Exodus 36:1-38

Exodus: *Israel becomes a nation

God’s instructions to Moses

Exodus Chapter s 19 to 40

Hilda Bright and Kitty Pride

Chapter 36

The people give much more than Bezalel and Oholiab need for the work– verses 1-7

v1 ‘Bezalel and Oholiab must do the work exactly as the *LORD has ordered. And every worker to whom the *LORD has given skill, should help them. They will know how to carry out all this special work. They will construct the special place where we will *worship the *LORD.’

v2 Then Moses asked Bezalel and Oholiab to come to him. He asked every person with skill to come with them. The *LORD had given skill to many workers and they all wanted to do this work for God. v3 Moses gave to them all the gifts for God that the *Israelites had brought to him. So the workers started the work. The people had brought these gifts so that they could build a holy place for God. And the people continued to bring gifts every morning. v4 So finally, all the skilful workers who were building the Holy Place stopped their work. v5 They went and they spoke to Moses. ‘The people are bringing more than we need for the work. We can do all the work with what we have already. We will do all that the *LORD has ordered.’

v6 Then Moses gave an order and they sent this message to the whole camp. ‘No man or woman needs to bring more gifts to give to God for the Holy Place.’ Moses told the people not to bring any gifts for the work. v7 Already, they had more than they needed to complete all the work.

Verse 1 emphasises how Bezalel, Oholiab and the other skilful workers must work. They must do the work exactly as the *LORD ordered.

Verses 2-7 Moses gave to the workers the gifts that the people had given to God. But every morning the people brought more gifts. So finally, the workers told Moses that they had more supplies than they needed. Then Moses gave the order that people must not bring more gifts. God is very generous to us. Then God’s people realise that God loves them. That causes them to be generous. In the *New Testament, Paul praised the Christians in the country called Macedonia. They were eager to give gifts to God’s people who needed help (2 Corinthians 8:1-4).

The *Tabernacle’s construction – verses 8-38

v8 All the skilful men among the workmen made 10 curtains for the special tent. These skilful men sewed designs on the *linen of good quality. They sewed designs of *heavenly figures with blue and purple and bright red wool. v9 All the curtains were the same size, which was 39 feet (12 metres) long and 6½ feet (2 metres) wide. v10 They joined 5 of the curtains together. Then they joined the other 5 curtains together in the same way. v11 And they made rings out of blue material. They sewed them along the edge the curtain at each end. v12 They sewed 50 rings on each curtain so that the rings were opposite each other. v13 Then they made 50 gold *hooks. They put the *hooks through the rings in order to fasten the curtains together. That made them become one big tent for the inside of the *Tabernacle.

v14 They also made 11 curtains of cloth that they made out of goats’ hair. These went on the top of the curtains that they had made out of *linen. v15 All 11 curtains were the same size, which was 42 feet (13 metres) long and 6½ feet (2 metres) wide. v16 Then they joined 5 of these curtains together. And they joined the other 6 together to make another long curtain. v17 They put 50 rings along the edge of each curtain at the end. v18 And they made 50 *bronze *hooks in order to fasten the curtains together. Then the tent became one unit. v19 They also made two other covers for the tent. They made one cover out of male sheep’s skins that they had coloured red. And they made the other cover out of leather of good quality.

v20 They made double poles out of *acacia wood. These poles supported the tent. v21 Each double pole was 13 feet (4 metres) high and 26 inches (66 centimetres) wide. v22 Each pole had a wooden piece that stuck out. They joined the poles together at the base with these pieces. They made all the double poles in this way. v23 They made 20 double poles for the south side of the tent. v24 And they made 40 silver bases for them. Each pole, with its piece that stuck out, fitted into a base. They joined these pieces together to make the double poles stand firmly. v25 They made 20 double poles for the north side of the tent too. v26 And they made 40 silver bases under them. And 2 bases were under each double pole. v27 They made 6 double poles for the west end of the tent. v28 And they made 2 extra firm double poles. They were for each corner at that end of the tent. v29 They joined these double poles at the corners from the lower end to the top end. This made them very strong. v30 So there were 8 double poles along that side with their 16 silver bases.

v31 They made bars in the shape of a cross out of *acacia wood. 5 of these bars went on one long side of the tent. They went across each double pole. v32 And 5 of the bars went across each double pole on the other side. They made bars in the shape of a cross. They were for the double poles on the west side also. v33 The centre bar reached the whole length of one side of the tent. v34 They covered all the poles and all the bars with gold. And they made the bars to go through gold rings on the poles.

v35 The skilful workers made the inside curtain out of *linen of good quality too. And they used blue and purple and bright red wool. They sewed the designs of the *heavenly figures onto the *linen. v36 They made 4 main poles out of *acacia wood in order to support this curtain. And they covered the poles with gold. They made gold *hooks for the poles, and they made 4 silver bases for them too. v37 They made another curtain out of *linen of good quality. This curtain was for the entrance to the tent. And the skilful workers sewed blue and purple and bright red designs onto that curtain. v38 They made 5 main poles and they covered them with gold. Then they attached gold *hooks to them in order to support the curtain. And they made 5 *bronze bases for the poles.

Writers who lived in the East used to repeat information. This showed that the information was important. To repeat something also helps people to remember it. This book repeats many things that God told to Moses. So that shows that this information is important.

Exodus 26:1-37 gave God’s instructions about how to build his special tent (the *Tabernacle). These verses in Exodus 36 tell how the workmen carried out God’s instructions. They worked with great care.

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.
worship ~ when people show honour to God, or to a false god. People may sing or pray. Or they may kneel down or give a gift to 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.

'New Testament ~ the second part of the Bible. It tells about Jesus Christ and his followers.
Tabernacle ~ God’s special tent.
linen ~ a special kind of cloth of good quality. People make it from the plant called *flax.'heavenly figures ~ Heaven is the place where God lives. Artists make figures. They look like people or other things that live with God.
hook ~ people hang things from hooks. To make hooks people bend metal into the shape of a letter U.
bronze ~ a kind of metal that people make out of copper and tin.
acacia ~ a kind of tree that grows in dry land.