In this section we have the detailed description of the altar and the basin to be used for scarifices, along with the recipe for preparation of the anointing oil to be used in consecrating the sacred objects.  Interwoven with these are some small, and interesting, details.

The Census

I can honestly say I had never before noticed the reference to a census in Hebrew/Israelite practice, yet here we find a description of the offerings to be made based on the results of the census.

There was a time, and the last vestiges still remain, when 'per capita' levies were made by church and other organisations, a time when, as per what it says in Exodus, rich or poor would be required to make the same absolute level of gift.  In some older churches memories remain of 'pew rents' (which to at least some degree predated 'free will offerings' as we now know them) with sometimes differential charges being made based on where a pew was located.  The fact that many churches fill up from the back may relate to the fact that the pews at the back were usually cheaper.

Every year the Baptist Unions require member churches to submit a whole raft of numbers... formal membership, numbers of children, of young adults, of ethnic minorities, of people with disabilties and so on.  This data is meant to inform thinking on aspects of mission and evangelism, disicpleship, justice and so forth.  Whether we like to admit it or not, there are endless 'books of numbers' recording stuff about us.

So interesting, to me anyway, to see just how far back this originates.

Named Craftsmen

In the course of the narrative, two craftsmen, Bezalel and Oholiab, are named.  They are chosen by God to employ the gifts and skills uniquely theirs.

Recently I read something online that ran roughly thus, "God looked at all that had been made, the stars and planets, the oceans and mountains, the plants and animals, and saw that it was wonderful... but something was still missing, so God made you because creation needed a 'you.'"

The idea that God makes us with a purpose in mind has the potential to lead us to an unhelpful form of Calvinism that renders us as puppets in a cosmic play.  The idea that God has uniquely gifted each of us because each of us has the potential to add to the goodness, beauty, wonder, truth, justice, peace, etc. of creation, without predetermining what that might mean, is surely mind-blowing and wonderful?  Creation 'needed' a Catriona, with all her failings and faults, her insecurities and anxieties because she alone also had something unqiue and precious to contribute to the created order.  The same is so for you, for everone.

Sometimes we feel desperately insignificant or hopelessly inadequate or probably both, but we are reminded as it says elsewhere "do not be afraid, for I have  redeemed you, I have called you be name, you are mine."

I will never know the names of most people who read this stuff, but God does, and God has made each one with unique and essential qualities.

The Sabbath - Again

I have clearly never before read Exodus sufficiently closely to realise just how many references are made to Sabbath-keeping.  It almost feels as if this was written for me, with my tendency to workaholism.  A constant reminder that rest is needed.  A reminder that we have to work at not working, that Sabbath has to be consciously chosen, not drifted into or out of.

Being forced to slow down for a few weeks has been, and continues to be, challenging.  Yesterday, for very good reasons, and mostly down to choices I've made, I was actively 'doing' stuff for twelve hours.  This is not a boast, it is a kind of confession, that for people like me it is actually easier to 'do' than to 'not do'.

If nothing else has really struck me in the last fortnight, it is the centrality of Sabbath - something I really need to get my head around as I move forward and return to a more active life again.

Two Tablets

The chapter, and the section, ends with Moses receiving the two stone tablets.

During my teens we would joke about Moses being handed a couple of aspirins because leading the Israelites was such a headache.  I guess nowadays children and teens will hear the words and automatically think of hand held digital devices... ipads or similar.  In a sense we've come full circle I suppose.

The whole of the Law condensed into something that could be carried by an old man as he descended a mountain path through cloud.  Jesus said, more or less, "Love the LORD your God with all your mind, with all your  hearts, with all your soul and with all your strength.  And love you neighbour as you love yourself.  This is the Law and the Prophets, all the rest is commentary".

Whatever the tablets may have looked like, and whatever was inscribed on them, these were the essentials for God's people to hold on to.  Small enough to be carried, fragile enough to be destroyed, significant enough to shape history... God's will entrusted to human hands.

Moses will begin his walk down the mountain, but meanwhile we wait to see what happens next...