Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 36:5
And they spoke unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make.
5. bring ] are bringing.
There follows now (Exo 36:8 to Exo 39:31) an enumeration and full description of the things made, repeated for the most part verbally with of course the necessary change of tense from chs. 25 28, 30, 31 (for ch. 29, see Leviticus 8). The order is in certain cases different: thus the Dwelling (Exo 36:8-38) is made before the articles (the Ark, &c.), which it is to contain (Exo 37:1-24): and the altar of incense then follows immediately (Exo 37:25-29), instead of coming, as in chs. 25 31, in the appendix (Exo 30:1-10). See further above, pp. 377, 378.
8 19 (Exo 26:1-14). The curtains forming the Dwelling ( vv. 8 13); the tent over it ( vv. 14 18); and the two protective coverings above this ( v. 19). Mutatis mutandis, the text agrees almost verbally with Exo 26:1-14, except in the Heb. idiom for ‘one to another’ in vv. 10, 12, 13 (so v. 22), and in the omission of the clauses relating to the erection of the Dwelling in Exo 26:9 b, 12, 13 (without, however, their being introduced in Exo 40:17 ff.).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 5. The people bring much more than enough] With what a liberal spirit do these people bring their free-will offerings unto the Lords! Moses is obliged to make a proclamation to prevent them from bringing any more, as there was at present more than enough! Had Moses been intent upon gain, and had he not been perfectly disinterested, he would have encouraged them to continue their contributions, as thereby he might have multiplied to himself gold, silver, and precious stones. But he was doing the Lord’s work, under the inspiration of the Divine Spirit, and therefore he sought no secular gain. Indeed, this one circumstance is an ample proof of it. Every thing necessary for the worship of God will be cheerfully provided by a people whose hearts are in that worship. In a state where all forms of religion and modes of worship are tolerated by the laws, it would be well to find out some less exceptionable way of providing for the national clergy than by tithes. Let them by all means have the provision allowed them by the law; but let them not be needlessly exposed to the resentment of the people by the mode in which this provision is made, as this often alienates the affections of their flocks from them, and exceedingly injures their usefulness. See Clarke on Ge 28:22, in fine, where the subject is viewed on all sides.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
5. they spake unto Moses, saying,The people bring much more than enough, &c.By thecalculations which the practised eyes of the workmen enabled them tomake, they were unanimously of the opinion that the supply alreadyfar exceeded the demand and that no more contributions were required.Such a report reflects the highest honor on their character as men ofthe strictest honor and integrity, who, notwithstanding they hadcommand of an untold amount of the most precious things and might,without any risk of human discovery, have appropriated much to theirown use, were too high principled for such acts of peculation.Forthwith, a proclamation was issued to stop further contributions[Ex 36:6].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And they spake unto Moses, saying,…. One in the name of the rest:
the people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the Lord commanded to make; they had taken an estimate of what was to be done, and of what was necessary for the doing of it, and of what the people brought for this service; and they found there was a great deal more brought than would be wanted, and therefore they thought proper to advise Moses of it, that no more might be brought: it is hard to say which is most to be wondered at, the great liberality of the people in contributing so freely and bountifully, and continuing to do so without being urged, or even asked; or the honesty of the workmen, one and all, who might have gone on to have received the gifts of the people by the hands of Moses, and what was superfluous might have converted to their own use; but instead of this, they agree as one man to let Moses know how the state of things was, and prevent the people from making any more contributions.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
DISCOURSE: 116
THE OFFERINGS FOR THE TABERNACLE
Exo 36:5-7. And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people briny much more than enough for the service of the work, which the Lord commanded to make. 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: for the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.
THE followers of Christ are supposed to regard this as their favourite maxim, The greater the sinner, the greater the saint: they are considered also as approving an inference that may be deduced from it, namely, that it is advisable to commit some gross crime, in order to augment our future piety. We trust however, that such calumnies, though often affirmed, are not really credited. The least consideration would convince a man, that such a sentiment could find no place in a religious mind. But though we disclaim any such licentious tenets, (yea, and utterly abhor them,) yet we must say, that he who has been forgiven much, will love much; and that godly sorrow, in proportion as it exists in the soul, will work indignation and revenge against all our spiritual enemies, and will lead us invariably to bring forth works meet for repentance. This truth is strongly illustrated in the history before us. The whole nation of the Jews had revolted from God, and worshipped the golden calf. For this God had threatened them with utter destruction; but, upon the intercession of Moses, had reversed his decree, and had received them again to his favour. Instead of forsaking them utterly, he had even determined to dwell among them as their God; and had ordered a tabernacle to be made for him, with every thing else which would be wanted for the services they were to present unto him. For the constructing of this he relied on the liberality of his people: and the event proved that his reliance was well placed; and that their sense of the obligations conferred upon them was sufficiently powerful for the occasion. The account given us of their zeal is truly edifying. It will be proper to notice,
I.
The object of it
[They had lately shewn an unhappy zeal in the service of a false god; and now they laboured to evince their gratitude to Jehovah, and to exalt the honour of his name. This desire filled the whole nation, and was the main-spring of those exertions which they now made.
And who must not acknowledge this to have been an object worthy their supreme attention? Survey the objects which occupy the minds of men, and to the pursuit of which they willingly devote their wealth and labour: the gratifications of sense, how mean are they, in comparison of that which now animated the Jewish people! the attainment of honour, or the acquisition of wealth, how empty are they in comparison of that nobler end which Israel pursued! Theirs was worth ambition, and might well provoke them all to holy emulation. To have Jehovah resident among themto provide for him a suitable habitationto have proper means of access to him, and of communications from himand, finally, to possess before their eyes a pledge of his continued care, and his eternal lovethis was as much beyond the poor objects of common ambition, as the contemplations of reason and philosophy exceed the dreams of children.
Happy would it be for us, if we all formed the same judgment, and were all penetrated with the same desire! ]
II.
The operation
[There are two things in their conduct which we cannot fail to notice, and admire; namely, their liberality and their diligence. No sooner did they know what things would be accepted, than they vied with each other in supplying them. Whatever any man possessed that could be applied to the projected structure, he deemed it instantly, Corban; and without hesitation consecrated it to the service of his God. Their ornaments, of whatever kind, were stripped off; all, both men and women, being more desirous to beautify the sanctuary of their God, than to adorn themselves. Each seemed to think himself rich, not in proportion to what he retained for his own use, but to the supplies he was able to contribute. The poorest among them were as glad to give their wood, their rams skins, or their brass, as the richest were their jewels and their gold.
Nor were they less solicitous to work, than to supply materials for working. The women engaged in spinning the goats hair and in embroidering the linen, while the men were occupied in forming the wood and metals for their respective uses. Those who could teach were as glad to instruct others, as others were to receive instruction: and all desired, in whatever way they could, to advance the work.
Now it is in this way that genuine religion always operates. The converts in every age are represented as coming unto God, their silver and their gold with them [Note: Compare Isa 60:17; Act 2:44-45; 2Co 8:1-4.]: and it is characteristic of them all, that they are a peculiar people, zealous of good works ]
III.
The effect
[Such was the conduct of all who were wise-hearted, and whose spirits made them willing to glorify their God [Note: Mark how often these expressions occur in this and the preceding chapter.]: and the effect was, that, in a very few days, the abundance of the gifts exceeded the occasion for them; and it became necessary to issue through the camp a prohibition against adding any thing further to the store.
O what might not be done for the honour of God and the benefit of mankind, if all exerted themselves according to their ability! How easy would it be to erect places for the worship of God; to provide accommodations for the poor; to administer instruction to the ignorant, consolation to the troubled, relief to the distressed! Such an union of zealous exertions as we see exhibited on this occasion, would in a great measure drive affliction from the world, and turn into a paradise this vale of tears ]
Improvement
1.
Let the cause of God be dear unto our souls
[We have not, it is true, any such edifice to raise, and therefore may be supposed to have no such call for zeal and diligence. But is there not a spiritual temple which God desires to have erected for him, and wherein he may be glorified? Yea, is not that temple infinitely more dear to him than any which can be formed by human hands? The material tabernacle was only a shadow of that better habitation wherein God delights to dwell. Should not that then be an object of our concern? Should not the manifestations of his presence, and the establishment of his kingdom in the world, call forth our zeal, as much as the erection of that fabric in the wilderness did the zeal of Israel? Well may it shame the world at large, that every trifle occupies their minds, more than this: and even the people of God themselves have reason to blush, that their feelings are so acute in reference to their own interests and honour, and so dull in what regards the honour and interests of their God.]
2.
Let us cordially and universally co-operate for the advancement of it
[It is generally thought that the duty of propagating Christianity pertains to Ministers alone. But it is very little that a Minister can do without the co-operation of his people. Multitudes will never come to hear him, or afford him any opportunities of benefiting their souls: and the greater part even of those who do attend his ministry, gain little from it, for want of having the subjects which they hear impressed upon their minds in a way of private instruction. All should contribute, according to their ability, to advance the salvation of those around them. Masters should take the superintendence of their families, and parents of their children. The more enlightened among the people should endeavour to instruct their unenlightened neighbours. The visiting of the sick, the relieving of the needy, the conducting of Sunday schools for the benefit of the poorer classes, these, and such like works, should be regarded by all, both men and women, as their common province, and followed by all according to their respective abilities [Note: See Rom 16:3; Rom 16:12 and Php 4:3.] ;. The people of Israel deemed it not so much their duty, as their privilege, to contribute to the raising of the tabernacle: and this is the light in which we should view our calls to exertion. Do any account it hard to sacrifice somewhat of their time and interest in such a cause? O tell it not in Gath; publish it not in the streets of Askelon! Let not the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy. Let us rather unite, all of us, with willing hearts, in the service of our God; and, whatever our hand findeth to do, let us do it with all our might.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Redeeming Points
Exo 14:31
In the book of Exodus we have an account of the character of the people delivered by the power of Jehovah and guided and directed by the statesmanship of Moses. Sometimes in reading the history we think there never were such rebellious and stiff-necked people in all human history. Moses is often angry with them; the Lord himself often burns with indignation against them; sometimes, as cool and impartial readers, we feel the spirit of anger rising within us as we contemplate the selfishness, the waywardness, and the impracticableness of the children of Israel. We feel that they were altogether undeserving the grace, the compassion, the patient love which marked the Divine administration of their affairs. The spirit of impatience rises within us and we say, “Why does not God bury this stiff-necked and hard-hearted race in the wilderness and trouble himself no longer about people who receive his mercies without gratitude, and who seeing his hand mistake it for a shadow or for some common figure? Why does the great heart weary itself with a race not worth saving?” Sometimes the Lord does come nigh to the act of utter destruction: and it seems as if justice were about to be consummated and every instinct within us to be satisfied by the vindication of a power always defied and a beneficence never understood.
Give yourselves a little time to discover if you can the redeeming points even in so ungracious and so unlovable a history. It will indeed be a religious exercise, full of the spirit of edification and comfort, to seek some little sparkles of gold in this infinite mass of worthlessness. It will be quite worth a Sabbath day’s journey to find two little grains of wheat in all this wilderness of chaff. Surely this is the very spirit of compassion and love, this is the very poetry and music of God’s administration, that he is always looking for the redeeming points in every human character. Allowing that the mass of the history is against the people: still there cannot be any escape from that conclusion. If it were a question of putting vice into one scale and virtue into the other, and a mere rough exercise in avoirdupois-weighing, the Israelites could not stand for one moment. To find out the secret of patience, to begin to see how it is that God spares any man, surely is a religious quest in the pursuit of which we may expect to find, and almost to see face to face, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Moses, having come from the Divine presence:
“called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him. And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do” ( Exo 19:7-8 ).
That was an outburst of religious emotion; that exclamation showed that the heart was not all dead through and through. That one sentence might be remembered amidst many a hurricane of opposition and many a tumult of ungrateful and irrational rebellion. We understand this emotion perfectly. There have been times in our most callous lives when we have caught ourselves singing some great psalm of adoration, some sweet hymn holding in it the spirit of testimony and pledge and holy oath. It would seem as if God set down one such moment as a great period in our lives as if under the pressure of his infinite mercy he magnified the one declaration which took but a moment to utter into a testimony filling up the space of half a lifetime. It is long before God can forget some prayers. Does it not seem as if the Lord rather rested upon certain sweet words of love we spoke to him even long ago, than as if he had taken a reproach out of our mouth at the moment and fastened his judgment upon the severe and ungrateful word? Is it not within the Almighty love to beat out some little piece of gold into a covering for a long life? It is not his delight to remember sins or to speak about the iniquities which have grieved his heart, or to dig graves in the wilderness for the rebellious who have misunderstood his purpose and his government. “His mercy endureth for ever,” and if we have ever spoken one true prayer to heaven, it rings, and resounds, and vibrates, and throbs again like music he will never willingly silence It would seem as if one little prayer might quench the memory of ten thousand blasphemies. “And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do.” Here you find a religious responsiveness which ought to mark the history of the Church and the history of the individual as well.
“The people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses” ( Exo 14:31 ).
Every good thing is set down. The Lord is not unrighteous to forget your work of faith. We wonder sometimes in our ignorance whether any little sign of good that has been in the heart is not written most legibly in heaven; and all things unlovely, undivine, so written that none but God can decipher the evil record. It would be like our Father to write our moral virtues in great lustrous characters and all the story of our sin and shame so that no angel could read a word of it. This is the way of love. How much we talk about the little deed of kindness when we want to save some character from fatal judgment, from social separation, and from all the penalties of evil behaviour! There is no monotony in the recital; love invents new phrases, new distributions of emphasis, wondrous variations of music, and so keeps on telling the little tale of the flower that was given, of the smile that was indicative of pleasure, of the hand that was put out in fellowship and pledge of amity. Again and again the story so short is made into quite a long narrative by the imagination of love, by the marvellous language which is committed to the custody of the heart. It is God’s way. If we give him a cup of cold water, he will tell all the angels about it; if we lend him one poorest thing he seems to need, he will write it so that the record can be read from one end of the earth to the other; if we give him some testimony of love, say one little box of spikenard, he will have the story of the oblation told wheresoever his gospel is preached. Yes, he will tell about the gift when he will hide the sin; he will have all his preachers relate the story of the penitence in such glowing terms that the sin shall fall into invisible perspective. God is looking for good; God is looking for excellences, not for faults. Could we but show him one little point of excellence, it should go far to redeem from needful and righteous judgment and penalty a lifetime of evil-doing.
“The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work” ( Exo 36:5 )
There is a redeeming point. The spirit of willingness is in the people. They have a good season now; they are in their best moods at this time; they are most generous; they come forward in their very best force and look quite godly in their daily devotion and service to the tabernacle. Surely in the worst character there are some little faint lines of good! Why do we not imitate God and make the most of these? We are so prone to the other kind of criticism: it seems to be in our very heart of hearts to find fault; to point out defections; to write down a whole record and catalogue of infirmities and mishaps, and to hold up the writing as a proof of our own respectability. God never does so; he is righteous on the one side and on the other; he never connives at sin; he never compromises with evil; he never fails to discriminate between good and bad, light and darkness, the right hand and the left; but when he does come upon some little streak of excellence, some faint mark of a better life he seems to multiply it by his own holiness, and to be filled with a new joy because of pearls of virtue which he has found in a rebellious race. Character is not a simple line beginning at one point and ending at another, drawn by the pencil of a child and measurable by the eye of every observer. Character is a mystery; we must not attempt to judge character. “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” The Pharisees dragged up those whom they found doing wrong, but their doing so was never sanctioned by the Master; in all their attempts at judgment they were judged; whenever they displayed their virtue he burnt up the rag and left them to carry the cinders away. This should lead us to much seriousness in estimating character, and should keep us from uncharitableness; but at the same time it should encourage our own souls in the pursuit and quest of things heavenly. We do not know the meaning of all we feel and do. Let me suppose that some man is not regarded by others as religious and spiritual; let it be my business as a Christian shepherd to find out some point in that character upon which I can found an argument and base an appeal. I may find it sometimes in one great hot tear; the man would not have allowed me to see that tear on any account if he could have helped it, but I did see it, and having seen it I have hope of his soul. He is not damned yet. I may notice it in a half-intention to write to the wronged ones at home. The young man has taken up his pen and begun to address the old parents whose hearts he has withered. When I observe him in the act of dipping his pen, I say, “He was dead and is alive again”; and though he should lay down the pen without writing the letter of penitence, I have hope in him: he may yet write it and make the confession and seek the absolution of hearts that are dying to forgive him. Do not tell me of the spendthrift’s course, do not heap up the accusation any hireling can be bribed to make out the black catalogue; be it ours to see the first heavenward motion, to hear the first Godward sigh, and to make the most of these signs of return and submission. Good and bad do live together in every character. I never met a human creature that was all bad: I have been surprised rather to see in the most unexpected places beautiful little flowers never planted by the hand of man. All flowers are not found in gardens, hedged and walled in, and cultured at so much a day; many a flower we see was never planted by the human gardener. In every nation, he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of Heaven. At the risk of incurring the unkind judgment of some in that I may be ministering to your vanity how they mistake the case who reason so! I will venture to say that in every one, however unrecognised by the constables of the Church or by the priests of the altar, there are signs that they are not forsaken of God.
Now comes the thought for which I have no language adequate in copiousness or fit in delicateness. It would seem as if the little good outweighed the evil. God does not decide by majorities. There is not a more vulgar standard of right and wrong than so-called majorities; it is an evil form of judgment wholly useful for temporary purposes, but of no use whatever in moral judgment. The majority in a man’s own heart is overwhelming. If each action were a vote, and if hands were held up for evil, a forest of ten thousand might instantly spring up; and then if we called for the vote expressive of religious desire, there might be one trembling hand half extended. Who counts? God. What says he? How rules he from his throne? It will be like him to say, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” If he could find out in our life that we once dropped on one knee, and began a prayer, there is no telling what may be done by his love in multiplying the act into an eternal obeisance and regarding the unfinished prayer as an eternal supplication. This is how the judgment will go. God has not forsaken us. To open his book with any desire to find in it reading for the soul is a proof that we are not abandoned of our Father; to go into the sanctuary even with some trouble of mind or reluctance of will to be there is a sign that we are not yet cast out into the darkness infinite.
Yet even here the stern lesson stands straight up and demands to be heard namely: If any man can be satisfied with the little that he has, he has not the little on which he bases his satisfaction. It is not our business to magnify the little; we do well to fix our mind for long stretches of time upon the evil, and the wrong, and the foul, and the base. It is not for us to seek self-satisfaction; our place is in the dust; our cry should be “Unclean! unprofitable!” a cry for mercy. It is God’s place to find anything in us on which he can base hope for our future, or found a claim for the still further surrender of our hostile but still human hearts.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Exo 32:3, 2Ch 24:14, 2Ch 31:6-10, 2Co 8:2, 2Co 8:3, Phi 2:21, Phi 4:17, Phi 4:18
Reciprocal: 2Ki 22:7 – they dealt faithfully 2Ch 31:5 – as soon
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
36:5 And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring {c} much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make.
(c) A rare example and notable to see the people so ready to serve God with their goods.