Moses tells the people what the Lord has commanded and asks the people who have a willing heart to bring offerings to the Lord. God desires for His people to have a willing heart to be with Him and obey Him. This has been His desire since the beginning of the Story in the garden with Adam and Eve. However, Adam and Eve chose not to obey God’s Word bringing sin into the world and causing all of us to inherit this sin problem. Now the Lord is making a place where a holy God can meet with a bunch of sinful people. “Then everyone came whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and they brought the Lord’s offering for the work of the tabernacle of meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments. They came, both men and women, as many as had a willing heart.”
The Israelites are instructed to build a tabernacle for the Lord and He has gifted people for the completion of building and carrying out all that He has commanded. Moses proves to be an extremely effective leader by listening to the Lord and assigning the people for the task at hand based on their giftedness – “‘And Bezalel and Aholiab, and every gifted artisan in whom the Lord has put wisdom and understanding, to know how to do all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, shall do according to all that the Lord has commanded.’ Then Moses called Bezalel and Aholiab, and every gifted artisan in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, everyone whose heart was stirred, to come and do the work.”
When the work of the Lord is handled properly by leaders, people joyfully complete the work together. We see that people are more willing to give to something they are a part of and included in building like the Israelites. The Israelites are so joyful in building the tabernacle that they provide an abundance of work—so much so that Moses tells them, “‘Let neither man nor woman do any more work for the offering of the sanctuary.’ And the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was sufficient for all the work to be done—indeed too much.” 🎉
Did you notice that the Lord gifts both men and women for the work of the Lord’s tabernacle? So everyone is happily using their gifts and working together as “the church.” Keep reading because there is more work to be done.
(Exodus 35:1-36:38)
Chronological Bible in Layman's Terms 