Exodus is the narrative heart of the Old Testament. Genesis, of course, is a book of roots. Chapters 1-11 show us the roots of humanity and all of creation, while chapters 12-50 give us the roots of God’s chosen people, the descendants of Abraham. Exodus, however, gives us the central story of God rescuing and …
Continue reading And the Glory of the Lord Filled the Tabernacle | Exodus 40
When reading through the book of Exodus, most find the second half much less exciting than the first half because of laws and because of these chapters and the previous chapters that they mirror, 25-31. Yet the structure of Exodus wants us to see that this what all the marvelous works that God did to …
Our previous text, as we noted, is one of the most important passages in all of Scripture, which is evidenced by the frequency with which it is cited elsewhere in the Bible. After asking to see God’s glory, Moses beheld a marvelous revelation of Yahweh. Specifically, the LORD exposited His name, proclaiming the glorious attributes …
“Please show me your glory.” That was Moses’ audacious supplication before the LORD at the end of chapter 33. Yahweh responded by telling the prophet that He would make all of His goodness pass by Him and proclaim to him His name. As we said, God answered this way because His glory, His goodness, and …
C. S. Lewis once wrote: If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, …
As I have noted before, the final half of Exodus can be divided into a several sections. In chapters 20-23, we studied the Book of the Covenant that Yahweh spoke to Moses. Chapter 24 gave us the ratification ceremony of God’s covenant with Israel. Chapters 25-31 gave us the instructions for the tabernacle that Moses …
Continue reading I Will Not Go Up Among You | Exodus 33:1-11
After studying through the several chapters of instructions that Yahweh gave to Moses regarding the building and design of the tabernacle, our previous text brought our attention to what the Israelites were doing at the foot of Mount Sinai while Moses was meeting with God. Sadly, even while God was giving his prophet the plans …
Looking back upon the large set of instructions that Yahweh gave to Moses for the construction of the tabernacle, we should again remind ourselves of the truth of Beale calling the tent of meeting “Eden remixed.” We have seen this with the garden imagery of the tabernacle, as well as the gold and precious stones …
With Exodus 31, we reach the conclusion of God’s instructions for the tabernacle that He gave to Moses. These instructions began in chapter 25 and, in the context of Exodus, took place over a span of forty days and forty nights upon the summit of Mount Sinai. As we have said before, the reason that …
As we should remember by now, the context for our present chapter is that Moses is at the summit of Mount Sinai in the presence of Yahweh, who is giving to the prophet instructions and showing him the patterns for the building of the tabernacle. The tabernacle would also be called the tent of meeting …
Continue reading Incense, Taxes, Oils, & the Bronze Basin | Exodus 30
B. C. Newton 