May 22, 2018: Day 38 – Exodus 38

So this master craftsman keeps showing up.  I didn’t realize what a crucial place Bezalel plays in Exodus.  I had not remembered this guy at all.  I knew Pharaoh, I knew Moses, I knew Aaron, I even knew Moses’ wife Zipporah (who doesn’t remember that name?), but Bezalel?  He didn’t make my list of the top 5 people in Exodus, and he probably should have.  So many chapters are given over to drawing out the details of all the work that he did.  I mean, this was work, real work.  

He is in that long list of people who have served the Lord their entire life and are never remembered.  We remember those who were front and center, but not Bezalel, he was behind the scenes making sure that all of the details were carried out.  He was the one behind the scenes making sure that the commandments of the Lord were carried out in relationship to how the temple of the Lord was supposed to look like.  He never speaks, he never objects, he never interjects, he just does what he is asked to do for the kingdom of God.  What a servant. 

Did you notice how many people were counted as being in the tribes of Israel?  603,500.  That is not an insignificant number especially since it doesn’t mention the women and children in this number.  We are talking about millions of  people migrating toward the promised land.  That is a bit difficult to control and it puts these things into perspective.  It makes you realize that even if only 10% of the population wanted the golden calf, that is 60,000 people plus. That’s hard to deny and that is not an insignificant voice.  I’m so glad that we are doing Exodus, it is really revealing things that in the past we probably just looked over.  So much is in the details.