Exodus 31.
God points out to Moses two men whom God has "filled with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts." Further, he sayas that he has "given skill to all the craftsmen to make everything" in the new Tent of Meeting which God has commanded that Moses build.
I think that it must have been shocking to Moses to get a command to build a Tent of Meeting. Up to that point, Hebraic worship had always been a very private thing - a man would build an altar for his family, and worship the "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." There was not a central meeting point, or recorded laws on how it was supposed to work.
I suspect that the 2nd commandment, "You shall not make for yourself an idol," was already ingrained in the mindset of the Israelites. And I suspect that they would have asked whether having a temple would be a form of idolatry. Their experience with God had always been so vague and distant; their god was the magnificent god of the universe, not the petty god of some tribe. To build a temple would be to make him look like just another local god with just another local temple.
Moreover, even if they had become convinced that God wanted a temple, I doubt that anyone would have the guts to have built it. It would be an affront, wouldn't it, to claim that your hands could create a place worthy of the worship of this magnificent God?
God answers these concerns by stating that there are men "filled with the Spirit" to lead the work. And this is not a special task for the elite, God-appointed few; this is the general calling of the entire community to come together to create God's Place.
So the entire creativity of the entire community is to be employed, in the context of awe of the God of the universe, to create a place defined by, and designed for, reverence.
Don't get me started on chapter 32... |