Today’s passage: Exodus 38

Helpful thoughts:

• The “He” of these passages doing the work is Bezalel (38:22, 35:30, 31:2).
• The order which the making of all these items have been detailed are working progressively further away from the Most Holy Place.
• As of the end of chapter 38, all the components of the Tabernacle have been made.  All that is left was to make the garments for the priests and to set it all up!

Questions to consider:

1. How many men were accounted for in Israel at this time in the wilderness (Verse 26)?  What must this traveling group of people have been like?  How remarkable was this Exodus journey?
2. What purpose would verses 21-31 have served for the people?  What were they recording?  What did it communicate to (And about) the people?
3. What did these records communicate concerning the people’s view of God?  When we value God highly (Supremely!) how does that evidence itself in our lives?

Today’s passage: Exodus 37

Helpful thoughts:

• The making of the “furniture” for the Holy and Most Holy Places is detailed in today’s chapter.
  • The Ark of the Covenant
    • This was for the Most Holy Place (Also known as, “The Holy of Holies”)
      • The Mercy Seat served as the “throne” of God’s presence with His people.
  • The Table for the Bread of the Presence
    • The bread for this table, which represented the Twelve Tribes of Israel would be added later.
  • The Golden Lampstand
  • The Altar of Incense
• The making of the anointing oil for the priests and the special incense is recorded in the final verse.

Questions to consider:

1. What kinds of skills are being utilized in the making of all these elements of the Tabernacle?  How meticulous must the builders have been?
2. The Lord’s presence with His people was manifested in the Tabernacle/Temple.  Where does the Lord now reside?  What/Where/Who is the temple of the Lord (1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20)?

Today’s passage: Exodus 35:30-36:38

Helpful thoughts:

• For the remainder of the Book of Exodus, the Tabernacle is going to be constructed and filled just as the Lord commanded.
• The very men God had equipped and called out by name (31:1-11) are selected and given their tasks to perform.
• The commands were given in detail, now the obedience will be given in detail as well.
  • After Israel failed to keep their part of the covenant, the Lord showed mercy and the covenant was renewed.  Now, we will get to see the obedience and thanksgiving of the people (Including their giving of materials toward the building of the Tabernacle).

Questions to consider:

1. What/Who gave these men and workers the ability to do what they were doing with excellence?  Why were the people so generous with their giving?
2. It might seem like it would have been easier to follow up all the instructions the Lord gave Moses with a line like, “Then Moses told the people what God said and they did it.”  Why do you think the Lord chose to give a full account of how the people obeyed?  What would the benefits be of taking the time to read through these chapters?
3. What do we learn about the righteousness of God through this reading?  And how can we come to better appreciate the perfect righteousness of Christ, imputed to us, by reading through all the details of the Law?

Today’s passage: Exodus 35:1-29

Helpful thoughts:

• Moses communicates the Lord’s Sabbath regulation and the call to contribute toward the Tabernacle to the people.
  • It may be helpful to remember, much of what we have been reading in the previous chapters was the Lord’s instruction to Moses.  Now, Moses is forwarding the information to the people.
• The willingness of the people to give is reiterated in this passage.  These gifts were not required as a percentage or anything like that.  The people were presented the need and they gave as they desired.
  • Even though the gifts and the work were done voluntarily, it was still to be done with excellence (Skillfully – Verse 25).

Questions to consider:

1. It is often thought when you ask for volunteers, you get whatever quality you get.  Is this the way we should view our service to the Lord?  Why is it right for all of us to strive for our very best when we serve Him?
2. What was Moses’ responsibility as the spokesman in these moments?  What was he responsible to convey?  What would he not have been responsible (or able on his own) to accomplish?  Who truly accomplished this great showing of interest and desire to provide all these results?
3. In what way could our service today be regarded as a “freewill offering” to the Lord?  In what ways do you serve?  What motivations keep your service joyful?  What thoughts can sometimes make serving a struggle?  How can we nurture a healthy heart for service?

Today’s passage: Exodus 34

Helpful thoughts:

• The Lord gives further revelation concerning Himself to Moses and to us!
  • There is an apparent contradiction in verse 7.  The Lord forgives and also by no means will clear the guilty.  There must be a way for the Lord to forgive and declare some as righteous before Him.
• The same reason the Lord spoke of consuming the nation was why Moses knew they needed the Lord to be among them (Compare 33:3 with 34:9).
  • Israel’s only hope (And ours) is in the grace of the Lord.
• After Moses’ appeal, the Lord renewed the covenant and restated the instructions He had already given before.
• The glory of the Lord continued to shine/reflect from Moses’ face.  The people of Israel knew Moses was giving them the Word of God when the glory of God shone from his face.

Questions to consider:

1. How does God forgive and by no means clear the guilty?  How does He remain just and pardon sin (Romans 3:21-26)?
2. What is the Apostle Paul teaching in 2 Corinthians 3:7-18?  What replaced the Old Covenant which Moses was conveying to Israel in this passage?  In what way is the veil removed and how can we be transformed by beholding the glory of the Lord?

Today’s passage: Exodus 33

Helpful thoughts:

• God speaks of sending Israel to the Promised Land without Him.
  • Moses intercedes for the people.  Going anywhere without God is not worth going.  What made Israel special was that God was with them.
• This truth also urged Moses to want to know God more.
  • Miracles are amazing.  Land is great.  Knowing God outweighs them all.
• Grace is unmerited favor (Receiving what we do not deserve, what we have not earned).  When we think we deserve grace, it ceases to be grace.
  • God gives grace and mercy (Not receiving what we do deserve) to whomever He will.

Questions to consider:

1. In what way does this chapter get to the heart of Israel’s (Or just mankind’s) relationship with God?  What is the deeper issue at hand here that undergirds all the desires Moses and we would have to know what God wants us to do in obedience to Him?
2. Is knowing God a greater blessing than all the other blessings we may ask from Him?  How so?
3. What did God provide for us that we might not be consumed and that we could come to know Him?  What all did it take?

Today’s passage: Exodus 32

Helpful thoughts:

• In Exodus 24, when the people were joined together with the Lord as their God under the Old Covenant, they declared, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”  Then Moses went up to the mountain to receive the word of the Lord.  And before he came back down…they “turned aside quickly.”
• While Moses was receiving instruction from the Lord on how to prepare and consecrate Aaron as High Priest, Aaron was fashioning a golden calf and building an altar to it for the people to worship.
  • There was an effort to syncretize the worship.  Aaron told the people the name of the golden calf was Yahweh!
• In Moses’ appeal to the Lord, he brought before God His promises made to the fathers of Israel and His glory in the earth.
  • Moses’ anger didn’t burn until he saw the false worship (Betrayal against the Lord) with his own eyes.  The Lord (In His omniscience and omnipresence) had already seen it.
  • Moses displayed humility before the Lord.  He had an offer to have a new nation come solely through him.  Moses was more concerned with the glory and integrity of God than with his own fame or power.

Questions to consider:

1. What was Aaron’s lie when questioned by Moses?  How did he try to pass the blame?  What would true repentance have caused him to say?
2. What things do we learn about the hearts of people in this passage?  What should we pursue to ensure our hearts are continually inclined to worship the one true God (2 Corinthians 3:12-18)?
3. What did Moses hope to do when he returned to the mountain and to the Lord (Verse 30)?  What is the only way for our sin to be atoned (Isaiah 53:5)?

Today’s passage: Exodus 31

Helpful thoughts:

• God gave Israel the commands to build and make every aspect of the Tabernacle.  Then, He gave them the ability to do it.
• God gives the Sabbath Day to Israel as a day of rest in order that Israel would know that God had set them apart.  For Israel to keep the Sabbath was for them to acknowledge the Lord was their God (Verse 13).
  • The Sabbath taught Israel other things as well, but this explanation from verse 13 is the most foundational, and quite possibly the reason for God’s requirement for capital punishment should someone refuse to obey.
• The Ten Commandments were written on the stones for Moses to take back to Israel.

Questions to consider:

1. Have you ever felt that a command of God was unreasonable or unattainable?  How might verses 1-11 help us to think rightly about the commands of God?  Does God tells us to do anything He won’t provide what we need to be equipped to do?
2. Have you ever thought the consequences of sin were too high?  How might our evaluation of the severity of sin be tainted/skewed compared to God’s evaluation?  If we disagree with God on what is right or wrong and what should be done about it, who is going to be right every time?
3. What is the significance of God giving these tablets of stone with His written word on them to His people?  What do we have in our Bibles?  How valuable and precious are they?

Today’s passage: Exodus 30

Helpful thoughts:

• The Altar of Incense is the final piece that was to be included in the Holy Place along with the Golden Lampstand and the Table for the Bread of the Presence.  The Altar of Incense stood in front of the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.
• The Lord instituted a tax for whenever a census was taken of the nation.
• The Bronze Basin was place outside the Holy Place and was given for the priests to wash themselves before entering the Holy Place to offer sacrifice.  The priests were to be cleansed before the Lord.
• A special recipe is given for oil to be used for anointing and for incense.  God wanted this recipe to kept separate and special for this purpose.  The unique smell was to be kept entirely unique.  Because it was to be used in service for the Lord, it was not to be used for any other purposes.

Questions to consider:

1. In what ways do we see the Lord’s passion for His glory and holiness displayed in this passage?  How did He give instructions to His people in ways to help them see and enjoy Him more?
2. What were the consequences for breaking these laws?  How serious was the Lord about these commands?  If He determines they are important, are we to disagree?  Are there any commands in Scripture you tend to think aren’t very important?  How should you think about them in order to bring yourself under submission to God?
3. When the people ever smelled the oil or the incense, what were they to know was near?  How can certain senses bring you to a pleasant or perhaps even an unpleasant mindset or remembrance?  How would restricting the use of these recipes for oil and incense have enhanced the people’s worship?