One Solid Foundation

Exodus 36:20 Then he made the upright frames for the tabernacle of acacia wood. 21 Ten cubits was the length of a frame, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each frame. 22 Each frame had two tenons for fitting together. He did this for all the frames of the tabernacle. 23 The frames for the tabernacle he made thus: twenty frames for the south side. 24 And he made forty bases of silver under the twenty frames, two bases under one frame for its two tenons, and two bases under the next frame for its two tenons. 25 For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made twenty frames 26 and their forty bases of silver, two bases under one frame and two bases under the next frame. 27 For the rear of the tabernacle westward he made six frames. 28 He made two frames for corners of the tabernacle in the rear. 29 And they were separate beneath but joined at the top, at the first ring. He made two of them this way for the two corners. 30 There were eight frames with their bases of silver: sixteen bases, under every frame two bases.

God loves using buildings to picture our relationship with Him. It never has been the building itself as much as the things necessary for a secure fellowship with Him.  In typical detail, the assembly of the temple begins by focusing on how well the foundation and frame were made.  Seeing houses going up all the time near us, I wonder how some will ever stand. So it is with our lives. How important is this solid foundation to us? Will it stand the repeated stresses the tabernacle did: being moved around, facing the elements of life, being in the hands of many people tearing us down and trying to put us together again?

Willing Hearts

 

Exodus 35: 20 Then all the congregation of the people of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. 21 And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, and brought the Lord's contribution to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments. 22 So they came, both men and women. All who were of a willing heart brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and armlets, all sorts of gold objects, every man dedicating an offering of gold to the Lord. 23 And every one who possessed blue or purple or scarlet yarns or fine linen or goats' hair or tanned rams' skins or goatskins brought them. 24 Everyone who could make a contribution of silver or bronze brought it as the Lord's contribution. And every one who possessed acacia wood of any use in the work brought it. 25 And every skillful woman spun with her hands, and they all brought what they had spun in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. 26 All the women whose hearts stirred them to use their skill spun the goats' hair. 27 And the leaders brought onyx stones and stones to be set, for the ephod and for the breastpiece, 28 and spices and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense. 29 All the men and women, the people of Israel, whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord.

When Moses had given everyone the description of the tabernacle and its furnishings, they left. But they also came back - not everyone, but everyone whose heart stirred him/whose spirit moved him or her/ who were of a willing heart. God does not make anyone be involved in worship; He invites us. Those who are wise/willing/wanted to experience His presence and power thankfully jump at the opportunity. May we respond with such hearts today.

Let's Try This Again...

Exodus 34:21 “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. 22 You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year's end. 23 Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. 24 For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land, when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year. 25 “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover remain until the morning. 26 The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.”

The golden calf was a traumatic event in the journey from Egypt to the promised land. God had repeatedly provided and promised to be faithful and had offered His covenant with His people. Moses went back to God not only for new tablets, but a renewed hope of covenantal commitment on the part of his people. God made it even more clear that they were to remember He provided, and to avoid all the practices of the false idols around them. The last statement above was one of those very rituals, a barbaric taking of life from the young in pagan worship. In all they did (and we do) the spotlight shines on a faithful, loving God.

Who Is on the LORD's Side?

Exodus 32:25 And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), 26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord's side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. 27 And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’” 28 And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. 29 And Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.”

This chapter is one of the saddest, yet boldest passages in this book.  Moses was meeting with the Lord to finalize the Covenant with His people. Meanwhile the people were making the golden calf.  It was a dividing point.  After all God had brought them through, were they going to trust and worship Him - the very reason for which He had brought them out of Egypt. Or were they going to do things their own way? In verse 26, Moses draws the line to make them choose. The Levites - from whom He would call priests - were His warriors that day. They stood boldly on God's side.  Will we?

Only One Oil

Exodus 30:25 And you shall make of these a sacred anointing oil blended as by the perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil. 26 With it you shall anoint the tent of meeting, the altar of incense, 28 and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils and the basin and its stand. 29 You shall consecrate them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them will become holy. 30 You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. 31 And you shall say to the people of Israel, ‘This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. 

Once everything and everyone was ready for worship in the tabernacle, it was to be anointed with a special oil.  This was not any old oil: It was God-brand oil. Yet, at the same time, it was not a magical oil that turned something "holy."  It was not to be used on or by anything or anyone else, and it was not to be "pirated" and sold under another name. What made it and everything it touched "holy" was that God had instructed it and was obeyed in the details.  When God calls upon us to "be Holy," He tells us how, and it only happens through obedience to Him and help from Him.  What instructions have we ignored? What exceptions have we made? Are we trying to "be holy" some other way?

More than a Wave

Exodus 29:26 “You shall take the breast of the ram of Aaron's ordination and wave it for a wave offering before the Lord, and it shall be your portion. 27 And you shall consecrate the breast of the wave offering that is waved and the thigh of the priests' portion that is contributed from the ram of ordination, from what was Aaron's and his sons'. 28 It shall be for Aaron and his sons as a perpetual due from the people of Israel, for it is a contribution. It shall be a contribution from the people of Israel from their peace offerings, their contribution to the Lord.

Examining the sacrifices and offerings of Israel is a study in itself.  Each offering had a purpose in picturing the relationship of God and His people but also had inferences to the relationship of man to each other.  God made allowance through these offerings for the support of His priesthood. In particular, part of the peace offering was given to the priests for their ordination and service.  These were to be waved before God as a recognition of where they came from - Him, not somebody else. Some scholars say that they were waved horizontally, while others were waved vertically.  The point is that God is watching our waving. It is to be sincere, a mark of dependence upon Him and of things being right between us and others. May our "wave" be sincere.

Close to the Heart

Exodus 28:23 And you shall make for the breastpiece two rings of gold, and put the two rings on the two edges of the breastpiece. 24 And you shall put the two cords of gold in the two rings at the edges of the breastpiece. 25 The two ends of the two cords you shall attach to the two settings of filigree, and so attach it in front to the shoulder pieces of the ephod. 26 You shall make two rings of gold, and put them at the two ends of the breastpiece, on its inside edge next to the ephod. 27 And you shall make two rings of gold, and attach them in front to the lower part of the two shoulder pieces of the ephod, at its seam above the skillfully woven band of the ephod. 28 And they shall bind the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, so that it may lie on the skillfully woven band of the ephod, so that the breastpiece shall not come loose from the ephod. 29 So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart, when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them to regular remembrance before the Lord.

Like with the tabernacle and its furnishings, God gave specific details to Moses about the garments of the High Priest. The breastpiece, with the twelve gems representing the twelve tribes, had to be rather heavy. It probably was somewhat of a burden to bear. It was also a stunning, "one-of-a-kind" garment. There was no mistaking who the High Priest was. Wearing it could lead to a "look-at-me" pride, but that was not God's intent. Rather, as this passage concludes, the one who wore it was to remember why he had it: to keep God's people in his heart as he remembered them before the Lord.  May God give us loving hearts as we remember His people before Him.