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"And I have personally appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, to be his assistant. Moreover, I have given special skill to all the gifted craftsmen so they can make all the things I have commanded you to make..."
- Exodus 31: 6, The Living Bible, see link below.
Chapter 31
1 - 11
Extended summary and discussion.
And spoke YHWH to Moses saying,
.... I have "qara" (called) by "shem" (name) Bezalel... and have "male / mala" (fill / complete) him with the "ruah" (spirit / breath) of 'Elohim (God) in "chokmah" (wisdom / skill), and "tebunah" (understanding / intelligence / skill), and "daath" (knowledge (includes: 'premeditation') and in all "melakah" (work / occupation / craftsmanship), to make "machashabah / machashbeth" (thought / purpose / intent (implies: "artistic")), for work in gold, silver, and bronze, and in "charosheth" (forestry / carving / cutting) of "eben" (stone) for settings, and in "charosheth" (forestry / carving...) of "ets" (tree / wood) to work in "kol" (all) "melakah" (work / occupation / craftsmanship).
And I, "hinneh" (behold / lo / see), have "nathan" (give / gave) him Oholiab... of the Tribe of Dan (remember that detail) - in the "leb" (heart / mind) of all that are "chakam" (wise / learned / skilled) "leb" (heart / mind), I had put "chokmah" (wisdom / skill) that they may make all I have commanded....
... tent, ark, furniture, clothing, incense, and so on...
... for the Holy Place that I have commanded you.
Here we meet the lead craftsmen who will do the work on .... everything.
The of list named individuals is short, but implies that there are others. Many Others. But what it comes down to is that God imbued the hired help with the talent and experience to do the things He wanted done.
What is interesting about the special inclusion of a member of the Tribe of Dan is what comes later. The Tribe never 'takes possession' of the land they are allotted, they move way inland from where they were supposed to be, then in Judges 18 we see where the tribe, as a unit, is heavily involved in idol worship. The final act, Is the Final Act, and the Tribe as an entity is not listed among the redeemed of Israel in Revelation 7.
12 - 17 Discussion:
And spoke YHWH to Moses saying, you to speak to the Sons of Israel saying...
This section covers more about the Sabbath, which, as we saw throughout Genesis and well into Exodus, Nobody 'down here' kept the Sabbath, or, if they did, the observance hadn't been recorded since Creation Week when GOD said it, until the incident with the Manna in the Wilderness, something on the order of 2,500 years, give or take a couple of human lifetimes.
In this section of the text, the Sabbath is described as a sign between God and Israel, for all coming generations, that they may know that YHWH sanctified them. Breaking the Sabbath is a capitol offense and the person will be put to death - whoever does 'any' work on the Sabbath will have his "nephesh" (soul / life / heart / living being / self) cut off from the people.
Then the penalty for breaking the Sabbath is restated- 'he shall be put to death'. And the command that Israel is to keep the Sabbath throughout their generations is repeated.
And it is repeated again. In five of our verses, the command to keep the Sabbath into the future is stated three times, and the death penalty for violating it is given twice.
18
And HE gave Moses, when He finished "dabar" (speaking / conversing / commanding) him, on the mountain, two tablets of "eduth" (testimony / ordinance), "luach" (tablets) "eben" (stone), "kathab" (inscribed / written) by the "etsba" (finger) of 'Elohim.
Yes, these are the ORIGINAL tablets of the Ten Commandments. Stay tuned.
End Chapter 31
"Then the LORD said, 'I have seen how stubborn and rebellious these people are. Now leave me alone so my fierce anger can blaze against them, and I will destroy them. Then I will make you, Moses, into a great nation.'"
- Exodus 32: 9 - 10, The Living Bible, see link below.
Chapter 32
1 - 6 Summary and highlights, then discussion:
The text states that the people saw that Moses wasn't coming back down. So they went, as a group, to Aaron and said something stupid because Moses was missing.
Aaron gives in and tells them to bring him all their gold jewelry. Then he melted it and made a gold calf. And 'they' said...
The 'they' here is not explained. Aaron made the idol, but the text doesn't say that he introduced the thing as the "gods the brought you out of Egypt". Then after whoever brought it out and introduced showed it to Aaron, he built an altar and proclaimed a feast to YHWH in front of it. The next day they had a feast, offered burnt and peace offerings, to the LORD, in the presence of the idol.
Think about that for a minute.
Aaron is the designated priest, for whom the costume department is going to work overtime to outfit in the special garments.
It's an open question as to why Aaron, who had been in the presence of GOD, for a covenant meal, in chapter 24, is now presiding over.... what? A festival to a representation of the Apis Bull from the Egyptian and Minoan (and other) cultures, see below. We know he was facing a possible mutiny from at least a good number of the people, but to do this? Make an idol and then have a festival for it, that's over the line.
Of course it ends badly.
7 - 10 Summary and discussion:
God tells Moses to go down because the people have "shachath" (corrupted / spoiled (includes idea of 'waste')) themselves, and have "mather" (quickly / speedily) turned aside from the Commandments.
And this is the first time the phrase "qasheh oreph" (stiff necked), meaning obstinate, churlish (deliberately rude and mean-spirited), and in some ways 'childish', is used, by GOD, to describe His People.
Then He tells Moses that He's going to wipe them out and make Moses a Great Nation.
11 - 14
And "chalah" (entreat / grieved / beseech) Moses - the "panim / paneh" (face / presence) of YHWH 'Elohim, "way yomer" (and said)....
This phrase says all that needs to be said about the Leader which Moses has become. Growing from the man that made all sorts of excuses as to why God should pick on somebody else for His Mission in Exodus 3 and 4 (see 4:13 as a shining example), to this. Now he is begging God not to destroy the Hebrews because the Egyptians will think it was hilarious that their God took them all the way out there to eliminate them. Then he calls up the memory of Abraham, Isaac, and Yisrael (Israel / Jacob) ...
And GOD changed His Mind.
15 - 16 Discussion:
These verses describe the original Tablets of the Testimony as written by GOD. Were they solely the Ten Commandments or was something else on them, given that, according to the second half of our verse 15, there was writing on both sides of each tablet. We don't know.
17 - 18 Summary:
Joshua was evidently somewhere on the mountain. He heard the people shouting and told Moses that the camp was under attack. But the sound wasn't like that, but was instead "anah" (singing).
19
When Moses got close to the camp he saw the calf, and the dancing around it and he lost his temper and....
he "shalak" (threw / cast / fling) out of his "yad" (hands) the "luach" (tablet) and "shabar" (broke / shattered) them at the "tachath" (under) the mountain.
One side note of interest. The tablets were produced by GOD, and a man destroyed them.
20 - 29 Summary, then comment:
Moses destroyed the calf, and ground it into powder that he mixed with water and made the people drink it.
Then Moses asked Aaron what he had done to bring this great sin on the people.
Aaron asks that Moses' (the term "adoni" (lord) is not capitalized to mean the Deity) not be angry, because the people are given to evil. Then he explains what they wanted.
Then Moses saw the people were "para'" (unrestrained / 'out of control') under Aaron, to the "shimtsah" (shame / disgrace) to their "qum" (enemy (to rise against)). Then Moses stands in the gate of the camp and says...
"mi" (who / whoever) is YHWH's "el" (with (side))? Come to me.
... and "all the Levites went to him".
Then Moses tells the Levites, it doesn't say how many of them there were, to get their swords and go out into the camp and slay... "ach" (brother / relative), "rea" (associate / companion / friend), "qarob" (neighbor / close by). And did so the children of Levi according to Moses' word, and there fell three thousand men.
Then said Moses, you have been "male / mala" (filled / ordained) by hand of YHWH, against every man his brother.... that He may you bless.
This is an unpleasant passage. It is Hebrew against Hebrew, by order of Moses, and there is no mention of them being selective in who they killed. Were they singling out those that wanted the idol, or went to the party around it, or just massacring anybody that got in the way? We don't know. And then to have Moses tell the Levites that they have been 'set apart' by God because of this bloodshed is something else again. Even while we keep in mind that both Moses and Aaron are from the tribe of Levi.
30 -35 Summary and discussion:
The next day Moses goes back up the mountain to see if he can "kaphar" (atone / reconcile / cover) their sin. He admits what the people did, and asks God to forgive it, or if not "machah" (blot out / wipe / obliterate) him out of His "sepher" (book / scroll).
Instead God says that whoever had sinned will personally be 'blotted out'. Therefore Moses is to go lead the people to a new place, where the angel will lead them, and God will visit their sin on them. Then it says YHWH "nagaph" (plague / smite / injure) the people that had acted with the calf that Aaron had made.
Moses offers himself to cover the sin of the people instead of God holding it against the group. But the fact remains that his own brother had made the thing, and then announced the festival for it. It stands as one of the epic bad decisions in Biblical history, and yet, Aaron is still alive and has a job.
Selected Resources:
All links will open in a new tab/window, all were working as of original date of posting:
Interlinear English / Hebrew: Chapter 31 https://biblehub.com/interlinear/exodus/31.htm
https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/1611_Exodus-Chapter-31/
The Living Bible https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2020&version=TLB
The museum has a cast Apis Bull Sculpture https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/168142
"What is an Apis Bull?" https://www.youregypttours.com/ca/egypt-tours-blog/What-Is-Apis-Bull
"Who were the Levites?" https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4254752/jewish/Who-Were-the-Levites.htm
NOTE: The Bible Study Lesson presented above is posted as a reference document to begin a conversation of the topic. And that's it. Please accept it at such.
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