April 25, 2023
Big Idea
God reveals the way and His will through His Word.
Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half was its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. And he overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a molding of gold around it.
1 Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood. Two cubits 1 37:1 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters and a half was its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. 2 And he overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a molding of gold around it. 3 And he cast for it four rings of gold for its four feet, two rings on its one side and two rings on its other side. 4 And he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold 5 and put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark. 6 And he made a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half was its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. 7 And he made two cherubim of gold. He made them of hammered work on the two ends of the mercy seat, 8 one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat he made the cherubim on its two ends. 9 The cherubim spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat were the faces of the cherubim.
10 He also made the table of acacia wood. Two cubits was its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. 11 And he overlaid it with pure gold, and made a molding of gold around it. 12 And he made a rim around it a handbreadth 2 37:12 A handbreadth was about 3 inches or 7.5 centimeters wide, and made a molding of gold around the rim. 13 He cast for it four rings of gold and fastened the rings to the four corners at its four legs. 14 Close to the frame were the rings, as holders for the poles to carry the table. 15 He made the poles of acacia wood to carry the table, and overlaid them with gold. 16 And he made the vessels of pure gold that were to be on the table, its plates and dishes for incense, and its bowls and flagons with which to pour drink offerings.
17 He also made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand of hammered work. Its base, its stem, its cups, its calyxes, and its flowers were of one piece with it. 18 And there were six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it; 19 three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on one branch, and three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on the other branch—so for the six branches going out of the lampstand. 20 And on the lampstand itself were four cups made like almond blossoms, with their calyxes and flowers, 21 and a calyx of one piece with it under each pair of the six branches going out of it. 22 Their calyxes and their branches were of one piece with it. The whole of it was a single piece of hammered work of pure gold. 23 And he made its seven lamps and its tongs and its trays of pure gold. 24 He made it and all its utensils out of a talent 3 37:24 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms of pure gold.
25 He made the altar of incense of acacia wood. Its length was a cubit, and its breadth was a cubit. It was square, and two cubits was its height. Its horns were of one piece with it. 26 He overlaid it with pure gold, its top and around its sides and its horns. And he made a molding of gold around it, 27 and made two rings of gold on it under its molding, on two opposite sides of it, as holders for the poles with which to carry it. 28 And he made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold.
29 He made the holy anointing oil also, and the pure fragrant incense, blended as by the perfumer.
One of my favorite Bible study methods is meditating on a passage to see what it tells us about God's character. This method can be particularly fruitful when used in chapters like Exodus 37, which some might consider a "flyover" chapter (think about genealogies, censuses, weights, and measures).
All Scripture is "profitable for teaching . . . and for training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16); let's see what we can learn about God from Exodus 37.
God values obedience.
God included in His Word how Bezalel constructed the ark (and the other gold furnishings) according to the instructions given to Moses in Exodus 25 and 30. The passage could have simply said, "Bezalel constructed the ark as instructed," but the extra detail here shows that God valued the obedience of following instructions precisely.
We are not saved by our obedience, but by God's grace through faith. In response to salvation, we glorify God through acts of obedience (Ephesians 2:8-10).
God cares about our details.
God gave Moses seemingly painstaking details to build the ark and the other furnishings: how to construct them, what materials to use, and their dimensions. Jesus declared in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6) that God knows what you need before you ask Him and that if God cares for the lilies of the field, even more so does He know us and our needs.
Our God isn't removed from the nitty gritty, but cares about our lives and is sovereign over our details.
God is present with His people, whom He loves.
The ark and its mercy seat were to be a physical reminder of the presence of God in the Israelites' camp. The ark was only a foreshadowing of God's complete plan to dwell with His people (Jesus in the form of a man, the Holy Spirit indwelling believers in Christ, and eternity with God in a new heaven and a new earth).
The God of the universe didn't have to employ an earthly box (the Ark of the Covenant) during the time of Exodus and later or the form of a man during Jesus' time on earth, but He did so because He loves His people.
This month's memory verse
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;
1. Is there any area in your life where you aren't trusting God with the details? In what areas of your life are you prone to worry and anxiety?
2. Are you living in full obedience to God's Word in all aspects of your life? If not, in what aspect are you not fully obedient? What is the next step of obedience that God is calling you to in that area?
3. Do you live your day like God is dwelling in you and with you? How does that truth affect your actions and your thoughts?
4. What other attributes of God's character stand out to you from this passage or from the book of Exodus?
As we gear up to release even more features for Join The Journey in 2025, our staff team, unfortunately, no longer has the margin to continue to support the comment functionality. We have big things in store for Join The Journey 2025. Stay tuned!
Hugh Stephenson
Hugh Stephenson
Hugh Stephenson
Michael Sisson
Sue Bohlin
Michael Scaman
Michael Scaman
Amy Lowther