glory, but to the day of his resurrection from the dead.
But, most assuredly, the Lord’s day is never once called the Sabbath. So far from this, the two days are, again and again, spoken of in their proper distinctness. Hence, therefore, my reader will have to keep clear of two extremes. In the first place, he will have to avoid the legalism which one finds so much linked with the term "Sabbath;" and, in the second place, he will need to bear a very decided testimony against every attempt to dishonour the Lord’s day, or lower it to the level of an ordinary day. The believer is delivered, most completely, from the observance of "days and months, and times and years." Association with a risen Christ has taken him clean out of all such superstitious observances. But, while this is most blessedly true, we see that "the first day of the week " has a place assigned to it in the New Testament which no other has. Let the Christian give it that place. It is a sweet and happy privilege, not a grievous yoke.
Space forbids my further entrance upon this interesting subject. It has been gone into, elsewhere, as already intimated, in the earlier pages of this volume. I shall close these remarks by pointing out, in one or two particulars, the contrast between "the Sabbath" and "the Lord’s day."
1. The Sabbath was the seventh day; the Lord’s day is the First.
2. The Sabbath was a test of Israel’s condition; the Lord’s day is the proof of the Church’s acceptance, on wholly unconditional grounds.
3. The Sabbath belonged to the old creation; the Lords day belongs to the new.
4. The Sabbath was a day of bodily rest for the Jew; the Lord’s day is a day of spiritual rest for the Christian.
5. If the Jew worked on the Sabbath, he was to be put to death : if the Christian does not work on the Lord’s day, he gives little proof of life. That is to say, if he does not work for the benefit of the souls of men, the extension of Christ’s glory, and the spread of His truth. In point of fact, the devoted Christian, who possesses any gift, is generally more fatigued on the evening of the Lord’s day than on any other in the week, for how can he rest while souls are perishing around him ?
6. The Jew was commanded by the law to abide in his tent; the Christian is led by the spirit of the gospel to go forth, whether it be to attend the public assembly, or to minister to the souls of perishing sinners. The Lord enable us, beloved reader, to rest more artlessly in, and labour more vigorously for, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ! We should rest in the spirit of a Child; and labour with the energy of a man.
C. H. Mackintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 Vers. 1-11. THE CALL OF BEZALEEL AND AHOLIAB. The…
Vers. 1-11. THE CALL OF BEZALEEL AND AHOLIAB. The directions for the construction of the tabernacle and its furniture being now complete, and the composition of the holy oil and the holy incense having been laid down minutely, it only remained to designate the persons to whom the oversight of the work was to be especially entrusted. These were to be two Bezaleel, of the tribe of Judah, as head and chief; Aholiab, of the tribe of Dan, as his assistant. There can be no doubt that they were selected, primarily, as already possessing superior artistic powers and acquirements; but in appointing them God promised an infusion of special wisdom and knowledge, so that they were at once naturally and supernaturally fitted for their task. It is important to note that artistic ability is thus distinctly recognised as being quite as much a gift of God as any other, and indeed as coming to man through the Spirit of God (ver. 3). Artistic excellence is not a thing to be despised. It is very capable of abuse; but in itself it is a high gift, bestowed by God on a few only, with the special intent that it should be used to his honour and glory not indeed in his direct service only but always so as to improve, elevate, refine mankind, and thus help towards the advancement of God"s kingdom
HOMILIES BY J. ORR Vers. 1-12. Bezaleel and Aholiab.
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The calling of these two craftsmen for the work of the sanctuary, and the statement concerning Bezaleel that Jehovah had "filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship" (ver. 3), suggest various important lessons. On the distinction of the terms "understanding," "knowledge," see the exposition, and consult the valuable notes on Eph_1:8, Col_1:9, in the Bishop of Durham"s Commentaries. The general moral is, that when God has any important work to be done, whether in Church or State, he will not fail to raise up, and in due time to "call by name," the individuals needed for the doing of it. The preparatory training school or" these individuals may be far removed from the scene of their future labours. Bezaleel and Aholiab were trained in Egypt. Of what is said in "From Log Cabin to White House" of Presidents Lincoln and Garfield, of the United States of these statesmen were born in log-cabins, built by their fathers, in the wilderness, for family homes. Both were poor as mortals can well be. Both were born with talents of the highest order; but neither enjoyed early advantages of schools and teachers Both worked on a farm, chopped wood, and did whatever else was needful for a livelihood, when eight years of age," etc. Thus God gifts, trains, prepares men, without a hint of the use to Which he means afterwards to put them. Till the event discloses it, the honour in reserve for them is kept a secret, even from themselves. The Genesis is polished in obscurity by the master"s hand. Ultimately it is brought to light, and astonishes the beholders by the rare finish of its beauty. The tabernacle was built with the spoils of the Egyptians in more senses than one. More special lessons are the following
I ALL GIFTS ARE FROM GOD. Not simply gifts of intellect, of oratory, of holiness, of spiritual understanding, but gifts of every kind, from the highest to the lowest. Grace, in the case of Bezaleel, Aholiab, and their fellow-craftsmen, proceeded on a basis of natural endowment. Cf. ver. 6 the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom." Skill in handicraft is a species of mental excellence, and deserves the name "wisdom." It, also, is from God. So with all natural talents; with, e.g. , the pectic gift; gifts of music, painting, sculpture, architecture; business faculty; the gift of statesmanship; the power to "think out inventions"; the skill of the artificer. This truth lies at the basis of the demand for a religious use of gifts.
II NATURAL GIFTS ADMIT OF INDEFINITE EXPANSION AND ENLARGEMENT UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF GOD"S SPIRIT. The workers in the tabernacle were supernaturally assisted in their work. Nothing less than this is implied in the words I have filled him with the spirit of God" (ver. 3); "into the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom" (ver. 6). Grace aids nature. Regeneration is often accompanied by a mysterious and almost miraculous improvement in the powers of knowledge, so much so that, from a state of stolid imbecility, a person may be seen rising up and standing forth an acute argumentative pleader for the truth. (Cf. Dr. Wm. Anderson on "Regeneration," p. 37.) What holds good of the general invigoration of the powers, may be expected to apply in the particular. Dedication of self carries with it dedication of gifts. And if an individual dedicates to God any special gift which he possesses, seeking, whether in the Church or in pursuit of an ordinary calling, to use the same for God"s glory, it will be his privilege to have it aided, strengthened, purified, and largely enhanced in its operations by the influences of Divine grace. The commonest work will thus be better done, if done in the spirit of prayer. And so with the noblest. Milton speaks of his great epic as a work "not to be raised from the heat of youth, or the vapours of wine, like that which flows at waste from the pea of some vulgar amourist or the trencher-fury of a rhyming parasite nor to be obtained by invocation of Dame Memory and her siren daughter, but by devout prayer to that Eternal Spirit who can enrich with all utterance and knowledge, and sends out his seraphim, with the hallowed fire of his altar, to touch and purify the lips of whom he pleases.
III RELIGION SANCTIFIES LABOUR. The Bible is a text-book of instruction on the dignity of labour. It has no sympathy with the contemptible foppishness which looks on labour as degrading. It includes labour in religion. It sees in the occupation of the humblest handicraftsman the exercise of a Divine gift. The good man who, whether he eats or drinks, or whatsoever he does, does all to the glory of God. (1Co_10:31) does not demean himself by an honest calling, but transfigures his calling into part of his service to his Maker. In his case, laborare est orate. The shewbread on the table in the sanctuary was a recognition of the sacredness of labour. It had as one of its meanings the dedication to God of the exercise of the calling by which Israel won its daily bread. So manual labour was sanctified to God in the making of the tabernacle. But it was reserved for Christianity to give the crowning proof of the dignity of labour by showing it ennobled and glorified in the person of its Founder. The fathers of the Christian Church, in contrast with the Greeks and Romans, who looked on artisans and barbarians with contemptuous disgust, preached in their noblest tones the duty and dignity of honourable toil. "The proudest bishops were not ashamed to dig; a Benedict worked six hours a day with hoe and spade; a Becket helped regularly to reap the fields. The monks at once practised labour, and ennobled and protected it. The towns and the middle classes grew up under their shelter. Laborare est orate became the motto of Christian life" (Farrar; cf. Lecky, "History of Rationalism," vol. 2. p. 261).
IV THE HIGHEST USE OF GIFTS IS TO DEDICATE THEM TO THE SERVICE OF GOD IN THE WORK OF HIS CHURCH. Transformed by grace, and employed in the service of religion, gifts become graces All labour, all gifts, admit of being thus devoted. The handicrafts can still bring their tribute to God, if in no higher way, in the erection of places for his worship. Art can labour in the adornment of the sanctuary (cf. Psa_60:1-3) The service of praise affords scope for the utilisation of gifts of music, vocal and instrumental. There is need for care lest art, ministering to the worship of God, should overpower devotion; but, considered in itself, there need be no jealousy of the introduction of the tasteful and beautiful into God"s service. It is meet that the Giver of gifts should be served with the best our gifts can yield. Earthly callings may minister to God"s kingdom in another way, by bringing of their lawful gains and laying them at Christ"s feet. There is, besides, the private consecration of gifts to God, as in the case of Dorcas, making coats and garments for the poor, (Act_9:39) or as in the case of a Miss Havergal, or an Ira D. Sankey, consecrating to God a gift of song. Minor lessons taught are
(1) Gifts are not all alike, yet God can use all.
(2) Some are made to lead, others to serve and follow, in the work of God"s kingdom. We glorify God most when unambitiously content to fill our own place; when not envious of the greater gifts of others. The humblest is needed. Bezaleel could ill have dispensed with the artificers; Aholiab, with the needle-workers. They in turn needed the master minds to direct them. There should be no jealousy among those engaged in the same work. (cf. 1Co 12)
(3) Diversity of gifts gives rise to division of labour.
(4) Bezaleel and Aholiab, though of different tribes (Judah and Dan), wrought together as friends, were not opposed as rivals. What kept out the spirit of rivalry was the consciousness that both were working in a sacred cause, and for God"s glory, not their own. The feeling that we are working for Christ should keep down dissensions among Christians. J.O.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv6, 18 In the hearts of all that are wise hearted…
Exo_31:6
In the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom.
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The danger of accomplishments
There are persons who doubt whether what are called accomplishments, whether in literature or in the fine arts, can be consistent with deep and practical seriousness of mind. I am not speaking of human learning; this also many men think inconsistent with simple uncorrupted faith. They suppose that learning must make a man proud. This is of course a great mistake; but of it I am not speaking, but of an over-jealousy of accomplishments, the elegant arts and studies, such as poetry, literary composition, painting, music, and the like; which are considered, not indeed to make a man proud, but to make him trifling. Of this opinion, how far it is true and how far not true, I am going to speak. Now, that the accomplishments I speak of have a tendency to make us trifling and unmanly, and therefore are to be viewed by each of us with suspicion as far as regards himself, I am ready to admit, and shall presently make clear. I allow that in matter of fact, refinement and luxury, elegance and effeminacy, go together. Antioch, the most polished, was the most voluptuous city of Asia. But the abuse of good things is no argument against the things themselves; mental cultivation may be a Divine gift, though it is abused. An acquaintance with the elegant arts may he a gift and a good, and intended to be an instrument of Gods glory, though numbers who have it are rendered thereby indolent, luxurious, and feeble-minded. But the account of the building of the Tabernacle in the wilderness, from which the text is taken, is decisive on this point. How, then, is it that what in itself is of so excellent, and, I may say, Divine a nature, is yet so commonly perverted? Now the danger of an elegant and polite education is that it separates feeling and acting; it teaches us to think, speak, and be affected aright, without forcing us to practise what is right. I will take an illustration of this from the effect produced upon the mind by reading what is commonly called a romance or novel. Such works contain many good sentiments (I am taking the better sort of them); characters, too, are introduced, virtuous, noble, patient under suffering, and triumphing at length over misfortune. But it is all fiction; it does not exist out of a book which contains the beginning and end of it. We have nothing to do; we read, are affected, softened, or roused, and that is all; we cool again--nothing comes of it. Now observe the effect of this. God has made us feel in order that we may go on to act in consequence of feeling; if, then, we allow our feelings to be excited without acting upon them, we do mischief to the moral system within us, just as we might spoil a watch, or other piece of mechanism, by playing with the wheels of it. We weaken its springs, and they cease to act truly. For instance, we will say we have read again and again of the heroism of facing danger, and we have glowed with the thought of its nobleness. Now, suppose at length we actually come into trial, and, let us say, our feelings become roused, as often before, at the thought of boldly resisting temptations to cowardice, shall we therefore do our duty, quitting ourselves like men? rather, we are likely to talk loudly, and then run from the danger. And what is here instanced of fortitude is true in all cases of duty. The refinement which literature gives is that of thinking, feeling, knowing and speaking right, not of acting right; and thus, while it makes the manners amiable, and the conversation decorous and agreeable, it has no tendency to make the conduct, the practice of the man virtuous. The case is the same with the arts last alluded to--poetry and music. These are especially likely to make us unmanly, if we are not on our guard, as exciting emotions without insuring correspondent practice, and so destroying the connection between feeling and acting; for I here mean by unmanliness the inability to do with ourselves what we wish--the saying fine things and yet lying slothfully on our couch, as if we could not get up, though we ever so much wished it. And here I must notice something besides in elegant accomplishments, which goes to make us over-refined and fastidious, and falsely delicate. In books everything is made beautiful in its way. Pictures are drawn of complete virtue; little is said about failures, and little or nothing of the drudgery of ordinary, every-day obedience, which is neither poetical nor interesting. True faith teaches us to do numberless disagreeable things for Christs sake, to bear petty annoyances, which we find written down in no book. And further still, it must be observed, that the art of composing, which is a chief accomplishment, has in itself a tendency to make us artificial and insincere. For to be ever attending to the fitness and propriety of our words, is (or at least there is the risk of its being) a kind of acting; and knowing what can be said on both sides of a subject is a main step towards thinking the one side as good as the other. With these thoughts before us, it is necessary to look back to the Scripture instances which I began by adducing, to avoid the conclusion that accomplishments are positively dangerous and unworthy a Christian. But St. Luke and St. Paul show us that we may be sturdy workers in the Lords service, and bear our cross manfully, though we be adorned with all the learning of the Egyptians; or, rather, that the resources of literature and the graces of a cultivated mind may be made both a lawful source of enjoyment to the possessor, and a means of introducing and recommending the truth to others; while the history of the Tabernacle shows that all the cunning arts and precious possessions of this world may be consecrated to a religious service, and be made to speak of the world to come. I conclude, then, with the following cautions, to which the foregoing remarks lead. First, we must avoid giving too much time to lighter occupations; and next, we must never allow ourselves to read works of fiction or poetry, or to interest ourselves in the fine arts for the mere sake of the things themselves; but keep in mind all along that we are Christians and accountable beings, who have fixed principles of right and wrong, by which all things must be tried, and have religious habits to be matured within them, towards which all things are to be made subservient. If we are in earnest we shall let nothing lightly pass by which may do us good, nor shall we dare to trifle with such sacred subjects as morality and religious duty. We shall apply all we read to ourselves; and this almost without intending to do so, from the mere sincerity and honesty of our desire to please God. We shall be suspicious of all such good thoughts and wishes, and we shall shrink from all such exhibitions of our principles as fall short of action. Of all such as abuse the decencies and elegancies of moral truth into a means of luxurious enjoyment, what would a prophet of God say? (Eze_33:30-32; 2Ti_4:2-4; 1Co_16:13). (J. H. Newman, D. D.)
The wise hearted ones
Who are the wise hearted ones?
1. They are those who prove themselves as having ability to do useful work. Work done, and well done, though it be in itself of trifling value, is the determination of wisdom.
2. The wise hearted are they who reach beyond present ability to perform. No true workman is satisfied to simply repeat his last job.
3. The wise hearted are they who, at Christs call, enter His kingdom, there to labour under the influence of the purest, strongest motives. (C. R. Seymour.)
Grace and genius
I. Natural gifts are often discovered by grace.
II. Natural gifts are directed by grace.
III. Natural gifts are heightened by grace.
IV. Natural gifts are sanctified by grace. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
The method of Providence
God would have everything built beautifully. What an image of beauty have we seen this Tabernacle to be through and through, flushed with colours we have never seen, and bright with lights that could not show themselves fully in the murkiness of this air! He would make us more beautiful than our dwelling-place. He would not have the house more valuable than the tenant. He did not mean the worshipper to be less than the Tabernacle which He set up for worship. Are we living the beautiful life--the life solemn with sweet harmonies, broad in its generous purpose, noble in the sublimity of its prayer, like God in the perpetual sacrifice of its life? Not only will God build everything beautifully; His purpose is to have everything built for religious uses. His meaning is that the form shall help the thought, that images appealing to the eye shall also touch the imagination and graciously affect the whole spirit, and subdue into tender obedience and worship the soul and heart of man. What is the Tabernacle for? For worship. What is the meaning of it? It is a gate opening upon heaven. Why was it set up? To lift us nearer God. If we fail to seize these purposes, if we fail of magnifying and glorifying them so as to ennoble our own life in the process, we have never seen the Tabernacle. Herein is it for ever true that we may have a Bible but no revelation; a sermon but no Gospel; we may be in the church, yet not in the sanctuary; we may admire beauty, and yet live the life of the drunkard and the debauchee. In all His building--and God is always building--He qualifies every man for a particular work in connection with the edifice. The one man wants the other man. The work stands still till that other man comes in. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Various kinds of inspiration
Who can read these words as they ought to be read? How it makes ministers of God by the thousand! We have thought that Aaron was a religious man because of his clothing and because of many peculiarities which separated him from other men; but the Lord distinctly claims the artificer as another kind of Aaron. Who divides life into sacred and profane? Who introduces the element of meanness into human occupation and service? God claims all things for Himself. Who will say that the preacher is a religious man, but the artificer is a secular worker? But let us claim all true workers as inspired men. We know that there is an inspired art. The world knows it; instinctively, unconsciously, the world uncovers before it. There is an inspired poetry, make it of what measure you will. The great common heart knows it, says, That is the true verse; how it rises, falls, plashes like a fountain, flows like a stream, breathes like a summer wind, speaks the thoughts we have long understood, but could never articulate! The great human heart says, That is the voice Divine; that is the appeal of heaven. Why should we say that inspiration is not given to all true workers, whether in gold or in thought, whether in song or in prayer, whether in the type or in the magic eloquence of the burning tongue? Let us enlarge life, and enlarge Providence, rather than contract it, and not, whilst praying to a God in the heavens, have no God in the heart. You would work better if you realized that God is the Teacher of the fingers, and the Guide of the hand. Labour is churched and glorified. Art turns its chiselled and flushed features towards its native heaven. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Gifts from God as well as graces
God gave the plan clearly, graphically, distinctly, to Moses; but it needed men raised up specially by the Spirit of God to execute the plan, and to give it practical development. And we learn from this fact that a gifted intellect is as much the creation of the Spirit of God as a regenerate heart. Gifts are from God as truly as graces; it needs the guidance of Gods good Spirit to enable a man to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to set them; and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship; just as it does to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. We thus see that God gives light to the intellect as well as grace to the heart; and we may, perhaps, from this learn a very humbling, but a very blessed truth--that the man with a gifted intellect is as much summoned to bow the knee, and to thank the Fountain and the Author of it, as the man that has a sanctified heart feels it his privilege to bow his knee, and to bless the Holy Spirit that gave it, for this his distinguishing grace and mercy. (J. Cumming, D. D.)
Spiritual gifts
1. Prize them inestimably.
2. Covet them earnestly.
3. Seek for them diligently.
4. Ponder them frequently.
5. Wait for them patiently.
6. Expect them hopefully.
7. Receive them joyfully.
8. Enjoy them thankfully.
9. Improve them carefully.
10. Retain them watchfully.
11. Plead for them manfully.
12. Hold them dependently.
13. Grasp them eternally. (Biblical Museum.)
Genius and industry
A friend of Charles Dickens, a man who had given promise of a noble career as an author, but who, through indolence, had failed in doing any permanent work, called upon him one morning, and, after bewailing his ill-success, ended by sighing, Ah, if I only were gifted with your genius! Dickens, who had listened patiently to the complaint, exclaimed at once in answer, Genius, sir! I do not know what you mean. I had no genius save the genius for hard work! However his enthusiastic admirers may dispute this, certain it is that Dickens trusted to no such uncertain light as the fire of genius. Day in and day out, by hard work, he elaborated the plot, characters, and dialogue of his imperishable stories. Whole days he would spend to discover suitable localities, and then be able to give vividness to his description of them, while, sentence by sentence, his work, after apparent completion, was retouched and revised. The great law of labour makes no exception of the gifted or ignorant. Whatever the work may be, there can be no success in it without diligent, unceasing, persevering labour.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1
CHAPTER XXXI.
BEZALEEL AND AHOLIAB.
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Exo_31:1-18.
Next after this marking off so sharply of the holy from the profane, this consecration of men to special service, this protection of sacred unguents and sacred gums from secular use, we come upon a passage curiously contrasted, yet not really antagonistic to the last, of marvellous practical wisdom, and well calculated to make a nation wise and great.
The Lord announces that He has called by name Bezaleel, the son of Uri, and has filled him with the Spirit of God. To what sacred office, then, is he called? Simply to be a supreme craftsman, the rarest of artisans. This also is a divine gift. "I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom and in understanding and in knowledge and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of workmanship,"--that is to say, of manual dexterity. With him God had appointed Aholiab; "and in the hearts of all the wise-hearted I have put wisdom." Thus should be fitly made the tabernacle and its furniture, and the finely wrought garments, and the anointing oil and the incense.
So then it appears that the Holy Spirit of God is to be recognised in the work of the carpenter and the jeweller, the apothecary and the tailor. Probably we object to such a statement, so baldly put. But inspiration does not object. Moses told the children of Israel that Jehovah had filled Bezaleel with the Spirit of God, and also Aholiab, for the work "of the engraver ... and of the embroiderer ... and of the weaver" (Exo_35:31, Exo_35:35).
It is quite clear that we must cease to think of the Divine Spirit as inspiring only prayers and hymns and sermons. All that is good and beautiful and wise in human art is the gift of God. We feel that the supreme Artist is audible in the wind among the pines; but is man left to himself when he marshals into more sublime significance the voices of the wind among the organ tubes? At sunrise and sunset we feel that
"On the beautiful mountains the pictures of God are hung";
but is there no revelation of glory and of freshness in other pictures? Once the assertion that a great masterpiece was "inspired" was a clear recognition of the central fire at which all genius lights its lamp: now, alas! it has become little more than a sceptical assumption that Isaiah and Milton are much upon a level. But the doctrine of this passage is the divinity of all endowment; it is quite another thing to claim Divine authority for a given product sprung from the free human being who is so richly crowned and gifted.
Thus far we have smoothed our way by speaking only of poetry, painting, music--things which really compete with nature in their spiritual suggestiveness. But Moses spoke of the robe-maker, the embroiderer, the weaver, and the perfumer.
Nevertheless, the one is carried with the other. Where shall we draw the line, for example, in architecture or in ironwork? And there is another consideration which must not be overlooked. God is assuredly in the growth of humanity, in the progress of true civilisation--in all, the recognition of which makes history philosophical. It is not only the saints who feel themselves to be the instruments of a Greater than they. Cromwell and Bismarck, Columbus, Raleigh and Drake, William the Silent and William the Third, felt it. Mr. Stanley has told us how the consciousness that he was being used grew up in him, not through fanaticism but by slow experience, groping his way through the gloom of Central Africa.
But none will deny that one of the greatest factors in modern history is its industrial development. Is there, then, no sacredness here?
The doctrine of Scripture is not that man is a tool, but that he is responsible for vast gifts, which come directly from heaven--that every good gift is from above, that it was God Himself Who planted in Paradise the tree of knowledge.
Nor would anything do more to restrain the passions, to calm the impulses and to elevate the self-respect of modern life, to call back its energies from the base competition for gold, and make our industries what dreamers persuade themselves that the medi¾val industries were, than a quick and general perception of what is meant when faculty goes by such names as talent, endowment, gift--of the glory of its use, the tragedy of its defilement. Many persons, indeed, reject this doctrine because they cannot believe that man has power to abase so high a thing so sadly. But what, then, do they think of the human body?
What connection is there between all this and the reiteration of the law of the Sabbath? Not merely that the moral law is now made a civic statute as well, for this had been done already (Exo_23:12). But, as our Lord has taught us that a Jew on the Sabbath was free to perform works of mercy, it might easily be supposed lawful, and even meritorious, to hasten forward the construction of the place where God would meet His people. But He who said "I will have mercy and not sacrifice" said also that to obey was better than sacrifice. Accordingly this caution closes the long story of plans and preparations. And when Moses called the people to the work, his first words were to repeat it (Exo_35:2).
Finally, there was given to Moses the deposit for which so noble a shrine was planned--the two tables of the law, miraculously produced.
If any one, without supposing that they were literally written with a literal finger, conceives that this was the meaning conveyed to a Hebrew by the expression "written with the finger of God," he entirely misses the Hebrew mode of thought, which habitually connects the Lord with an arm, with a chariot, with a bow made naked, with a tent and curtains, without the slightest taint of materialism in its conception. Did not the magicians, failing to imitate the third plague, say "This is the finger of a God"? Did not Jesus Himself "cast out devils by the finger of God"? (Exo_8:19; Luk_11:20).
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv1, 12 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Exo_31:1-11
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Exo_31:1-11
GRACE AND GENIUS
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After having given directions for the construction of the sanctuary, and all things required for the worship, Jehovah pointed out the builders whom He had called to carry out the work, and had filled with His Spirit for that purpose. This paragraph is instructive as to the connection between gifts of nature and the influences of grace, between the natural and the supernatural in man’s intellectual life. Observe—
I. Natural gifts are often discovered by grace. Bezaleel and Aholiab were naturally gifted men—men of artistic faculty. Their natural ability is pre-supposed. Thus Exo_28:3, “Thou shalt speak unto all that are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom.” But it is very improbable that these men had as yet revealed anything like great artistic taste or power. Egypt did not know their talent; very probably they did not suspect it themselves. As Trapp well observes: “Moses might well doubt where he should find fit workmen among those brickmakers from Egypt.” And yet in these brickmakers were artists, architects, painters, embroiderers, and musicians. The grace of God evoked the latent power. It often does so still. Many a man having got a new heart seems also to have got a new head, and reveals mental power and superior aptitudes which had not been suspected before.
II. National gifts are directed by grace. “See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri.” We speak of men being “called” to the ministry; are they not “called” to all spheres? Nature qualifies men for certain spheres, for certain mental or manual work which they will best accomplish. But is it not true that many miss their calling? Let all men seek the grace of God, and none shall miss their providential way. “I have called by name.” God knows each of us; He knows the kind of our talent and the measure of it; and if we are obedient to God, He who puts everything in its place in nature will find the “right groove” for every man in society.
III. Natural gifts are heightened by grace. Bezaleel “was filled with the Spirit of God,” and thus all his natural gifts were supernaturally exalted. Grace acts on the lines of nature. The king in the parable divided to each of his servants his goods “according to their several ability.” But the influence of God’s Spirit gives to our natural powers a glow and ripeness and force which they could not otherwise have. Did not Milton attain a sublimed strain through living in the presence of Heaven? Did not Angelico find that devotion gave magic to his pencil? Have not holy men in all spheres realised a perfection and power of genius, which they never could have reached had it not been for the inspirations of religion? Let all seek for the Spirit of God to purify and hallow their heart, and they shall find that their intellect has new force, their eye new light, their hand new cunning.
IV. Natural gifts are sanctified by grace. The genius of Bezaleel was directed to a sacred and worthy end. How often have we seen genius directed to paltry ends of mere luxury and amusement, or to immoral ends! God’s grace sanctifies talent to noble uses and ends.
All the work of the world is for God, and every workman needs to be filled with God’s Spirit, so that all may be well and wisely done.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
REV. WM. ADAMSON
Mosaic-Mines! Exo_31:1-18.
(1.) The face of Nature, says Macmillan, is everywhere written over with Divine characters, which he who runs may read. But beside the more obvious lessons which lie, as it were, in the surface of the earth, and which suggest themselves to us often when least disposed for inquiry or reflection, there are more recondite lessons which she teaches to those who make her structure arrangements their special study, and who penetrate to her secret arcana. And those, who read her great volume, passing on leaf after leaf, to the quiet and sober chapters of the interior, will find in these internal details revelations of the deepest interest.
(2.) It is even so with the Bible. In the New Testament, we have a rich robe of vegetation adorning the surface, the beauties of tree and flower, forest, hill and river, and the ever-changing splendours of the sky. In the psalms and prophets we walk amid the beauty of gardens and ornamented parterres, where every-thing thrills with their beauty and fragrance. But in the pentateuch, we descend, as it were, into the crust of the earth. We lose sight of all these upper-air glories; but we find new objects to compensate us—truths written with the finger of God—lessons on the deep things of God—diamonds which sparkle when brought up within the sphere of the Sun of Righteousness, who has risen with healing in His wings.
“Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear.”
—Gray.
Bezaleel and Aholiab! Exo_31:1 to Exo_11:1. We have here
(1.) Nomination by God of the architects and artisans;
(2.) Inspiration by the Holy Spirit of their genius;
(3.) Consecration of their artistic gifts to the service of God; and
(4.) Construction of the tabernacle with a view to Sabbath-worship.
2. In these several points we have prefigurations of the Lord Jesus Christ—the true Builder and Maker of that spiritual edifice, which is to be the object of enduring and adoring observation on the part of angels and archangels—He, too, was called of God, and was filled with the spirit of wisdom and knowledge. He, too, devoted His gifts to the worship of Jehovah, and upreared a super-structure for Sabbath adoration.
3. When Christ, says Matthew Henry, sent His ambassadors to uprear the Gospel tabernacle, He poured out His Spirit upon them. He enabled them to speak with tongues the wonderful works of God. He qualified them not to work upon metal, but upon men; so much more excellent were the gifts, as the tabernacle to be pitched was a greater and more perfect tabernacle (Heb_9:11).
“And if to partake of such honour,
A bruised reed dareth to trust,
O Comforter! raise, in Thy goodness,
Thy servant who speaks from the dust.”
Art-Inspiration! Exo_31:2.
(1.) Jacox relates of Fra Giovanni de Fiecoli that he never commenced any work—whether an elaborate fresco, or an illumination for a book—without praying. He always carried out the first impression, believing it to be an inspiration. He never retouched or altered anything left as finished.
(2.) Ruskin, in his “Modern Painters,” writes of Turner as “inspired.” He apologises for the use of the word as irreverent possibly; but there is no such irreverence, if the word is used by him in the sense and within the scope of Exodus 31. There is such a thing as Art-Inspiration.
(3.) South says, that the greatest poets and thinkers will confess that their highest and most admired conceptions and disclosures were such as darted into their minds like sudden flashes of lightning, they knew not how or when. This is prominent in the case of Watt and his steam-engine; as in the case of those two astronomers at Berlin and London, who at the same moment, independent of and unknown to each other, suggested one of the most remarkable of astronomical phenomena. Thus
“Step by step, and throne by throne, we rise
Continually towards the Infinite;
And ever nearer—never near to God.
—Bailey.
Inspiration-Impetus! Exo_31:3. The same Spirit, who inspired the eloquence of Isaiah, and the melodies of the chief musician Asaph, also imparted to Samson that wonderful bodily strength which he displayed in Herculean feats against the Philistines: and to Bezaleel and Aholiab the fine æsthetic taste and mechanical skill, by which they were enabled to construct the tabernacle after the pattern shown on the mount. As Macmillan says, Gideon and Jephthah carried on their military campaigns—Elijah and Elisha wrought their singular miracles—Hiram of Tyre forged and engraved the precious metals employed in the service of Solomon’s temple, under the influence of the Holy Spirit;—in short, it would appear from Scripture that the influence of the Spirit is co-extensive with the sphere of human affairs; and that nothing with which man has to do is outside of and beyond the proper field of his operations. Yet
“The Lamp of Genius, though by His grace lit,
If not protected, trimm’d, and fed with care,
Soon dies, or runs to waste with fitful glare.”
—Wilcox.
Sanctified Genius! Exo_31:3. One of the most remarkable examples in modern times of natural gifts lying long dormant is that of Joseph Cook. The world dreamt not that within her circle lived a giant thinker, whose thoughts would prove Whitworth hammers to break the huge brazen idol-gates of Dagon-Atheism. Possessed of this gift, for long years, he devoted himself to the study of all the rationalistic theories and arguments, as well as to the arts of rhetoric and science of language. When the time came, like Bezaleel and Aholiab—under the inspirations of the Spirit—he appeared before the towering strongholds of Infidelity. His lectures are not only specimens of magnificent critical power; but they are marked by such cultured eloquence that men listen entranced. His natural genius, under the sanctifying cultivation of Divine grace, is furnishing the Church with vessels of gold and tapestries of purple and fine twined linen of rare workmanship and surprising execution.
“Thus beams forth his soul—grace-illumined,
As shineth at morning anew
The pastures in gold and in jewels
When wet with the heavenly dew.”
School of Art! Exo_31:4-5. Some of the materials of which the tabernacle was formed were very costly, and not easily procured by Israel during their wilderness wanderings. These were brought with them out of Egypt. The time of their residence in Goshen and employment in Egyptian works, was amply sufficient to render them thoroughly acquainted with all the methods of Egyptian art and manufacture. The precious stones, which were set in the gold of the ephod and breastplate, were engraved by means of the skill acquired by them in Egypt. Bezaleel, to whom God had given ability in the preparation of stones for setting, &c., may have perfected his talent by observation and practice in Egyptian manufactories. Many ornaments of purest gold yet remain, which demonstrate the skill of the Egyptians in the working of that metal.
“All thoughts that mould the age begin
Deep down within the primitive soul,
And from the many slowly upward win
To one who grasps the whole.”
—Lowell.
Genius-Grace! Exo_31:4. All human skill, all artistic talent, all mechanical invention, are from God.
(1.) How sadly are these inspirations prevented! A Byron destroys that heavenly genius by libidmous poetry. A Shelley perverts that unearthly grace by atheistic poems. A painter perverts that God-given skill by voluptuous pictures. A mechanician perverts that more than human science by missiles of destruction.
(2.) How sorely are these inspirations distorted! One of the most eloquent of scientists is Tyndall; yet he writes to blot out the Christian Heaven in the “infinite azure of the past.” One of the most talented of Nature’s students is Darwin; yet he disowns any God beyond the tiny film vapour of evolution. One of the most renowned of naturalists is Wallace; yet he disputes the God of the Christian Revelation. What blessings these Divine Inspirations would have proved to mankind and the men themselves, were they but employed—as God conferred them—to HIS GLORY!
“Behold, they’re God’s! Say not ‘’Tis zephyr mild
Which rustles the dead leaf;’
They are thy Saviour’s, yea, thy God’s, my child,
Let not thine ear be deaf;
If I come now in breezes soft and warm,
I may return again upon the storm;
‘’Tis no light fancy—firm be thy belief
They are thy God’s!’ ”
Work-Design! Exo_31:5. The people of Southern Italy convert the soft plastic lava that has devastated their homes and fields into beautiful ornaments worn on the bosom. So should the farmer, who makes grass to grow upon the mountains, and converts the waste places of the earth into fertile meadows and smiling cornfields, endeavour to make the earth a tabernacle for God’s glory and for man’s worship and welfare. So should the labourer, who drains and trenches the soil; the engineer, who constructs bridges and roads; the architect, who builds dwellings and temples; the artisan, who changes the metallic ore and the timber of the earth into useful and ornamental articles; the manufacturer, who adapts to human uses the raw materials which the earth furnishes; the artist, who idealises the scenes and objects of nature and human life; and the poet, who moulds the sins and sufferings of the race into forms of beauty in his melodious verse. Then, indeed, will come the “Golden Age,” when the wide world shall be one tabernacle.
“The rest foreshadowed for the Church of God,
The golden eve of Everlasting Day.”
—Bickersteth.
Egyptian Fabrics! Exo_31:7-10.
(1.) Leather! Of the preparation of leather by the Egyptians here can be no loss. The representations on the monuments, and the few actual specimens which remain, enable us to understand it. Some of the specimens consist of straps across the bodies of mummies, and are beautifully embossed. Leather was employed for sandals, shoes, seats of chairs, sofas, and chariot ornaments. In the Louvre at Paris was an Egyptian harp, the wood of which was covered with a kind of green morocco, cut in the form of a blossom of the lotus.
(2.) Leather Manufacture.—On the monuments may be seen a man dipping the skins to soak in water before removing the hair. In other pictures Egyptian curriers are engaged in cutting leather with a knife, in shape resembling the semi-circular blade in use among modern curriers. In tanning, the Egyptians used the pods of the Acacia Nilotica, the juice of the unripe fruit of which is still imported from Egypt to Europe for medicinal purposes.
“Kindred objects, kindred thoughts inspire,
As summer clouds flash forth electric fire.”
—Rogers.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 Exo 31:12-13
Exo 31:12-13
From the moment in which He created man, God required that one day in seven should be consecrated to Himself; and however this requisition may have formed the basis for much that is peculiar in the Jewish economy, the requisition itself must belong to all ages.
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I. The Fourth Commandment differs from every other in the Decalogue in that it is not the authoritative publication of a law which might have been ascertained by natural religion. It is a sign, high, clear, and beautiful as the rainbow, that God is not unmindful of this earth, and has made known to it His will, and watches over its history.
II. The keeping of a Sabbath was a sign or symbol by which the Israelites might know what God they worshipped, even a God that could sanctify His worshippers.
III. The commandment decides the proportion of time that we are to devote to God. After every six days of labour there is to be a solemn rest.
IV. By keeping the Sabbath the Israelites acknowledged Jehovah as Creator, and commemorated their deliverance from Egypt. We do the same in keeping the Christian Sabbath. As amongst the Jews the Sabbath was made to fall on the day of their deliverance from Pharaoh, so amongst the Christians it should fall on the day when their redemption was completed. With the Jews the Sabbath was a sign that their God had vanquished the Egyptians, divided the Red Sea, and led the nation to Canaan; with us it is a sign that our God hath defeated Satan, cleft the waters of death, and opened a way to the heavenly Canaan.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2461.
References: Exo 31:16, Exo 31:17.—S. Cox, Expositions, 3rd series, p. 366. Exo 31:18.—Parker, vol. ii., p. 258.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Appointment of Bezaleel and Aholiab. The Keeping of…
The Appointment of Bezaleel and Aholiab. The Keeping of the Sabbath
2. By name] indicating a very special call: cp. Exo_33:12; Isa_43:1; Isa_45:1, Isa_45:3-4; Joh_10:3. Bezaleel] RV 'Bezalel': see 1Ch_2:18-20. For the identification of the grandfather of Bezaleel with the Hur of Exo_17:10 there is nothing beyond the similarity of names.
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3. See on Exo_28:3.
4. To devise cunning works] Divine inspiration does not reduce man to a mere machine or passive instrument. It is compatible with originality of invention. This applies not only to the mechanical arts as here, but also to intellectual gifts. It heightens and purifies, but does not supersede the normal faculties. Observe that 'cunning' is used here in its etymological sense of 'knowing 'or 'skilful.' See Psa_137:5
10. Cloths of service] RV 'finely wrought garments,' a general term including what follows: see Exo_39:1, Exo_39:41.
12-17. The reason why the injunction to observe the sabbath is repeated here and again in Exo_35:1-3 before the account of the carrying out of the preceding instructions is probably the close connexion of the worship of the tabernacle with the observance of the day of rest.
13. A sign] Like circumcision the sabbath is a sign or sacrament marking the covenant relation between Jehovah and His people. Cp. for circumcision Gen_17:11; Rom_4:11, and for the sabbath Eze_20:12; Isa_56:4, Isa_56:6. Ancient profane writers frequently refer to these two things as the distinguishing characteristics of a Jew.
14. Shall be put to death.. shall be cut off] The two expressions are not always synonymous; see on Exo_12:15.
18. Two tables of testimony] cp. Exo_16:34; Exo_25:16. Written with the finger of God] see on Exo_24:12.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv1, 18 What is condemned here is making worship a mere…
smell
What is condemned here is making worship a mere pleasure to the natural man, whether sensuous, as in beautiful music to please the ear, or eloquence, merely to give delight to the natural mind. (Cf) Joh 4:23; Joh 4:24.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 CHAPTER 31 The Workmen and the Sabbath
CHAPTER 31 The Workmen and the Sabbath
1. The workmen called (Exo 31:1-11)
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2. The Sabbath law emphasized (Exo 31:12-17)
3. Moses receives the tables of stone (Exo 31:18)
The call of the builders of the tabernacle follows the instructions. The plan and worship of the tabernacle was by divine appointment, only God could give such a plan foreshadowing the redemption work of His Son. To carry out this plan, the Lord called His own workmen by name and filled them with His Spirit, so that they could do the work in a manner which would please Him. “I have called; I have given; I have filled” are the words of Jehovah showing that He selected and qualified the two men to undertake the work. The New Testament ministry rests equally in the hands of the Lord. He has the exclusive right to select His servants for the ministry. As the risen Lord in Glory He gave some apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ (Eph 4:11-12). And whom He calls into the work of the ministry He also qualifies. His Spirit gives the wisdom and power to carry out the work into which the Lord calls. It is therefore all of Him; no room for boasting or jealousy.
What confusion would have resulted if certain Israelites had decided to do part of the work and others, calling themselves “superintendents,” had directed the construction of the tabernacle, or a committee selected the design of the breastplate and another committee examined drawings of the cherubim. Great is the confusion in the professing church with its man-made, self appointed ministry, with its organizations, committees and worldly methods. The truth so clearly revealed in the New Testament epistles concerning the ministry in the body of Christ and the Holy Spirit who fits for this ministry, is almost entirely forgotten. But wherever there is the divine call and divine qualification through the Spirit of God, there the work is done and is accompanied by the power and blessing of God.
The principal workman called was Bezaleel, the grandson of Hur of the tribe of Judah . He had an assistant in Aholiab, as well as others who were wisehearted and to whom God gave wisdom (Exo 31:6). Bezaleel means, “in the shadow of God”; this tells of his trust, filled with the Spirit of God in wisdom and understanding. He may well be taken as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Uri means “Light of Jehovah”; and Hur means “white.” All these words point clearly to the great workman selected by God to fashion a dwelling place for Him and to make a kingdom of priests unto God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And as Bezaleel did all as God commanded so that He was pleased, so our Lord has done the work in perfect wisdom to the eternal glory of God His Father.
Aholiab, Bezaleel’s assistant, means “tent of my father.” Ahisamach has the meaning “brother of support.” This, likewise, reminds us of our Lord. Bezaleel belonged to the tribe of Judah, the leader in the camp of Israel , and Aholiab to Dan, the last in the camp. Thus the first and the last were selected to do the work. What a glorious time is yet to come when all Israel , saved by grace in that day of His appearing, filled with the Spirit and divine wisdom, erects the great millennial temple (Ezek. 40-48).
The Sabbath law is restated and emphasized. This was also done when the manna was given. Here the Sabbath is especially mentioned as “a sign between Me and you in your generations.” The Sabbath is altogether a Jewish institution; it is always mentioned when Israel is seen in their responsibility in the special position given to them. Here the penalty for breaking the Sabbath is stated for the first time; it is death. Notice the peculiar expression in Exo 31:17, that the Lord rested on the seventh day and was refreshed He must have looked forward to His own work on the cross and the marvellous results of this work.
We quote from another some well-put distinctions between the Sabbath Israel had and could not keep, and the Lord’s day. This distinction is of importance in the days when some consciences are disturbed by teachers who would force the seventh day upon those who are under Grace.
1. The Sabbath was the seventh day; the Lord’s day is the first.
2. The Sabbath was a test of Israel ‘s condition; the Lord’s day is the proof of the Church’s acceptance, on wholly unconditional grounds.
3. The Sabbath belonged to the old creation; the Lord’s day belongs to the new.
4. The Sabbath was a day of bodily rest for the Jew; the Lord’s day is a day of spiritual rest for the Christian.
5. If the Jew worked on the Sabbath, he was to be put to death; if the Christian does not work on the Lord’s day, he gives little proof of life;--that is to say, if he does not work for the benefit of the souls of men, the extension of Christ’s glory and the spread of His truth. In point of fact, the devoted Christian who possesses any gift is generally more fatigued on the evening of the Lord’s day than on any other in the week, for how can he rest while souls are perishing around him?
6. The Jew was commanded by the law to abide in his tent; the Christian is led by the spirit of the gospel to go forth, whether it be to attend the public assembly or to minister to the souls of perishing sinners. (C.H. Mackintosh, Notes on Exodus.)
How higher criticism, the whole rationalistic school, and their brethren, the infidels, have amused themselves with Exo 31:18. Why should this be thought to be impossible with God? Their sneers but reveal their darkened and wicked hearts. God had made the tables and wrote on them (Exo 32:16).
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 12 The Master Craftsmen Engaged
The Master Craftsmen Engaged
v. 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
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v. 2. See, I have called by name Bezaleel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, the grandson of the influential man in his tribe, one of Moses’ right-hand men, Exo 17:10; Exo 24:14;
v. 3. and I have filled him with the spirit of God in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, in every craft connected with the art of building and equipping the Tabernacle,
v. 4. to devise cunning works, to execute artistic designs, to work in gold and in silver and in brass, the precious and costly metals which were used for the various parts of the equipment,
v. 5. and in cutting of stones, to set them, the work of the jeweler and the silversmith, and in carving of timber, another branch of artistic achievement, to work in all manner of workmanship. In this man technical knowledge was united with practical ability; he could not only devise and plan artistic work in all its details, but he could also supervise its proper execution. His natural talents had been sanctified by the influence of the Lord and consecrated to His service, a combination which, even now, makes the best church architects and the most excellent artists.
v. 6. And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and in the hearts of all that are wise-hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee, Aholiab being a master not only in metal, stone, and woodwork, but also an artist in fancy weaving:
v. 7. the Tabernacle of the Congregation, and the Ark of the Testimony, and the mercy-seat that is thereupon, and all the furniture, the sacred vessels, of the Tabernacle,
v. 8. and the table and his furniture, and the pure candlestick with all his furniture, the instruments and vessels needed for keeping it in order, and the altar of incense,
v. 9. and the altar of burnt offering with all his furniture, and the laver and his foot,
v. 10. and the cloths of service, the special garments of the high priest which he alone wore in the service of the Tabernacle and Temple, and the holy garments for Aaron, the priest, which he had in common with the ordinary priests, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest’s office,
v. 11. and the anointing oil, and sweet incense for the Holy Place; according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do. The entire work was entrusted to the Jewish artisans under the leadership of these two masters, for it was necessary that the workmanship throughout be of the very best. It is well-pleasing to the Lord if work done in His service is performed with painstaking care, as being really worthwhile.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 6, 10, 12, 16, 18 I have called by name
I have called by name
God speaks of choosing specific people as calling them by name. AT: "I have chosen" (See: Metonymy)
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Bezalel ... Uri ... Hur
These are names of men. (See: How to Translate Names)
translationWords
Yahweh
Moses
call
tribe
Judah
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 6, 11, 12, 14, 18 31:1-11 God gave instructions for the Tabernacle complex and…
31:1-11 God gave instructions for the Tabernacle complex and for those who would serve in it. He also chose and empowered those who would do the work.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.