Bible Reading Blog
“Give Willingly, From the Heart”
Categories: Congregational Bible ReadingBIBLE READING: Exodus 25-27
The following chapters outline YHWH’s design for the tabernacle. He is detailed and meticulous in his instructions, but we must observe that it begins with an opportunity to give.
“Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me. And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats’ hair, tanned rams’ skins, goatskins, acacia wood, oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece.” (Exodus 25.2-7)
This is no simple list of everyday items one might expect from desert dwellers. Gold, silver and other metals must be mined with the help of implements. Various colored yarns were typically made using a complex process of extracting color from marine shells. The skins and wood required tools and effort to prepare them. These would have been the most expensive possessions the people owned, and, given their circumstances in the wilderness, it seems likely these items were plundered from the Egyptians themselves (Exodus 12.35-36). In other words, Israel had been given everything YHWH asked for. Now, as he institutes worship, he invites them to offer these things to him.
It is evident they cannot worship properly without doing this, but YHWH does not demand every person give. Instead, those who would give willingly, from the heart, should contribute. This passage sets a pattern for worship that has always characterized biblical religion. Although God could provide anything ever needed for his purposes, he asks his people to serve him willingly. This provides an opportunity to remember what we had been given and from whom we have received it.
Paul would echo this sentiment in 2 Corinthians 9.7: “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver.” In this passage, the collection is not for a physical house, but for the spiritual house – God’s people. Just like Israel, we should not be stingy with our possessions but recognize that “God is able to make all grace abound to you” (2 Corinthians 9.8). This doesn’t mean we will always have abundance, but it does mean we trust God gives us exactly what we need. What God asks of us is never wrong or domineering, but a testing and refining to make us more like him.
God asked for these things so the people could make a place for him to dwell among them (Exodus 25.8). In other words, their choice to give would bless them with a greater experience of YHWH’s presence and providence. In the same we, as we learn to give willingly, we begin to experience and understand the heart of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2.20).
