The “Good” Book?: Chapter II Book II Exodus 1-40

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Call him, that he may eat bread. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.

This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations. So you shall plunder the Egyptians. The water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land. Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you.

When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn. Then he did the signs in the sight of the people. I do not know the Lord , nor will I let Israel go. Get back to your labor.

Let them go and gather straw for themselves. You shall not reduce it.

Why is it You have sent me? For with a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I am the Lord. How then shall Pharaoh heed me, for I am [ ad ] of uncircumcised lips? These are the families of Reuben. These are the families of Simeon. Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. And the years of the life of Levi were one hundred and thirty-seven. And the years of the life of Kohath were one hundred and thirty-three.

These are the families of Levi according to their generations. And the years of the life of Amram were one hundred and thirty-seven. These are the families of the Korahites. These are the same Moses and Aaron. Speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you. And Aaron your brother shall tell Pharaoh to send the children of Israel out of his land. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Behold, I will strike the waters which are in the river with the rod that is in my hand, and they shall be turned to blood.

And there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in buckets of wood and pitchers of stone. So he lifted up the rod and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. And all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. So there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. Neither was his heart moved by this. They shall remain in the river only. And Moses cried out to the Lord concerning the frogs which He had brought against Pharaoh.

And the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courtyards, and out of the fields. For Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and struck the dust of the earth, and it became lice on man and beast. All the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. So there were lice on man and beast. The houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they stand. Tomorrow this sign shall be. The land was corrupted because of the swarms of flies.

If we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, then will they not [ au ] stone us? But let Pharaoh not deal deceitfully anymore in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord. So nothing shall die of all that belongs to the children of Israel. But the heart of Pharaoh became hard, and he did not let the people go. And they caused boils that break out in sores on man and beast. And the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt. The Lord is righteous, and my people and I are wicked. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer. Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed? Who are the ones that are going? Beware, for evil is ahead of you. Go now, you who are men, and serve the Lord , for that is what you desired. When it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. They were very severe; previously there had been no such locusts as they, nor shall there be such after them.

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So there remained nothing green on the trees or on the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt. There remained not one locust in all the territory of Egypt. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. Let your little ones also go with you. For we must take some of them to serve the Lord our God, and even we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there. Take heed to yourself and see my face no more!

For in the day you see my face you shall die! I will never see your face again. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. So you shall eat it in haste. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.

On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that [ bf ] person shall be [ bg ] cut off from Israel. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat—that only may be prepared by you. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance.

And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. And go, serve the Lord as you have said. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. This is that night of the Lord , a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations. No foreigner shall eat it. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it. No leavened bread shall be eaten. And no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters. And all the firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.

Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all males that open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt?

About the Book

For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness. Stand still, and see the salvation [ bu ] of the Lord , which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. Tell the children of Israel to go forward. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

So I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night. So the Lord overthrew [ by ] the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. Not so much as one of them remained. The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea! I will draw my sword, My hand shall destroy them. Who is like You, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders?

But the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. Therefore the name of it was called [ ce ] Marah. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. For I am the Lord who heals you. For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. And the people shall go out and gather [ cg ] a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not.

But what are we, that you complain against us? And what are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the Lord. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God. But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. And when the sun became hot, it melted. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.

Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning. For the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. And it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. Why do you tempt the Lord?

They are almost ready to stone [ cj ] me! Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

And they asked each other about their well-being, and they went into the tent. Why do you alone [ cv ] sit, and all the people stand before you from morning until evening? For this thing is too much for you; you are not able to perform it by yourself. Stand before God for the people, so that you may bring the difficulties to God.

Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you. Regrettably, some Christians seem to believe that following God at work consists primarily of speaking for God on the basis of their individual understanding, rather than working respectfully with others or taking responsibility for their actions.

The third commandment also reminds us that respecting human names is important to God. Do you know the name of the person who empties your trash can, answers your customer service call, or drives your bus? If these examples do not concern the very name of the Lord, they do concern the name of those made in his image.

The issue of the Sabbath is complex, not only in the book of Exodus and the Old Testament, but also in Christian theology and practice. The first part of the command calls for ceasing labor one day in seven. In the context of the ancient world, the Sabbath was unique to Israel. On the one hand, this was an incomparable gift to the people of Israel. No other ancient people had the privilege of resting one day in seven. Six days of work had to be enough to plant crops, gather the harvest, carry water, spin cloth, and draw sustenance from creation.

While Israel rested one day every week, the encircling nations continued to forge swords, feather arrows, and train soldiers. Israel had to trust God not to let a day of rest lead to economic and military catastrophe. Does it take seven days of work to hold a job or two or three jobs , clean the house, prepare the meals, mow the lawn, wash the car, pay the bills, finish the school work, and shop for the clothes, or can we trust God to provide for us even if we take a day off during the course of every week?

The fourth commandment does not explain how God will make it all work out for us. It simply tells us to rest one day every seven.

The polarity that actually undergirds the Sabbath is work and rest. Both work and rest are included in the fourth commandment. The six days of work are as much a part of the commandment as the one day of rest. Although many Christians are in danger of allowing work to squeeze the time set aside for rest, others are in danger of the opposite, of shirking work and trying to live a life of leisure and dissipation. If overwork is our main danger, we need to find a way to honor the fourth commandment without instituting a false, new legalism pitting the spiritual worship on Sunday worship against the secular work on Monday through Saturday.

If avoiding work is our danger, we need to learn how to find joy and meaning in working as a service to God and our neighbors Eph. There are many ways to honor—or dishonor—your father and mother. But Jesus pointed out that obeying this commandment requires working to provide for your parents Mark 7: We honor people by working for their good. For many people, good relationships with parents are one of the joys of life. Loving service to them is a delight, and obeying this commandment is easy. But we are put to the test by this commandment when we find it burdensome to work on behalf of our parents.

We may have been ill-treated or neglected by them. They may be controlling and meddlesome.

Even if we have good relationships with our parents, there may come a time when caring for them is a major burden simply because of the time and work it takes. If aging or dementia begins to rob them of their memory, capabilities, and good nature, caring for them can become a deep sorrow. We are not told how this will occur, but we are told to expect it, and to do that we must trust God see the first commandment.

Because this is a command to work for the benefit of parents, it is inherently a workplace command. The place of work may be where we earn money to support them, or it may be in the place where we assist them in the tasks of daily life. When we take a job because it allows us to live near them, or send money to them, or make use of the values and gifts they developed in us, or accomplish things they taught us are important, we are honoring them. When we limit our careers so that we can be present with them, clean and cook for them, bathe and embrace them, take them to the places they love, or diminish their fears, we are honoring them.

We must also recognize that in many cultures, the work people do is dictated by the choices of their parents and needs of their families rather than their own decisions and preferences. Even Jesus experienced such parental misunderstanding when Mary and Joseph could not understand why he remained behind in the temple while his family departed Jerusalem Luke 2: In our workplaces, we can help other people fulfill the fifth commandment, as well as obeying it ourselves.

We can remember that employees, customers, co-workers, bosses, suppliers, and others also have families, and then can adjust our expectations to support them in honoring their families. When others share or complain about their struggles with parents, we can listen to them compassionately, support them practically for example, by offering to take a shift so they can be with their parents , perhaps offer a godly perspective for them to consider, or simply reflect the grace of Christ to those who feel they are failing in their parent-child relationships.

Sadly, the sixth commandment has an all-too-practical application in the modern workplace, where 10 percent of all job-related fatalities in the United States are homicides. Jesus said that even anger is a violation of the sixth commandment Matt. As Paul noted, we may not be able to prevent the feeling of anger, but we can learn how to cope with our it.

Murder is intentional killing, but the case law that stems from the sixth commandment shows that we also have the duty to prevent unintended deaths. A particularly graphic case is when an ox a work animal gores a man or woman to death Exod. Yet workplaces of all kinds continue to require or allow workers to work in needlessly unsafe conditions. Christians who have any role in setting the conditions of work, supervising workers, or modeling workplace practices are reminded by the sixth commandment that safe working conditions are among their highest responsibilities in the world of work.

The workplace is one of the most common settings for adultery, not necessarily because adultery occurs in the workplace itself, but because it arises from the conditions of work and relationships with co-workers. The first application to the workplace, then, is literal. Married people should not have sex with people other than their spouses at, in, or because of their work.

Obviously this rules out sex professions such as prostitution, pornography, and sex surrogacy, at least in most cases, to the degree workers have a choice. But any kind of work that erodes the bonds of marriage infringes the seventh commandment. There are many ways this can occur.

Work that encourages strong emotional bonds among co-workers without adequately supporting their commitments to their spouses, as can happen in hospitals, entrepreneurial ventures, academic institutions and churches, among other places. Work that subjects people to sexual harassment and pressure to have sex with those holding power over them.

Work that demands so much time away physically, mentally, or emotionally that it frays the bonds between spouses. All of these may pose dangers that Christians would do well to recognize and avoid, ameliorate, or guard against. Yet the seriousness of the seventh commandment arises not so much because adultery is illicit sex, as because it breaks a covenant ordained by God.

Therefore, any breaking of faith with the God of Israel is figuratively adultery, whether it involves illicit sex or not. Therefore, work that requires or leads us into idolatry or worshipping other gods is to be avoided. Christian actors may find it difficult to perform profane, irreligious, or spiritually demoralizing roles. Everything we do in life, including work, tends in some degree either to enhance or diminish our relationship with God; over a lifetime, the constant stress of work that diminishes us spiritually may prove devastating.

The distinctive aspect of covenants violated by adultery is that they are covenants with God. Contracts, promises, and agreements are surely things we do in word or deed, or both. If we do them all in the name of the Lord Jesus, it cannot be that some promises must be honored because they are covenants with God, while others may be broken because they are merely human. We are to honor all our agreements, and to avoid inducing others to break theirs. Whether this is contained in Exodus The eighth commandment is another that takes work as its primary subject.

Stealing is a violation of proper work because it dispossesses the victim of the fruits of his or her labor. It is also a violation of the commandment to labor six days a week, since in most cases stealing is intended as a shortcut around honest labor, which shows again the interrelation of the Ten Commandments. Stealing occurs in many forms besides robbing someone.

Any time we acquire something of value from its rightful owner without consent, we are engaging in theft.

Misappropriating resources or funds for personal use is stealing. Using deception to make sales, gain market share, or raise prices is stealing because the deception means that whatever the buyer consents to is not the actual situation. Violating patents, copyrights, and other intellectual property laws is stealing because it deprives owners of the ability to profit from their creation under the terms of civil law. Companies, governments, individuals, unions, and other players may use their power to coerce others into unfair wages, prices, financial terms, working conditions, hours, or other factors.

Although we may not rob banks, steal from our employers, or shoplift, we may very likely be participating in unfair or unethical practices that deprive others of what rights should be theirs. It can be difficult, even career-limiting, to resist engaging in these practices, but we are called to do so nonetheless. Judicial decisions and other legal processes wield great power.

Manipulating them undercuts the ethical fabric of society and thus constitutes a very serious offense. Although stated in courtroom language, the ninth commandment also applies to a broad range of situations that touch practically every aspect of life. We should never say or do anything that misrepresents someone else.

Brueggemann again provides insight:. Politicians seek to destroy one another in negative campaigning; gossip columnists feed off calumny; and in Christian living rooms, reputations are tarnished or destroyed over cups of coffee served in fine china with dessert. These de facto courtrooms are conducted without due process of law.

Accusations are made; hearsay allowed; slander, perjury, and libelous comments uttered without objection. No evidence, no defense. As Christians, we must refuse to participate in or to tolerate any conversation in which a person is being defamed or accused without the person being there to defend himself.

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It is wrong to pass along hearsay in any form, even as prayer requests or pastoral concerns. More than merely not participating, it is up to Christians to stop rumors and those who spread them in their tracks. This further suggests that workplace gossip is a serious offense. Some of it pertains to personal, off-site matters, which is evil enough.

But what about cases when an employee tarnishes the reputation of a co-worker? And what about assessments of performance? What safeguards ought to be in place to ensure that reports are fair and accurate? On a large scale, the business of marketing and advertisement operates in the public space among organizations and individuals. The scope of our global economy suggests this command may have very wide application indeed. In a world where perception often counts for reality, the rhetoric of effective persuasion may or may not have much, if anything, to do with genuine truth.

The divine origin of this command reminds us that people may not be able to detect when our representation of others is accurate or not, but God cannot be fooled. With this command, we understand that we must say the right thing when anybody is listening. Abingdon Press, , We may have many good reasons to desire achievement, advancement, or reward at work.

Nor is working obsessively out of envy for the social standing it may enable. In particular, we face temptation at work to falsely inflate our accomplishments at the expense of others. The antidote is simple, although hard to do at times. Make it a consistent practice to recognize the accomplishments of others and give them all the credit they deserve. A collection of case laws follows, flowing from the Ten Commandments.

As cases, they are all embedded in the situations faced by the people of Israel. Indeed, throughout the Pentateuch the Torah , it can be difficult to sift out the specific laws from the surrounding narrative and exhortation. Four sections of the case law are particularly applicable to work today. Although God liberated the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt, slavery is not universally prohibited in the Bible.

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Slavery was permissible in certain situations, so long as slaves were regarded as full members of the community Gen. Cruelty on the part of the owner resulted in immediate freedom for the slave Exod. Female Hebrew slavery was in one sense even more protective. Moreover, if the buyer failed to treat the female slave with all the rights due an ordinary wife, he was required to set her free. Yet in another sense, women had far less protection than men. Although this made her a "wife" rather than a "slave," would forced marriage be any less objectionable than forced labor?

Slaves could also be purchased from surrounding nations Eccl. The other protections afforded Hebrew slaves did apply to foreigners, but this must have been small comfort to those who faced a lifetime of forced labor. In contrast to slavery in the United States, which generally forbade marriage among slaves, the regulations in Exodus aim to preserve families intact. Yet often, as we have seen, the actual result of the regulations was forced marriage.

Regardless of any protections afforded in the Law, slavery was by no means an agreeable way of life. Slaves were, for whatever duration of their enslavement, property. Whatever the regulations, in practice there was probably little protection against maltreatment, and abuses occurred. To our eyes, the results do--and should--appear very disquieting. In any case, before we become too smug, we should take a look at the working conditions that prevail today among poor people in every corner of the world, including the developed nations.

Ceaseless labor for those working two or three jobs to support families, abuse and arbitrary exercise of power by those in power, and misappropriation of the fruits of labor by illicit business operators, corrupt officials, and politically connected bosses. Millions work today without so much as the regulations provided by the Law of Moses. The casuistic laws spelled out penalties for offenses, including many relating directly to commerce, especially in the case of liability for loss or injury.

The so-called lex talionis , which also appears in Leviticus The list is notably specific. Interestingly, in this very part of Exodus, we do not see the lex talionis being applied in this manner. The text does not go on to say he must sit still for a public and comparable beating by his former victim. It appears that the lex talionis did not determine the standard penalty for major offenses, but that it set an upper ceiling for damages that could be claimed. Thus it would be quite possible for injured parties not to insist on their full rights under the lex talionis , but negotiate a lower settlement or even forgive the offender altogether.

This issue of interpreting the lex talionis illustrates that there may be a difference between doing what the Bible literally says and applying what the Bible instructs. Obtaining a biblical solution to our problems will not always be a straightforward matter. Was he speaking of a personal ethic, or did he expect his followers to apply this principle in business? Does it work better for small offenses than it does for big ones?

The specific instructions about restitution and penalties for thievery accomplished two aims. Second, they punished and educated the thief by causing him to experience the full pain that he had caused for the victim. These aims can form a Christian basis for the work of civil and criminal law today. Current judicial work operates according to specific statutes and guidelines set by the state.

But even so, judges have a measure of freedom to set sentences and penalties. For disputes that are settled out of court, attorneys negotiate to help their clients reach a conclusive agreement. A full description and assessment of such approaches is beyond our scope here, but we want to note that Scripture has much to offer contemporary systems of justice in this regard.

In business, leaders sometimes must mediate between workers who have serious work-related issues with one another. Deciding the right and fair thing affects not only the ones embroiled in the dispute, it also can affect the whole atmosphere of the organization and even serve to set precedent for how workers may expect to fare in the future. The immediate stakes may be very high. On top of this, when Christians must make these kinds of decisions, onlookers draw conclusions about us as people, as well as the legitimacy of the faith we claim to live by.

Clearly, we cannot anticipate every situation and neither does the book of Exodus. But we do know that God expects us to apply his instructions, and we can be confident that asking God how to love our neighbors as ourselves is the best place to start. What these three groups had in common was that they did not possess land on which to support themselves. Case law on this matter is also developed in Isaiah 1: The practice of gleaning was not a handout, but an opportunity for the poor to support themselves. Landowners were required to leave each field, vineyard, and orchard fallow one year in every seven, and the poor were allowed to harvest anything that might grow there Exod.

For example, an olive grove or a vineyard was to be harvested only once each season Deut. After that, the poor were entitled to gather what was left over, perhaps what was of lesser quality or slower to ripen. This practice was not only an expression of kindness, but it was also a matter of justice.

Today, there are many ways that growers, food producers, and distributors share with the poor. Many of them donate the day's leftover but wholesome food to pantries and shelters. Others work to make food more affordable by increasing their own efficiency. There is nothing to glean on the floor of a stock exchange, assembly plant, or programming lab.

Exodus and Work | Bible Commentary | Theology of Work

But the principle of providing productive work for vulnerable workers is still relevant. Corporations can productively employ people with mental and physical disabilities, with or without government assistance. With training and support, people from disadvantaged backgrounds, prisoners returning to society, and others who have difficulty finding conventional employment can become productive workers and earn a living.

Other economically vulnerable people may have to depend on contributions of money instead of receiving opportunities to work. Here again the modern situation is too complex for us to proclaim a simplistic application of the biblical law. But the values underlying the law may offer a significant contribution to the design and execution of systems of public welfare, personal charity, and corporate social responsibility.

Many Christians have significant roles in hiring workers or designing employment policies. Another set of case laws regulated money and collateral Exod. Two situations are in view. This loan shall not be made according to the usual standards of money-lending. Did neshek refer to excessive and therefore unfair interest charged, on top of the reasonable amount of interest required to keep the practice of money-lending financially viable?

Or did it refer to any interest? Whether or not this law was good for business is not in view here. It simply requires the need for care in concrete ways, and it expects the community to work out the practical details. It should be returned to him at night so that he can sleep without endangering his health Exod.

Does this mean that the creditor should visit him in the morning to collect the coat for the day and to keep doing so until the loan is repaid? In the context of such obvious destitution, a godly creditor could avoid the near absurdity of this cycle by simply not expecting the borrower to put up any collateral at all.

For example, microfinance in less developed countries was developed with interest rates and collateral policies tailored to meet the needs of poor people who otherwise have no access to credit. The goal—at least in the earliest years beginning in the s—was not to maximize profit for the lenders, but to provide sustainable lending institutions to help the poor escape poverty. The presence of specific regulations following the Ten Commandments means that God wants his people to honor him by putting his instructions into actual practice to serve real needs.

Studying the specific applications of these laws in ancient Israel helps us to think about the particular ways we can act today. But we remember that even then, these laws were illustrations. In other words, one is invited by the law to go beyond the law. Third, we are to be his holy people Exod. Westminster John Knox Press, , Motyer, The Message of Exodus: The work of building the tabernacle may seem to lie outside the scope of the Theology of Work Project because of its liturgical focus.

Certainly, its construction has no close parallel in the construction of church buildings. The chapters in Exodus dealing with the tabernacle are all about the establishment of a unique institution. They were not exemplars to be reproduced wherever Israelites would settle down to live. Finally, the purpose of the tabernacle was not to give Israel an authorized place to worship.

It was about the presence of God in their midst. Christians today understand that God dwelt among us in the person of his Son John 1: In light of these observations, we will take up two claims that relate to work. First, God is an architect. Second, God equips his people to do his work. But God did more than tell Israel what he wanted from them. He provided the actual design for it. Architects today use blueprints to direct construction, but it may have been that some kind of archetypal model was in view.

The future New Jerusalem is a city only God could design Rev. The accounts of Bezalel, Oholiab, and all of the skilled workers on the tabernacle are full of work-related terms Exod. Bezalel and Oholiab are important not only for their work on the tabernacle, but also as role models for Solomon and Huram-abi who built the temple. The fabrication of garments would have required getting wool, spinning it, dyeing it, weaving it, designing clothes, manufacturing and tailoring them, and the work of embroidery. The craftsmen even prepared anointing oil and fragrant incense.

What unites all of these practices is God filling the workers with his Spirit. The wide range of construction activities in this passage illustrates, but does not exhaust, what building in the ancient Near East entailed. Since God inspired them, we can safely assume he desired them and blessed them. But do we really need texts like these to assure us that God approves of these kinds of work? What about related skills that are not mentioned? Somewhat facetiously, had the tabernacle needed an air-conditioning system, we assume God would have given plans for a good one. Occasionally this may be justified, but generally not.

The Bible does not have to name every noble profession for us to see it as a godly thing to do. The law that ancient houses be built with a protective parapet around the flat roof Deut. The point about the Spirit-gifting of the tabernacle-workers is that God cared about this particular project for these particular purposes. The ways in which he equips us for his work may be as varied as are those many tasks.

He provides us with every blessing in abundance so that we may share abundantly in every good work 2 Cor. The word tavnit describes the three-dimensional shape of idols Deut. Dillard, 2 Chronicles , vol. Word, , Robert Banks, God the Worker: In Exodus, we see God bring his people out of oppressive labor into the glorious freedom of the children of God. It is not a freedom from working, but a freedom to love and serve the Lord through work in every aspect of life.

God provides guidance for life and labor that will glorify him and bless Israel. And he provides a place for his presence to bless all they do. We're grateful to God that we've accomplished many of our objectives to help people engage with the Bible's wisdom for their work.

Help us finish the year strong. We ask that you prayerfully consider joining us in this work! Every resource on our site was made possible through the financial support of people like you. Based on a work at www. Clines, Theme of the Pentateuch , 2nd ed. Israel in Egypt Exodus 1: The Work of Midwifery and Mothering Exodus 1: Calling and Giftedness Click to Listen In this interview, Bill Hendricks discusses the significance of giftedness for vocation.

Childs, Memory and Tradition in Israel London: Israel at Mount Sinai Exodus The Meaning of Law in Exodus Exodus Christopher Wright has written: The Role of the Law for Christians Exodus Instructions about Work Exodus The Ten Commandments Exodus Brueggemann again provides insight: Case Laws in the Book of the Covenant Exodus Slavery or Indentured Servitude Exodus

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