Exodus 36
McGeeCHAPTER 36THEME: Construction of the tabernacleThis chapter returns us to the tabernacle. We have already seen the instructions regarding how to build it. Now we see they are building it according to instructions. Following the blueprint is very important because the tabernacle is God’s portrait of Christ. It reveals Him.
Exodus 36:1
Every member of the crew, which was probably a large number of folk, was engaged in the building of the tabernacle with the wisdom and understanding God had given him. The man in charge was Bezaleel.
Exodus 36:2
Now notice something here that is very important and essential in the work of the Lord. If you are serving the Lord grudgingly, do not do it. God cannot use this kind of an attitude. Building the tabernacle are men who are carving out beautiful articles of furniture that are to be used in the worship of the Lord. This is not a “job” to them. They are not watching the clock. They do not belong to a union. They do not just work a certain number of hours a week and quit. They are not building the tabernacle because it is their duty. They are not working because they have to work. They have been slaves in the past and here they are slaving again, but this time because they want to. Their hearts are in their work. That is the way you are to do God’s work. A young preacher once told me, “I like the ministry but I do not like preaching.” I suggested he get out of the ministry. The ministry is no place for a man who does not love to study and preach the Word of God. If a preacher cannot do his job with enthusiasm and preach with enthusiasm, he should not be in the ministry. I once listened to a former student of mine preach. What a hassle, what an effort, what a lack of enthusiasm! My friend, if you cannot preach or serve the Lord with verve, vigor, and vitality, don’t do it at all. God doesn’t want people in His service who would rather be doing something else. Notice Bezaleel rushing at top speed. Is he going to a football game, a baseball game, or some social? No! Bezaleel is going to workwork for the Lord. You know, if people came to church next Sunday filled with enthusiasm, the whole town would soon be coming out to see what in the world was happening in the church. It would be a revival. God’s work is to be done with joy and happiness. We are to serve Him with gladness. In Rom_14:5 the apostle Paul said, “…Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” This is how we are to serve the Lord. We are to be fully persuaded that we are serving Him because we want to and because we are eager to please Him. Again, in 1Co_9:16 Paul tells us, “…woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” Paul wanted to preach the gospel. Those three hundred men of Gideon that went down to the water did not lean over the edge and lap it up. They dipped their hands in the water and brought it up to their mouths, watching for the enemy. They said, “Where are those Midianites? We want to get them.” This account is found in Jdg_7:5-7. This is the kind of enthusiasm we need in the church today. We are bogged down with too many dead saints, and I mean they are dead before they are buried.
Exodus 36:3
This is the only place on record, that I know of, where the people had to be asked to stop giving. They brought a great deal more than was needed to build and furnish the tabernacle. I have never seen an offering like this in my ministry! Nor have I ever heard of an offering like this before or after.
Exodus 36:6
The people are urged not to give, and they have to be restrained and told that they have brought enough. This is really amazing in the light of the fact that these people were fresh out of slavery. They had never owned anything before and now that they had riches you would think they would not be so willing to give it away. But they give liberally, joyfully, and enthusiastically to their God. Whatever you do for God, this is the way you should do it. That is the way God wants it done. God wants us to give joyfully. There was a motto years ago that said, “Give ’til it hurts.” God says, “If it hurts, don’t give.” Our worship of God should be with joy, and so should our giving. It seems in this chapter that we are going over the different articles and part of the tabernacle again. It sounds like repetition, but before we were given the blueprint for the tabernacle, and now we come to the execution of the job. We not only need a blueprint and materials, but we need to go to work. The people of Israel are beginning the work in this chapter.
Exodus 36:8
This was the covering of all the tabernacle. It was the covering that went first on the articles of furniture when they went out on the wilderness march. It was the fence outside. This fine twined Egyptian linen speaks of the righteousness of Christ. It speaks of His character and His work. It speaks of the righteousness that He provides for us so that we might be clothed to stand in God’s presence. The important thing to notice is that Christ is adequate to meet our needs. He is able to save us. He is able to deliver us. He is able to keep us. The curtains of goats’ hair, the covering of rams’ skins, and the boards and sockets also speak of the person of Christ in one way or another. Now the tabernacle was thirty cubits long by ten cubits wide by ten cubits high. It was made of acacia wood, and the boards were overlaid with gold all the way around. The boards were one and one-half cubits wide. On the wilderness march they were very heavy to carry and were carried in wagons. (However all of the articles of furniture were carried on the shoulders of the priests of the tribe of Levi.) The golden boards were to be placed upright but each one had certain sockets that fitted down into sockets of silver, and the entire tabernacle rested upon silversilver typifies redemption. The tabernacle was held together by bars.
Certain rings were put in each board, and when it was set up, these bars slipped through the rings and bound the tabernacle together. It was a very compact building. The tabernacle had an inner veil that separated the main tabernacle into two compartments; the smaller compartment was called the Holy of Holies and the larger compartment was called the Holy Place. Everything in the tabernacle pictured some part of the person or work of the Lord Jesus Christ.