---
title: "Clarke"
description: "Sabbath, 12-17. Delivers to Moses the two tables of stone, 18. NOTES ON CHAP. XXXI Verse Exodus 31:2. I have called by name Bezaleel — That is, I have par"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/exodus/31"
---

*Sabbath*, 12-17.
*Delivers to Moses the two tables of stone*, 18.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXXI

Verse [Exodus 31:2](../../../kjv/exodus/31/2). ***I have called by name Bezaleel*** — That is, I have particularly appointed this person to be the chief superintendent of the whole work. His name is significant, בצלאל *betsal-el, in* or *under the shadow of God*, meaning, under the especial protection of the Most High. He was the son of *Uri*, the son of *Hur*, the son of *Caleb* or *Chelubai*, the son of *Esron*, the son of *Pharez*, the son of *Judah*. See [1 Chronicles 2:5](../../../kjv/1-chronicles/2/5), [1 Chronicles 2:9](../../../kjv/1-chronicles/2/9), [1 Chronicles 2:18-20](../../../kjv/1-chronicles/2/18-20), and [Exodus 17:10](../../../kjv/exodus/17/10); [Exodus 17:10](../../../kjv/exodus/17/10).

Verse [Exodus 31:3](../../../kjv/exodus/31/3). ***I have filled him with the spirit of God*** — [Exodus 28:3](../../../kjv/exodus/28/3).
***In wisdom*** — חכמה, *chochmah*, from חכם *chacham*, to be *wise, skilful*, or *prudent*, denoting the compass of mind and strength of capacity necessary to form a *wise man*: hence our word *wisdom*, the power of *judging* what is *wise* or best to be done; from the Saxon, [Anglo-Saxon], *to teach, to advise*, and [Anglo-Saxon], *to judge*; hence [Anglo-Saxon], the *doom* or *judgment* of the *well taught, wise*, or *prudent man*.
***Understanding*** — תבונה *tebunah*, from בן *ban* or *bun*, to *separate, distinguish, discern*; capacity to comprehend the different parts of a work, how to connect, arrange, c., in order to make a complete *whole*.
***Knowledge*** — דעת *daath*, denoting particular *acquaintance* with a person or thing *practical*, *experimental* knowledge.

Verse [Exodus 31:4](../../../kjv/exodus/31/4). ***Cunning works*** — מחשבת *machashaboth*, works of *invention* or *genius*, in the goldsmith and silversmith line.

Verse [Exodus 31:5](../../../kjv/exodus/31/5). ***In cutting of stones, &c.*** — Every thing that concerned the *lapidary's, jeweller's*, and *carver's* art.

Verse [Exodus 31:6](../../../kjv/exodus/31/6). ***In the hearts of all that are wisehearted I have put**********wisdom*** — So every man that had a *natural genius*, as we term it, had an increase of wisdom by immediate inspiration from God, so that he knew how to execute the different works which Divine wisdom designed for the tabernacle and its furniture. Dark as were the heathens, yet they acknowledged that all talents, and the seeds of all arts, came from God. Hence Seneca: *Insita nobis* *omnium artium semina, magisterque ex occulto Deus producit* *ingenia*.
In the same way Homer attributes such curious arts to *Minerva*, the *goddess* of *wisdom*, and *Vulcan*, the *god* of *handicrafts.*
Ὡς δ' ὁτε τις χρυσον περιχευεται αργυρῳ ανηρ
Ιδρις, ὁν Ἡφαιστος δεδαεν και Παλλας Αθηνη
Τεχνην παντοιην, χαριεντα δε εργα τελειει.
Odyss., l. vi., ver. 232.

As by some artist, to whom VULCAN gives
His *skill divine*, a breathing statue lives;
By PALLAS *taught*, he frames the wondrous mould,
And o'er the silver pours the fusile gold. - POPE.

And all this the wisest of men long before them declared; when speaking of the wisdom of God he says, *I, Wisdom, dwell with* *Prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions*; [Proverbs 8:12](../../../kjv/proverbs/8/12). [Exodus 28:3](../../../kjv/exodus/28/3), to which the reader is particularly desired to refer. There is something remarkable in the name of this second superintendent, אהליאב *Aholiab, the* *tabernacle of the father*, or, *the father is my tabernacle*; a name nearly similar in its meaning to that of *Bezaleel*, [Exodus 31:2](../../../kjv/exodus/31/2).

Verse [Exodus 31:8](../../../kjv/exodus/31/8). ***The pure candlestick*** — Called so either because of the *pure gold* of which it was made, or the *brightness* and *splendour* of its *workmanship*, or of the *light* which it imparted in the tabernacle, as the *purest, finest* oil was always burnt in it.

Verse [Exodus 31:9](../../../kjv/exodus/31/9). ***The altar of burnt-offering*** — [Exodus 27:1](../../../kjv/exodus/27/1); [Exodus 27:1](../../../kjv/exodus/27/1).
***The laver and his foot*** — The pedestal on which it stood.

Verse [Exodus 31:10](../../../kjv/exodus/31/10). ***Clothes of service*** — Vestments for the ordinary work of their ministry; the *holy garments*- those which were peculiar to the high priest.

Verse [Exodus 31:11](../../../kjv/exodus/31/11). ***The anointing oil*** — [Exodus 30:23](../../../kjv/exodus/30/23); [Exodus 30:23](../../../kjv/exodus/30/23).
***Sweet incense*** — [Exodus 30:23](../../../kjv/exodus/30/23); [Exodus 30:23](../../../kjv/exodus/30/23); and *"*[Exodus 30:24](../../../kjv/exodus/30/24)*"*.

Verse [Exodus 31:13](../../../kjv/exodus/31/13). ***My Sabbaths ye shall keep*** — [Genesis 2:3](../../../kjv/genesis/2/3); [Genesis 2:3](../../../kjv/genesis/2/3); and *"*[Exodus 20:8](../../../kjv/exodus/20/8)*"*.

Verse [Exodus 31:14](../../../kjv/exodus/31/14). ***Every one that defileth it*** — By any kind of idolatrous or profane worship.
***Shall surely be put to death*** — The magistrates shall examine into the business, and if the accused be found guilty, he shall be stoned to death.
***Shall be cut off*** — Because that person who could so far contemn the Sabbath, which was a *sign* to them of the *rest* which remained for the people of God, was of course an *infidel*, and should be cut off from all the privileges and expectations of an Israelite.

Verse [Exodus 31:16](../../../kjv/exodus/31/16). ***A perpetual covenant.*** — Because it is a sign of this *future* rest and blessedness, therefore the religious observance of it must be perpetually kept up. The type must continue in force till the antitype come.

Verse [Exodus 31:17](../../../kjv/exodus/31/17). ***Rested, and was refreshed.*** — God, in condescension to human weakness, applies to himself here what belongs to man. If a man *religiously* rests on the Sabbath, both his body and soul shall be refreshed; he shall acquire new *light* and *life*.

Verse [Exodus 31:18](../../../kjv/exodus/31/18). ***When he had made an end of communing*** — When the forty days and forty nights were ended.
***Two tables of testimony*** — [Exodus 34:1](../../../kjv/exodus/34/1); [Exodus 34:1](../../../kjv/exodus/34/1).
***Tables of stone*** — That the record might be *lasting*, because it was a testimony that referred to *future* generations, and therefore the materials should be durable.
***Written with the finger of God.*** — All the letters cut by God himself. Dr. Winder, in his History of Knowledge, thinks it probable that this was the first writing in *alphabetical* characters ever exhibited to the world, though there might have been *marks* or *hieroglyphics* cut on wood, stone, c., before this time see [Exodus 17:14](../../../kjv/exodus/17/14). That these tables were written, not by the *commandment* but by the power of God himself, the following passages seem to prove: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mountain, and be thou there; and I will give thee tables of stone WHICH I HAVE WRITTEN, that thou mayest teach them;" [Exodus 24:12](../../../kjv/exodus/24/12). "And he gave unto Moses, upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, WRITTEN WITH THE FINGER OF GOD;" [Exodus 31:18](../../../kjv/exodus/31/18). "And Moses went down from the mount, and the two tables of testimony were in his hand; the tables were Written on both their sides. And the tables were THE WORK OF GOD, and the WRITING WAS THE WRITING OF GOD, graven upon the tables;" [Exodus 32:15-16](../../../kjv/exodus/32/15-16). "These words [the ten commandments] the Lord spake in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice; and he added no more, BUT HE WROTE THEM on two tables of stone;" [Deuteronomy 5:22](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/5/22). It is evident therefore that this writing was properly and literally the writing of God himself. God wrote now on tables of *stone* what he had originally written on the *heart* of man, and in mercy he placed that before his eyes which by sin had been obliterated from his soul; and by this he shows us what, by the Spirit of Christ, must be rewritten in the mind, [2 Corinthians 3:3](../../../kjv/2-corinthians/3/3); and this is according to the covenant which God long before promised to make with mankind, [Jeremiah 31:33](../../../kjv/jeremiah/31/33). *See also what is said on this subject, Clarke's note, "*[Exodus 20:1](../../../kjv/exodus/20/1)*"*, and [Exodus 34:1](../../../kjv/exodus/34/1); [Exodus 34:1](../../../kjv/exodus/34/1); and *"*[Exodus 17:14](../../../kjv/exodus/17/14)*"*.
"No time," says Dr. A. Bayley, "seems so proper from whence to date the introduction of *letters* among the Hebrews as this, for *after* this period we find continual mention of *letters, reading*, and *writing*, in the now proper sense of those words. See [Deuteronomy 27:8](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/27/8); [Deuteronomy 31:9](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/31/9). Moses, it is said, επαιδευθη, *was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians*- in all the learning they possessed; but it is manifest that he had not learned of *them* any method of writing, otherwise there had been no want of God's act and assistance in writing the two tables of the law, no need of a miraculous writing. Had Moses known this art, the Lord might have said to him, as he does often afterwards, *Write thou these words*; [Exodus 34:27](../../../kjv/exodus/34/27). *Write on the stones the words of this law*; [Deuteronomy 27:3](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/27/3). *Write you this song for you*; [Deuteronomy 31:19](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/31/19). Perhaps it may be said, God's writing the law gave it a *sanction*. True; but why might it not also teach the first use of letters, unless it can be proved that they were in use prior to this transaction? It might be thought too much to *assert* that letters no more than *language* were a *natural discovery*; that it was impossible for man to have invented *writing*, and that he did not invent it: yet this may appear *really the case* from the following reflections: -
1. *Reason* may show us how near to an impossibility it was that a *just* and *proper* number of *convenient characters* for the *sounds in* *language* should naturally be hit upon by any man, for whom it was easy to *imitate* and *vary*, but not to *invent*.
2. From *evidence* of the Mosaic history, it appears that the introduction of writing among the Hebrews was not from *man*, but GOD.
3. There are no evident vestiges of letters subsisting among other nations till after the delivery of the law at Mount Sinai; nor then, among some, till very late."

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