Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 37:17-24

17 And he made the candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work made he the candlestick; his shaft, and his branch, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, were of the same:

18 And six branches going out of the sides thereof; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side thereof, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side thereof:

19 Three bowls made after the fashion of almonds in one branch, a knop and a flower; and three bowls made like almonds in another branch, a knop and a flower: so throughout the six branches going out of the candlestick.

20 And in the candlestick were four bowls made like almonds, his knops, and his flowers:

21 And a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches going out of it.

22 Their knops and their branches were of the same: all of it was one beaten work of pure gold.

23 And he made his seven lamps, and his snuffers, and his snuffdishes, of pure gold.

24 Of a talent of pure gold made he it, and all the vessels thereof.

I am no expert, but it seems to me that the crafting of the golden candlestick may have been the most impressive work done in the creation of the temple. Note that it says it was a “beaten work.” This means that the candlestick was hammered into shape, not cast from a mold.

Casting from a mold would have greatly simplified the creation of the candlestick, as it would have allowed the mold to be designed from softer materials, and each mold could be used to cast multiple branches. But casting would have required a very powerful forge to melt the metals down to liquid form, something the Israelites were unlikely to have in their nomadic lifestyle. Thus, hammering was likely the only viable option.

The process of hammering gold is to heat the material until it becomes soft, and then beating it with a hammer, slowly stretching, dividing, and forming it into the shape of the candlestick. Every branch would have to be shaped individually. Every minute detail of almonds and flowers meticulously hammered with tiny strikes. Every symmetry verified by eye and measurement.

Clearly it would take a great master to create something of beauty and symmetry. It would require the patience, passion, and attention to detail that every disciple ought to strive for in his service of the Lord.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 37:10-16

10 And he made the table of shittim wood: two cubits was the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof:

11 And he overlaid it with pure gold, and made thereunto a crown of gold round about.

12 Also he made thereunto a border of an handbreadth round about; and made a crown of gold for the border thereof round about.

13 And he cast for it four rings of gold, and put the rings upon the four corners that were in the four feet thereof.

14 Over against the border were the rings, the places for the staves to bear the table.

15 And he made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold, to bear the table.

16 And he made the vessels which were upon the table, his dishes, and his spoons, and his bowls, and his covers to cover withal, of pure gold.

Today covers the creation of the table of shewbread. Reading these verses, I had the thought occur to me that this whole account must be a summary of the entire work done, not necessarily a sequential log of what order all that work was accomplished in. It seems most likely that several instruments for the tabernacle were being worked on simultaneously. One man could be turning shittim wood into boards, another man could be fitting those into the structure of the table, another man could be carving the staves, and a fourth man could be making the golden dishes. And, simultaneously, even more men working on the ark, the candlestick, the laver, etc.

God often leaves those sorts of logistics to the individual. Sometimes He might give a specific process to follow, but often He only mandates an end result, a clear vision of what one needs to accomplish, and then man must determine his own methodology to divide that labor and bring the vision to reality.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 37:1-9

1 And Bezaleel made the ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half was the length of it, and a cubit and a half the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it:

2 And he overlaid it with pure gold within and without, and made a crown of gold to it round about.

3 And he cast for it four rings of gold, to be set by the four corners of it; even two rings upon the one side of it, and two rings upon the other side of it.

4 And he made staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold.

5 And he put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, to bear the ark.

6 And he made the mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half was the length thereof, and one cubit and a half the breadth thereof.

7 And he made two cherubims of gold, beaten out of one piece made he them, on the two ends of the mercy seat;

8 One cherub on the end on this side, and another cherub on the other end on that side: out of the mercy seat made he the cherubims on the two ends thereof.

9 And the cherubims spread out their wings on high, and covered with their wings over the mercy seat, with their faces one to another; even to the mercy seatward were the faces of the cherubims.

We continue the record of the tabernacle’s creation, today by hearing the description of Bezaleel crafting the Ark of the Covenant. I would say that this was the single most sacred piece in all of the tabernacle, and an interesting question is at what point did the ark become holy?

Was it holy back when it was a tree in the middle of the desert? Or when it was half-carved on the carpenter’s workbench, with shavings still littering the floor? Or after the main piece was fully formed and overlaid with gold? Or only after the lid, rings and staves were finally attached?

I believe the answer is none of those moments. Those were all stages in the development of a worthy vessel, but I believe that vessel did not become sacred until God’s presence rested within the tabernacle and sanctified everything therein. Before that moment of divine touch, it was just beautiful workmanship. After that moment, it was dedicated to the work of the Lord.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Obedient Dust

One of the greatest sins in modern culture is to submit to another. We have to be tough and independent; we have to stubbornly maintain our autonomy always. We go so far as to resent the very idea of God, because we don’t want to obey even Him.

And then? Then we die, and then we return to the dust, and then we go wherever God blows us. All the world forgets us, and no one cares how independent we thought we were, and we dance to God’s every whim anyway.

Independence is an illusion, obedience is inevitable.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 36:31-38

31 And he made bars of shittim wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle,

32 And five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle for the sides westward.

33 And he made the middle bar to shoot through the boards from the one end to the other.

34 And he overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold to be places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold.

35 And he made a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubims made he it of cunning work.

36 And he made thereunto four pillars of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold: their hooks were of gold; and he cast for them four sockets of silver.

37 And he made an hanging for the tabernacle door of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, of needlework;

38 And the five pillars of it with their hooks: and he overlaid their chapiters and their fillets with gold: but their five sockets were of brass.

The record of the tabernacle’s creation continues. As with yesterday, all the specifications here are the same that God described, but written from a fresh perspective, with occasional differences in wording or emphasis. For example, previously we were told, “and the middle bar in the midst of the boards shall reach from end to end,” and now it is “and he made the middle bar to shoot through the boards from the one end to the other.”

This is evidence to me that the author of this record took the time to write it out with as much detail as the record of God’s commands had been. There is no copying word-for-word, and no abbreviating. The author took the time to recount it fully as it happened, as if the other record of God’s commands didn’t exist.

It may not make for the most exhilarating reading, treading through such familiar sentences all over again, and it probably wasn’t the most exhilarating writing either, but I believe it matters. I certainly suspect that the author believed that it mattered, too. I think that it matters, because it is a witness of the Israelite’s obedience, it is proof of the craftsmen’s care, and it is an acknowledgement that the planning and the doing are each their own separate journey.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 36:20-30

20 And he made boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood, standing up.

21 The length of a board was ten cubits, and the breadth of a board one cubit and a half.

22 One board had two tenons, equally distant one from another: thus did he make for all the boards of the tabernacle.

23 And he made boards for the tabernacle; twenty boards for the south side southward:

24 And forty sockets of silver he made under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons.

25 And for the other side of the tabernacle, which is toward the north corner, he made twenty boards,

26 And their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.

27 And for the sides of the tabernacle westward he made six boards.

28 And two boards made he for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides.

29 And they were coupled beneath, and coupled together at the head thereof, to one ring: thus he did to both of them in both the corners.

30 And there were eight boards; and their sockets were sixteen sockets of silver, under every board two sockets.

We’ll progress through these verses quickly, given that they are repeating information that we have discussed previously. These are not word-for-word rewrites, however. The differences are small, but they are there. For example, verse 22’s detail that the two tenons were “equally distant” from one another was not included in the first description. Presumably, this detail means that the gap between each tenon was perfectly centered, and perhaps that there was an equivalent gap on the ends before reaching the tenons of the next board.

Was that design decision detailed by God, and just not recorded in the earlier chapter, or was there enough room for personal design decisions that Bezaleel was able to exercise his own judgment? We do not have a clear answer. What we do see, though, is that the recording of both the vision and the execution were two separate events. As I just said, the scribe did not copy word-for-word from the previous account. Each was observed and recorded individually, and so the great symmetry between the two speaks to how precisely the Israelites adhered to the Lord’s commands.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 36:14-19

14 And he made curtains of goats’ hair for the tent over the tabernacle: eleven curtains he made them.

15 The length of one curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits was the breadth of one curtain: the eleven curtains were of one size.

16 And he coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves.

17 And he made fifty loops upon the uttermost edge of the curtain in the coupling, and fifty loops made he upon the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second.

18 And he made fifty taches of brass to couple the tent together, that it might be one.

19 And he made a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering of badgers’ skins above that.

The previous post detailed Bezaleel’s creation of the linen covering, which was the innermost layer, the one that was visible from the interior. Today we hear about all the following layers: the ones of goats’ hair, rams’ skin, and badgers’ skin. These would be visible from the outside, and I would imagine that they effectively blocked out the sun, such that the only illumination would be from the seven lamps on the menorah.

Of course, the menorah was only on one side of the inner curtain, which means there would have been no direct light source for the most holy place, only whatever light leaked in. We do not know how thick the inner curtain was, so maybe light was able to pass through or maybe not. If the most holy place was quite dim, this might seem like a strange choice given the common connection between God and light; but there are a couple possible reasons why this feature could have been fitting.

One explanation could be that this would help the priest to disconnect from the material world. Cutting off his sight may have helped him to surrender his own perception and reason, encouraging him to listen to his spiritual senses instead. Another reason might have been to symbolize the great shroud of mystery that still surrounds God, even when we are at our closest to Him. His depth and breadth are simply unfathomable and imperceivable to us. A third possibility is that the room might have been illuminated, but not by a natural light source. If Moses’s face was made to shine from his visits into the tabernacle, perhaps there was a divine glow that originated in there.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 36:8-13

8 And every wise hearted man among them that wrought the work of the tabernacle made ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work made he them.

9 The length of one curtain was twenty and eight cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: the curtains were all of one size.

10 And he coupled the five curtains one unto another: and the other five curtains he coupled one unto another.

11 And he made loops of blue on the edge of one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling: likewise he made in the uttermost side of another curtain, in the coupling of the second.

12 Fifty loops made he in one curtain, and fifty loops made he in the edge of the curtain which was in the coupling of the second: the loops held one curtain to another.

13 And he made fifty taches of gold, and coupled the curtains one unto another with the taches: so it became one tabernacle.

I won’t step through every single detail, but notice that the dimensions and design being described in these verses are exactly what God originally dictated to Moses up in the mountain. The author of this record wanted to make sure that we knew that the Lord’s plan was executed exactly as He had given.

With my little experience in creativity, I understand that one of the most difficult challenges is being able to effectively translate the conceptual to the material. It’s easy to have an image in your head, but to actually draw it is something else. You can imagine the characters and their actions perfectly, but the scene still falls flat on the page. It is the work of a true master simply to be able to express exactly what he meant to express, and here we saw that God’s vision was so crystal clear that it could be adhered to perfectly.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 36:5-7

5 And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the Lord commanded to make.

6 And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing.

7 For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.

I mentioned earlier that the Lord’s vision for the tabernacle was dependent on enough people willfully donating their possessions and time to make it a reality. He trusted that these people would come through, and as we see today, they more than did so. So great was the willful offering that they actually had to turn people away and prevent further donations.

It would seem that the people could have made an even greater tabernacle than what had been detailed. Perhaps the courtyard could have been bigger, perhaps there could have been two large sacrificial altars instead of just one, perhaps precious gems could have been incorporated into more of the architecture. But none of that was what happened. God had provided a vision, it was what it was, and it wasn’t going to be expanded further.

Indeed, simply adding more could have had a detrimental effect. When we reviewed God’s description of the tabernacle, we saw that everything seemed carefully chosen to be representative of an eternal principle. These symbolic lessons could easily have been obfuscated by simply throwing more stuff on top of it all.

There is a message here that while God does ultimately invite us to give our entire lives to Him, that doesn’t mean we are to exceed His parameters for any specific calling. In every moment, He will define what offering is proper, and it would be improper to do more. Take the law of tithing for example. I believe we are only to give a tenth as our tithe, no more and no less. Afterwards, if we feel like we’d like to contribute more to specific charities or ministries, we certainly may, but the tithe to the Lord itself has specific terms that we should not try to extend. It just is what it is, and it isn’t up to us to modify what the Lord has called for.