and have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in every work,
God had already given Moses every detail of the tabernacle; what was still needed was a man who could turn the pattern into gold, wood and cloth. One writer insists the endowment here goes beyond a general acknowledgement that all ability comes from God.
I believe it is a great mistake to think that these men were simply skilled workmen. It is just as wrong to think that we only have here a recognition that God gives all ability. There is something special here. When we remember what the tabernacle was to show, we are not surprised. Our Lord said of the Spirit, "He will glorify me" (John 16:14). The tabernacle was meant to display the glories of Christ. So why wonder at the special gift and oversight of the Holy Spirit, so that every part might express the thoughts of God perfectly?
The verse names four things the filling gave him. Older translations call them wisdom, understanding, knowledge and all workmanship.
With wisdom he would have all the hidden resource he needed. With understanding he would have light from God. Knowledge would give him insight into the details of the various articles. And all workmanship shows that he used what God gave him to produce results.
Human skill can be exact. One writer uses two kinds of picture to show what the Spirit added.
People point out this difference between a photograph and a portrait drawn by an artist. The photograph gives the exact features, so it may be an exact match. But an artist can put a living look into the picture by his own genius and spirit. So we say, "It is a speaking likeness." The tabernacle and its vessels had to be a living, speaking picture of the things in the heavens, and the mind of God had to be reflected in them. So a man filled with the Spirit of God was needed... Mere accuracy of construction, by human skill, was not what was needed. The work had to be a true reflection of the wisdom of God.
God names the man in the verse before and equips him here. One writer applies both to service today.
Whether for "the work of the tabernacle" of old, or "the work of the ministry" now, the choice should be God's. So should the call, the qualification and the appointment. And all must be done as God commands. No man could choose, call, qualify or appoint anyone for the work of the tabernacle. Neither can he for the work of the ministry. No man could dare to appoint himself to the work of the tabernacle either. Neither can he for the work of the ministry.
The same writer compares two families of craftsmen and what their skill served.
The descendants of Cain received unholy skill. They used it to make a cursed and groaning earth a delightful place, without the presence of God. Bezalel and Oholiab, by contrast, received skill from God. They used it to beautify a sanctuary. The presence and glory of the God of Israel would make that sanctuary holy and blessed.
God gave the qualification. The danger is looking anywhere else for it.
It is hardly too much to say that most of those who take the place of servants in Christendom look mainly to man to equip them for their work... They give themselves to human learning, to training their minds, and to studying "the art of preaching," to fit themselves for their work. From the very start, the result is often dependence on human power instead of the energy and power of the Holy Spirit.
Commentators are careful to mark that this is not yet the Spirit indwelling every believer.
In the language of Scripture, being full of the Holy Spirit is not said of all believers. It belongs to certain people on special occasions or in special circumstances. Some cases even happened before the day of Pentecost. Without going back as far as Bezalel (Ex. 31:3), Scripture says that the father and mother of John the Baptist were filled with the Holy Spirit, and so was John himself.
- Called — God names the man before He fills him; no one appoints himself to God's work.
- Filled — the equipping is a gift too. Wisdom gave hidden resource, understanding gave light, knowledge gave the details.
- For Christ — the Spirit oversaw the work. Every board and curtain was to speak of Christ's glory.
- Not skill alone — human skill can copy a pattern exactly. Only the Spirit makes it a speaking likeness of God's mind.
- Two workshops — Cain's line used skill to beautify a world without God. Bezalel used his to beautify the place where God dwelt.
to devise artistic work -- to work in gold, and in silver, and in copper,
God has called Bezalel by name and filled him with His Spirit, and here He says what that filling is for: the designs and the metalwork of the tabernacle. Why would a craftsman need the Spirit of God at all?
Craft skill is not where most readers expect the Spirit to be at work. One writer admits how strange it sounds:
To Christians it may seem strange that God filled men with the Spirit to give them craftsmanship and skill, but so it was. God gave the artistic ability. We know the Holy Spirit gives spiritual power. He changes our lives and enables us to offer spiritual sacrifices. But in Exodus the things produced were physical objects. Yet, though made with hands, Divine power was needed.
One writer looks up the older wording of this phrase, then reads the three metals as pictures:
When I look up this phrase, "devise curious things," I find it means — to think artistic things… These artistic things were worked in gold, silver and brass, suggesting the nature, disposition and character of God. Silver, which often pictures redemption, would speak of the disposition of God as a Saviour-God today.
Exact copying was not the whole task. One writer explains with a comparison:
People point to this difference between a photograph and a portrait drawn by an artist. The photograph will produce the exact features, so it can be a precise likeness. But an artist can put a life look into the picture by his own genius and spirit. So we say, "It is a speaking likeness." The tabernacle and its vessels had to be a living, "speaking" picture of the things in the heavens, and they had to reflect the mind of God. So the work needed a man filled with the Spirit of God, to build and shape them with divine wisdom and knowledge.
Another writer ties this back to what our Lord said the Spirit would do:
Our Lord said of the Spirit, "He will glorify me" (John 16:14). The Tabernacle was meant to show the glories of Christ. Should we be surprised, then, that the Holy Spirit gave special gift and oversight, so that every part would express the thoughts of God exactly?
Metalworking appears earlier in Scripture, in a very different setting:
There is a useful lesson to learn from comparing this chapter with Genesis 6. "Tubal-cain... the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron." The descendants of Cain were given unholy skill, to make a cursed and groaning earth a delightful spot without the presence of God. "Bezaleel and Aholiab," on the other hand, were given divine skill to beautify a sanctuary — a sanctuary that the presence and glory of the God of Israel would make holy and blessed.
One writer draws a warning out of this for every kind of service:
It is evident that to do God's work mere natural ability is not enough. Bezaleel may have had a natural aptitude for such work; if so, it was not enough. He had to be filled with the Spirit of God to do it. If that was true of work on material things, how much more when the service of God concerns spiritual things, and the welfare of the souls of men.
One writer names the test that such service has to pass:
The proof of divine wisdom in service is that the thing done is according to the word of God. "According to all that I have commanded you, they shall do."
- Given, not grown. God put the skill to design and to work gold, silver and bronze into a man. The man did not bring it to God.
- Given for Christ. The Spirit filled him because everything he would shape pictured Christ. The Spirit's work is to glorify Christ.
- Given against the grain. Cain's line used metalwork to beautify a world without God; here it beautifies a sanctuary God would fill.
- Given, so talent is not enough. If material work needed the Spirit's filling, work touching souls needs it far more.
- Given, and therefore answerable. Even this wisdom faced one test: the finished work had to match what God commanded.