The chapter describes the crafting of the the tabernacle’s furnishings including the ark, lampstand, table and altar of incense.
“Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half was its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. And he overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a molding of gold around it. And he cast for it four rings of gold for its four feet, two rings on its one side and two rings on its other side. And he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold and put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark. And he made a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half was its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. And he made two cherubim of gold. He made them of hammered work on the two ends of the mercy seat, one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat he made the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat were the faces of the cherubim.” (v1-9)
Though this chapter reads like a narrated sporting event (with commentators describing the action) it still has some good takeaways.
I’m reminded of how our service for God needs to be in alignment with Him – Bezalel leads this intricate craftsmanship project, however everything about it is God’s. God provided the plans and designs, He gave the talents and abilities to the people, and He provided the materials. There is only one thing that people contributed to the Lord’s work – a willing heart to obey and serve. Had the people not been obedient to God, the materials would have not been donated and/or the craftsmen would not have helped and/or the designs may not have been followed. God has amazing plans for us in this life, our only requirement is to trust and obey.
Another thing of which I’m reminded is the importance of underlying structure. Every large furnishing and every frame for supporting the tabernacle were primarily made of wood. Many of the objects (incl. the ark and its poles for moving it) where then plated with gold or other precious metals. Why weren’t they just made out of pure gold? Surely God could have provided enough gold for them to do so. True, God could have provided enough gold, but He was wise enough to know that structure is important.
Pure gold is the most malleable of metals – a single gram (a tiny amount) can be hammered flat into a sheet that’s nearly one square meter. If the table (for example) were to be made of pure gold, it would eventually bend and buckle and collapse (keep in mind the tabernacle was meant to be moved from camp to camp so it would be jostled around). God provided instructions to create these items with wooden frames so they would remain stable, even if jostled around in a wagon while moving. He then had them encased in a softer material for visual impact.
This process of creating underlying structure is not only critical in physical applications (eg. a building’s frame or our skeletal system) it’s also critical in all systems including information, psychology and spiritual matters. God’s commandments and laws provided structure so culture and society would have a rigid foundation and withstand some bumps along the way. We have the Bible and a relationship with Jesus for this very reason, to give us a structure on which we can build our faith to help us withstand trials in this life. With God as our underlying support, we can withstand many dangers, toils and snares.
What is our support system? From where do we draw our underlying strength? Is our structure solid and perseverant, or will we collapse like a solid-gold pharisee? They might look the part on the outside, but inside they were lacking that relationship with God – they crumbled under Jesus’ scrutiny.
Don’t worry, if you or I are unsure of the firmness of our individual foundation, we have another huge advantage – we can lean on the larger foundation of the church: “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” (Eph 2:19-22)
This reminds me of a scenario I’ve seen a couple of times – a house has a foundation that is crumbling and beyond repair. One option is to bulldoze the whole house and start over, however, the more elegant option is this: to carefully lift the house up and place it on temporary supports while a new foundation is laid. The house is then placed on its new foundation. This model is what God does with us – he’ll gently repair our replace our foundation and He’ll often use the church as a temporary support system in the process.
Father God, thank you for being our firm foundation. Thank you for the structure You provide – the Bible, laws and commandments are there to support us, not restrict us. You have given us Your Holy Spirit as well to help maintain that structure, and we are grateful. Father thank you for the church, our brothers and sisters on whom we can rely to help support us in good times and difficult ones, on whose foundations we can rely when ours is in need of repair. Thank you for being the in business of repairing and replacing foundations, and thank you that none of us are write-offs. We praise You for who You are, the loving God who fills our hearts with joy and comfort at the sound of Your name. Amen.
~ Conqueror in Training