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Exodus 31: What the Passage Says

70 claims across 18 verses, in the order the chapter makes them.

Not a sermon outline. What Exodus 31 says, and what its hard words meant. The reading of it is yours.

The Chapter in a Sentence

The LORD tells Moses that he has chosen Bezaleel of the tribe of Judah and filled him with the Spirit of God for every kind of skilled work, and has given him Aholiab of the tribe of Dan along with skill for all the able workers, so they can make everything God commanded: the tent, the ark, the mercy seat, the furniture, the altars, the basin, the priests' garments, the anointing oil, and the incense. The LORD then tells Moses to instruct Israel to keep his sabbaths as a sign between him and them through their generations, with death for anyone who defiles it and being cut off for anyone who works on it. The chapter ends with God giving Moses the two stone tablets of the testimony, written with the finger of God, when he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai.

Claim by Claim

  1. 31:1
    • The LORD spoke to Moses.
    • The LORD said the following.
  2. 31:2
    • The LORD told Moses to see.
    • The LORD had called by name Bezaleel.
    • Bezaleel was the son of Uri.
    • Uri was the son of Hur.
    • Bezaleel was of the tribe of Judah.
  3. 31:3
    • The LORD had filled Bezaleel with the spirit of God.
    • The LORD had filled him with wisdom.
    • The LORD had filled him with understanding.
    • The LORD had filled him with knowledge.
    • The LORD had filled him with skill in all manner of workmanship.
  4. 31:4
    • Bezaleel was filled in order to devise skillful designs.
    • Bezaleel was filled in order to work in gold.
    • Bezaleel was filled in order to work in silver.
    • Bezaleel was filled in order to work in bronze.
  5. 31:5
    • Bezaleel was filled in order to cut stones for setting.
    • Bezaleel was filled in order to carve wood.
    • Bezaleel was filled in order to work in all manner of workmanship.
  6. 31:6
    • The LORD had given Aholiab to be with Bezaleel.
    • Aholiab was the son of Ahisamach.
    • Aholiab was of the tribe of Dan.
    • The LORD had put wisdom in the hearts of all who are wise-hearted.
    • The purpose was that they should make everything the LORD had commanded Moses.
  7. 31:7
    • They were to make the tent of meeting.
    • They were to make the ark of the testimony.
    • They were to make the mercy seat that is upon the ark.
    • They were to make all the furnishings of the tent.
  8. 31:8
    • They were to make the table.
    • They were to make the table's utensils.
    • They were to make the pure lampstand.
    • They were to make all the lampstand's utensils.
    • They were to make the altar of incense.
  9. 31:9
    • They were to make the altar of burnt offering.
    • They were to make all the altar's utensils.
    • They were to make the laver.
    • They were to make the laver's stand.
  10. 31:10
    • They were to make the finely worked garments of service.
    • They were to make the holy garments for Aaron the priest.
    • They were to make the garments for Aaron's sons.
    • Aaron's sons' garments were for serving as priests.
  11. 31:11
    • They were to make the anointing oil.
    • They were to make the fragrant incense for the holy place.
    • They were to do according to all that the LORD had commanded Moses.
  12. 31:12
    • The LORD spoke to Moses.
    • The LORD said the following.
  13. 31:13
    • The LORD told Moses to speak to the children of Israel.
    • The LORD said the Israelites must keep his sabbaths.
    • The sabbath is a sign between the LORD and the Israelites.
    • The sign is throughout their generations.
    • The purpose of the sign is that they may know that the LORD sanctifies them.
  14. 31:14
    • The LORD said they shall keep the sabbath.
    • The sabbath is holy to them.
    • Anyone who profanes the sabbath shall surely be put to death.
    • Whoever does any work on the sabbath shall have that soul cut off from among his people.
  15. 31:15
    • Work may be done six days.
    • The seventh day is a sabbath of complete rest.
    • The seventh day is holy to the LORD.
    • Whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death.
  16. 31:16
    • The children of Israel shall keep the sabbath.
    • They shall observe the sabbath throughout their generations.
    • The sabbath is a perpetual covenant.
  17. 31:17
    • The sabbath is a sign between the LORD and the children of Israel forever.
    • The LORD made heaven and earth in six days.
    • The LORD rested on the seventh day.
    • The LORD was refreshed on the seventh day.
  18. 31:18
    • The LORD finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai.
    • The LORD then gave Moses two tables of the testimony.
    • The tables were of stone.
    • The tables were written with the finger of God.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

31:1
Where the King James prints "LORD" in capitals it is standing in for God's personal name in Hebrew, four letters usually written YHWH. Jewish readers said "Lord" aloud instead of pronouncing it, and English translations have followed that custom ever since.
31:2
"Called by name" is a Hebrew idiom for singling someone out personally for a task, not merely knowing his name. The tribe of Judah was one of the twelve family groups descended from Jacob's sons, into which Israel was organized.
31:3
The Hebrew words behind "wisdom, understanding, knowledge" cover practical mastery as much as intellect: the skill of a craftsman who knows his materials and can judge how to work them. "The spirit of God" translates ruach elohim, which can be rendered "the Spirit of God" or "a divine wind/breath"; here it is what supplies that ability.
31:4
KJV "cunning" meant expertly skillful in 1611, with no sense of trickery. KJV "brass" is bronze, an alloy of copper and tin; true brass (copper and zinc) was not in use at this period.
31:5
This is gem-cutting: shaping stones so they can be mounted in metal settings, the work needed for the engraved stones on the priest's garments.
31:6
"Wise hearted" is literal Hebrew. In this way of speaking the heart is the seat of thought, judgment and know-how rather than of feeling, so the phrase means expert or skilled.
31:7
The tent of meeting was the portable tent-sanctuary Israel carried while moving through the wilderness. The "ark" is a chest, not a boat; "the testimony" is the pair of inscribed stone tablets it held, the written terms of the agreement between God and Israel. The "mercy seat" is that chest's solid gold lid; the Hebrew word kapporeth is related to a verb meaning to cover or to wipe away, and translators have disagreed over whether to render it "cover," "lid" or "place of atonement."
31:8
"The table" is the one holding the bread kept permanently before God. The lampstand is the seven-branched menorah; "pure" describes the refined gold it was hammered from. Incense is fragrant resin burned to produce scented smoke.
31:9
A burnt offering was an animal burned whole on the altar rather than eaten. The basin held water for the priests to wash their hands and feet before serving.
31:10
Priests were the men of Aaron's family authorized to conduct the sacrifices and rituals at the sanctuary; the special garments were their working uniform for that duty.
31:11
The anointing oil was olive oil blended with spices, poured on a person or object to mark it as set apart for sacred use. The "holy place" is the outer of the two rooms inside the tent-sanctuary.
31:13
The sabbath is the seventh day of the week, reckoned from sunset to sunset, on which work stopped. "Sanctify" means to set apart from ordinary use; it does not describe a moral improvement. A "sign" here is a visible marker or token by which a relationship is recognized, like a seal on a document.
31:14
KJV "defileth" translates a verb meaning to treat as common or ordinary, the opposite of treating something as set apart. "Cut off from among his people" is a set legal formula whose exact force is disputed: it may mean execution, permanent expulsion from the community, or a penalty left to God rather than to human courts.
31:15
The Hebrew doubles its word for rest, literally "a sabbath of sabbath-rest", marking this as the fullest kind of stopping rather than simply a quieter working day.
31:16
A covenant is a formal binding agreement, closer to a treaty than to a promise, with obligations attached. Keeping the Sabbath is described here as the public sign that Israel stands inside that agreement.
31:17
"Refreshed" translates a Hebrew verb built on the word for breath or life-force; it carries the sense of drawing breath again after exertion. Applied to God it is a strikingly physical expression, and translators have long noted the difficulty.
31:18
"Tables" in the KJV means writing tablets, flat slabs of stone, not furniture. "The testimony" is the text inscribed on them, the terms of the agreement. "The finger of God" is a figure of speech for God acting directly, without a human hand doing the writing.

Read Exodus 31