Exodus 35:20 — 29 “Then the whole congregation of Israel withdrew from the presence of Moses. And everyone whose heart stirred him and whose spirit prompted him came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its services, and for the sacred garments.
So all who had willing hearts, both men and women, came and brought brooches and earrings, rings and necklaces, and all kinds of gold jewelry. And they all presented their gold as a wave offering to the LORD.
Everyone who had blue, purple, or scarlet yarn, or fine linen, goat hair, ram skins dyed red, or articles of fine leather brought them. And all who could present an offering of silver or bronze brought it as a contribution to the LORD. Also, everyone who had acacia wood for any part of the service brought it.
Every skilled woman spun with her hands and brought what she had spun: blue, purple, or scarlet yarn, or fine linen. And all the skilled women whose hearts were stirred spun the goat hair.
The leaders brought onyx stones and gemstones to mount on the ephod and breastpiece, as well as spices and olive oil for the light, for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense.
So all the men and women of the Israelites whose hearts prompted them brought a freewill offering to the LORD for all the work that the LORD through Moses had commanded them to do.
WAIT A MINUTE!!! Isn’t this the same bunch of people who approved of Aaron creating a golden calf only a few weeks ago? Now they are enthusiastically giving their most precious treasures and the results of their skills for the completion of the Tabernacle. What has changed?
There are several explanations here:
1. The authority of Moses: Moses has come down off the mountain with his face shining with divine radiance from being in the presence of God. Moses’s face is so that he must tie a veil over it so that people can stand to look at him. God has given Moses an authority that is impossible to ignore.
2. These people are not the ringleaders of the golden calf incident. The men and women who incited Aaron to create the golden calf and who then entered into an orgy were slaughtered by the Levites. In any group of people, you have those who are very vocal and agitate and those who do not agree with the loudmouths but who are waiting to see what will happen. Did these people have the potential to join in the worship of the golden calf? Yes, certainly. But that’s why God had Moses instruct the Levites to kill the ringleaders of the rebellion outright, shocking everyone else out of a mob mentality and back into sanity.
3. Many of the people may not even have approved of the golden calf incident in the first place but were afraid to speak up. These people want to worship, and given the opportunity to do something legitimately, they respond whole – heartedly.
APPLICATION: In 1875, William Ernest Henley, a British poet, wrote a poem entitled “Invictus.” In this poem, Henley celebrated his independence from fate and circumstances, stating, “I thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul.” Henley ended his poem by claiming, “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” Henley died at the age of 53, from tuberculosis, a disease that had forced him to have one leg amputated below the knee at age 27.
Although Henley was famous in his day, his story is a very sad one. Rather than dedicating his life and his talents to the God who had preserved his life from an early death, Henley, an avowed atheist, firmly believed that he himself was responsible for his survival. (Henley was born in 1849 and died in 1903. According to Wikipedia, between 1851 and 1910, around four million died from TB in England and Wales – more than one third of those aged 15 to 34 and half of those aged 20 to 24 died from TB.)
What does an atheistic nineteenth century British poet have to do with the ancient Israelites? The answer lies in the wide gulf between the spirits motivating the ancient Israelites and the spirits motivating Henley. God had delivered Moses and the Israelites from the most powerful army in the world, smashing that army to bits in the process. God was leading the Israelites through the wilderness, providing food and water and guidance. God was giving the Israelites a new religion, one based on life rather than the death cults of the Egyptians. God had brought the Israelites out of darkness and into His marvelous light.
John Piper, in an article entitled “Invictus Redeemed,” points out the fact that Henley could write as he did because he was in Great Britain during the height of the British Empire and at a time when Darwinian philosophies were undermining people’s belief in God as the Creator. “And yet such verses could be written in the safety and prosperity of a Europe still governed by the courtly ethics of Western Christendom.” Was Henley an original thinker? Not particularly! Henley was responding to spirits that were abroad in his time. Piper goes on to say, “One wonders, if Henley had been given another century to live, would he have still written this in 1975, after men of Darwinian world view and nihilistic, Nietzschean and Marxian philosophies had willed to power and ruthlessly wielded their invictus resolve, resulting in the slaughter of tens of millions?”
The ancient Israelites opened their chests and their other storage places to give the best of their treasures to God. Those with skills in any craft freely and joyfully donated those skills and were blessed in the giving.
Henley’s poem has inspired many people. But those of us who are living through the ongoing pandemic realize that we actually have very little control over our bodies. The main control we have over our souls is the choice of the spirits that move us. Will we be moved by God’s Holy Spirit and draw closer and closer to God, or will we choose, as Henley did, to attempt to be our own gods and in doing so, offer the One True Living God a very rude hand gesture? The choice is ours. We should choose wisely!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for Your Holy Spirit! Lord, help us to be moved by You and by no other spirits of any kind. Help us to grow closer to You each day. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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