Exodus 31:1-18
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah:
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,
4 To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,
5 And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship.
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;
7 The tabernacle of the congregation, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is thereupon, and all the furniturea of the tabernacle,
8 And the table and his furniture,b and the pure candlestick with all his furniture, and the altar of incense,
9 And the altar of burnt offering with all his furniture,c and the laver and his foot,
10 And the cloths of service, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office,
11 And the anointing oil, and sweet incense for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do.
12 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
13 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.
14 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.
15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holyd to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.
18 And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.
Exodus: *Israel becomes a nation
God’s instructions to Moses
Exodus Chapter s 19 to 40
Hilda Bright and Kitty Pride
Chapter 31
Bezalel and Oholiab and their assistants – verses 1-11
v1 Then the *LORD spoke to Moses again. v2 ‘Notice this. I have chosen Bezalel, who is Uri’s son. Uri is Hur’s son, and they all belong to Judah’s family. v3 I have filled Bezalel with my *Holy Spirit. And I have given to him skill and knowledge so that he can create things. He can do all kinds of beautiful work. v4 He can make beautiful designs for gold, silver and *bronze. v5 He can cut precious stones and he can fit them into their right places. He can work with wood. He is an artist who can make all kinds of beautiful things. v6 And I have appointed Ahisamach’s son, called Oholiab, from Dan’s family as his helper. I have given skill to all the men who will help Bezalel and Oholiab. Together, they can make everything about which I have told you. v7 Here is the list again.
The tent where I will meet you.
The special box that has the flat stones inside it. The stones remind you about my special promise.
The cover on the box where I can forgive you.
All the other furniture that is in the tent.
v8 The table for the special bread, together with the table’s equipment.
The pure gold *lampstand with its equipment.
The *altar where you burn the powder that has a sweet smell.
v9 The other *altar where you burn gifts that you give to me. And all the *altar’s equipment.
The basin with its base.
v10 The special clothes that you make for Aaron the priest, and for his sons. (They will use those clothes when they serve me as priests.)
v11 The special oil to mark things that you separate for me.
The special powder that has a pleasant smell that you will burn for me in the Holy Place.
The skilful workers must make all these things exactly as I ordered you.’
Verses 1-2 Bezalel belonged to Caleb’s part of the large family of Judah (1 Chronicles 2:20). Bezalel’s grandfather was Hur. A man called Hur had helped to support Moses during the battle with the *Amalekites (Exodus 17:10). It is not clear whether this Hur was Bezalel’s grandfather. But Hur and Aaron were the leaders while Moses went up the mountain (Exodus 24:14). Bezalel means ‘in El’s shadow’. And El was the old general name for God. Oholiab means ‘My shelter is God’. And God chose Oholiab to assist Bezalel. His name was very suitable. Oholiab became responsible for the work on God’s tent (Exodus 38:23).
Verses 3-6 God did not tell Moses to mark Bezalel and Oholiab with the special oil. He said that Moses must mark only the priests like that. But God had chosen those artists and he filled them with his *Holy Spirit. God gave to them special gifts as artists and skilful workers. Bezalel was able to prepare beautiful designs. He worked with precious metals and he worked with wood. He made the special box. And he covered it with gold (Exodus 37:1-15). He cut precious stones to shape them. He wrote words on them. And he fixed them in their places in metal. Oholiab was also skilful with designs. Especially he was able to sew the blue, purple and bright red patterns. He sewed with wool onto *linen of good quality (Exodus 38:23). Bezalel and Oholiab were the chief artists. But other skilful workers helped them to make all the different things. The *Holy Spirit had given to them their gifts as artists so that they created those beautiful designs.
Verses 7-11 This is the short list of all the things that those skilful workers made. Aaron had very beautiful clothes for his official duties as the most important priest (Exodus 28:4-38). The workers made white clothes for all the priests. They made them out of *linen of good quality. And the priests always used those clothes during their regular service (Exodus 28:40-41). The two artists and their skilful workers had to complete the work exactly as God had told Moses.
The *Sabbath – verses 12-18
v12 Then the *LORD spoke to Moses again. v13 ‘Say to the *Israelites, “You must rest on my *Sabbath days. This will be a *sign for you and for me. It will be for all time to come. Then you will know that I am the *LORD. And I will make you holy if you obey me. v14 Always rest on the *Sabbath day because it is a different day. It is my day. And anyone who uses it wrongly must die. Anyone who does any work on the *Sabbath day will not continue to be one of my people. v15 You must work for 6 days. But you must rest on the 7th day because it is the *Sabbath day. It is separate from the other days. So you must respect it on my behalf because I am the *LORD. Anyone who does any work on my *Sabbath day must die. v16 The *Israelites must remember to rest on the *Sabbath day. They must do this for all time to come. It will be a *sign to remind you about my special promise to you. And that promise lasts for all time. v17 It will be a *sign. And *Israelites, you must remember what that *sign means. You must remember that I made the heavens and the earth in 6 days. And on the 7th day, I stopped. I had finished my work, so I rested.” ’
v18 The *LORD finished his instructions to Moses on *Mount Sinai. Then he gave Moses the two flat stones on which he had written his laws. God’s own finger wrote the words on the stones.
Verses 13-17 The workers were doing important work when they were making the tent and the priests’ clothes. They might think that those duties were more important. Perhaps they thought that they need not rest on the *Sabbath day. But Moses must emphasise that the *Sabbath day was a *sign. It reminded the people about the special promise (the *covenant) that God had made to *Israel. The *Sabbath day was a special day when they remembered the *LORD (Exodus 20:8-11; Exodus 23:12). God himself rested on the 7th day after he had worked for 6 days. He had created everything in 6 days.
The *Sabbath became a *sign that separated *Israel from other nations. Nehemiah stopped the *Jews who were trading on the *Sabbath day. He warned them that God was not happy with them (Nehemiah 13:15-22). But later, the leaders made it very difficult to respect the *Sabbath. They made hundreds of rules about work. And it was not possible for ordinary people to obey all those rules. Jesus taught people to respect the *Sabbath. He said that it was a benefit to people. The *Sabbath was not about lots of rules that people must obey. He wanted people to enjoy the day (Mark 2:23-27). Jesus cured people on the *Sabbath. But the *Jewish leaders said that he had worked. They became so angry with Jesus that they wanted to kill him. But Jesus wanted people to understand God’s good plan for them (John 5:16-18).
Verse 18 God had promised to be kind to the people if they obeyed him. He had written his laws on the two flat stones. And the *Israelites had promised to obey those laws. So the flat stones were a *sign to remind people about God’s special promise. ‘God’s finger’ means God himself. The phrase is a way to describe God’s power at work. God wrote the words on the stone. The men who used magic in Egypt realised the power of God’s finger. God had brought the *plagues (Exodus 8:19). Jesus spoke about evil spirits that God’s finger controlled. God made evil spirits come out of people (Luke 11:20).
Israel ~ the nation of people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the name of the country that God gave to that nation.LORD ~ God gave this special name to himself. It translates the word ‘Yahweh’ in the Hebrew language. It links to the words ‘I am’; it means that God has been here always.
Lord ~ a name for God. It translates the Hebrew word ‘Adonai’, which means ‘my ruler’. The word ‘lord’ (without a capital letter) means an ordinary ruler.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Israelites spoke. A Hebrew is a Jewish person or an Israelite
Israelite ~ a person from the nation called Israel. Israelite is another name for the Jews. Anything that has a relationship with Israel.
Jewish ~ a word that describes a Jew or anything that belongs to the Jews.
Israel ~ the nation of people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the name of the country that God gave to that nation.
Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
'Holy Spirit ~ God’s Spirit; he is equal with God the Father and with God the Son. The Holy Spirit is a person but he is not human like us. The Holy Spirit does God’s work among people in the world. He gives God’s power to people.bronze ~ a kind of metal that people make out of copper and tin.
lampstand ~ it held 7 lamps. They contained oil that burned, so the lamp-stand gave a lot of light.
altar ~ a table on which people give gifts or *sacrifices to God or to a false god.
Amalekites ~ people who come from Esau’s grandson, Amalek.
linen ~ a special kind of cloth of good quality. People make it from the plant called *flax.
Sabbath ~ the 7th day in a Jewish week. It is from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday The day on which God rested when he created the world. So he wants people to rest on that day. Anything that has a relationship with the Sabbath.
Jewish ~ a word that describes a Jew or anything that belongs to the Jews.
Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
Israelite ~ a person from the nation called Israel. Israelite is another name for the Jews. Anything that has a relationship with Israel.
Israel ~ the nation of people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the name of the country that God gave to that nation.
Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
sign ~ a signal; a mark to show that something is special; a powerful act.
Mount ~ another name for mountain.
covenant ~ the special promise that God made to his people. God’s covenant with the Israelites established a relationship between him and them. But the Israelites must obey God.
Israelite ~ a person from the nation called Israel. Israelite is another name for the Jews. Anything that has a relationship with Israel.
Israel ~ the nation of people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the name of the country that God gave to that nation.
Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
Jewish ~ a word that describes a Jew or anything that belongs to the Jews.
Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
plague ~ a terrible disease or trouble.