“The Lord spoke to Moses: ‘Tell the Israelites to take an offering for me. You are to take my offering from everyone who is willing to give. This is the offering you are to receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet yarn; fine linen and goat hair; ram skins dyed red and fine leather; acacia wood; oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; and onyx along with other gemstones for mounting on the ephod and breastpiece.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

There’s a difference between supporting a cause generally, and supporting a cause when you’ve got some skin in the game. The same thing goes with building a relationship. If you don’t actually invest something of yourself into a relationship, it’s not ever going to be very significant to you. It’ll never really move beyond being much more than a convenience. God was inviting the people of Israel into a relationship with Him. Because He didn’t want them to take this relationship with less than the seriousness with which it was due, He asked them to put some skin in the game. As we get into a whole new section of our journey, let’s talk about what’s going on here as well as what we will encounter over the next few weeks.

Over the course of the last chapter, Exodus 24, we witnessed the people of Israel’s entering into a covenant relationship with the Lord. Their relationship with Him is now formalized and official. If social media had been around back then, they could have officially changed their status to “in a relationship.” They had been dating before, but now God had put a ring on it.

So then, with their new status established with God, what do you suppose was the first thing He had to say to them? I’ll give you a hint: It wasn’t to give them any more rules to follow. And think about that for just a second too. All of those rules God had spent the previous few chapters laying out for them after giving them the Big Ten were all given before the covenant was made. God didn’t slip anything in on them once He had them hooked. He laid out all the fine print right from the beginning. He was, “If you are going to be in a covenant relationship with me, here’s how that’s going to work.” Chapter 24 and the formalizing of the covenant came after they knew what it was going to look like.

No, the very first thing God told them after they had officially entered into a relationship with Him was to create a space where they could pursue that relationship. The first thing God directed them to do was to invite them to invest in their relationship so that it could get stronger. One of the first things a newly married couple often does is to buy a house. Ambitious ones will build a house. God was telling them to be ambitious and build a house where they could grow together.

This house was an elaborate tent called a tabernacle. And over the next several chapters, God is going to lay out in great detail exactly what this tent is going to look like. Great detail. In fact, there’s so much detail that seems at first glance so pointless to include that this is where most people check out. God tells Moses (and remember: this is all happening up on the mountain with just Moses and Joshua) how to build every single part of the whole apparatus. He gives them dimensions, material specifications, and even design directions. While we couldn’t make an exact replica of the tabernacle based on these instructions, we could get awfully close. In fact, as we get into the various parts and pieces themselves, I’ll be including some YouTube videos where digital artists have created renderings of what each different part might have looked like that I have found to be pretty helpful in my own studying.

We’ll talk about why God told them to do all of this tomorrow. For now, I just want to point out two things in these verses that caught my attention. The first is that this offering was an invitation, not a coercion. No one had to give. The offering was to be taken from everyone who was willing. If someone wasn’t willing, they didn’t have to participate. This fits with the pattern of God’s interacting with people throughout this entire journey so far. It fits with His pattern of interacting with us more generally than that. God never forces Himself. He always asks and invites and woos. Whether or not someone follows Him is their choice. Yes, there are consequences associated with both choices, but He gives us the ability to opt for one or the other. He wants you to follow Him, but He doesn’t somehow need you to follow Him. And, what He wants is your heart, and you can’t force anyone to give up their heart. That can only be a willing gift. In all of this, God is consistent here.

The other thing that caught my attention is the opulence of the materials that are to be included in the offering. On the basis of just this materials list (and the forthcoming detailed description makes it a lot more explicit), the tabernacle was going to be a pretty impressive place. Even though it wasn’t much more than a fancy tent, it was going to be a really fancy tent. There was going to be gold and silver and bronze everywhere. The soft materials were going to be rich colors and designs. The implements were all elaborate and shiny. Why did He command such opulence?

Well, the reason isn’t that He’s just so arrogant He won’t take anything less than our best. The actual reason is that He is holy and so He doesn’t deserve anything less than our best. God is who He is. If the people were going to be in a relationship with Him, they were going to need to learn to understand Him for who He is. Walking into a space like the tabernacle was designed to be, and later the temple, was going to give whoever it was the sense that they were in the presence of someone great and powerful. Whoever this space was designed for must really be something. Being in such a place naturally puts most people in a worshipful mood. It’s why cathedrals in the Middle Ages were all designed like they were. The greatness of a space reflects the greatness of the one for whom it is designed. God wanted them to make this space great so they better understood His own greatness.

God does the things He does for a reason. Sometimes it takes a little bit of work to understand that reason, but that doesn’t mean there’s not one. When we’re willing to stop and think for a few minutes, things can start to become clearer. He’s revealing to us who He is. Let’s make sure we pay attention, so we don’t miss it.