1.
Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whom the LORD put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the LORD had commanded.
CONSECRATED ART
‘Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab.’
Exodus 36:1
It is sadly instructive to notice that the first application of mechanical skill among the liberated Hebrews was the construction of an idol. The golden calf is the earliest specimen of their art after they obtained their independence. The readiness with which they fell into idolatry reads a humiliating lesson to human kind in every age. Aaron, in his lame apology, says ( Exodus 32:24), ‘I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.’ Thus a naughty child, caught in the act, ventures half a lie to hide his transgression. No doubt, he or the workman at his bidding, cast the gold into the furnace, and the calf came out: but this is not the whole truth in the case. They planned and executed the image.
I. From the history of the Exodus, we learn that, while the application of art in the service of idolatry came easy and natural to the artists, the application of art to the worship of God was the result of Divine qualification and call. The workers were chosen, and their work prescribed; ‘I have called by name Bezaleel and Aholiab.’ Further, at the very time when the men of Israel were applying their skill to the construction of an idol, God was intimating to Moses in the mount His choice of that skill for the purposes of His own worship. Whether the same two men, Bezaleel and Aholiab, who were selected as the architects of the tent-temple for the worship of God, were employed by Aaron to make an idol in imitation of the Egyption Apis, we do not certainly know. The artificer of the golden calf is not named in the Scriptures. But it is in every way probable that the same men who constructed the idol were afterwards employed in the service of true religion. The skill of those men would be well known throughout the community. A talent such as this cannot be hid. It is the ordinary method of the Divine government not to create new faculties, but in a kingly way to take possession of faculties already existing, and impress them by the power of love into the service of the King.
Thus, Saul of Tarsus was taken captive, and his skill transferred to the service of the Conqueror. The chief priests kept that man in constant employment. His task was to destroy the Church. His great and peculiar talents were laid out in the service of the enemy, before he became a vessel to bear the name of Christ. But, as in the case of the ancient Hebrew artists, the decree had gone forth on the mount, while they were in the flagrant act of idol-making in the valley, that their skill should be forthwith consecrated to the service of God; so, at the very time that the young man Saul kept the clothes of the ruffians who murdered Stephen, the purpose of the Lord was sure, and the decree was already on the wing that should arrest the man, and employ his varied learning in establishing the kingdom of Christ.
II. Can art be employed in making the truth more attractive, so that it may win the nations to the Saviour?—It may; it shall: but the blessed consummation cannot be attained by any rude material process. Gold and silver, wood and iron, are not plastic in the Holy Spirit’s hands. In the human soul sits the disease that perverts art; to the human soul must the cure be applied which shall make all art loyal again to the King Eternal. Alas, our art, with the wealth which it brings, seems to gravitate, like that of the Hebrews, to idolatry! We do not make a calf and dance round it. Covetousness is a more refined and equally real idolatry. Other worships, less reputable, but even more imperious, draw devotees in thousands to their shrines. If the skilful, wealthy, powerful persons were converted to Christ, the skill, and wealth, and power would become tribute in his treasury.
The Art of Britain lacks the blessing, because her artisans, the pith and marrow of the nation, are in a great measure ignorant of the gospel, and of the church and its ordinances.
Illustration
(1) ‘It is only our ignorance and unbelief that put any limit whatever to the sphere of the Spirit’s working. He can give miraculous strength, and health, and skill, to both body and brain. He can make a dull schoolboy bright, and the clumsy fingers of a little needlewoman to grow skilful, and even clever. By His miraculous aid, many a missionary has learned a new tongue in far less than record time; and many a servant, unskilled to cook, has prepared an excellent dinner. “ All my life I’ve been doing the impossible,” said one of our most spiritual teachers not very long ago. It is an exhilarating ideal:—To be ever filled with the Spirit, and then to face everything, no matter how wearisome, or mundane, or difficult, in the certainty of His sufficient help. Finger-tip Christianity is the teaching of our passage. A vast amount of most artistic work had to be done in six short months. It was a sheer impossibility. Then the Spirit came upon Bezaleel and Aholiab, making them men of genius both to invent, to execute, and to teach and train others.’
(2) ‘It is quite clear that we must cease to think of the Divine Spirit as inspiring only hymns and sermons. All that is good and beautiful and wise in human art is of God. The doctrine of this passage is the Divinity of all endowment. Where shall we draw the line, in architecture or in iron-work? Every good gift is from above.’
2.
And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it:
3.
And they received of Moses all the offering, which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it withal. And they brought yet unto him free offerings every morning.
4.
And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they made;
5.
And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make.
6.
And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing.
7.
For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.
8.
And every wise hearted man among them that wrought the work of the tabernacle made ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work made he them.
9.
The length of one curtain was twenty and eight cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: the curtains were all of one size.
10.
And he coupled the five curtains one unto another: and the other five curtains he coupled one unto another.
11.
And he made loops of blue on the edge of one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling: likewise he made in the uttermost side of another curtain, in the coupling of the second.
12.
Fifty loops made he in one curtain, and fifty loops made he in the edge of the curtain which was in the coupling of the second: the loops held one curtain to another.
13.
And he made fifty taches of gold, and coupled the curtains one unto another with the taches: so it became one tabernacle.
14.
And he made curtains of goats' hair for the tent over the tabernacle: eleven curtains he made them.
15.
The length of one curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits was the breadth of one curtain: the eleven curtains were of one size.
16.
And he coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves.
17.
And he made fifty loops upon the uttermost edge of the curtain in the coupling, and fifty loops made he upon the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second.
18.
And he made fifty taches of brass to couple the tent together, that it might be one.
19.
And he made a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of badgers' skins above that.
20.
And he made boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood, standing up.
21.
The length of a board was ten cubits, and the breadth of a board one cubit and a half.
22.
One board had two tenons, equally distant one from another: thus did he make for all the boards of the tabernacle.
23.
And he made boards for the tabernacle; twenty boards for the south side southward:
24.
And forty sockets of silver he made under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons.
25.
And for the other side of the tabernacle, which is toward the north corner, he made twenty boards,
26.
And their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.
27.
And for the sides of the tabernacle westward he made six boards.
28.
And two boards made he for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides.
29.
And they were coupled beneath, and coupled together at the head thereof, to one ring: thus he did to both of them in both the corners.
30.
And there were eight boards; and their sockets were sixteen sockets of silver, under every board two sockets.
31.
And he made bars of shittim wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle,
32.
And five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle for the sides westward.
33.
And he made the middle bar to shoot through the boards from the one end to the other.
34.
And he overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold to be places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold.
35.
And he made a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubims made he it of cunning work.
36.
And he made thereunto four pillars of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold: their hooks were of gold; and he cast for them four sockets of silver.
37.
And he made an hanging for the tabernacle door of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, of needlework;
38.
And the five pillars of it with their hooks: and he overlaid their chapiters and their fillets with gold: but their five sockets were of brass.