Discovery BoxExodus 35:1-34
Context35:1 Moses assembled the whole community of the Israelites and said to them, “These are the things that the Lord has commanded you to do. 1 35:2 In six days 2 work may be done, but on the seventh day there must be a holy day 3 for you, a Sabbath of complete rest to the Lord. 4 Anyone who does work on it will be put to death. 35:3 You must not kindle a fire 5 in any of your homes 6 on the Sabbath day.” 7
35:4 8 Moses spoke to the whole community of the Israelites, “This is the word that the Lord has commanded: 35:5 ‘Take 9 an offering for the Lord. Let everyone who has a willing heart 10 bring 11 an offering to the Lord: 12 gold, silver, bronze, 35:6 blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, fine linen, goat’s hair, 35:7 ram skins dyed red, fine leather, 13 acacia wood, 35:8 olive oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 35:9 onyx stones, and other gems 14 for mounting 15 on the ephod and the breastpiece. 35:10 Every skilled person 16 among you is to come and make all that the Lord has commanded: 35:11 the tabernacle with 17 its tent, its covering, its clasps, its frames, its crossbars, its posts, and its bases; 35:12 the ark, with its poles, the atonement lid, and the special curtain that conceals it; 35:13 the table with its poles and all its vessels, and the Bread of the Presence; 35:14 the lampstand for 18 the light and its accessories, its lamps, and oil for the light; 35:15 and the altar of incense with its poles, the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense; the hanging for the door at the entrance of the tabernacle; 35:16 the altar for the burnt offering with its bronze grating that is on it, its poles, and all its utensils; the large basin and its pedestal; 35:17 the hangings of the courtyard, its posts and its bases, and the curtain for the gateway to the courtyard; 35:18 tent pegs for the tabernacle and tent pegs for the courtyard and their ropes; 35:19 the woven garments for serving in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments for his sons to minister as priests.”
35:20 So the whole community of the Israelites went out from the presence of Moses. 35:21 Everyone 19 whose heart stirred him to action 20 and everyone whose spirit was willing 21 came and brought the offering for the Lord for the work of the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments. 22 35:22 They came, men and women alike, 23 all who had willing hearts. They brought brooches, earrings, rings and ornaments, all kinds of gold jewelry, 24 and everyone came who waved 25 a wave offering of gold to the Lord.
35:23 Everyone who had 26 blue, purple, or 27 scarlet yarn, fine linen, goats’ hair, ram skins dyed red, or fine leather 28 brought them. 29 35:24 Everyone making an offering of silver or bronze brought it as 30 an offering to the Lord, and everyone who had acacia wood 31 for any work of the service brought it. 32 35:25 Every woman who was skilled 33 spun with her hands and brought what she had spun, blue, purple, or scarlet yarn, or fine linen, 35:26 and all the women whose heart stirred them to action and who were skilled 34 spun goats’ hair.
35:27 The leaders brought onyx stones and other gems to be mounted 35 for the ephod and the breastpiece, 35:28 and spices and olive oil for the light, for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense.
35:29 The Israelites brought a freewill offering to the Lord, every man and woman whose heart was willing to bring materials for all the work that the Lord through 36 Moses had commanded them 37 to do.
35:30 Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord has chosen 38 Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. 35:31 He has filled him with the Spirit of God – with skill, with understanding, with knowledge, and in all kinds of work, 35:32 to design artistic designs, to work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, 35:33 and in cutting stones for their setting, 39 and in cutting wood, to do work in every artistic craft. 40 35:34 And he has put it in his heart 41 to teach, he and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.
[35:1] 1 tn Heb “to do them”; this is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.
[35:2] 2 tn This is an adverbial accusative of time.
[35:2] 3 tn The word is קֹדֶשׁ (qodesh, “holiness”). S. R. Driver suggests that the word was transposed, and the line should read: “a sabbath of entire rest, holy to Jehovah” (Exodus, 379). But the word may simply be taken as a substitution for “holy day.”
[35:2] 4 sn See on this H. Routtenberg, “The Laws of the Sabbath: Biblical Sources,” Dor le Dor 6 (1977): 41-43, 99-101, 153-55, 204-6; G. Robinson, “The Idea of Rest in the Old Testament and the Search for the Basic Character of Sabbath,” ZAW 92 (1980): 32-43.
[35:3] 5 sn Kindling a fire receives special attention here because the people thought that kindling a fire was not work, but only a preparation for some kind of work. The Law makes sure that this too was not done. But see also G. Robinson, “The Prohibition of Strange Fire in Ancient Israel: A Look at the Case of Gathering Wood and Kindling Fire on the Sabbath,” VT 28 (1978): 301-17.
[35:3] 6 tn Heb “dwelling places”; KJV, ASV “habitations.”
[35:3] 7 sn The presence of these three verses in this place has raised all kinds of questions. It may be that after the renewal of the covenant the people needed a reminder to obey God, and obeying the sign of the covenant was the starting point. But there is more to it than this; it is part of the narrative design of the book. It is the artistic design that puts the filling of the Spirit section (31:1-11) prior to the Sabbath laws (31:12-18) before the idolatry section, and then after the renewal there is the Sabbath reminder (35:1-3) before the filling of the Spirit material (35:4-36:7).
[35:4] 8 sn The book now turns to record how all the work of the sanctuary was done. This next unit picks up on the ideas in Exod 31:1-11. But it adds several features. The first part is the instruction of God for all people to give willingly (35:4-19); the next section tells how the faithful brought an offering for the service of the tabernacle (35:20-29); the next section tells how God set some apart with special gifts (35:30-35), and finally, the narrative reports how the faithful people of God enthusiastically began the work (36:1-7).
[35:5] 9 tn Heb “from with you.”
[35:5] 10 tn “Heart” is a genitive of specification, clarifying in what way they might be “willing.” The heart refers to their will, their choices.
[35:5] 11 tn The verb has a suffix that is the direct object, but the suffixed object is qualified by the second accusative: “let him bring it, an offering.”
[35:5] 12 tn The phrase is literally “the offering of Yahweh”; it could be a simple possessive, “Yahweh’s offering,” but a genitive that indicates the indirect object is more appropriate.
[35:7] 13 tn See the note on this phrase in Exod 25:5.
[35:9] 14 tn Heb “and stones.”
[35:10] 16 tn Heb “wise of heart”; here also “heart” would be a genitive of specification, showing that there were those who could make skillful decisions.
[35:11] 17 tn In Hebrew style all these items are typically connected with a vav (ו) conjunction, but English typically uses commas except between the last two items in a series or between items in a series that are somehow related to one another. The present translation follows contemporary English style in lists such as this.
[35:14] 18 tn “for” has been supplied.
[35:21] 20 tn The verb means “lift up, bear, carry.” Here the subject is “heart” or will, and so the expression describes one moved within to act.
[35:21] 21 tn Heb “his spirit made him willing.” The verb is used in Scripture for the freewill offering that people brought (Lev 7).
[35:21] 22 tn Literally “the garments of holiness,” the genitive is the attributive genitive, marking out what type of garments these were.
[35:22] 23 tn The expression in Hebrew is “men on/after the women,” meaning men with women, to ensure that it was clear that the preceding verse did not mean only men. B. Jacob takes it further, saying that the men came after the women because the latter had taken the initiative (Exodus, 1017).
[35:22] 24 tn Heb “all gold utensils.”
[35:22] 25 tn The verb could be translated “offered,” but it is cognate with the following noun that is the wave offering. This sentence underscores the freewill nature of the offerings people made. The word “came” is supplied from v. 21 and v. 22.
[35:23] 26 tn The text uses a relative clause with a resumptive pronoun for this: “who was found with him,” meaning “with whom was found.”
[35:23] 27 tn The conjunction in this verse is translated “or” because the sentence does not intend to say that each person had all these things. They brought what they had.
[35:23] 28 tn See the note on this phrase in Exod 25:5.
[35:23] 29 tn Here “them” has been supplied.
[35:24] 30 tn This translation takes “offering” as an adverbial accusative explaining the form or purpose of their bringing things. It could also be rendered as the direct object, but that would seem to repeat without much difference what had just been said.
[35:24] 31 sn U. Cassuto notes that the expression “with whom was found” does not rule out the idea that these folks went out and cut down acacia trees (Exodus, 458). It is unlikely that they had much wood in their tents.
[35:24] 32 tn Here “it” has been supplied.
[35:25] 33 tn Heb “wisdom of heart,” which means that they were skilled and could make all the right choices about the work.
[35:26] 34 tn The text simply uses a prepositional phrase, “with/in wisdom.” It seems to be qualifying “the women” as the relative clause is.
[35:27] 35 tn Heb “and stones of the filling.”
[35:29] 36 tn Heb “by the hand of.”
[35:29] 37 tn Here “them” has been supplied.
[35:30] 38 tn Heb “called by name” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV). 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.
[35:33] 40 tn Heb “in every work of thought,” meaning, every work that required the implementation of design or plan.
[35:34] 41 sn The expression means that God has given them the ability and the desire to teach others how to do the work. The infinitive construct “to teach” is related to the word Torah, “instruction, guide, law.” They will be able to direct others in the work.
