The One Year Chronological Bible, NKJV (Tyndale, 2013), February 12
"Then all the gifted artisans among them who worked on the tabernacle made ten curtains woven of fine linen, and of blue, purple, and scarlet thread; with artistic designs of cherubim they made them" (Ex. 36:8).
All the work recorded in chapter 36 tires the eyes and the body.
They made the tabernacle . . .
The curtains . . .
Upright frames . . .
The crossbars . . .
Bezalel made the ark . . .
The atonement cover . . .
They made the table . . .
The lampstand . . .
Its seven lamps . . .
The altar of incense . . .
The sacred anointing oil . . .
They built the altar . . .
They made the bronze basin . . .
The courtyard . . .
"A long obedience in the right direction" is how one theologian describes the Christian journey. The craftsmen spend endless hours converting the offering materials into an actual tabernacle--a tabernacle filled with ornate furnishings designed by God and constructed according to the designs revealed to His servant Moses.
Most of the Christian life is just that. Obedience. Sometimes tiring obedience. When understood, joyful obedience.
The craftsmen had no idea what would take place once the tabernacle was complete. The "wow" always comes later. In the meantime--another day and another hour of stitchery, metal-smithing, and wood-planing.
Questions from today's reading (Exodus 35:1-36:38):
From where do the materials for Tent of Meeting originate?
What does this reveal about God, His intentions, and His provisions when He informs Abraham of his descendants" plunder of the Egyptians in Genesis 15:13-14?