Exodus 31:1-6

Willing Artisans

31:1 ¹ The Lord spoke to Moses: ²  31:2 “See, I have chosen ³  Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 31:3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God ⁴  in skill, ⁵  in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds ⁶  of craftsmanship, 31:4 to make artistic designs ⁷  for work with gold, with silver, and with bronze, 31:5 and with cutting and setting stone, and with cutting wood, to work in all kinds of craftsmanship. 31:6 Moreover, ⁸  I have also given him Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, and I have given ability to all the specially skilled, ⁹  that they may make ¹⁰  everything I have commanded you:

Exodus 36:1-4

36:1 So Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person ¹¹  in whom the Lord has put skill ¹²  and ability ¹³  to know how ¹⁴  to do all the work for the service ¹⁵  of the sanctuary are to do the work ¹⁶  according to all that the Lord has commanded.”

36:2 Moses summoned ¹⁷  Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person in whom ¹⁸  the Lord had put skill – everyone whose heart stirred him ¹⁹  to volunteer ²⁰  to do the work, 36:3 and they received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to do ²¹  the work for the service of the sanctuary, and they still continued to bring him a freewill offering each morning. ²²  36:4 So all the skilled people who were doing all the work on the sanctuary came from the work ²³  they were doing

[31:1]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “and Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying.”

[31:2]  ³ 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.

[31:3]  ⁴ sn The expression in the Bible means that the individual was given special, supernatural enablement to do what God wanted done. It usually is said of someone with exceptional power or ability. The image of “filling” usually means under the control of the Spirit, so that the Spirit is the dominant force in the life.

[31:3]  ⁵ sn The following qualities are the ways in which the Spirit’s enablement will be displayed. “Skill” is the ability to produce something valuable to God and the community, “understanding” is the ability to distinguish between things, to perceive the best way to follow, and “knowledge” is the experiential awareness of how things are done.

[31:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “and in all work”; “all” means “all kinds of” here.

[31:4]  ⁷ tn The expression is לַחְשֹׁב מַחֲשָׁבֹת (lakhshov makhashavot, “to devise devices”). The infinitive emphasizes that Bezalel will be able to design or plan works that are artistic or skillful. He will think thoughts or devise the plans, and then he will execute them in silver or stone or whatever other material he uses.

[31:6]  ⁸ tn The expression uses the independent personal pronoun (“and I”) with the deictic particle (“behold”) to enforce the subject of the verb – “and I, indeed I have given.”

[31:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “and in the heart of all that are wise-hearted I have put wisdom.”

[31:6]  ¹⁰ tn The form is a perfect with vav (ו) consecutive. The form at this place shows the purpose or the result of what has gone before, and so it is rendered “that they may make.”

[36:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “wise of [in] heart.”

[36:1]  ¹² tn Heb “wisdom.”

[36:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “understanding, discernment.”

[36:1]  ¹⁴ tn The relative clause includes this infinitive clause that expresses either the purpose or the result of God’s giving wisdom and understanding to these folk.

[36:1]  ¹⁵ tn This noun is usually given an interpretive translation. B. Jacob renders the bound relationship as “the holy task” or “the sacred task” (Exodus, 1019). The NIV makes it “constructing,” so read “the work of constructing the sanctuary.”

[36:1]  ¹⁶ tn The first word of the verse is a perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it is singular because it agrees with the first of the compound subject. The sentence is a little cumbersome because of the extended relative clause in the middle.

[36:2]  ¹⁷ tn The verb קָרָא (qara’) plus the preposition “to” – “to call to” someone means “to summon” that person.

[36:2]  ¹⁸ tn Here there is a slight change: “in whose heart Yahweh had put skill.”

[36:2]  ¹⁹ tn Or “whose heart was willing.”

[36:2]  ²⁰ sn The verb means more than “approach” or “draw near”; קָרַב (qarav) is the word used for drawing near the altar as in bringing an offering. Here they offer themselves, their talents and their time.

[36:3]  ²¹ tn In the Hebrew text the infinitive “to do it” comes after “sanctuary”; it makes a smoother rendering in English to move it forward, rather than reading “brought for the work.”

[36:3]  ²² tn Heb “in the morning, in the morning.”

[36:4]  ²³ tn Heb “a man, a man from his work”; or “each one from his work.”