TWO ORDINARY MEN WERE CALLED
The instructions were given and the blueprints were all drawn, printed out, studied and explained. Now the time had come for Moses to get ready to start the work of God by constructing the tabernacle in the wilderness.
While God is giving those last-minute instructions and discussing them in detail; something amazing happened; God called out two men specifically by name.
Moses was familiar with this type of thing happening; as he too had been specifically called out by name; but none of the other men knew or understood such a thing. The priests – yes; but not the ordinary, every-day run-of-the-mill working men.
God specifically named Bezalel and Oholib and called their names out loud.
Bezalel means “in the shadow of God.”
Oholib means “God the Father is my tent.”
Bezalel was the first man named in scriptures for having the character trait of “being filled with the Spirit of God.”
This was a pretty special thing to have God call you by name and appoint you into a position of authority; but just who were these two that God called anyway?
WHO WERE THEY?
As it turns out, they were Just two ordinary guys in the crowd who worked with their hands. They were what we would today label as “blue-collar” workers.
Bezalel was from the tribe of Judah. Perhaps he got a lot of his spiritual training from his grandfather; Hur. Hur was eventually murdered when he tried to stop the people from worshiping the golden calf. Ironically; God gave Bezalel the opportunity to reverse this event; as he worked with gold and created the golden articles for the Holy Place where God dwelled in the wilderness tabernacle.
Bezalel’s father was Uri, another great man of God from the tribe of Judah. The tribe of Judah was known for being “builders” specifically “house builders” and most of them were used in some way over various times in history to accomplish things for building up The House of God.
Bezalel and Oholib were both skilled craftsmen who had learned their skills because they had been slaves in Egypt. It is amazing to hear from the ancient rabbis that Bezalel was probably only thirteen years old when God called him to this mighty task.
Oholib, who was designated to be Bezalel’s assistant in helping Moses to organize the people and instruct and teach the craftsmen, was from the tribe of Dan.
The tribe of Dan stood for everything that the tribe of Judah did not. Two very opposites in every way. It was thought that the tribe of Dan was the lesser of the two because Dan was born to Jacob/Israel’s concubine instead of his wife.
Many of the ancient sages suppose that part of the reason Oholib was chosen along with Bezalel was to show that God isn’t partial when it comes to work in the Kingdom. All men are equal and all men are equally equipped by God for their work, your background or who your parents were do not really matter; all that matters is that God is your Father.
Neither of these two leaders held pedigrees or diplomas with letters following their titles. They had been to the school of hard knocks; and they had paid attention while they were there!
Both had spent their lives working hard while listening to the voice of God. The tasks of their past lives had required great physical effort as well as acquired skills and expert knowledge. Now God was going to show them the fruit of their labor. They would be able to use their skills for God’s Glory.
GREAT SKILLS BUT NEVER BEFORE NOTICED
It was a quiet and unassuming task that they undertook.
Most of the greatest work was done and placed in the silent places where only God and the High Priest would go. When someone was there; it wasn’t about the furniture or about the art – but it was about God and His Holy Presence.
The sacred things were created simply to honor God’s Presence and there was no other reason for their work. They worked for God.
These were humble men who did not seek recognition; especially from other men.
QUALIFIED IN GOD’S EYES
Those around them had probably only seen them as typical, ordinary, blue-collar workers; but God saw them as what they truly were; artist of the highest degree.
So; God called them out and asked them to use their talents to craft the works of this tabernacle where He would be worshipped as The One True God by a brand new nation named Israel.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to today’s COME AS A CHILD BIBLE STUDY. We try to post an ongoing on-line chronological lesson here every Thursday. Today we have moved on in the scriptures to Exodus to Chapter 31. If you missed last week’s lesson you can find it here: THE ANOINTING OIL – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 174.
SAYING “YES” TO GOD’S CALL
So these two men stepped right up when Moses repeated their names in just the same way as God had called them. Moses was careful to proclaim them to the people, just as God had, using their father and their grandfather and their tribes when he named them out loud to the crowds.
Bezalel just happened to be the grandson of Moses’s sister Miriam; so Moses wanted to be careful that the people understood this was God’s decision and he wasn’t just being partial to a favored relative and appointing Bezalel himself.
Both men could have shrunk away and avoided a lot of very hard and tedious work; but they did not.
They had to manage many, many people problems in this process. It was reported that they did so with skill. These men simply sought out help from God when they needed guidance. Both men very humbly and gladly took on the work that God had singled them out to do.
What a magnificent work it was!
Not only did they give of themselves; but they taught others how to give. They instructed all of the other craftsmen on the ways of a skilled craftsman, and they helped them to join in their efforts to make a contribution of value to the great work of The God of Heaven and Earth.
WHAT WAS SO SPECIAL ABOUT BEZALEL AND OHOLIB?
Why do you think God choose these two men among all of the others?
Obviously they were skilled; but every slave that served in Egypt had been taught useful skills.
Bezalel and Oholib were willing and humble and obedient and good with handling people. That probably helped a lot; but there was another reason. It simply was their destiny. It was the purpose they were created by God to carry out. God had put this purpose in the days of their lives when He mapped out the course of their times to live on the earth.
Everyone has a destiny; something that God created specifically as their own special purpose and reason for living. God hides this part of Himself inside all of us and waits on the right time to bring it forth. It was time for Bezalel and Oholib to discover what God had in mind for them.
Have you found your destiny yet?
God will reveal it when His time is right.
KEEP LISTENING TO GOD’S VOICE
Bezalel and Oholib had been following God all of their lives. They had known only that He was God. That fact alone would have been enough for them.
It wasn’t until they had served as slaves and then come out of slavery into a vast, unknown wilderness that they found their destiny and/or their true purpose inside God’s Kingdom. That was the moment that all of the past struggles began to make sense to them. A lot of us find our destiny in the midst of the wilderness of life.
God called upon them and they answered.
Suddenly they had understanding and wisdom that they had not grasped until this very moment when they had met the call of their Creator and uncovered just what they had been destined to do on the earth.
They understood their purpose and they listened to how God was guiding them. Each man leaned into the places that God had carved out for them.
They dove right into the work and went on to become some of the most masterful and skillful craftsmanship that ever existed.
BRINGING BEAUTY TO THE SACRED
The things they created from simple men’s hands were used to worship God in holiness and became the sacred articles used in the Holy of Holies.
Their artwork even became a temporary resting place for God as He met with His people at the Mercy Seat and provided atonement for their sins.
GOD EQUIPS THE ORDINARY FOR THE EXTRAORDINARY
They were just two blue-collar workers who knew how to listen when God called out their names.
These guys; Bezalel and Oholib; were awesome in their obedience and their sense of duty and humility. They went on to become the greatest known artist of the earth.
This attitude of using the ordinary things in life to perform the extraordinary tasks of God shows us yet another shade of the character of Christ in the shadows of the building of the wilderness tabernacle.
God was still painting out that portrait of amazing love right there in the wilderness through some very peculiar every day people who were simply willing to follow and do whatever He instructed.