Exodus 31:2

31:2 “See, I have chosen ¹  Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah,

Exodus 31:1

Willing Artisans

31:1 ² The Lord spoke to Moses: ³ 

Exodus 2:19-20

2:19 They said, “An Egyptian man rescued us ⁴  from the shepherds, ⁵  and he actually ⁶  drew water for us and watered the flock!” 2:20 He said ⁷  to his daughters, “So where is he? ⁸  Why in the world ⁹  did you leave the man? Call him, so that he may eat ¹⁰  a meal ¹¹  with us.”

[31:2]  ¹ tn Heb “called by name.” This expression means that the person was specifically chosen for some important task (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 342). See the expression with Cyrus in Isa 45:3-4.

[31:1]  ² sn The next unit describes the preparation of skilled workers to build all that has been listed now for several chapters. This chapter would have been the bridge to the building of the sanctuary (35-39) if it were not for the idolatrous interlude. God called individuals and prepared them by his Spirit to be skilled to do the work for the tabernacle. If this were the substance of an exposition, it would clearly be a message on gifted people doing the work – close to the spiritual lesson of Ephesians 4. There would be two levels of meaning: the physical, which looks at the skilled artisans providing for a place to worship Yahweh, and the spiritual, which would bring in the Spirit-filled servants of God participating in building up his kingdom.

[31:1]  ³ tn Heb “and Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying.”

[2:19]  ⁴ sn Continuing the theme of Moses as the deliverer, the text now uses another word for salvation (נָצַל, natsal, “to deliver, rescue”) in the sense of plucking out or away, snatching out of danger.

[2:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the hand of the shepherds” (so NASB); NAB “saved us from the interference of the shepherds.” Most recent English versions translate simply “from the shepherds.”

[2:19]  ⁶ tn The construction is emphatic with the use of the perfect tense and its infinitive absolute: דָלָה דָּלֹה (daloh dalah). B. Jacob says, “They showed their enthusiasm through the use of the infinitive absolute – And think of that, he even drew water for us; a man did this for us girls” (Exodus, 41).

[2:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “And he said.”

[2:20]  ⁸ tn The conjunction vav (ו) joins Reuel’s question to what the daughters said as logically following with the idea, “If he has done all that you say, why is he not here for me to meet?” (see GKC 485 §154.b).

[2:20]  ⁹ tn This uses the demonstrative pronoun as an enclitic, for emphasis (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118). The question reads more literally, “Why [is] this [that] you left him?”

[2:20]  ¹⁰ tn The imperfect tense coming after the imperative indicates purpose.

[2:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “bread,” i.e., “food.”