Introduction
One of the funniest credit cards I ever received was from the US department megastore, Sears and Roebuck. The store, mind you, is not funny. Nor is the card. By the way, the store is now gone, bankrupt and finished. But back in the day, the store was very much like David Jones or Myers. It had quite substantial goods and a wide range of products. In fact, the slogan was “Sears has everything.” It had a whole section for men called “tools.” My, oh my, was it stocked! The home brand of their tools was ‘Craftsman’ and the guarantee was lifetime. If your Craftsman hammer or saw ever broke, you could return it no questions asked. They would immediately replace it.
So you ask, ‘what made it the funniest credit card?’ Well, the answer for anyone who knows me is that it was sent to me. I’m not the handiest man out there. That’s being generous. I already described some of that in my initial conversation about the Tabernacle some days ago. So in today’s lesson, as we read from Exodus 31 about the two master craftsmen, Bezalel and Oholiab, I’m humbled again. I’m impressed that anyone knows anything about fixing just about anything. And these men know the lot!
We’ll talk about Sabbath also, which God seems to spend much time in Exodus addressing.
And I will tell you what Yeshua was writing on the ground in John chapter 8. Let’s then plow into Exodus 31.
The chosen men for the job
Remember, we Jews are called “the chosen people.” That’s evident from Abraham in Genesis 12 and following. It’s typed in for us in Deuteronomy chapter 7 (.7-8). And sometimes we wonder about chosenness. Does that imply ‘betterness?’ Or does it make those of the nations around us, worse or to be 2nd class?
Let’s consider that in light of the choice of these two men, Bezalel and Oholiab. By the way, because you are wondering, their names translate respectively into ‘God’s protecting shadow’ and ‘tent of father.’ The Bible says God chose them. He anointed them. Let’s read about them in the first few verses.
God says concerning Bezalel that God filled him with wisdom, discernment and knowledge. By stating all three, and listing the entirety of the products needing to be fashioned and woven and produced, God is being comprehensive. Nothing that has been listed the last 6 chapters is going to be picked up at the Sears. Someone named Bezalel is going to make it all! These three words of wisdom, discernment and knowledge may mean this.
“Wisdom, the gift to understand what is needed to fulfill Yahweh’s instructions. Discernment, the talent for solving the inevitable problems involved in the creation of so complex a series of objects and materials, and skill, the experienced hand needed to guide and accomplish the labor itself.” (John Durham, Exodus commentary, Word Biblical Commentary series, 1987)
Now one of the things of note about being chosen is the co-selection of Oholiab. I want you to notice this particularly in verse 6.
God tells Moses, “Behold I myself have appointed with him Oholiab…and in the hearts of all who are skillful I have put skill, that they may make all that I have commanded you.”
The notion of being chosen is not an exclusive enterprise. It is a territory which widens every time we don’t imagine it. God’s selections are particular and constant. He chose Israel, yes, and watch out, He just might choose others as well. We get stuck in time; God is ever surprising us.
Here’s what I mean. Bezalel was chosen. Yes, this is obvious. And he was chosen on the basis of his own particular capacities and God’s continual choices. That could be the end of the story. Bezalel could write a book and sell videos about his being “Chosen by Yahweh.” But God widened the choice; he expanded the included group with Oholiab. Note the Hebrew, it’s emphatic.
The repeating of the unnecessary “ani” (meaning: I) helps us understand Yahweh’s direct involvement. He even uses the word “hiney” meaning, don’t miss this. God personally involves himself and gives Oholiab. To whom is he giving this man? Of first importance is to Bezalel. Bezalel needs to receive this gift from God first. Oholiab is to be Bezalel’s offsider and that’s no little thing. No, could be the teaching, “Bezalel, you are not the only man on the planet who can accomplish this major project. No, Bezalel, you are not going to get glory from this work to which I’m calling you. You will be involved, yes, and very seriously, but the Tabernacle is mine, the presence is mine, the work is to be shared. You must admit your need of Oholiab and receive him and ‘all those others’.”
So it is as Jewish people, that we are chosen. We are not however to imagine ourselves as more significant or more relevant than the nations around us. We are not better. They are not worse!
And listen it was not only Bezalel and Oholiab was it? There were also ‘all who are skillful.’ To accomplish this project of the Mishkan, it would take the entire crew of God’s senior craftsmen and women. (35.24-29).
One more thing on these chosen people. They were already skilled. God had chosen their careers if you will by giving them skill and wisdom. The newspapers today are filled with ideas on how to give your babies advantage. Even the Sydney Morning Herald reported
“Children of women who eat fish regularly during pregnancy develop better language and communication skills, research has revealed. British and US researchers analysed the diets of 7400 prospective mothers before looking at the development of their offspring at 15 and 18 months. They found that by the age of 18 months those children whose mothers ate regular meals of fish had better language and social skills compared with those whose mothers did not eat it. “ (“Fishy formula to breed brainy babies”, Lyndsay Moss, London, June 26, 2004)
No matter how we advantage our children or our parents, it is still up the Almighty to fashion them that they might fashion the things to which they are called.
The chosen day for separation
Now we move to the 2nd section of today’s lesson. That is the teaching again about the Sabbath. Now before 1) your guns get reloaded and you oppose whatever the Law teaches and quote Galatians or 2) you are glad that I am finally getting to such a serious topic which is your own hobby horse, let me say from the top-- Sabbath was made for man. Anything less than that, or in your eyes, more than that, is simply wrong. We are not made for Sabbath. We are designed and made for God. He gives us a day off to enjoy and to rest. No regular work; nothing about it should be regular.
Let’s put that in perspective. We are learning about the Tabernacle. It is already a unique building. It has unique buttresses and unique craftsmen. It has particular oils and incense. Its furniture is so unusual it takes chapters to describe and much longer to fashion. It is elaborate. It was designed to teach us that nothing is ‘business as usual’ with the Almighty.
So in light of that, what might the Sabbath mean? It is a day off. That’s the plain meaning of the text. Obviously this is not the first mention of Sabbath. In fact it’s the brackets around the giving of the Law. It’s mentioned in the Creation account. And in chapter 35 we will see it again. But it’s the framework around the Tabernacle instruction that makes it so significant. From chapter 20 in the Decalogue to this reference we see the teaching about the Mishkan. The Sabbath is the bracketing devise and as such is linked to the construction.
Some use this to mean that Sabbath is a time for worship and I don’t fault them, but I don’t see that anywhere in the Bible. Sabbath was designed for rest and refreshment from daily efforts.
44 times in the Older Testament we read the phrase (in variant forms) “mot, yumat” Dyingly die. Or in the more normal English this translates to “you shall surely die.” From Genesis 2 with the prohibition against eating from the wrong tree, to Satan’s taunting denial that Eve would not die (Gen 3), to the soul that sins in Ezekiel (33.14), the warnings are clear. Death is not escapable. They say the only two things that are inevitable are death and taxes, but some avoid taxation. No one escapes dying.
The warning here however is not about the inevitability of death as a permanent finality. That is a lesson, but not found here. What is found here is the warning of disobedience. If one Israelite disobeys and disregards the Sabbath, that person will die. And it sounds like an immediate justice will be meted to him.
“If even Yahweh stopped to catch his breath after six days of customary labor, so also should Israel. And in that stopping as Israel came to know Yahweh, Israel would come also to know themselves.” (op. cit., Durham)
The chosen day does not abrogate all the other days. The chosen day is designed to teach us about God and the chooser and the chosen activities and life He has for us.
Durham says that keeping the Sabbath then is a function of self-actualization. Or better said, if we take time with God and not our labors, then we will be refreshed and developed as people, to uniquely serve a unique God.
The writing of the Law: The finger of God
You know the fictional story of God going to the nations of the world and asking if they wanted a commandment. They each turned him down. First the Edomites and the Hittites, each one said in their own way, “no thanks.”
Then the Almighty approached Moses and said, “Would you like a commandment?” Moses replied, “How much are they?” God said, “They are free.” Moses said, “I’ll take 10.”
OK, joke aside, the commandments of God are worth our attention. They were written according to the last verse of our chapter by the finger of God (B’etzba Elohim)
Do you remember anything else the finger of God did in history? The magicians in Egypt said that the miracles done to them, the plagues, were ‘the finger of God’ (Ex 8.19) But I’m thinking of two other events. They are both in the Newer Testament.
Luke 11.20 is a quote of Yeshua. He said, “If I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” His miracles and healing and deliverance of people were direct evidence of the same finger of God as was the deliverance of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt.
Do you now remember the other event with Yeshua and his finger? That’s right. The woman caught in adultery was brought before him. (John chapter 8) When they threw her in front of him, Yeshua stooped on the ground to draw or write on the ground (8.6) God in Exodus wrote on stones; Jesus here writes on dirt; what did he write?
Many aver opinions, but I’m convinced that Yeshua was writing the sins of the people who accused the woman by writing commandments they broke. He might have been writing “Thou shalt not murder” or “Thou shalt not bear false witness” or “Thou shalt love thy neighbor” or any number of commandments that he found the men breaking that day. (All who forsake Thee will be put to shame. Those who turn away on earth will be written down --Jeremiah 17.13) The Bible says that “one by one beginning with the older ones, they began to go out.” (v. 9) I like that. The older ones knew their sins and admitted them faster than the hot-headed younger ones.
God’s finger wrote justice for the men and forgiveness for the woman that day.
God’s finger still writes God’s laws, in our days. He writes them on hearts of flesh. He writes them in the consciences of people who have hearts and ears to hear what His message is to humanity. I hope you are a person who wants to know God’s ordinances. I hope you want to know God personally. If so, then the commandment and the choice and the Sabbath and the love and the God of it all is available to you. And for you. And ultimately for Him and His glory.
Lessons learned
I believe we should see applications from our chapter today.
1) God’s wish for elaborate in His sanctuary are proper and still right for His people today
2) Beauty and glory are worthy descriptions of the Almighty
3) No man is an island and we need one another to work in God’s work
4) Sabbath is given for man, not man for the Sabbath
5) Take a day off and rest in God each week
No comments:
Post a Comment