1And Bezalel and Oholiab and every man who is wise of heart, in whom YHWH has put wisdom and understanding to know how to do all the work of the service of the Holy shall do it, for everything that YHWH has commanded.”
36:1. all the work of the service of the Holy. Chapters 36–39 contain a repetition of nearly all the Tabernacle details, now reporting that the work was all carried out. It doubles the message that the Tabernacle is supremely important: the channel through which divine and human communicate.
2And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every man who was wise of heart, in whose heart YHWH had put wisdom, everyone whose heart inspired him to come forward for the work, to do it.
3And they took from in front of Moses all of the donation that the children of Israel had brought for the work of the construction of the Holy, to do it. And they had brought him more contribution, morning by morning.
4And all the wise persons who were doing all the work of the Holy came, each from his kind of work that they were doing,
5and they said to Moses, saying, “The people are bringing more than enough for the construction, for the work that YHWH has commanded, to do it!”
36:5. The people are bringing more than enough. My teacher Yohanan Muffs pointed out a paradox about sacrifice: people are commanded to do it, yet sacrifices are regarded as a freewill offering. The same applies here at the point of the establishment of Israel’s entire ritual structure. The people are commanded to bring donations (Exod 25:1–9), yet they act with a kind of zeal that reflects more than just obedience to a commandment. They bring far more than what was required of them. This is an essential concept ultimately for the entire notion of law and commandment in Judaism. The law is not regarded as a burden. It is mandatory, yet one fulfills it out of choice and with joy. Thus the word for commandment, mi
w
h (popularly spelled and pronounced mitzvah), has two meanings to this day: it means a law that must be obeyed, but Jews also commonly understand it to mean a good deed, freely performed.
6And Moses commanded, and they passed an announcement through the camp saying, “Man and woman: let them not do any more work for the donation for the Holy.” And the people were held back from bringing.
7And the work had been enough for them, for all the work, to do it and more.
8And all those who were wise of heart among those who were doing the work made the Tabernacle with ten curtains of woven linen and blue and purple and scarlet, with cherubs. They made them designer’s work.
9The length of one curtain was twenty-eight in cubits, and the width of one curtain four in cubits: one size to all the curtains.
10And he connected five of the curtains, one to one; and he connected five curtains, one to one.
11And he made loops of blue on the side of one curtain at the end of the connected group. He did so in the side of the end curtain in the second connected group.
12He made fifty loops in the one curtain and made fifty loops in the end of the curtain that was in the second connected group with the loops parallel: one to one.
13And he made fifty clasps of gold and connected the curtains, one to one, with the clasps. And the Tabernacle was one.
14And he made curtains of goats’ hair for the tent over the Tabernacle. He made them eleven curtains.
15The length of one curtain was thirty in cubits, and the width of one curtain was four cubits: one size for eleven curtains.
16And he connected five of the curtains by themselves and six of the curtains by themselves.
17And he made fifty loops on the side of the end curtain in the connected group and made fifty loops on the side of the curtain of the second connected group.
18And he made fifty bronze clasps to connect the tent, to be one.
19And he made a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red and a covering of leather skins above.
20And he made the frames for the Tabernacle of acacia wood, standing.
21The frame’s length was ten cubits, and the width of one frame was a cubit and a half cubit.
22One frame had two projections, aligned one to one: so he made for all of the Tabernacle’s frames.
23And he made the frames for the Tabernacle: twenty frames for the south side—to the south.
24And he made forty bases of silver under the twenty frames: two bases under one frame for its two projections and two bases under each other frame for its two projections.
25And for the Tabernacle’s second side, for the north side, he made twenty frames
26and their forty bases of silver, two bases under one frame and two bases under each other frame.
27And for the rear of the Tabernacle, to the west, he made six frames.
28And he made two frames for the Tabernacle’s corners in the rear,
29and they were doubles from below, and together they were integrated on its top to one ring. He made it so for the two of them, for the two corners.
30And they were eight frames and their bases of silver, sixteen bases, two bases and two bases under each one frame.
31And he made bars of acacia wood: five for the frames of one side of the Tabernacle
32and five bars for the frames of the second side of the Tabernacle and five bars for the frames of the side of the Tabernacle at the rear, to the west.
33And he made the middle bar to extend through the frames from end to end.
34And he plated the frames with gold, and he made their rings gold, housings for the bars, and he plated the bars with gold.
35And he made the pavilion of blue and purple and scarlet and woven linen; he made it designer’s work with cherubs.
36And he made four acacia columns for it and plated them with gold, their hooks of gold, and he cast four bases of silver for them.
37And he made a cover for the entrance of the tent: blue and purple and scarlet and woven linen—embroiderer’s work—
38and its five columns and their hooks, and he plated their tops and their bands with gold, and their five bases were bronze.
