31:1-11
These are the last two “appendices” to the Tabernacle description. In Ex 28:3 we read of God having filled people with a spirit of skill. Here we get two particular individuals, with the primary focus on Bezalel, being filled with “the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence ...” Bezalel was given specific abilities to “device artistic designs”. Oholiab is also mentioned by name, but 31:6 makes it clear that this goes wider, with others having been given the ability to do the required work. So we see here that the design of the tabernacle was God’s design, with quite specific details being given. However, Bezalel was given the ability to device artistic designs, and several others were also given abilities. When we read that God does something, it does not mean that men are not involved. It is important for us to appreciate this, especially in seeking to understand predestination and the sovereignty of God. It is not a matter of something being all God or all man.
31:12-18
The final section is on the Sabbath, specifically the seventh day Sabbath. This is given great importance. It was a sign of the relationship between God and the people of Israel. “It is holy for you”. Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. There were very serious penalties for those who broke the Sabbath. As well as being “holy for you” (31:14), it was also “holy to the Lord”. It was a reminder that the Lord created the heavens and the earth, and rested on the Sabbath.
At the end of all this God gave Moses the two tablets of stone with the Ten Commandments, which had been written by the finger of God.
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