EXODUS 35
It is as in the rest and blessedness of all that is typically presented in chapter 34 that a willing-hearted people can devote themselves to the work of the Tent of meeting. Hence the first thing that the Mediator with the glory shining in His face speaks of to “all the assembly” is the Sabbath. This is the last of seven different connections — if we include the sabbatical year — in which the Sabbath is brought before us in Exodus. And here I think it indicates the restful condition of soul which is essential as preparatory to making the tabernacle. It was “a man of rest” (1 Chronicles 22) who could alone build a house to Jehovah’s Name.
A distinctive feature of this mention of the Sabbath is “Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your dwellings upon the Sabbath day”. I think that speaks of the absence of consideration for one’s own comfort in a natural way. In keeping a true Sabbath one is neither occupied with one’s own activity nor with one’s natural comfort. It implies complete freedom from labour on the one hand, and from self-consideration on the other, to be perfectly restful God-ward.
[p. 304] One is free to contemplate what God has effected, and what He is for men as set forth in the face of the Mediator. It suggests that men are brought into suitability for tabernacle service by being in rest God-ward in the blessedness of new covenant conditions. We shall not work with God if we have not known what it is to rest with Him. It is like David going in and sitting before Jehovah in presence of all the blessed communications which had been made to him (2 Samuel 7: 18). Mary was keeping her sabbath when she sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to His word. This kind of sabbath must be recurrent with us if we wish to take up the service of the tabernacle. But “six days shall work be done” would teach that nothing connected with one’s life of responsibility here is to be neglected.
This is a most attractive section of the book because it shows “all the assembly of the children of Israel” moved in response to the pleasure of Jehovah, and equal in their affections and capabilities to all that He had proposed. Wonderful things had been presented in the way of light, but now they had all to take definite form for the pleasure of God. That is the exercise we have to face at the present moment. The whole system of things which centres in Christ at the right hand of God has been revealed as heavenly light. Now the question is, Are our hearts moved that these things should take such definite form with us that they come before God for His pleasure? “Every one whose heart moved him, and every one whose spirit prompted him ... brought Jehovah’s heave-offering” (verse 21). Everything came about as the result of movements in the affections of the people. It was “Jehovah’s heave-offering”; it suggests a preparedness in heart to move energetically, and at some cost to ourselves, to further the testimony of God. It is the powerful influence of God revealed in grace and love in the Mediator of the new covenant that moves the hearts of the people of God. For their hearts are quickened by Him who is the Spirit that they may respond in a living way to all that shines upon them.
God has enriched us, as brought under the new covenant, with all that Christ is. No saint can say, I have no material for the tabernacle, for he has Christ. Paul says to the Corinthians, “In everything ye have been enriched in him”. I suppose they hardly knew it, for they were carnal, but they were enriched in the Head, and they had the Spirit. There is plenty of material, but it has to be found by each one, and brought forward by movements of spiritual affection. Each saint has something that is essential to the tabernacle, and it is for each one to take account in spiritual exercise of what he has, and to bring it forward.
The gold is spoken of as “a wave-offering of gold to Jehovah”. The silver and copper were “Jehovah’s heave-offering”. There is a similar distinction between the wave-breast and the heave-shoulder. It would seem that the most excellent and valuable thing is waved. When the copper is looked at in the mass (chapter 38: 29) it is called a wave-offering. Does the wave-offering suggest the divine appreciation of what is offered because of the excellence of what it is in itself, while the heave-offering indicates rather the energy in the affections of the offerer?
Then all was “a voluntary offering”. The thought of pressing or urging people to do something is [p. 306] entirely absent. If the known love of God, and all the glory of His grace as shining in the face of the Mediator, do not move us to something “voluntary” it is a pity. Indeed we see here what is exceedingly beautiful — that the voluntary offerings exceeded all that was required. “The people bring much more than enough”. “For the work they had was sufficient for all the work to do it, and it was too much”. “Israel was holiness unto Jehovah, the first-fruits of his increase” (Jeremiah 2: 3). It was a lovely moment; God has never forgotten it. He will cherish that moment in His memory until it is realized in a fuller and more glorious way in the Israel of the future. But He is working so that it may be realized in our hearts today!
There is nothing for God’s pleasure outside Christ, the Spirit, and the saints as marked by spiritual affections. The saints are enriched in Christ, they have the Spirit, and they have spiritual affections in the inward man. It is a comfort to remember that the saints have spiritual affections. What is needed is that those affections should be allowed to move freely. You have not to strain after being somebody else, or to try to bring what you have not got; you have simply to bring what you have, and allow your spiritual affections liberty.
“And every woman that was wise-hearted spun with her hands”. They did not provide the material, nor did they put it into its final shape, but they did useful service in an intermediate stage. They took the raw material, and put it in a shape that prepared it for the weaver. It serves to bring out very clearly the principle of co-operation. And while the spinning did not seem anything very great, the strength of the [p. 307] fabric depended on the way it was done. Not even Bezaleel or any of the wise-hearted men could have made the curtains or the coverings as they ought to be if the women had not done the spinning properly. There might be many gifts in a meeting, and much spiritual material available, but if the sisters were gossips and tale-bearers there would be a poor result for God! Spinning is binding the fibres together so that when they are woven there is a firm texture. The New Testament speaks of building together and knitting together, and we have seen in the tabernacle the thought of loops, and clasps, and rings, and couplings — the idea of all being held together. And the spinning is what we may call the fundamental process; if that is not done right, nothing will be right. Every sister can do a little spinning — can do something in the direction of getting the saints drawn together in the appreciation of Christ. To say a word or bring an influence to bear that promotes this is a valuable service. What we appreciate in Christ will characterize us. The more I appreciate what He is as the heavenly One, the more heavenly I shall be. That is the “blue”, and it is so with the other colours also. All that Christ is has to take form in the affections of saints, and they have to be held together in the appreciation of Him. No other bond has any divine value.
“And all the women whose heart moved them in wisdom spun goats’ hair”. Sisters can greatly help to maintain holy separation. Indeed it was a sister who was told that if any one came to her and did not bring the doctrine of Christ she was not to receive him into her house, nor greet him (2 John). The goats’ hair typifies the holy separation which must [p. 308] characterize the tabernacle. The Ark of the covenant and the Mercy-seat were to be enshrined there. The Person and work of Christ, and the revelation of God in Him, are very holy, and they have to be cherished and safeguarded by holy separation.
Then “the principal men brought the onyx stones, and the stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate; and the spice, and the oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the incense of fragrant drugs”. These are things which require spiritual stature and wealth. Anyone who has a true appreciation of what the saints are as sustained on the shoulders and in the breastplate of the High Priest deserves to be called a “principal man”. The principal men in the assembly are not those with most money, or highest social position. They are those who know most of Christ, and of the mind of God, and who apprehend most of what the Spirit is here for in connection with the light, and the anointing, and the incense. Those who can supply what is here typified are indeed principal men! Let each one of us covet to be amongst them in a spiritual sense! Desire earnestly to be great in the knowledge of Christ, and in His thoughts of the saints, and in the appreciation of all that the Spirit is here for! There have been and are, “principal men” who have contributed much to further the tabernacle, and we thank God for them. It would please God if all His saints desired to be “principal men” in this sense.
Another important principle comes into view in verses 30 - 35; that is, the divine sovereignty which gives special gifts. The voluntary principle of verse 29 leaves it open for every one to contribute, but the calling by name in verses 30, 34 shows that there are [p. 309] special gifts which it is our privilege and wisdom to acknowledge. We do not need to be jealous of any gift, for they are all ours (1 Corinthians 3: 22), and all given that the truth of Christ and the assembly may take form in our affections, and that we may be perfected and built up as His body. They are all given that we may “arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ” (Ephesians 4: 13). When that is reached the tabernacle will be complete!