This program of daily devotions is designed to take you through the Bible in three years. It is our desire to help you gain a better general understanding of God's Word.
Please understand that in a study this brief, we will be concerned with only the major emphases and context of the Scriptures.
Each day a devotion for one or two chapters is posted, beginning with chapter one of Genesis and going through chapter twenty-two of Revelation. You are free to print each page as it appears. If you miss a day, you may contact us and request that devotion. Please send your request, along with $.50 (p&h) for each page to:
Bruce McGee,Pastor
205 Adams
Columbia, LA 71418
HERE
Bro. Bruce's commentary for the book of Genesis is
now available in hard copy for $7.50. Just mail your request for COMMENTARY ON GENESIS to the address above
EXODUS
1 And Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together, and said unto them, These are the words which the LORD hath commanded, that ye should do them.
2 Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the LORD: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death.
3 Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day.
Here, God reiterates the importance of keeping the Sabbath. And again, let me
4 And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the LORD commanded, saying,
5 Take ye from among you an offering unto the LORD: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the LORD; gold, and silver, and brass,
6 And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair,
7 And rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and shittim wood,
8 And oil for the light, and spices for anointing oil, and for the sweet incense,
9 And onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod, and for the breastplate.
The Lord calls for an offering of "goods" to be used in building the temple. The items
10 And every wise hearted among you shall come, and make all that the LORD hath commanded;
11 The tabernacle, his tent, and his covering, his taches, and his boards, his bars, his pillars, and his sockets,
12 The ark, and the staves thereof, with the mercy seat, and the vail of the covering,
13 The table, and his staves, and all his vessels, and the shewbread,
14 The candlestick also for the light, and his furniture, and his lamps, with the oil for the light,
15 And the incense altar, and his staves, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the hanging for the door at the entering in of the tabernacle,
16 The altar of burnt offering, with his brasen grate, his staves, and all his vessels, the laver and his foot,
17 The hangings of the court, his pillars, and their sockets, and the hanging for the door of the court,
18 The pins of the tabernacle, and the pins of the court, and their cords,
19 The cloths of service, to do service in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office.
The "wisehearted" are called to make the items for the tabernacle. This is an offering of talents
20 And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses.
21 And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the LORD's offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments.
22 And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted, and brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold: and every man that offered offered an offering of gold unto the LORD.
23 And every man, with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, and red skins of rams, and badgers' skins, brought them.
24 Every one that did offer an offering of silver and brass brought the LORD's offering: and every man, with whom was found shittim wood for any work of the service, brought it.
25 And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen.
26 And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats' hair.
27 And the rulers brought onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate;
28 And spice, and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense.
29 The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the LORD, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses.
The willingness of the people is stressed in this passage of Scripture. Note that they are
30 And Moses said unto the children of Israel, See, the LORD hath called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah;
31 And he hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship;
32 And to devise curious works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,
33 And in the cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of wood, to make any manner of cunning work.
34 And he hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he, and Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.
35 Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise cunning work.
These are the leaders of craftmanship: Bezalel (verse 30) and Aholiab (verse 34). Even when we are
CHAPTER 36
In chapters 25-31 God gave instructions for building the tabernacle. But Israel broke the covenant!
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.
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.
In Chapter 35 Moses relayed God's command to bring specified offerings for the building of the tabernacle.
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.
First they built the frame, or walls of the tabernacle. Remember, this is a tent - it is mobile.
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.
Here is a very detailed account of the boards and cross bars for the frame work. This tent would be tested
Please continue to follow along in Bible study with us.
CHAPTER 35
point out that God is SINCERE about it. Notice that in verse 2 the death
penalty is given for anyone who does not keep the Sabbath.
Do you suppose God is serious about us going to church on Sunday?
Notice also in verse 3 that there is no "fire" to be kindled. No self-service on
this day -- not even COOKING!
needed are specified. All that we have came from God, and He is willing to receive it
as an offering to Himself. Note that this was a "willing" offering - not an imposed tax.
God loves a cheerful giver (2Corinthians 9:7).
and skills and time. The wisehearted are those whom God has specifically endowed with certain
special abilities. These are expected to render extra service to the Lord under His direction.
The more we have been blessed, the more we are USED.
"made willing" by the Lord's Holy Spirit (vers 21). God's Holy Spirit calls for willingness, but man
must answer out of a surrendered will. If we are not willing to listen to God, He cannot
make us willing; neither can He make us wisehearted.
made wisehearted for service, God has special leaders. We should follow their guidance.
How are these leaders known? (See verse 31) They will show correct leadership by being accountable
to God and His Word.
Now the covenant has been renewed and the people begin to follow God's instructions and build according
to His plans.
They brought these offerings every morning (verse 3). Here we find that their giving exceeded the need.
In verse 5, Besalel and Aholiab told Moses what the people had brought was "more than enough."
And in verse 6, Moses tells the people not to bring any more gifts to build the tabernacle.
In fact, as we read this verse, it seems the people felt it was restraint when they weren't
allowed to bring more!
Paul told the church at Corinth that the Macedoniah churches gave in similar fashion (2Corinthians 8:1-4).
In fact, Paul said that they gave "beyond their power."!! How can this happen? By people first giving
themselves to the Lord. Then they will give OF themselves.
((The first church I pastored had only 7 people in it when my family moved there. We were 4, and so
that made a grand total of ELEVEN! I was teaching school at the time, and everyone knows that school
teachers don't make much money. The next summer, the church decided to pay me not only the amount they
had been paying, but to ALSO pay the amount I made teaching school. They would do this for the three
months I was out of school so I wouldn't have to go and find a part-time job. EACH YEAR they did that
I full expected us to go "in the red." But we didn't!! Somehow, we came out with MORE money in the
treasury at the end of the summer than at the beginning!! I don't understand that to this day; but it
happened! God BLESSES and multiplies when people give themselves first,
and then of themselves.))
Notice in verse 19 that the tent is covered with ram skins dyed red. Above that is another
covering, this time badger skins. The Hebrew word for badger is unclean, so we don't know exactly what
kind of animal this was. But the purpose of the covering is clear: it is to shed water so that
the other portions of the tabernacle will be kept dry.
The church of Jesus Christ is covered by the blood for salvation. And then it is covered by God's Holy
Spirit to keep us from destructive elements.
by great and strong winds, and must stand firm. Notice that the boards are linked together at the top and
bottom. Then crossboards at the top, bottom and middle of those boards. This represents (to me) the unity
of the church. We are given unity by the Lord. ((See Ephesians 4:4-6))
Each person in the church is a gift from God (Ephesians 4:7-11). And our singular purpose is to keep
a unified whole by teaching, ministering and building up each other until Jesus comes (Ephesians 4:12-13).
What God GIVES is unity. What God requires is that we work together so that we'll be strong enough
to ward off the "winds" of devil and man (Ephesians 4:14-16).