Exodus 35

v1-20: Moses instructed the people of Israel “in everything, and only what God had commanded him.” He was faithful to God and to Israel. He did not add, alter, or take away anything. “After Moses had made known to them the will of God, they went home and immediately put into practice what they had heard.” Wouldn’t it be good if every church congregation did the same? If they “acted on their hearing the word of God like this and wholeheartedly determined to be doers of the [word].”

v21-29: The offerings the people gave “were of different kinds, according to what they had,” and according to how God had prospered them. They gave out of “love [for] God and his service, out of a desire for his presence with them…, out of gratitude for the great things he had done for them, and with faith in the promises of what he would further do.” In our giving, remember that “God looks on the heart of the giver more than the value of the gift.”

v30-35: Those who have been given knowledge by God, “should be willing to communicate it for the benefit of others and not keep it to themselves.”

Exodus 36

v1-5: Whatever talents that God entrusts us with must not be put to one side, but be put to use. “For what other reason do we have all our gifts, but to do good with them?”

v6-7: The people of Israel “saw that a lot had been contributed,” yet “they still continued to make their offerings,” until Moses ordered them to stop. “Most people need to be spurred on to give” and there are “very few [who] need to be restrained from doing so.”

v8-34: The curtains “which were spread over the tabernacle” represented “the shelter and special protection” that the church is under. “Those who live in God’s house will find, even if the storm is extremely violent… the rain does not actually come in.”

v35-38: The curtain between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place represents the distance between the people and God in the Old Testament, “compared with the New Testament” where the glory of God is seen more clearly and where we are invited to draw near to Him; but also the “distance of our present state” compared “with heaven, where we shall be ever with the Lord and see him as he is.”