Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me a heave-offering of every one whose heart prompteth him, ye shall take my heave-offering.
After the rescue from Egypt, God's first ask of Israel is not for work or worship. It is for a gift, and He sets one condition on it: the giver's heart.
The Hebrew word behind "contribution" carries a picture in it.
The word offering is a peculiar word in the Hebrew. It means something lifted off the ground and presented on high, and it is the word translated heave-offering.
The verse says the gift is taken "for me." The same word shows what God looks for in the giver.
Terumah, the word for heave-offering, means a sacrifice or gift offered up, raised or lifted up and presented for acceptance, and so devoted to Jehovah's service... It is the term used for the gifts of Israel for the tabernacle. There we learn God's mind about the inward state of those who offer. It is heart-willingness, the spirit of a person wholly yielded up to God in devoted service. The inner attitude answers to the outward act, as the gift is heaved or lifted up.
God asks nothing of Israel while they are still slaves in Egypt. The order explains why the giving was glad.
God brought Israel through the Red Sea as a people redeemed by power. They celebrated His goodness in song, and said they wanted to prepare a dwelling for Him (Ex. 15:2). The desire of their heart was a new thought, but a right one. Their redemption had been accomplished, so God could dwell there. As we learn later (Ex. 25:8), He would dwell among them. And those who shared in that redemption had the privilege of providing the materials — a willing offering from grateful hearts, made glad because His power had delivered them.
Israel had not earned these materials in the desert. They carried them out of Egypt, as God had promised Abraham long before.
God told Abram that his descendants would suffer in Egypt for four hundred years (Gen. 15). He said, "Afterward they shall come out with great possessions." Without those possessions, how would they have got all the things used in making the tabernacle? They could receive it all from the Lord, and the best thing we can do with what He gives us is to give it back to Him.
God asks for a gift from every man "whose heart moves him." One writer traces that willingness back to God Himself.
It is a bright display of grace on God's part to associate the people with Himself in His desire to have a sanctuary where He can dwell among them. So God would take the offerings only from willing hearts. This is very beautiful. God first produced the willingness, and then credited to them the offering they gave. He counted on the fellowship of the people, expecting a response to the expressed desires of His heart. The people did respond, as we see later in the book — so fully that word had to go out to stop the offerings.
So what happens when a person gives without wanting to?
When God called for material for the tabernacle in Exodus 25, they were to give according to their ability, but every man gave willingly with his heart. God did not want material from a man whose heart was not in His work. But if his heart prompted him willingly, God accepted that offering from him.
Willingness does not mean anything goes.
It is not enough that we have the will to serve Him; we must also learn from Him what He can accept. What they had they brought, little or much, and God accepted it. When did He ever refuse the service of a willing heart? A widow's "two small copper coins, which make a penny" may be worth more to Him who discerns the heart than the gifts of many who are rich.
God asks no gold from us today. But every material in the tabernacle pointed to Christ, and there the parallel holds.
All the materials speak in some way of Christ, in His varied perfections and glories, and yet the people were to bring them as a willing offering. God has revealed Christ to us in all His fullness. But if He is to have a dwelling place among us, and if we are to enjoy His presence and have communion with Him in a real way, is it not to be, in some measure, on the basis of a free-will offering of our own? It is no material offering now... but our hearts must be stirred up, made willing to enter into what Christ our Lord is, and so bring it, as it were, to God.
- Redeemed first. God asked nothing of Israel until they were out of Egypt and through the sea. The gift answers a rescue already finished. It never pays for one.
- Supplied first. The materials were the "great possessions" God had promised Abraham. Israel gave back what He had given.
- Willing first. God produced the willingness, then credited the offering to the giver as his own.
- Lifted, not forced. The word means a gift raised up and offered for acceptance. The inside must match the outside. So God turns down an unwilling gift and welcomes a widow's two coins.
- Christ now. Every material pointed to some glory of Christ. So the free-will offering today is a heart stirred up to take in what He is and bring that back to God.
And this is the heave-offering that ye shall take of them gold, and silver, and copper,
God has just rescued Israel out of Egypt. Now, for the first time, He asks them to bring something to Him: gold, silver, and bronze — the metal older translations call brass or copper. Why does God, who needs nothing, ask His people for materials? And why these three metals?
Everything up to this chapter had flowed one way — from God to Israel. One writer marks the change here.
But, oh, how immense the difference between the activities of grace and the words of the law! All previous to this was His giving, now they must bring to God. Never before were they told to bring such things to God. He delighted in giving. Now they were to build a tabernacle, and it was right for them to bring their best for it.
The giving was voluntary. The list of items was not.
The offering however was of specific materials for the building of the tabernacle. God designated these. There was no place for sackcloth or for people's personal household furniture.
The size of the gift, though, was never the test.
It is not enough to be willing to serve Him; we must also learn from Him what He can accept. What they had they brought, little or much, and He accepted it. When has God ever refused the service of a willing heart?
Freed slaves in a desert do not own gold. Israel carried this wealth out of Egypt, and one writer explains why.
God had set apart the wealth that Israel took out of Egypt for His service in the Tabernacle. There was a right use for it. God had a claim on the wealth that came out of the land with them. The wrong use of it shows up in chapter 32, where the golden calf came before the dancing.
Commentators read the metals as pictures. One writer takes them in the order the verse names them.
Gold is mentioned first, because it symbolizes the glory of God. Then silver pictures the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Copper stands for the holiness of God, which is an outstanding mark of His sanctuary.
Another writer agrees closely on gold and silver, but reads the third metal as judgment rather than holiness.
Without question, the purity and value of gold would suggest in a special way what is wholly Divine — God's righteousness and glory in particular. Silver, used for ransom, would speak of God known in redemption through grace. Brass, tempered in the furnace, would perhaps show His judgment of evil.
The two metals were not mixed at random. Where each one appears in the finished structure carries the meaning.
Gold is the symbol of divine righteousness, or the divine nature in the man Christ Jesus. Brass is the symbol of righteousness demanding judgment of sin, as in the brass altar, or the judgment of uncleanness, as in the brass basin. This explains why everything inside the tent of the tabernacle was gold — the ark, the mercy seat, the table, the lampstand, the altar of incense. Outside the tent, everything was brass — the brass altar and its vessels, the basin and its base.
In short: gold speaks of what God is in Himself; brass of His righteousness dealing with sin.
Why read silver as redemption? One writer points to how Israel collected it.
When Israel was counted, everyone in the census had to bring half a shekel of silver as an offering to the Lord. This money was called atonement money. The rich did not have to give more than the half shekel, and the poor did not have to give less. This shows that believers, all alike, stand before God on the ground of atonement.
Commentators differ here. One writer sets all three metals side by side and reads silver in another way.
As regards the tabernacle: brass is judgment of evil according to the responsibility of man; gold, according to what is fit for the presence of God; silver, I take to be the faithfulness and stability of God's purpose.
- Bringing follows receiving. Every earlier chapter was God giving to Israel; only now, after redemption, are they asked to bring to Him.
- Bringing is willing. God never refused the gift of a willing heart, whether little or much.
- Bringing is defined. The giver chooses whether; God chooses what. Household goods and sackcloth had no place on the list.
- Bringing gives back what is His. The gold and silver came out of Egypt. God had already marked that wealth for His dwelling, and chapter 32 shows it could be abused.
- Bringing points to Christ. Gold stands for divine righteousness and glory. Silver stands for the ransom paid alike for rich and poor. Brass stands for righteousness that judges sin — gold inside the tent, brass outside it.