22 And he made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue.

23 And there was an hole in the midst of the robe, as the hole of an habergeon, with a band round about the hole, that it should not rend.

24 And they made upon the hems of the robe pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen.

25 And they made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates upon the hem of the robe, round about between the pomegranates;

26 A bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, round about the hem of the robe to minister in; as the Lord commanded Moses.

27 And they made coats of fine linen of woven work for Aaron, and for his sons,

28 And a mitre of fine linen, and goodly bonnets of fine linen, and linen breeches of fine twined linen,

29 And a girdle of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, of needlework; as the Lord commanded Moses.

30 And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, like to the engravings of a signet, Holiness to the Lord.

31 And they tied unto it a lace of blue, to fasten it on high upon the mitre; as the Lord commanded Moses.

Underneath the ephod was the blue robe, and upon the head was the mitre, and on the front of the mitre was the gold plate that said “Holiness to the Lord.” With this we conclude the final description of the creation of the tabernacle. Every item has been created, exactly as dictated by the Lord.

I feel that often when the Old Testament Israelites are spoken of, there is great emphasis on their stubbornness and faithlessness. Certainly, they had their moments. They murmured, they doubted, and they betrayed at various times, and even brought God to the point of contemplating their destruction. But they were approximately two million individuals in all, and clearly there was some good mixed in with the bad. If some of them were perpetually faithless and ungrateful, some of them were also perpetually trustworthy and obedient. Everything that we’ve read over the last four chapters has been a testament to that good portion. These chapters are a witness to the fact that there was leaven within the dough.