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CHAPTER XXXI

Bezaleel appointed for the work of the tabernacle, 1-5. Aholiab appointed for the same, 6. The particular things on which they were to be employed, the ark and mercy-seat, 7. Table, candlestick, and altar of incense, 8. Altar of burnt- offering and the laver, 9. Priest's garments, 10.Anointing oil and sweet incense, 11. God renews the command relative to the sanctification of the Sabbath, 12-17. Delivers to Moses the two tables of stone, 18.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXXI

Verse 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, lalxb 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 Chron. ii. 5, 9, 18, 19, 20, and see the note on "Exodus xvii. 10".

Verse 3. "I have filled him with the spirit of God" - See the note on "chap. xxviii. 3".

"In wisdom" - hmkj , chochmah, from µkj chacham, to be wise, skillful, 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, , to teach, to advise, and , to judge; hence , the doom or judgment of the well taught, wise, or prudent man.

"Understanding" - hnwbt tebunah, from b 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" - t[d daath, denoting particular acquaintance with a person or thing; practical, experimental knowledge.

Verse 4. "Cunning works" - tbjm machashaboth, works of invention or genius, in the goldsmith and silversmith line.

Verse 5. "In cutting of stones, &c." - Every thing that concerned the lapidary's, jeweller's, and carver's art.

Verse 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.

wv dÆ ote tiv cruson periceuetaiargurw anhr idriv, on `hfaistov dedaen kai pallav aqhnh tecnhn pantoihn, carienta de erga teleiei.Odyss., 1. 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 viii. 12. See the note on "chap. xxviii. 3", to which the reader is particularly desired to refer. There is something remarkable in the name of this second superintendent, baylha Aholiab, the tabernacle of the father, or, the father is my tabernacle; a name nearly similar in its meaning to that of Bezaleel, see the note on "ver. 2".

Verse 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 9. "The altar of burnt-offering" - See note on "Exodus xxvii. 1".

"The laver and his foot" - The pedestal on which it stood.

Verse 10. "Clothes of service" - Vestments for the ordinary work of their ministry; the holy garments - those which were peculiar to the high priest.

Verse 11. "The anointing oil" - See note on "chap. xxx. 23".

"Sweet incense" - See on chap. xxx. 24. See note on "Exodus xxx. 23".

Verse 13. "My Sabbaths ye shall keep" - See note on "Gen. ii. 3". See note on "chap. xx. 8".

Verse 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 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 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 18. "When he had made an end of communing" - When the forty days and forty nights were ended.

"Two tables of testimony" - See note on "chap. xxxiv. 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 chap. xvii. 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;" chap. xxiv. 12.

"And he gave unto Moses, upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, WRITTEN WITH THE FINGER OF GOD;" ver. 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;" chap. xxxii. 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;" Deut. v. 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 Cor. iii. 3; and this is according to the covenant which God long before promised to make with mankind, Jer. xxxi. 33. See also what is said on this subject, "chap. xx. 1", and see note "chap. xxxiv. 1". See the note on "chap. xvii. 14".