Materials for the Tabernacle

 

 

Exodus 38:21-31

 

November 19, 2024

 

Materials for the Tabernacle

These are the records of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, as they were recorded at the commandment of Moses, the responsibility of the Levites under the direction of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest.  Bezalel, the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord commanded Moses;  and with him was Oholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver and designer and embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen.

All the gold that was used for the work, in all the construction of the sanctuary, the gold from the offering, was twenty-nine talents and 730 shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary.  The silver from those of the congregation who were recorded was a hundred talents and 1,775 shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary: a beka a head (that is, half a shekel, by the shekel of the sanctuary), for everyone who was listed in the records, from twenty years old and upward, for 603,550 men.  The hundred talents of silver were for casting the bases of the sanctuary and the bases of the veil; a hundred bases for the hundred talents, a talent a base.  And of the 1,775 shekels, he made hooks for the pillars and overlaid their capitals and made fillets for them.  The bronze that was offered was seventy talents and 2,400 shekels;  with it he made the bases for the entrance of the tent of meeting, the bronze altar and the bronze grating for it and all the utensils of the altar,  the bases around the court, and the bases of the gate of the court, all the pegs of the tabernacle, and all the pegs around the court.

I took this from the internet, on the value of a talent in Exodus: “a "talent" in Exodus is roughly equivalent to around $522,000 in today's dollars, based on the understanding that a talent is equal to 3,000 shekels, making it a substantial sum of money in ancient times; however, the exact value can vary depending on whether it is measured in gold or silver and the specific time period being considered.” 

 

That was a lot of gold and silver for a people of about two million to have while wandering around in a desert.  So how did they get all the materials needed?  That is a great question, and the answer is that God provided them.  Now he used the Egyptian people to do so when the people of Israel left Egypt.

 

You also may have wondered, as I did, what a beka was. It was a tax of half a shekel of silver paid by each man in the congregation who was at least 20 years old.  We serve a mighty God, who has promised to provide all we need, but often the Church is not about needs but wants.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice