Moses is directed by the LORD to make a tabernacle and all its furnishings, exactly like the pattern he would be shown (Exodus 25:9). That tabernacle would be furnished with an ark, a table, a lampstand, an altar for burnt offerings, another for burning incense, And the whole structure was to be covered with elaborate curtains. Every piece had to be made exactly as he would be shown. In addition to wood, metal and fine perfumes for those items, he was also to provide clothes for the priests to perform their duties and anointing oil to set them apart with.
Moses, a shepherd by trade, is to oversee this great work. How must he have felt? These were areas far outside his comfort zone, requiring multiple competencies - woodwork, metalwork, perfumery, needlework and design. How would he be able to handle all that?
Welcome, Exodus 31:1-11 "I have chosen Bezalel…and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills…(and) I have appointed Oholiab…to help him."
Notice the pronouns in use there - the LORD himself would provide all that was needed, personnel included. The work of God is never about one person. No servant of the church is ever called to be all and to do all. In the church of Jesus Christ, every believer is given the Spirit of God "for the good of all" (1 Corinthians 12:7).
That distribution of gifts and abilities is something to cultivate and to celebrate, with huge relief.
And along with it - and without which the project would simply have never got off the ground - was this: after Moses addressed them and told them of what the Lord had called for, "everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought and offering to the LORD for the work on the tent of meeting." (Exodus 35:21)
A people stirred by the call of God responded to the opportunity to give themselves to him and his work, to resource those tasked with detailed works. It’s about the whole body.
