Exodus 25: God has expensive taste

Synopsis:

God tells Moses to ask his followers for gifts. These gifts must be made willingly. The gifts are wood, gold, jewels, fine linen and incense. He then says, take all these things and build me a sanctuary inside a tabernacle. God then goes into great detail about exactly how they are to make things, what is made out of gold and what is made out of wood. What everything is supposed to look like right down to the gold candlesticks. Turns out a lot of things are to be made out of pure gold.

In other words:

God wants them to build him a sanctuary and appoint it with gold fixtures.

Favorite bit:

Exocud 25:10-16 – the description of the ark. This is only really interesting to me because my son is a fan of Indiana Jones and so has a fascination with the “lost ark.”

Interesting bit:

The description of the Mercy seat (Exodus 25:17-22). It has lots of gold, cherubs and more. This is apparently to go above the ark and is where God is supposed to sit when he comes and visits with them. I think it is interesting because while I know about the Ark, the Mercy seat is new to me and honestly, it’s super cool. The idea that this God was actively planning to hang out with his priests is neat. Seems like that is more important than the ark. Though I have trouble envisioning exactly where exactly this seat is. It’s above the ark apparently.

Attention to detail:

The description and detail of the candle holders is even more detailed than that of the ark – so it must be important (Exodus 25:31-40) Made of pure gold of course, shaped like almonds and flowers and 6 branches – 3 on each side.

Moral Lesson:

Pay attention to the details. They matter. (Exodus 25)