Verses 1-3 Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whom the LORD put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the LORD had commanded. 2 And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it: 3 And they received of Moses all the offering, which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it withal. And they brought yet unto him free offerings every morning.
The thing to notice here is that the men doing the construction work were given wisdom and understanding from the LORD in order to accomplish their tasks. They were called by name into service for the LORD and His kingdom.
Application: Too often people go into the “ministry” as pastors or teachers or youth ministers because they decided to do so, or because it was expected of them because a relative was in the ministry, or worse yet, they see a life in the church as a means to make money and have social status. If a person is not called by God and given the wisdom and understanding to do the work of the ministry, they will not succeed.
Verses 4-7 And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they made; 5 And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make. 6 And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. 7 For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.
Application: How would the church world look today if the people in the church gave more than the church needed to sustain their ministries? Think about it.
Verses 8-13 And every wise hearted man among them that wrought the work of the tabernacle made ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work made he them. 9 The length of one curtain was twenty and eight cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: the curtains were all of one size. 10 And he coupled the five curtains one unto another: and the other five curtains he coupled one unto another. 11 And he made loops of blue on the edge of one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling: likewise he made in the uttermost side of another curtain, in the coupling of the second. 12 Fifty loops made he in one curtain, and fifty loops made he in the edge of the curtain which was in the coupling of the second: the loops held one curtain to another. 13 And he made fifty taches of gold, and coupled the curtains one unto another with the taches: so it became one tabernacle.
The pattern that Moses was given by God for the construction of the tabernacle has been discussed in previous chapters and will not be covered again here. Just notice that the artisans followed Moses’ instructions to the letter in all that they made. They were obedient.
Verses 14-19 And he made curtains of goats’ hair for the tent over the tabernacle: eleven curtains he made them. 15 The length of one curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits was the breadth of one curtain: the eleven curtains were of one size. 16 And he coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves. 17 And he made fifty loops upon the uttermost edge of the curtain in the coupling, and fifty loops made he upon the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second. 18 And he made fifty taches of brass to couple the tent together, that it might be one. 19 And he made a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering of badgers’ skins above that.
There were three layers of covering for the tent to protect the inner hangings or curtains of linen and the contents of the tabernacle from the weather.
Application: Why three layers instead of two or four? Remember that the number three in the Bible is the number of perfection. God is perfect. He manifests Himself in three different forms. He is Spirit, He is man, and He is the Ghost that left the body of Jesus at the crucifixion and that dwells in every believer today, the Comforter. The three layers represented and pointed to the protection of God. Just as the three layers of goats’ hair, rams’ skins and badgers’ skins covered and protected the holy place of God, believers are protected by the presence of the LORD in the three forms in which He chooses to manifest Himself in the believers’ lives. God no longer has a tabernacle or temple for His people. His people are His temple or tabernacle and through the blood of Jesus, they are holy.
Verses 20-34 And he made boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood, standing up. 21 The length of a board was ten cubits, and the breadth of a board one cubit and a half. 22 One board had two tenons, equally distant one from another: thus did he make for all the boards of the tabernacle. 23 And he made boards for the tabernacle; twenty boards for the south side southward: 24 And forty sockets of silver he made under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons. 25 And for the other side of the tabernacle, which is toward the north corner, he made twenty boards, 26 And their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. 27 And for the sides of the tabernacle westward he made six boards. 28 And two boards made he for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides. 29 And they were coupled beneath, and coupled together at the head thereof, to one ring: thus he did to both of them in both the corners. 30 And there were eight boards; and their sockets were sixteen sockets of silver, under every board two sockets. 31 And he made bars of shittim wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, 32 And five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle for the sides westward. 33 And he made the middle bar to shoot through the boards from the one end to the other. 34 And he overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold to be places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold.
The frame of the tabernacle made of shittim wood was all covered with gold as these boards would have been visible when inside the tabernacle. It must have been a beautiful site when the lamps were burning and the light was flickering off of the gold and silver.
Verses 35-38 And he made a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubims made he it of cunning work. 36 And he made thereunto four pillars of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold: their hooks were of gold; and he cast for them four sockets of silver. 37 And he made an hanging for the tabernacle door of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, of needlework; 38 And the five pillars of it with their hooks: and he overlaid their chapiters and their fillets with gold: but their five sockets were of brass.
Why were all the hangings blue, purple and scarlet? Not really sure, but they had meaning. Nothing God did was without meaning both then and in the future, usually pointing to the coming and ministry of the LORD Jesus Christ. Now perhaps the Hebrew people were limited in the dyes they had available and could not produce fabric in any other colors. This is doubtful, but it could be an argument for the color choices made by God. However, blue is the color of the sky and the seas. God resides in Heaven which is above the earth and in the blueness of the sky. Seas in the Bible can represent nations and peoples. Purple is associated with royalty. And scarlet represents sin and the color of blood. So put all together, the story of Jesus can be clearly seen and could be seen by those people who entered the tabernacle. God left Heaven (blue sky), came to earth in the body of a man to the people (blue seas), was King of kings and LORD of lords (purple), and yet died a bloody death (crimson) for the forgiveness and payment of the sins (crimson) of all mankind. What do you think?