Exodus 38:21 These are the amounts of the materials used for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the covenant law, which were recorded at Moses’ command by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron, the priest.
Commentary talks about the importance of overseeing a project of this scope and the importance of proper management of church funds. That tracks. Commentary also reminds us that the Israelites plundered the Egyptians before leaving (their words), and that the Egyptians really just gave freely to the Israelites what was, essentially, back pay for their servitude (which seems contradictory).
Exodus 38:22-23 (Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made everything the Lord commanded Moses; with him was Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan—an engraver and designer, and an embroiderer in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen.)
What’s important to us here, I think, is that commentary is always someone else’s spin on things, and they usually have an agenda. Even my commentary has a spin, and the agenda, for me, is to make sense of scripture and how it applies to me and my life, but my essential nature is always a part of that.
Exodus 38:24 The total amount of the gold from the wave offering used for all the work on the sanctuary was 29 talents and 730 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel.
Precious Savior, Thank You for the reminder that, while commentary can be helpful and enlightening, we cannot just take it at face value. We need to parse it out and look at the biases involved so that we can see through the layers of other people and into Your truth. Help us, Jesus. Amen.
Exodus 38:25-26 The silver obtained from those of the community who were counted in the census was 100 talents and 1,775 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel—one beka per person, that is, half a shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, from everyone who had crossed over to those counted, twenty years old or more, a total of 603,550 men.
Have a blessed day.