NOTES for Exo 31:1-18

¹And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

²See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah:

³And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,

⁴To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,

⁵And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship.

⁶And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee;

⁷The tabernacle of the congregation, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is thereupon, and all the furniture of the tabernacle,

⁸And the table and his furniture, and the pure candlestick with all his furniture, and the altar of incense,

⁹And the altar of burnt offering with all his furniture, and the laver and his foot,

¹⁰And the cloths of service, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office,

¹¹And the anointing oil, and sweet incense for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do.

¹²And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

¹³Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.

¹⁴Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

¹⁵Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.

¹⁶Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

¹⁷It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

¹⁸And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.

The concept of wisdom in the Bible is quite multifaceted, but all its facets are united by something common: it is always practice. Wisdom in the Bible is least of all associated with what we quite often associate it with today: theoretical inquiry or detached contemplation. Biblical wisdom always has a practical character; it is inseparable from action, doing, and the way. Those people who are to make everything needed for the Tabernacle are also called wise. It would seem that this is more craft than art, but that only appears so at first glance. In fact, what is involved is precisely art: things made, as people usually say, with soul.

With a sense of beauty. From the biblical point of view, the ability to see beauty in a thing is also wisdom, and it is given through practice, the practice of making these very things with one's own hands. Here heart, soul, and hands must act in indivisible unity, and this unity is called wisdom in the Bible. If it is present, a person sees beauty both in God's creations and in human ones, wherever it is present. To see it, one must give room in one's heart to God's breath, for it is God who makes the world beautiful; He is the source of all beauty.

It is no accident that here, where the work connected with the Tabernacle is described, the Sabbath is also mentioned: not only because workers need regular rest, but also because without the Sabbath there is no wisdom. One cannot remain wise without having time that can be spent with God in inner silence. Without such silence, wisdom simply has nowhere to come from, for it is born precisely in it. Wisdom is born in silence because there, in that silence, God breathes; there one can sense and become aware of His breath.

Without such awareness there is no spiritual life, and therefore no wisdom. Then one will see neither the beauty of God's creation nor the beauty of what human hands have made. The Sabbath may seem to distract from work, but in reality without it there will be no work, no God's work, no God's doing. It is during the Sabbath that a person becomes aware of himself as the image of God, and without such awareness the wisdom spoken of in the Bible is impossible. Visible beauty is born from the invisible, as a word is born from silence: without one, the other will not exist either.

Other notes

For Exo 31:1-18