Exodus 35: 30-36: 7

³⁰And Moses told them, "The LORD has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, grandson of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. ³¹The LORD has filled Bezalel with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, intelligence, and skill in all kinds of crafts. ³²He is able to create beautiful objects from gold, silver, and bronze. ³³He is skilled in cutting and setting gemstones and in carving wood. In fact, he has every necessary skill. ³⁴And the LORD has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach their skills to others. ³⁵The LORD has given them special skills as jewelers, designers, weavers, and embroiderers in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn on fine linen cloth. They excel in all the crafts needed for the work.

¹ "Bezalel, Oholiab, and the other craftsmen whom the LORD has gifted with wisdom, skill, and intelligence will construct and furnish the Tabernacle, just as the LORD has commanded."

²So Moses told Bezalel and Oholiab to begin the work, along with all those who were specially gifted by the LORD. ³Moses gave them the materials donated by the people for the completion of the sanctuary. Additional gifts were brought each morning. ⁴But finally the craftsmen left their work to meet with Moses. ⁵"We have more than enough materials on hand now to complete the job the LORD has given us to do!" they exclaimed.

⁶So Moses gave the command, and this message was sent throughout the camp: "Bring no more materials! You have already given more than enough." So the people stopped bringing their offerings. ⁷Their contributions were more than enough to complete the whole project.

Points of Interest:

· ‘The LORD has filled Bezalel with the Spirit of God’—we talk of artists being inspired. Well, Bezalel is literally inspired: he is filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives him a supernatural ability to create beautiful art.

· ‘the ability to teach their skills to others’—Bezalel and Oholiab aren’t the stereotypical temperamental artists who just want to be left alone with their art. Part of their job, and part of their inspiration, is training others to follow in their craft.

· ‘You have already given more than enough’—who ever heard of such a thing? The people respond so enthusiastically to Moses’ invitation to give that—rather than having to go back to them and ask for more—he has to go to them and ask them to stop. And the workers, rather than saying that they need a little bit more material than originally budgeted, are coming to Moses to say that they have more than enough. This is unlike any construction project I have ever heard of. It seems like God’s supernatural abundance is being poured out on this project. It also seems like building this tent is the kind of thing the Israelites like to do and are really quite good at.

Taking it home:

· For you: God loves to give out and to work with a phenomenal diversity of skills and talents. Do you have something you do well and love to do? If you haven’t already, ask God to give you an idea of how to use it in worship of him. Is there a skill you want or need in order to do what God has called you to do? Ask God to give it to you.

· For your six: The people of Israel have a special affinity for artistic projects. This same interest led them to the disaster of the golden calf and to the amazing success of building God’s tent. Each of your six also has unique gifts, abilities, and interests. Like the Israelites, these things could lead them into big trouble or into the most amazingly good experiences of their lives. Pray for them, that the very best would come out of their tastes and talents.

· For our church: One of our hopes for our church is to be a center of God-inspired art. Pray for the artists in our midst, and for the artists still to come. Ask God to bless them like he did Bezalel and Oholiab. Pray that they would be filled with inspiration from the Holy Spirit, and that they would have a supernatural ability to raise up other artists.