X-Dreamers
Bible chapter guide
Exodus 31
God fills Bezalel of Judah and Oholiab of Dan with his Spirit and skill to make everything for the tabernacle. The Sabbath is a sign between God and Israel for ever, and God gives Moses the two tablets of the testimony, written by the finger of God.
Summary written for the Labs; read the chapter itself for the full text.
What happens in this chapter
God names the men who will turn the plans into objects: Bezalel son of Uri, grandson of Hur, from the tribe of Judah, filled with the Spirit of God for work in gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood, and with him Oholiab son of Ahisamach from the tribe of Dan. Every skilled worker is given the wisdom to help, and the list of what they must make runs from the tent and the ark to the priests' clothes, the oil and the incense. Then comes a firm word about the Sabbath: it is a sign between God and Israel for ever, and anyone who works on it is to be put to death. The chapter, and Moses' forty days on the mountain, end with God giving him the two stone tablets written with his finger.
What the lab shows, and where to look
Chapter 31 has no scene of its own in the labs, but verses 7–11 read like the Tabernacle lab's list of parts: the tent, the ark and mercy seat, the table, the lampstand, both altars and the basin are all there to open, built to the sizes in chapters 25–30. The holy garments of verse 10 are in The Priests' Garments. For the two tablets of verse 18, go to the Ten Commandments stop in the Exodus lab, which shows them at Sinai; their size and shape there are artistic, since the text gives neither.
Questions people ask
Who were Bezalel and Oholiab?
Bezalel was from Judah, the son of Uri and grandson of Hur (31:2), and is named as the master craftsman. Oholiab, from the tribe of Dan, worked with him and is later called an engraver, a skilful workman and an embroiderer in coloured yarn and linen (38:23), and both were given the ability to teach others (35:34). Exodus does not say whether Bezalel's grandfather is the Hur who held up Moses' hands in chapter 17; many readers identify the two.
Why is the Sabbath commanded again here?
The Sabbath law closes the building instructions (31:12–17) and opens the account of the work (35:1–3). Many readers, the rabbis among them, take the placing to mean that even the sanctuary work stopped on the seventh day; the Talmud ties the 39 kinds of forbidden Sabbath work to the tasks of building the tabernacle (Shabbat 49b). The text itself gives the reason as a sign: God made heaven and earth in six days and rested on the seventh (31:17).
Where were the stone tablets kept?
In the ark. Exodus calls them the testimony and tells Moses to put it inside the ark (25:16), which he does when the tabernacle is set up (40:20); Deuteronomy 10:5 says the same of the second pair. The first tablets, given at the end of this chapter, did not last long: Moses broke them in the next.