“Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made everything the LORD commanded Moses.”
~ Exodus 38:27
Hi James and Ellen,
Studying God’s Word – the Bible, is like going for a long drive. When your grandmaa and grandpaa were first married, they used to take Sunday afternoon drives. Your grandmaa and grandpaa would get into their car and just go wherever their car took them. They did not care if their car got them lost. Your grandmaa and grandpaa would sometimes take your grandmaa’s ma with them when they went for a drive. Your dad’s Aunt Sandy would go with them, too. Your grandmaa and grandpaa sometimes during a drive would stop and visit someplace. Your grandmaa and grandpaa still remember some of those Sunday afternoon drives. Your grandpaa and grandmaa took your dad’s Uncle Dirk and Aunt Debbie and their small kids for a drive one Sunday afternoon. Your grandpaa ended up a road that went alongside the C&D Canal. Your grandpaa kept driving until he came to the end of the road. When your grandpaa noticed that there was a road on his left going up an incline, your grandpaa drove up that road. When your grandpaa got to the top of the incline, your grandpaa found that what he thought was a road was more like a path. This path was just wide enough for a car to be driven. If your grandpaa had kept on driving straight when he drove up the incline, your grandpaa would have ended up going down into what looked like a big bowl. Instead of backing down the incline, your grandpaa decided to find out where the path of a road would take his car. Your grandpaa likes to explore. There were places where rain had washed away the sides up to the road. Your dad’s Uncle Dirk decided that he needed to walk in front of your grandpaa’s car – to make sure that your grandpaa kept his car’s tires on the road. It would have been a real problem for your grandpaa if his car had decided that it wanted to go down either side of the wannabe road. The banks on both sides of this road were really steep. To make this an even memorable time, your grandpaa’s car was almost out of gas. Ask your Uncle Dirk and Aunt Debbie someday about the drive that they took one day with your grandmaa and grandpaa. Your grandpaa is sure that they will never forget that Sunday afternoon. When your grandpaa finally got to the end of the path that called itself a road, your grandpaa found another road that took your grandpaa’s car back out of the area. Your grandpaa was glad that he did not have to go back on that same narrow, scary path. Your grandpaa also was able to find a gas station before his car ran out of gas. When your grandmaa and grandpaa are back in Delaware, they will take you on some long drives to different places. Do you remember James the long drive that your grandpaa and grandmaa have already taken you?
The way that your grandpaa is studying through the Bible right now is like going on a drive. Your grandpaa never knows where he is going to be going in the Bible until your grandmaa takes out of the empty plastic ice cream container a slip of paper that tells your grandpaa. Your grandmaa takes out a slip of paper right after your grandpaa e-mails to your dad what he wrote. This gives your grandpaa a chance to think about what he is going to write the next morning. Your grandpaa will sometimes lay in bed thinking about what he is going to write. Your grandpaa will more often than not get up in the morning, take a shower, go into the room which your grandmaa and grandpaa use as a sitting room and where they have their computer, turn on the computer and . . . it is like getting into a car and beginning to drive in the direction which seems to be the right direction to go. The drive today is going to take you to Exodus 38. It is over 3,400 years ago. You have been walking through a desert. You are with a group of over two million guys, gals and kids who call themselves Israelites. You know that their leader is a guy by the name of Moses. This people group has stopped at Mount Sinai. You watched as Moses climbed Mount Sinai. When Moses did not return right away, you saw some guys make a calf out of gold to worship. Then when Moses finally returned from his time on Mount Sinai, you saw how angry Moses got when he saw his people group worshiping a false god instead of worshipping the one true God. Your saw Moses throw the two pieces of stone that he was carrying in his hands to the ground breaking them. You watched Moses go back up Mount Sinai again to . . . and now the Israelite guys and gals are doing what God wanted them to do. They are building a very special place where God’s presence would be. How would you like to have been 3,400 years ago Israelite kids who saw all this happen?
How would you like to have been the person who had the responsibility of building the special place where God’s presence would be? Verse 27 tells you who had that responsibility of making everything in the place where God’s presence would be. “Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made everything the LORD commanded Moses;” Bezalel had help making the different things. A guy by the name of Oholiab helped Bezalel. When you do something, it is wise to ask someone to help you. You also need to be always willing to help someone else. Bezalel and Oholiab followed the instructions which God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai. Bezalel and Oholiab built an altar using acacia wood. The Israelite guys and gals collected a special offering of talents and shekels which gave Bezalel and Oholiab all the bronze and silver that they could use. They made the utensils – such as firepans, shovels, pots, sprinkling bowls and forks, which the priests were to use while making sacrifices on the altar. Bezalel and Oholiab made the blue, purple and scarlet curtains for the courtyard. If you end up – while growing up, going to a Vacation Bible School, a project that you may do will be to build a model of the things which Bezalel and Oholiab built or made. As you randomly travel through the Bible with your grandpaa, you will get to explore each chapter.
Exodus 38 (34)