Exodus31chapter 31

Exodus 31:1-2

This is the sixth of the seven speeches that deliver the tabernacle instruction, the set that runs from 25:1 to 31:12. What it names first is a man, and it names him before it names any work, since the opening words are that God has called him by name. Bezaleel is of the tribe of Judah and the grandson of Hur, the man who held up Moses' hands at Rephidim in 17:12 and was left with Aaron over the people in 24:14.

Exodus 31:3-5

I have filled him with the spirit of God: Bezaleel is the first person in Scripture said to be filled with the spirit of God. Genesis 1:2 has the Spirit of God moving upon the face of the waters, and no man before this verse is said to be filled with him. What the filling is for is spelled out in the two verses that follow, gold and silver and brass, the cutting of stones and the carving of timber, and the word wisdom first occurs at 28:3, where it is also given to craftsmen.

Exodus 31:6-11

Aholiab of the tribe of Dan is set beside Bezaleel of Judah, and wisdom is then put in the hearts of all that are wise hearted, so the skill for the work is spread through the camp rather than held by two men. The list that follows gathers the whole instruction of chapters 25 to 30 into one paragraph and runs it from the inside outward, from the ark and the mercy seat to the table and the candlestick and the altar of incense, then to the altar of burnt offering and the laver, and last the garments, the anointing oil and the sweet incense. The speech closes on the rule that has governed every chapter since 25:9, that they shall do according to all that I have commanded thee.

Exodus 31:12-13

The seventh and last of the tabernacle speeches is the sabbath, which is where the seventh day falls in Genesis 1 and 2. The echo holds to the end of the book, since 39:32 reports the work of the tabernacle finished in the words Genesis 2:1 uses of the heavens and the earth, and 40:33 says Moses finished the work. What the sabbath is called here is a sign, and the reason given for it is that they may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.

Exodus 31:14-15

The sabbath command carries a death penalty here, and it is given at the moment the people are about to begin building. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the placement as a guard against the natural thought that sacred work would earn an exemption, so the making of the sanctuary does not override the seventh day. The word sabbath first occurs at 16:23 in the manna chapter, four chapters before the fourth commandment, and by this point it has been kept, commanded and now fenced.

Exodus 31:16-17

The sabbath is called a perpetual covenant and a sign for ever, which puts it in the same class as circumcision at Genesis 17:13. The ground given for it is the creation rather than the deliverance, that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh day he rested. Deuteronomy 5:15 gives the other ground, the bondage in Egypt and the hand that brought them out, so the same commandment is stated twice on two different reasons.

Exodus 31:18

The communing on the mount ends with an object handed over, two stone tables written with the finger of God. That phrase came into the book from Egypt's magicians at 8:19, when they failed at the lice and told Pharaoh what they were up against, and Luke 11:20 has Jesus use it of casting out devils. Moses is carrying these tables down in 32:19 when he sees the calf and breaks them, so the first thing broken after the covenant is the document of the covenant, and God writes them again at 34:1.