I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 39-40.

I struggle each year to read in detail this description of the making of priestly garments and the dedication of the Tabernacle.  I am really tempted to skim over it because I generally don’t find much to take out of it.  Today was no exception.  One thing that struck me was that the writer found it important to describe how Bezalel made the gold “thread” for the ephod.  I am unsure why this detail was considered important enough to record.  It does not seem any more important than what dies were used to get the colors for the other threads.  Unless perhaps when Moses described the plan for the ephod which God had given him, other craftsmen had said that gold thread was impossible.  The most important part of this passage is that once the Tabernacle was completed and dedicated, the Israelites were ready to set out from Mt Sinai.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 36-38.

Moses told the people that several craftsmen had been specially gifted by God with the skills needed to build the Tabernacle.  The people donated the materials necessary for building the Tabernacle.  I will note that the people gave so much that the craftsmen building to Tabernacle had to ask Moses to tell the people not to give any more.  The craftsmen who built the Tabernacle constructed the various parts of it to be easily put together and taken down.  In addition, when taken down the parts were designed for ease of transport.  While the Book of Exodus tells us that the design of the Tabernacle was given to Moses from God, it seems to also tell us that the craftsmen were responsible for designing the supports and curtains to be easily assembled and easily transported.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 33-35.

Today’s passage begins with the conclusion to the story of the gold calf.  The writer tells us that God told Moses that the people should get going, that He would send an angel before them to drive out the inhabitants of the Promised Land, but He would not be going with them.  In response to this message, the Israelites stopped wearing jewelry and fine clothes.  However, the Israelites did not move on from Mt Sinai for more than another forty days because the passage tells us that Moses spent forty days at the top of Mt Sinai after this.

When Moses came down from Mt Sinai the second time, his face glowed from being in the presence of God, but Moses was unaware of it.  Everyone else saw how being in God’s presence had changed Moses.  When we spend time communing with God it changes us in ways which others will see long before we do. 

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 28-29.

We have here a description of the clothing which Aaron, and his successors as high priest, was to wear when he offered sacrifices to God.  The names of Jacob’s twelve sons were to be engraved on two onyx stones where were to be fastened to the shoulders of the ephod (a sort of apron).  In addition, twelve gemstones representing the twelve sons of Jacob were to be attached to a chestpiece which Aaron was to wear.  Each gemstone was to have one of the names of Jacob’s sons engraved on it.  Both of these engravings of the names of Jacon’s sons was to remind Aaron, and each of his successors, that he represented the people when he went before God.  The very garments which marked Aaron as separate and special were designed to remind him that his calling was to serve the people, not himself.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 25-27.

The passage describes the plans for making the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacle, and furnishings for the Tabernacle.  Repeatedly the passage tells us that God told Moses to make sure that these various elements  be made according to the pattern which God showed Moses on the mountain.  They were to be copies of the ones which existed in Heaven.  Another point of significance is that atonement cover of the Ark of the Covenant.  It was from above this that God would appear to speak with Moses, and later the high priest.   We have few, if any, records of God speaking with a high priest, but that was the intention of the design.  I am not quite sure why later high priests did not hear from God, but I think we could learn from thinking about what happened.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 22-24.

The passage contains a series of commands which involve holding people responsible for the consequences of their actions.  There is another aspect to these commands as well.  They also tell us that the group must hold individuals responsible for sin, that even if others in the group are not victims of one person’s sin, the group suffers when one of its members sin.  Elsewhere in the Bible we are warned against showing favoritism to the rich and powerful.  Here God warns against showing favoritism for the poor and oppressed.  The poor and oppressed are not necessarily in the right when they go up against the rich and powerful and we should not side with them just because they are poor and oppressed.  Opposing opression is different than siding with the poor and oppressed.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 19-21.

When the Children of Israel reached Mt. Sinai, Moses went up the mountain to meditate and converse with God about what to do next.  Moses had returned to Egypt and rescued the Children of Israel from slavery there as God had instructed him to do from the burning bush.  If they were going to conquer the land which God had promised to them when he spoke to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they would need to be organized.  How should they be organized and what rules should govern their lives?  Moses did what all leaders should do in that situation.  He turned to God in prayer and meditation.

I find the way in which the following portion is phrased to be open to interpretation.  God told Moses to tell the people that if they did as He commanded He would make them His special people. The phrasing seems to suggest that God gave Moses the commands to pass on to the people at this point, but further on in the passage it tells us that God gave them the commands later.  My interpretation is that at this point God was referencing the outline of laws which were contained in the stories which had been passed down to them from Abraham, who had them from his ancestors.  Once the people had agreed to God’s conditions in principle, God came to them to communicate the specifics of what He desired from them.

When God came to them He spoke what we know as the Ten Commandments, but which Jewish tradition refer to as the Ten Words.  In many ways the latter is more accurate.  Once God had spoken these Ten Words, the people asked that God no longer speak directly to them.  They asked that God speak His commands to Moses and Moses pass them on to them.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 16-18.

The story of manna and quail gives us a perfect example of how God provides for us.  For five days the people collected enough manna each morning for their needs for the day.  Any of the manna collected on those five days which was kept overnight went bad by morning.  On the sixth day, they collected twice as much, and what they collected was still good on the morning of the seventh day, when there was no manna to collect.  This teaches us the same lesson as what happened in Egypt in Joseph’s time.  In Joseph’s time there were seven years of plenty which provided enough surplus to see the people of Egypt through seven years of famine (with enough left over to help some people from elsewhere).  God provides for our needs, when He provides us extra it is because a lean time is coming, or so that we can aid those who have fallen on hard times.  We should keep this in mind when we experience a “windfall”.

Again today I noticed a verse which I had never noticed before, Exodus 18:11.   Here Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, tells Moses that the account Moses gave of their departure from Egypt caused him to know that God was greater than all other gods.  Previously we had been told that Jethro was a priest of Midian, and later in this passage he offers sacrifices which Aaron and the elders of Israel join.  What we learn from this statement from Jethro is that previous to this, while he had honored and worshiped God, he had also honored, and perhaps worshiped, other gods.  This reminds us of the importance of sharing what God has done in our lives with others so that their faith may be strengthened.