Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(Exodus 35:1) And Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together, and said to them, “These are the words which the LORD has commanded you to do: (2) Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD; whoever does work on it shall be put to death."
In the last chapter, Moses had just come back down the mount a second time from receiving a second set of stone tablets with the Ten Commandments from the Lord, and he now addressed the congregation. He picked up with what the Lord had last told him to tell the children of Israel before the interruption of the golden calf (Exodus 31:12-18), that they were to keep the Sabbath. This was a repeat of one of the Ten Commandments that the people had heard from the Lord Himself, but as the Lord had re-emphasized it after giving instructions on how to build the tabernacle, Moses now began with this law of the Sabbath before continuing with instructions on construction. The people had six days in which to do their work, but there was to be strict observance of the Sabbath day. The seventh day was to be a holy day set aside for rest in the Lord and any violators would be put to death.
(3) “You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations on the Sabbath day.”
There was a particular prohibition against kindling fires in their personal dwellings on the Sabbath day. Most all the old commentaries spoke of this being a temporary prohibition that was not long continued. Albert Barnes, in his Notes on the Bible, pointed out that this law had been implied as far back as Exodus 16:23 when the people were told they were to bake and boil their manna the day before the Sabbath. It was suggested that maybe this was a prohibition against doing work at home as might be done by smiths or plumbers. It may have been intended to stress to the people that no work at all was to be done, occupational or personal. However, it was said that the Jews understood this to be only a prohibition against kindling fire for the purpose of doing work and cooking, but not for light and warmth for rest.
(4) And Moses spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “This is the thing which the LORD commanded, saying, (5) Take from among you an offering to the LORD; whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the LORD: gold, silver, and brass, (6) And blue, purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, (7) And rams' skins dyed red, badger skins, and acacia wood, (8) And oil for the light, and spices for anointing oil and for the sweet incense, (9) And onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod and for the breastplate."
Moses continued telling all the people what the Lord had commanded. Whoever was willing was to bring to Moses a voluntary offering to the Lord. Because the items were needed for the building of a tabernacle dedicated to God, there were specific items that were needed, and the people who willingly gave them were said to be offering them to the Lord. Then began and continued in the next few verses a long list of the items needed as the Lord had first told Moses in chapter 25: gold, silver, brass, blue, purple, and scarlet threads, fine linen, goats' hair, rams' and badger skins, acacia wood, oil, spices, onyx, and other precious stones.
(10) "And every wise hearted among you shall come and make all that the LORD has commanded:"
The original word for "wise" was "chakam" and it also meant "skilled or artful"; and "hearted" was "leb" referring more completely to the inner part of a man, his intelligence, wisdom, or talents. The rich who were able and willing were to supply the materials, and those skilled artisans with the talent for working with the particular materials were asked to do the work.
(11) "The tabernacle, its tent, its covering, its clasps, its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its sockets, (12) The ark and its poles, with the mercy seat, and the veil of the covering, (13) The table and its poles, all its utensils, and the showbread, (14) The candlestick also for the light, its utensils, its lamps, and the oil for the light, (15) And the incense altar, its poles, the anointing oil, the sweet incense, and the hanging for the door at the entrance of the tabernacle, (16) The altar of burnt offering with its brass grating, its poles, all its utensils, the laver and its base, (17) The hangings of the court, its pillars, their sockets, and the hanging for the door of the court, (18) The pins of the tabernacle, the pegs of the court, and their cords, (19) The cloths of service, to do service in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office."
The next several verses were a list of all the items to be made for the tabernacle. All were discussed in more detail when the Lord first told them to Moses (Exodus chapters 25-28). Moses probably didn't give the details at this time, but rather wanted to impress upon them just how much work was to be done and give them an idea of how much material and what skills were needed.
(20) And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. (21) And they came, every one whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and they brought the LORD’s offering for the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all its service, and for the holy garments.
After Moses had told the people what the Lord had told him to tell them, they left from his presence. It appears that they quickly returned, those whose hearts were stirred by what Moses had told them, and they brought the items they had been told were needed for the work on the tabernacle and its furnishings and garments.
(22) And they came, both men and women, as many as had a willing heart, and brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and ornaments, all jewels of gold, and every man who made an offering offered an offering of gold to the LORD.
Both men and women came, those with willing hearts, none forced to give, and brought all kinds of gold jewelry. All who brought these items of gold jewelry were said to have made an offering of gold to the Lord.
(23) And every man, with whom was found blue, purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, and red skins of rams, and badger skins, brought them. (24) Everyone who offered an offering of silver or brass brought the LORD’s offering; and every man, with whom was found acacia wood for any work of the service, brought it.
It is stated that every man who possessed the desired royal colored threads, fine linen, goats' hair, and ram and badger skins, brought those things as an offering. Likewise, every man, with whom was found acacia wood, brought the wood as an offering. I'm not sure if it was a deliberate distinction, but of the silver and brass offerings, it says that those who did offer silver or brass did bring the Lord's offering; it didn't say every man with whom silver and brass was found. It was the same way with the gold offered; everyone who did offer it, offered an offering to the Lord, but it didn't say that every man, with whom gold, silver, or brass was found, brought it to the Lord. These were all definitely freewill offerings brought by people whose hearts were inclined to offer them.
(25) And all the women who were wise hearted spun yarn with their hands, and brought what they had spun, of blue, purple, and scarlet, and of fine linen. (26) And all the women whose hearts stirred with wisdom spun goats’ hair.
All the women who were skilled in spinning brought what they had spun of blue, purple, and scarlet threads, and fine linen. All the women who were skilled in spinning goats' hair, likewise spun, and we can assume brought their wares.
(27) And the rulers brought onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod and for the breastplate; (28) And spice, and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense.
The rulers were said to have brought the precious stones, spices, and oils, they being the ones who could afford to possess and offer them.
(29) The children of Israel brought a willing offering to the LORD, all the men and women whose hearts made them willing to bring material for all kinds of work which the LORD, by the hand of Moses, had commanded to be done.
The children of Israel brought freewill offerings to the Lord, those whose hearts were willing. All walks of the people offered; those who owned possessions needed, offered them, and those who had skills needed, offered those services for the work to be done for the Lord.
(30) And Moses said to the children of Israel, “See, the LORD has called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; (31) And He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship; (32) And to devise plans to work in gold and silver and brass, (33) And in the cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of wood, to make any manner of cunning work."
Moses told the children of Israel that God had called a specific craftsman by the name of Bezaleel, grandson of Hur, who may have been the same Hur that was sometimes third in charge after Moses and Aaron. God had filled Bezaleel with special knowledge and talents in all kinds of workmanship. He was able to come up with the design plans and was able also to perform the work of cutting and setting stones and carving wood to make any manner of work imaginable. It is interesting to note that the original word I translated as "plans" in verse 32 is the same word translated as "cunning work" in verse 33. The word was "machashebeth", and it meant and was most often used as "contrivance, invention, plan, imagination, thought, purpose". The KJV used "curious works" and "cunning work". The other translations used a multitude of other words like "skilled, artistic, craftsman, workmanship, inventive". I believe the idea is that he had the God-given gift to imagine and design all kinds of beautiful work and he had the skills to make what he imagined.
(34) “And He has put in his heart the ability to teach, both him and Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. (35) He has filled them with wisdom of heart to work all manner of work, of the engraver, of the designer, of the embroiderer, in blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine linen, and of the weaver, those who do any work, and those who design artistic works."
Not only could Bezaleel design and do the work, but he also had the ability to teach others, as did Aholiab. God had filled both men with the wisdom, knowledge, and talents to do all kinds of craftsmanship from designing, to engraving, embroidering, weaving, or any artistic works that surely included precious metals, wood, and stone. They were able to both design and carry out their designs with their hands.
(Exodus 36:1) Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whom the LORD put wisdom and understanding to know how to do all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the LORD had commanded.
By this verse, it appears Bezaleel, Aholiab, and all skilled men, in whom God had put the wisdom and gifts to do the work for the sanctuary, began working and doing just as the Lord had commanded them to do. However, because the verses following speak of Moses calling the men to him and giving them the people's gifts with which they would be working, some commentators believed that verse 1 should have actually been the last verse in chapter 35, and should read in the future tense, rather than the past. Perhaps Moses was concluding his speech to the people that Bezaleel, Aholiab, and every gifted and talented man, in whom God had given the wisdom and understanding to carry out His plans for the sanctuary, would do the work according to all that He had commanded. Then again, maybe the men, answering their call by God, began their planning immediately.
(2) And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, everyone whose heart was stirred, to come and do the work.
Here the second verse said that Moses called the men, every skilled man blessed by talents from the Lord whose heart was stirred to help, to come and do the work. It's either as speculated after the first verse, that this is the proper first verse of the next chapter and Moses now called the men after saying they would do the work. However, it's just as plausible that verses 1 and 2 were to be read together, stating that the men started right away after Moses's call. It doesn't make much difference, as the main point stays the same--the workmen started without delay.
(3) And they received from Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of making the sanctuary. And they brought to him freewill offerings every morning.
Moses gave the workers the offerings of the people for the work on the sanctuary, the gold, silver, brass, wood, threads, linen, skins, precious stones, spices, and oil (Exodus 35:22-27). The people continued to bring freewill offerings every morning.
(4) And all the wise men who were doing all the work of the sanctuary came, each from the work he was doing, (5) And they spoke to Moses, saying, “The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which the LORD commanded us to do.”
All the different skilled workers came together from the work each was doing to tell Moses that the people were bringing more materials than they needed to do the work the Lord had commanded them to do. Matthew Henry, in his Commentary on the Whole Bible, pointed out that this proved what men of integrity they were. It would have been a perfect opportunity for them to enrich themselves with the surplus of offerings, but these honest men did not consider that.
(6) And Moses gave a commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp,
saying, “Let neither man nor woman do any more work for the offering of
the sanctuary.” And the people were restrained from bringing. (7) For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to be done, and too much.
Moses then gave the commandment and had it proclaimed throughout the camp that the people were to stop doing any more work or bringing any other offerings for the sanctuary, for there was more than enough for all the work that needed to be done. It was said that the people were restrained from bringing. So strong was their desire to offer to the Lord's sanctuary that they looked at it as a restraint upon them not to be allowed to do more for it.
(8) And every wise hearted man among them who worked on the tabernacle made ten curtains woven of fine linen, and of blue, purple, and scarlet thread; with cherubim of cunning work he made them.
I would assume that not every single one of the skilled workers made curtains, but that those among them most skilled in this type of work made ten curtains. They made them with fine linen, and either embroidered cherubim with blue, purple, and scarlet threads, or perhaps wove the threads into a tapestry depicting cherubim.
(9) The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; the curtains were all the same size.
The curtains were all made to be 42 feet long and six feet wide.
(10) And he coupled five curtains to one another, and the other five curtains he coupled to one another. (11) And he made loops of blue on the edge of one curtain on the selvedge of one set of curtains; likewise he did on the outer edge of the other curtain of the second set. (12) Fifty loops he made on one curtain, and fifty loops he made on the edge
of the curtain on the end of the second set; the loops held one curtain to another. (13) And he made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains to one another with the clasps, so it became one tabernacle.
Five curtains were attached one to the other, and the other five were attached together, making two long curtains. Fifty loops of blue were made on the edge of each set of curtains, and with fifty gold clasps, the two large curtains were fastened together to make one large tabernacle.
(14) And he made curtains of goats' hair for the tent over the tabernacle; he made eleven curtains. (15) The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits was the width of each curtain; the eleven curtains were the same size.
Each of the skilled workers working on the curtains then made eleven curtains of goats' hair, each measuring 45 feet long and six feet wide.
(16) And he coupled five curtains by themselves and six curtains by themselves. (17) And he made fifty loops on the outermost edge of the curtain in one set, and fifty loops he made on the edge of the curtain of the second set. (18) And he made fifty clasps of brass to couple the tent together, that it might be one.
With these curtains, meant to cover and protect the inner fine linen curtain, there were two sets of curtains attached together, one having five curtains, and the other having six. The workers made fifty loops on the edge of each of the larger curtains they had sewn together, and they made fifty brass clasps to couple the two curtains together to make it one. The inner fine linen curtain had gold clasps, but this outer curtain had brass clasps.
(19) And he made a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of badgers' skins above that.
Then a covering of rams' skins dyed red were made for the tent, and another covering of badgers' skins was made to go over that.
(20) And he made boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood, standing upright. (21) The length of each board was ten cubits, and the width of each board a cubit and a half.
I noticed some speculation in the old commentaries about who "he" was who made each of these items. Moses or Bezaleel were suggested, but I believe "he" refers back to verse 8 with "every wise hearted man among them who worked on the tabernacle", where "he" began being referred to in that very verse. After the curtains, or perhaps simultaneously, by a different set of workers, boards of acacia wood were made for the tabernacle. Each board was fifteen feet high and 27 inches wide, standing upright.
(22) Each board had two tenons, equally distant one from another; thus he made for all the boards of the tabernacle.
The original word translated as "tenons" was "yad", and that word was most often translated as "hands" in all kinds of figurative ways. Each board was made with two tenons, equidistant from one another, so cut and shaped as if hands to fit into and fasten to each other.
(23) And he made boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards for the south side. (24) And forty sockets of silver he made under the twenty boards, two sockets under each of the boards for its two tenons.
The workers made twenty boards for the south side of the tabernacle. They made forty silver sockets, so that each board had a socket for each of its two tenons. As discussed in Exodus 26:19, where we first read of God's description of how the tabernacle should be built, these were to be mortises for the two tenons of each board to be placed in, and would act
as the base or foundation of the entire structure.
(25) And for the other side of the tabernacle, the north side, he made twenty boards, (26) And their forty sockets of silver, two sockets under each board.
They also made twenty boards for the north side with forty silver sockets, each board having two sockets for its two tenons.
(27) And for the west side of the tabernacle he made six boards. (28) And two boards he made for the two back corners of the tabernacle.
For the west side they made six boards with two additional boards for the two back corners of the tabernacle.
(29) And they were coupled beneath and coupled together at the top by one ring; thus he did to both of them in both the corners.
As first discussed in Exodus 26, I believe the meaning is that the corner boards were coupled or doubled with twin boards coupled together with a ring at the top for extra strength at the corners.
(30) And there were eight boards and their sockets, sixteen sockets of silver, two sockets under every board.
The six boards made for the west side plus the two corner boards made eight boards across the back west side. Each board had two silver sockets, totaling sixteen sockets for the eight boards.
(31) And he made bars of acacia wood, five for the boards on one side of the tabernacle, (32) And five bars for the boards on the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle for the sides westward.
Five bars of acacia wood were to be made to go across the boards on each
side, probably two at the top, two at the bottom, and one across the
middle of the boards to act as stabilizers.
(33) And he made the middle bar to shoot through the boards from one end to the other.
As I didn't totally understand when God first gave Moses these directions in chapter 26, I still don't understand how the middle board was any different than the other four boards. Dr. John Gill gave a plausible explanation in his notes from chapter 26. Exodus 26:28 spoke of "the middle bar in the midst of the boards" reaching from end to end. Here it speaks of the middle bar shooting through the boards from one end to the other. Perhaps the other boards were placed across or on top of the vertical boards, whereas the middle board was made to go through the vertical boards, literally bored through inside the vertical boards.
(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.
"He", the skilled worker, overlaid each of the boards with gold. He made rings of gold to hold the bars in place, with the exception of the middle bar which may have been bored through the vertical boards rather than hung in rings over them. He also overlaid the bars with gold.
(35) And he made a veil of blue, purple, and scarlet, and fine woven linen; with cherubim he made it of cunning work.
He made a veil in the same fashion as the ten curtains in verse 8 above, of
fine woven linen, with blue, purple, and scarlet threads, used either
to embroider cherubim on the curtains or woven as a
tapestry with cherubim.
(36) And he made for it four pillars of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold, with their hooks of gold; and he cast four sockets of silver for them.
The worker or workers made four pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold upon which to hang the veil. They made golden hooks to hang the veil and silver sockets which may have acted as feet for the pillars.
(37) And he made a hanging for the tabernacle door of blue, purple, and scarlet, and fine woven linen, of needlework; (38) And the five pillars of it with their hooks; and he overlaid their capitals and their rings with gold, but their five sockets were of brass.
They made a curtain to hang as a door for the tabernacle, of the
same blue, purple, and scarlet threads, and fine woven linen, as the
other curtains and the veil. "Of needlework", or "wrought with needlework"as it was described in Exodus 26:36, probably meant
embroidered by hand, rather than woven in a loom. This "door" had five pillars of acacia wood probably in a pentagon shape that acted as a covered entrance to the tabernacle. They also made hooks and overlaid capitals and rings with gold, but for the sockets, they used brass instead of silver as with the indoor pillars.
Most everything recorded in chapter 36 was touched upon in chapter 26 when God first gave Moses explicit instructions on how to build the tabernacle. In those initial instructions God told Moses repeatedly to make sure they built the tabernacle "according to the pattern which you were shown on the mountain" (Exodus 26:30). Moses recorded the execution of the plans to show that the work was indeed done according to the directions given and the pattern shown to Moses.
