Exodus: Chapter 38 to 40

Here it is - time to exit Exodus: the final three chapters.  Last time, they were constructing the tabernacle, and that's where we pick it up:

CHAPTER 38

Same as it ever was.  Earlier we got the big description of what was to be built for the Lord.  Now they build it.  It’s every bit as dull as it was last time around, only now it’s just what we’ve already been told. 

One thing I picked up on, Bezalel – the guy who made the ark itself last chapter – is the son of Uri son of Hur.  And of course, Uri is the original Holy Handyman.  So I guess the Holy Handyman position is some sort of family thing. 

CHAPTER 39

Now they make clothing for the priests.  Folks, this is one of the longest chapters in Exodus (43 lines) and all they do is make vestments. 

Well, that’s not quite right.  Vestment making takes up only 31 verses.  Then, finally, mercifully, all the work is presented to Moses and we’re given the words we’ve so long wanted to hear: “Thus the entire work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting was completed.”  PRAISE BE THE LORD! 

Moses likes the work and blesses it.  Boy, good thing the Holy Handymen came from the right family – can you imagine another 3-4 chapters of reading about this stuff if Moses wanted it shipped back to the manufacturer for a refund?

CHAPTER 40

Now that it’s all been built, it’s time to actually set up the Holy of Holies.  Turns out Moses does that by himself.  No help?  He puts the pedestals in single-handedly, puts the ark where it belongs and the like.  I have trouble believing he did all that himself.  Isn’t moving the ark designed to be a two-man job?  Eh, no big deal. 

God apparently likes the stuff and makes his presence felt in the tabernacle.  And that’s how Exodus ends.  The book begins with the Israelites stuck away from home in Egypt and ends with God entering his new home on the earth in the tabernacle. 

Well, that’s Exodus for you.  This book starts off with some slam-bang action but after 15 chapters, almost everything people know about the 40-chapter book is done.  In the back half they go to Sinai, get the Commandments, and Moses has a cow over the calf.  Plenty in the back half is everyone’s least favorite part of the Bible – cubits and heavy detail of objects. 

It’s not as affecting as the stories of Genesis.  My favorite parts of the Bible are when it is its most human – dealing with people, and their vivid lives.  Here?  It’s not the same.  Too much focus on either much bigger things (God) or much smaller things (cubits).  The back half is more boring than anything in Genesis, while the front half is maybe more disconcerting.  Those plagues were vicious, especially with the repeated refrain that the Lord was intentionally hardening the pharaoh’s heart.  Then again, I don’t think anything in Genesis matches the comedy of the Egyptian magicians stupidly matches Moses’ plagues instead of solving them. 

Then there is Moses.  He’s a memorable character, who has his great moments.  He freaks when the bush burns, and then later talks God out of killing all the Israelis.  And what does he get for his troubles?  He’s got to mediate between an irate Lord and a quarrelling people (who he once fears may stone him).  Oh, and he’s disfigured for life by coming into contact with the Lord.  He’s memorable, but he’s the only fully realized person in the book.  Aaron isn’t much more than a mouthpiece. 

Leviticus is up next and that has a reputation for being deadly dull.  While I’m sure it won’t be exciting, I can’t imagine it’ll be as bad as all the cubit talk here.  

Click here to begin Leviticus.