Exodus 38:9-31

Holy cats!

(Yes, I said that.)

  Ok, let's be honest: when reading the specifications for how much gold, how much silver, etc., did you simply read over the words, with your eyes slightly glazed?  Or did you take a moment and really think about what that's saying?  I did, and HOLY CATS!

Let's break this down:

1. 29 talents and 730 shekels of gold works out to be 2193.25 lbs of gold.
2. 100 talents and 1775 shekels of silver works out to be 7544 and 3/8 lbs of silver.
3. 70 talents and 2,400 shekels of bronze turns out to be 5310 lbs of bronze.

Can you say phenomenal?  Have you ever seen almost 2200 pounds of gold before?  What about more than 7500 pounds of silver all at once?  And this was for the construction of the Tabernacle.  And supplied solely by the Israelites.  It boggles my mind.  A single base for the frames of the sanctuary was one talent of gold: 75lbs of gold for each base constructed.  Heavy, huh?  But beautiful and very, very precious.

Think: this is for the Tabernacle, the Lord's dwelling.  I would need to reread it, but I'm not sure that God gave instructions for the building of the Temple.  The building is described and everything that it required to make it, but it doesn't say anywhere that the Lord God said, "Now, you should build the Temple in this way."  The Tabernacle is really the only place where we see God give instructions for the building and use of a place for Him to dwell among men, and look how precious it was!  Today, where does God dwell?  In us!  Those of us who have submitted ourselves, our lives, and our souls to Him have become the vessels for His Holy Spirit.  Should we not take as much care and attention to our own bodies?  Does that mean we have to "gild the lily", so to speak, by focusing purely on our physical aspect?  I don't think so.  But I do think that means that we should treat our bodies, our beings as precious.  What do you think that means?

Next Reading: Exodus 39:1-43