Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give. (25:2)I like that the offering seems to be completely voluntary. And when you read the description of the tabernacle and all it's furnishings it's amazing how generous God expected the Israelites to be. Here's just one thing:
A talent of pure gold is to be used for the lampstand and all these accessories. (25:39)According to the footnote a talent was about 75 pounds...of pure gold...and this was just one thing. Everything was covered in pure gold. The tabernacle was going to be pretty spectacular. When I read about the tabernacle and later the temple in Jerusalem I'm always amazed at what goes into it. The value of the materials alone is staggering and then you have to consider the artistry of the people doing the work. I realize that the point is to make a building that represents to the people how utterly separate and holy and awesome God is. Some still think that church buildings should be built this way...to make us get a sense of how separate God is from us. But I think Jesus changed all that. I'm not saying church buildings shouldn't be built with quality and artistry - they should - but the point, now, is that God has come near. That's the good news. He is not far removed from us. He is still holy but the final sacrifice has been made to bring us into his presence. The veil of the Holy of Holies has been torn open. (Mark 15:38)
Speaking of sacrifices, that's the next thing we read about in Exodus 29. I try to picture this beautifully ornate tabernacle and the priests in their impressive and expensive robes doing the things that God instructs them to do in worship. It's amazing how bloody their worship was to be. Here are just a few examples:
Take some of the bull’s blood and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour out the rest of it at the base of the altar. Then take all the fat on the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, and both kidneys with the fat on them, and burn them on the altar. (29:12-13)
Slaughter it and take the blood and splash it against the sides of the altar. Cut the ram into pieces and wash the internal organs and the legs, putting them with the head and the other pieces. (29:16-17)
Slaughter it, take some of its blood and put it on the lobes of the right ears of Aaron and his sons, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Then splash blood against the sides of the altar. And take some blood from the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and their garments. (29:20-21)Again, I think the point is surely that we are filled with sin...that it was going to take a lot for us to be able to have any kind of relationship with a Holy God. This is some of the background to the sacrifice Jesus makes for sin. These are some of the images that should probably come to mind when we take The Lord's Supper each week.
Then we have chapter 32. Moses is up on the mountain for a long time receiving these instructions and in the mean time the people are getting a little impatient. Ironically, while God is giving Moses the specific instructions on how to worship Him the people decide they're going to worship in their own way...by making this golden calf. I wonder how much gold that thing took? I wonder how much was left to contribute to the construction of the tabernacle? I'm not surprised that God was angry but I'm amazed at how Moses talks Him down from destroying the people and starting over. But then he has his own temper tantrum, breaking the stones that the law was written on, destroying the golden calf and grinding it into powder, putting the powder in water and forcing the people to drink it.
This is possibly one of the saddest days in the saga of the Israelites.
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