Exodus 35:1-19

the Sabbath and Offerings to God

Exodus 35:1

Very significantly this chapter commences with the reiteration of the Rest-day. Perhaps the people needed to be reminded that, amid all the din of preparation for the new Tabernacle, they were not to allow their work, however noble the object, to break in on the Sabbath-keeping of the camp. He then proceeded to enumerate the character of the gifts that were required. Those who had costly heirlooms had nothing too good; and they who could only bring the acacia wood of the desert were welcome to bring that. Women who were clever with their hands might spin the flax or weave the soft white wool of the Angora goat. A wide variety of work was offered, which reminds us of 1 Corinthians 12:4, and following. Repeatedly he urged the word “willing-hearted,” and the Hebrew phrase signifies a heart driven by a holy purpose. Tennyson uses the phrase, “Whose heart drove him on like a goad.” There was no crack of the taskmaster's whip. “The love of God constrained.” “O love that will not let me go!”