Reflections on Exodus 25

 

Exodus 25 (Contemporary English Version)

1. The LORD said to Moses:
2. Tell everyone in Israel who wants to give gifts that they must bring them to you.
3. Here is a list of what you are to collect: Gold, silver, and bronze,
4. blue, purple, and red wool, fine linen, goat hair,
5. tanned ram skins, fine leather, acacia wood,
6. olive oil for the lamp, sweet-smelling spices to mix with the oil for dedicating the tent and ordaining the priests,
7. and onyx stones for the sacred vest and the breastpiece.
8. I also want them to build a special place where I can live among my people.
9. Make it and its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.
10. Tell the people to build a chest of acacia wood forty-five inches long, twenty-seven inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high.
11. Cover it inside and out with pure gold and put a gold edging around the lid.
12. Make four gold rings and fasten one of them to each of the four legs of the chest.
13. Make two poles of acacia wood. Cover them with gold
14. and put them through the rings, so the chest can be carried by the poles.
15. Don't ever remove the poles from the rings.
16. When I give you the Ten Commandments written on two flat stones, put them inside the chest.
17. Cover the lid of the chest with pure gold.
18. Then hammer out two winged creatures of pure gold and fasten them to the lid at the ends of the chest.
19. (SEE 25:18)
20. The creatures must face each other with their wings spread over the chest.
21. Inside it place the two flat stones with the Ten Commandments and put the gold lid on top of the chest.
22. I will meet you there between the two creatures and tell you what my people must do and what they must not do.
23. Make a table of acacia wood thirty-six inches long, eighteen inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high.
24. Cover it with pure gold and put a gold edging around it with a border three inches wide.
25. (SEE 25:24)
26. Make four gold rings and attach one to each of the legs
27. near the edging. The poles for carrying the table are to be placed through these rings and are to be made of acacia wood covered with gold.
28. (SEE 25:27)
29. The table is to be kept in the holy place, and the sacred loaves of bread must always be put on it. All bowls, plates, jars, and cups for wine offerings are to be made of pure gold and set on this table.
30. (SEE 25:29)
31. Make a lampstand of pure gold. The whole lampstand, including its decorative flowers, must be made from a single piece of hammered gold
32. with three branches on each of its two sides.
33. There are to be three decorative almond blossoms on each branch
34. and four on the stem.
35. There must also be a blossom where each pair of branches comes out from the stem.
36. The lampstand, including its branches and decorative flowers, must be made from a single piece of hammered pure gold.
37. The lamp on the top and those at the end of each of its six branches must be made so as to shine toward the front of the lampstand.
38. The tongs and trays for taking care of the lamps are to be made of pure gold.
39. The lampstand and its equipment will require seventy-five pounds of pure gold,
40. and they must be made according to the pattern I showed you on the mountain.

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In the previous chapter the Israelites had a ceremony dedicating themselves to the Lord and commemorating their acceptance of God's covenant with them as His special people and as a new nation. With the completion of this ceremony, God summoned Moses back up the mountain to begin another round of instructions. This time God was instructing Moses on how the people would worship Him. The instructions began in chapter 25 with construction of the tabernacle, the place of worship.

God's instructions began with the offering of materials that were to come from the people for the building of the tabernacle. This offering of materials for the tabernacle was to be an offering to the Lord, "take an offering for Me. You are to take My offering from everyone whose heart stirs him to give." (25:2) The materials God desired for this offering included gold, silver, bronze, fabrics, skins, acacia wood, oils, incense, and gemstones. Where did these materials come from since the people left Egypt with very little? No doubt much, if not all, came from the spoils the Israelites were given by the Egyptians when they left Egypt, as described in 12:35-36. They were to ask their Egyptian neighbors for gold, silver, and clothing, and God gave them "favor in the Egyptians' sight" and they were given what they requested. This does not account for items such as the skins and wood unless the Egyptians also gave them these and they are not mentioned. Or, they may have acquired them on their journey after leaving Egypt.

The offering of materials for the tabernacle was to be given voluntarily. God never forces our relationship with Him. It is always voluntary. However, the existence of that relationship and the quality and depth of it are contingent on our responses to Him. In this case, a voluntary offering of materials for the tabernacle was a response of devotion to this new relationship with God. Evidently some, feeling a greater devotion, gave and offering while others didn't.

Following instructions concerning the offering of materials came instructions for the objects and furniture that was to go in the tabernacle. These objects are mentioned in this chapter:

• Ark of the covenant -  It was to contain the tablets of the testimony, that is the tablets of stone with the ten commandments on them. The ark, along with several items in the tabernacle were to include rings on the sides through which poles were placed for carrying the ark. Thus they were to be portable for the journey.
• Mercy Seat -  A platform of solid gold that supported two angel-like figures and was positioned on top of the ark. It was above the mercy seat and around the two figures that God made known His presence in the "glory cloud."
• Table of Showbread -  A wooden table covered with gold and made with rings and poles for carrying. On the table were placed twelve loaves of bread representing the twelve tribes of Israel. The bread pictured the communion of God with His people. 
• Lampstand -  It had seven arms at the top, each holding a small lamp. It was made of solid gold. The lamps were to burn continually lighting the activities of the priests in the tabernacle.

God's final instruction in this section was to "Be careful to make everything according to the model of them you have been shown on the mountain." (25:40)