You Can Read the Bible

Our reading today begins with episodes of renewed hope. First, the LORD calls Moses back up Mount Sinai. Imagine yourself standing on the mountain as the cloud descends and the voice of the LORD crashes through. Moses begs the LORD to restore Israel, and the LORD responds with a renewed covenant.

The purpose of this trip is for the LORD to inscribe His law on a new set of tablets. You’ll remember that Moses had destroyed the first set when he saw Israel worshipping the Golden Calf. These Tablets of Testimony seem to be the thread through this whole account. The author relates that God tells Moses to “cut two tablets of stone,” Moses took them with him up the mountain, he wrote on them what the LORD had told him; and then they were in Moses’ hands when he returned. Obviously, making sure that Israel had a permanent record of His commands was a high priority for the LORD.

Once Moses has reinforced, again, the Sabbath regulations with the Israelites, they get to work on building the tabernacle. This begins with a record of how joyfully the people responded to the call for donations.

As you read about this outpouring, remember the last night in Egypt, when “The Egyptians were urgent…to send them out of the land…The people of Israel did as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

Once the building materials are in hand, Bezalel and Oholiab oversee the work and teach the others how the craft is to be done. The building account reveals the same painstaking detail that was employed in relating the instructions. I’ll remind you, again, that if God stands behind the Bible, and if the Bible goes to such great detail describing the design and construction of His worship space, then there might be something to learn about Him through this.

Our verse for this week is Hebrews 11:24-25: By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

Exodus chapters 34 through 36. Now let’s read it!

Exodus 34 - 36

Jehovah said to Moses, "Chisel two stone tablets like the first. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. No one shall come up with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain. Do not let the flocks or herds graze in front of that mountain." He chiseled two tablets of stone like the first; then Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up to Mount Sinai, as Jehovah had commanded him, and took in his hand two stone tablets. Jehovah descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed Jehovah's name. Jehovah passed by before him, and proclaimed, "Jehovah! Jehovah, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth, keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children's children, on the third and on the fourth generation." Moses hurried and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. He said, "If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go among us, even though this is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance." He said, "Behold, I make a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been worked in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of Jehovah; for it is an awesome thing that I do with you. Observe that which I command you today. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare among you; but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherah poles; for you shall worship no other god; for Jehovah, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. "Don't make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice; and you take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters play the prostitute after their gods, and make your sons play the prostitute after their gods. "You shall make no cast idols for yourselves. "You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib you came out of Egypt. "All that opens the womb is mine; and all your livestock that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep. You shall redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a lamb. If you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. You shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No one shall appear before me empty. "Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. "You shall observe the feast of weeks with the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of harvest at the year's end. Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Jehovah, the God of Israel. For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither shall any man desire your land when you go up to appear before Jehovah, your God, three times in the year. "You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. The sacrifice of the feast of the Passover shall not be left to the morning. "You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your ground to the house of Jehovah your God. "You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk." Jehovah said to Moses, "Write these words; for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." He was there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mountain, Moses didn't know that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him. When Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come near him. Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them. Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them all the commandments that Jehovah had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. When Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. 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 spoke to the children of Israel that which he was commanded. The children of Israel saw Moses' face, that the skin of Moses' face shone; so Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him. Moses assembled all the congregation of the children of Israel, and said to them, "These are the words which Jehovah has commanded, that you should do them. 'Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of solemn rest to Jehovah: whoever does any work in it shall be put to death. You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations on the Sabbath day.'" Moses spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, "This is the thing which Jehovah commanded, saying, 'Take from among you an offering to Jehovah. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as Jehovah's offering: gold, silver, bronze, blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats' hair, rams' skins dyed red, sea cow hides, acacia wood, oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense, onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod and for the breastplate. "'Let every wise-hearted man among you come, and make all that Jehovah has commanded: the tabernacle, its outer covering, its roof, its clasps, its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its sockets; the ark, and its poles, the mercy seat, the veil of the screen; the table with its poles and all its vessels, and the show bread; the lamp stand also for the light, with its vessels, its lamps, and the oil for the light; and the altar of incense with its poles, the anointing oil, the sweet incense, the screen for the door, at the door of the tabernacle; the altar of burnt offering, with its grating of bronze, its poles, and all its vessels, the basin and its base; the hangings of the court, its pillars, their sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court; the pins of the tabernacle, the pins of the court, and their cords; the finely worked 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.'" All the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. They came, everyone whose heart stirred him up, and everyone whom his spirit made willing, and brought Jehovah's offering for the work of the Tent of Meeting, and for all of its service, and for the holy garments. They came, both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted, and brought brooches, earrings, signet rings, and armlets, all jewels of gold; even every man who offered an offering of gold to Jehovah. Everyone with whom was found blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats' hair, rams' skins dyed red, and sea cow hides, brought them. Everyone who offered an offering of silver and bronze brought Jehovah's offering; and everyone with whom was found acacia wood for any work of the service, brought it. All the women who were wise-hearted spun with their hands, and brought that which they had spun: the blue, the purple, the scarlet, and the fine linen. All the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun the goats' hair. The rulers brought the onyx stones and the stones to be set for the ephod and for the breastplate; with the spice and the oil for the light, for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense. The children of Israel brought a free will offering to 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. Moses said to the children of Israel, "Behold, Jehovah has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of workmanship; and to make skillful works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all kinds of skillful workmanship. He has put in his heart that he may teach, both he and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. He has filled them with wisdom of heart to work all kinds of workmanship, of the engraver, of the skillful workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of those who do any workmanship, and of those who make skillful works. "Bezalel and Oholiab shall work with every wise-hearted man, in whom Jehovah has put wisdom and understanding to know how to do all the work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that Jehovah has commanded." Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab, and every wise-hearted man, in whose heart Jehovah had put wisdom, even everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to the work to do it. They received from Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, with which to make it. They kept bringing free will offerings to him every morning. All the wise men, who performed all the work of the sanctuary, each came from his work which he did. They spoke to Moses, saying, "The people have brought much more than enough for the service of the work which Jehovah commanded to make." Moses gave a commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, "Let neither man nor woman make anything else for the offering for the sanctuary." So the people were restrained from bringing. For the stuff they had was sufficient to do all the work, and too much. All the wise-hearted men among those who did the work made the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, blue, purple, and scarlet. They made them with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman. The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits. All the curtains had one measure. He coupled five curtains to one another, and the other five curtains he coupled to one another. He made loops of blue on the edge of the one curtain from the edge in the coupling. Likewise he made in the edge of the curtain that was outermost in the second coupling. He made fifty loops in the one curtain, and he made fifty loops in the edge of the curtain that was in the second coupling. The loops were opposite to one another. He made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains to one another with the clasps: so the tabernacle was a unit. He made curtains of goats' hair for a covering over the tabernacle. He made them eleven curtains. The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits the width of each curtain. The eleven curtains had one measure. He coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves. He made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was outermost in the coupling, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain which was outermost in the second coupling. He made fifty clasps of bronze to couple the tent together, that it might be a unit. He made a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of sea cow hides above. He made the boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood, standing up. Ten cubits was the length of a board, and a cubit and a half the width of each board. Each board had two tenons, joined to one another. He made all the boards of the tabernacle this way. He made the boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards for the south side southward. 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. For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made twenty boards and their forty sockets of silver: two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. For the far part of the tabernacle westward he made six boards. He made two boards for the corners of the tabernacle in the far part. They were double beneath, and in the same way they were all the way to its top to one ring. He did this to both of them in the two corners. There were eight boards and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets--under every board two sockets. He made bars of acacia wood: five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, 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. He made the middle bar to pass through in the middle of the boards from the one end to the other. He overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold as places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold. He made the veil of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cherubim. He made it the work of a skillful workman. He made four pillars of acacia for it, and overlaid them with gold. Their hooks were of gold. He cast four sockets of silver for them. He made a screen for the door of the tent, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of an embroiderer; and the five pillars of it with their hooks. He overlaid their capitals and their fillets with gold, and their five sockets were of bronze.

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