Exodus 37

37 Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood; it was two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. ² He overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a molding of gold around it. ³ He cast for it four rings of gold for its four feet, two rings on its one side and two rings on its other side. ⁴ He made poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold, ⁵ and put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry the ark. ⁶ He made a mercy seat^[a] of pure gold; two cubits and a half was its length, and a cubit and a half its width. ⁷ He made two cherubim of hammered gold; at the two ends of the mercy seat^[b] he made them, ⁸ one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end; of one piece with the mercy seat^[c] he made the cherubim at its two ends.⁹ The cherubim spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat^[d] with their wings. They faced one another; the faces of the cherubim were turned toward the mercy seat.^[e]

Making the Table for the Bread of the Presence

¹⁰ He also made the table of acacia wood, two cubits long, one cubit wide, and a cubit and a half high.¹¹ He overlaid it with pure gold, and made a molding of gold around it. ¹² He made around it a rim a handbreadth wide, and made a molding of gold around the rim. ¹³ He cast for it four rings of gold, and fastened the rings to the four corners at its four legs. ¹⁴ The rings that held the poles used for carrying the table were close to the rim. ¹⁵ He made the poles of acacia wood to carry the table, and overlaid them with gold. ¹⁶ And he made the vessels of pure gold that were to be on the table, its plates and dishes for incense, and its bowls and flagons with which to pour drink offerings.

Making the Lampstand

¹⁷ He also made the lampstand of pure gold. The base and the shaft of the lampstand were made of hammered work; its cups, its calyxes, and its petals were of one piece with it. ¹⁸ There were six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it; ¹⁹ three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with calyx and petals, on one branch, and three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with calyx and petals, on the other branch—so for the six branches going out of the lampstand. ²⁰ On the lampstand itself there were four cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with its calyxes and petals.²¹ There was a calyx of one piece with it under the first pair of branches, a calyx of one piece with it under the next pair of branches, and a calyx of one piece with it under the last pair of branches.²² Their calyxes and their branches were of one piece with it, the whole of it one hammered piece of pure gold. ²³ He made its seven lamps and its snuffers and its trays of pure gold. ²⁴ He made it and all its utensils of a talent of pure gold.

Making the Altar of Incense

²⁵ He made the altar of incense of acacia wood, one cubit long, and one cubit wide; it was square, and was two cubits high; its horns were of one piece with it. ²⁶ He overlaid it with pure gold, its top, and its sides all around, and its horns; and he made for it a molding of gold all around, ²⁷ and made two golden rings for it under its molding, on two opposite sides of it, to hold the poles with which to carry it. ²⁸ And he made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold.

Making the Anointing Oil and the Incense

²⁹ He made the holy anointing oil also, and the pure fragrant incense, blended as by the perfumer.

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Not a whole lot of narrative movement going on here.  Part of me wonders why this is included.  The first five books of the Bible were recorded by Moses.  Why does he choose to spend 29 verses worth of space to detailing what Bezalel made?  Why not just say, "And Bezalel made these things as the Lord had commanded"?  Then you can move on with the narrative, the important part of the story about how the people responded to God.

There seem to be a couple of reasons that Moses includes this section.  First, it is how his brain works.  He has a historian's mind for details.  He received specific instructions from God for what the Law should be and how society should work and how the instruments of worship should be designed.  Skipping over things in order to get to the good parts is not in his paradigm or within the paradigm of the culture.  They are an oral history culture that values detail and memory in order to make the story come alive for the listeners.

The second reason seems to be that Moses thinks that this is an important part of the story.  These are creations that are to be used in the worship of the Most High God.  These will be touched by His presence...these will be holy.  They work of man's hands will be graced by the touch of the Divine.  "Holy" is one of those words that has been watered down.  We speak and sing of ground being holy or hands being holy or lives being holy.  We use holy as an adjective in our exclamations of surprise.  God is omnipresent, always with us, so nothing seems holier than anything else, right?

Moses is in awe of God, full of reverence for anything that the Creator chooses to bless.  And He is choosing to bless these simple things: a table, a lampstand, a box.  The power of God will work in these and through these to bless the Israelites and the world.

And so he devotes some time to describing their design and creation while I impatiently read through, waiting for the good part to come.  May I learn to value the Holy.