Day 28: Exodus 34-36

(The previous post covered the conclusion of God's instructions to Moses during the forty days and forty nights Moses and Joshua were on the mount. When Moses returned he found the people were worshipping a golden calf that Aaron had made. God's Will was to destroy the people and make a new nation for Moses. Moses changed God's Mind by approaching God the way God approached others. From that time on, Moses spoke with God as a friend and got to see God's Glory.)

Exodus 34

(This chapter dealt with the renewal of the covenant that the people broke while Moses was with God on the mount.)

¹ And Jehovah said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon the tables the words that were on the first tables, which thou brakest.

(God wrote on a second set of tables the same words that were on the first set in which Moses broke.)

² And be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me on the top of the mount.
³ And no man shall come up with thee; neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount.
⁴ And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as Jehovah had commanded him, and took in his hand two tables of stone.

(Moses brought two new tables of stone with him. Moses broke the first two just as Israel broke their covenant with God.)

⁵ And Jehovah descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Jehovah.
⁶ And Jehovah passed by before him, and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth,
⁷ keeping lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation.

(The Lord professed His Name. What was the value of God professing His own Name? God was making Himself known to Moses. The word name meant "causes" which would be God's Nature. God was also building Moses' faith by giving him a list of attributes/effects (merciful, gracious, etc.) of Himself.)

⁸ And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.
⁹ And he said, If now I have found favor in thy sight, O Lord, let the Lord, I pray thee, go in the midst of us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.
¹⁰ And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been wrought in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of Jehovah; for it is a terrible thing that I do with thee.

(God began naming the part of this covenant that was His responsibility.)

¹¹ Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
¹² Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:
¹³ but ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and ye shall cut down their Asherim;

(God also named the responsibilities that were required from the Israelites, such as destroying the altars and pillars of other gods.)

¹⁴ for thou shalt worship no other god: for Jehovah, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

("Jealous" in this verse was the Hebrew word qanna. This word was specifically attached to the verses that described God. Other uses of the word "jealous" do not use this Hebrew word. This meant it was a word that was uniquely assigned to an attribute of God. This word was used of God as not bearing any rival. The word "jealous" occurred nineteen times in the KJV Bible and only six of those times was the word qanna used.)

¹⁵ lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot after their gods, and sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee and thou eat of his sacrifice;
¹⁶ and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters play the harlot after their gods, and make thy sons play the harlot after their gods.

(God said not to intermarry. Remember though, anyone who followed God's Law was included in the Israelites' community.)

¹⁷ Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.
¹⁸ The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.

(Israel was reminded to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This symbolized their sanctification.)

(Verses 19-28: Various laws, mostly concerning Israel's separation from other nations and to the Lord.)

¹⁹ All that openeth the womb is mine; and all thy cattle that is male, the firstlings of cow and sheep.
²⁰ And the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break its neck. All the first-born of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.
²¹ Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in plowing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.
²² And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, even of the first-fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.

(God named the three feasts for males to observe. The three feasts were also known as Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles.)

²³ Three times in the year shall all thy males appear before the Lord Jehovah, the God of Israel.
²⁴ For I will cast out nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou goest up to appear before Jehovah thy God three times in the year.
²⁵ Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning.
²⁶ The first of the first-fruits of thy ground thou shalt bring unto the house of Jehovah thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother's milk.
²⁷ And Jehovah said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.
²⁸ And he was there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

(Moses fasted for forty days and forty nights, no food or water. This has been referred to as a "miraculous fast" since it would have been impossible to accomplish this apart from God. According to Matthew 4:2, Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights in the desert before being tempted of the devil.)

²⁹ And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of the testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses knew not that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him.

(Moses' face shone.)

³⁰ And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.
³¹ And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses spake to them.
³² And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that Jehovah had spoken with him in mount Sinai.
³³ And when Moses had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.
³⁴ But when Moses went in before Jehovah to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded.
³⁵ And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the veil upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.




Exodus 35

(This chapter was concerned with offerings for the tabernacle.)

(Verses 1-3: the command to keep the Sabbath.)

¹ And Moses assembled all the congregation of the children of Israel, and said unto them, These are the words which Jehovah hath commanded, that ye should do them.
² Six days shall work be done; but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a sabbath of solemn rest to Jehovah: whosoever doeth any work therein shall be put to death.

(Breaking the Sabbath resulted in death. Remember, doing work on the Sabbath meant the person was being the first cause instead of letting God (through the Law) be the first cause. This made working on the Sabbath akin to idolatry.)

³ Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day.

(Verses 4-9: Receiving what was needed to build the tabernacle.)

⁴ And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which Jehovah commanded, saying,
⁵ Take ye from among you an offering unto Jehovah; whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, Jehovah's offering: gold, and silver, and brass,

(The materials used for making the things God commanded Moses were willing offerings from those whose hearts were stirred.)

⁶ and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair,
⁷ and rams' skins dyed red, and sealskins, and acacia wood,
⁸ and oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense,
⁹ and onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate.

(Verses 10-19: Coordinating the labor and planning the work for the tabernacle.)

¹⁰ And let every wise-hearted man among you come, and make all that Jehovah hath commanded:
¹¹ the tabernacle, its tent, and its covering, its clasps, and its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its sockets;
¹² the ark, and the staves thereof, the mercy-seat, and the veil of the screen;
¹³ the table, and its staves, and all its vessels, and the showbread;
¹⁴ the candlestick also for the light, and its vessels, and its lamps, and the oil for the light;
¹⁵ and the altar of incense, and its staves, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the screen for the door, at the door of the tabernacle;
¹⁶ the altar of burnt-offering, with its grating of brass, it staves, and all its vessels, the laver and its base;
¹⁷ the hangings of the court, the pillars thereof, and their sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court;
¹⁸ the pins of the tabernacle, and the pins of the court, and their cords;
¹⁹ the finely wrought garments, for ministering in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office.

(Verses 20-29: Receiving the offering for building the tabernacle.)

²⁰ And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses.
²¹ And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and brought Jehovah's offering, for the work of the tent of meeting, and for all the service thereof, and for the holy garments.
²² And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted, and brought brooches, and ear-rings, and signet-rings, and armlets, all jewels of gold; even every man that offered an offering of gold unto Jehovah.
²³ And every man, with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, and rams' skins dyed red, and sealskins, brought them.
²⁴ Every one that did offer an offering of silver and brass brought Jehovah's offering; and every man, with whom was found acacia wood for any work of the service, brought it.
²⁵ And all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, the blue, and the purple, the scarlet, and the fine linen.

(Wise-hearted women made the linen for the temple.)

²⁶ And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun the goats' hair.
²⁷ And the rulers brought the onyx stones, and the stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate;
²⁸ and the spice, and the oil; for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense.
²⁹ The children of Israel brought a freewill-offering unto Jehovah; every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all the work, which Jehovah had commanded to be made by Moses.

(Verses 30-35: the call of the master craftsmen.)

³⁰ And Moses said unto the children of Israel, See, Jehovah hath called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.

(Bezalel was identified specifically.)

³¹ And he hath filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship;
³² and to devise skilful works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,
³³ and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of skilful workmanship.
³⁴ And he hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he, and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.

(God put it in both craftsmen's hearts that each may teach.)

³⁵ Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of workmanship, of the engraver, and of the skilful workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any workmanship, and of those that devise skilful works.




Exodus 36

(This chapter showed that the Jews intended to follow the directions given by God to Moses while on the mount. The tent of meeting would be built.)

¹ And Bezalel and Oholiab shall work, and every wise-hearted man, in whom Jehovah hath put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all the work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that Jehovah hath commanded.

(People other than Bezalel and Oholiab helped with this work.)

² And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab, and every wise-hearted man, in whose heart Jehovah had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it:
³ and they received of Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, wherewith to make it. And they brought yet unto him freewill-offerings every morning.
⁴ And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they wrought.
⁵ And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which Jehovah commanded to make.

(The people brought "much more than enough.")

⁶ And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing.

(The people were restrained from bringing any more offerings for the work of the sanctuary. The ministry only received what was necessary, nothing more.)

⁷ For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.

(The amount of supplies they had was "too much." The rest of this chapter stated all of the directions were completed.)

(Verses 8-13: the curtains of an artistic design of cherubim (as was commanded in Exodus 26:1-6).)

⁸ And all the wise-hearted men among them that wrought the work made the tabernacle with ten curtains; of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with cherubim, the work of the skilful workman, Bezalel made them.
⁹ The length of each curtain was eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits: all the curtains had one measure.

(All the fine twined curtains were the same size: approximately 42 feet long and 6 feet wide.)

¹⁰ And he coupled five curtains one to another: and the other five curtains he coupled one to another.
¹¹ And he made loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling: likewise he made in the edge of the curtain that was outmost in the second coupling.
¹² Fifty loops made he in the one curtain, and fifty loops made he in the edge of the curtain that was in the second coupling: the loops were opposite one to another.
¹³ And he made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains one to another with the clasps: so the tabernacle was one.

(Verses 14-18: the curtains of goat's hair (as was commanded in Exodus 26:7-13).)

¹⁴ And he made curtains of goats' hair for a tent over the tabernacle: eleven curtains he made them.
¹⁵ The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits the breadth of each curtain: the eleven curtains had one measure.

(All the goat's hair curtains were the same size: approximately 45 feet long and 6 feet wide.)

¹⁶ And he coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves.
¹⁷ And he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops made he upon the edge of the curtain which was outmost in the second coupling.
¹⁸ And he made fifty clasps of brass to couple the tent together, that it might be one.

(Verse 19: the curtains of ram's skins dyed red and sealskins (as was commanded in Exodus 26:14).)

¹⁹ And he made a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of sealskins above.

(Verses 20-34: the boards and connecting bars for the frame and walls of the tabernacle (as was commanded in Exodus 26:15-30).)

²⁰ And he made the boards for the tabernacle, of acacia wood, standing up.
²¹ Ten cubits was the length of a board, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each board.

(Each board was about 15 feet high and 27 inches wide.)

²² Each board had two tenons, joined one to another: thus did he make for all the boards of the tabernacle.

(Tenon meant "hand." In this case, the tenons were pegs underneath each board.)

²³ And he made the boards for the tabernacle: twenty boards for the south side southward.
²⁴ And he made forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for its two tenons, and two sockets under another board for its two tenons.
²⁵ And for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made twenty boards,
²⁶ and their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.
²⁷ And for the hinder part of the tabernacle westward he made six boards.
²⁸ And two boards made he for the corners of the tabernacle in the hinder part.
²⁹ And they were double beneath; and in like manner they were entire unto the top thereof unto one ring: thus he did to both of them in the two corners.
³⁰ And there were eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; under every board two sockets.
³¹ And he made bars of acacia wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle,
³² and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle for the hinder part westward.
³³ And he made the middle bar to pass through in the midst of the boards from the one end to the other.
³⁴ And he overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold for places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold.

(Verses 35-38: the veil with its four pillars, and the screen with its five pillars (as was commanded in Exodus 26:31-33, 36-37).)

³⁵ And he made the veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubim, the work of the skilful workman, made he it.
³⁶ And he made thereunto four pillars of acacia, and overlaid them with gold: their hooks were of gold; And he cast for them four sockets of silver.
³⁷ And he made a screen for the door of the Tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer;
³⁸ and the five pillars of it with their hooks: and he overlaid their capitals and their fillets with gold; and their five sockets were of brass.

(This post covered God's reconfirmation of the Covenant and the Israelites carrying out of God's instructions to Moses while he was on the mount with God.)

Day 29