And Moses collected all the assembly of the children of Israel, and said to them, These are the things which Jehovah has commanded, to do them.
After the golden calf and the renewed covenant, Moses gathers the whole nation to hear the Lord's commands. Everything from here to the end of Exodus flows out of that announcement. Why does the story go on at all after such a failure?
Chapters 32 to 34 interrupt instructions that began earlier. One commentator reads chapter 35 as the point where that thread returns.
We have now reached the concluding section of the book. Exodus 32–34 are a break in the story. So the beginning of chapter 35 carries on from Exodus 31. But what it carries on is only God's grace. Suppose He had dealt with Israel for their sin, on the terms of the covenant they had freely entered. Then their history as a nation, and the record of God's dealings with them, would have ended after chapter 31. But we have seen what happened instead. Despite their terrible fall, the Lord's tender mercy spared them when Moses stepped in and prayed for them. He brought them back again into relationship with Himself as His people.
Moses cut the second set of stone tablets and wrote on them with his own hand. Yet he calls what he announces here the Lord's commands, not his own. One writer explains how both are true.
Moses was called again to the mountain top to renew the tablets. But this time Moses was to prepare the materials (Ex. 34:1). God again undertook to write His words on them, but He would write with the hand of Moses. "The Lord said to Moses, Write these words" (v. 27). Yet though the hand of Moses wrote the words this time, they were just as much the words of God Himself as when His own finger had written them. So Moses could say, "These are the words which the Lord has commanded" (Ex. 35:1).
The older translation quoted here reads "words" where the ESV reads "things."
The same writer applies the principle far beyond Sinai:
This will help us understand how words written by human fingers, on materials made by human hands, may still be the very sayings of God. Such are the words of the Bible.
Of everything the Lord commanded, the Sabbath comes first — before the tabernacle materials get a mention.
The Lord always reminds the people of the goal and purpose of all His ways with them: entering into His rest. This was the goal set before them, however impossible it became for them to reach it because of their unbelief. So the Sabbath appears again here, as it always does whenever God forms a new relationship with the people. It becomes a kind of preface to the account of the building of the sanctuary.
Another writer ties that rest to the giving that follows it.
Only in the spirit of resting from our own works can we really present anything to God. If we come in a spirit of self-confidence in what we have done to secure the things we bring to God, this is not acceptable to Him. We must remember that everything belongs to Him in the first place, as David says, "of Your own we have given You" (1 Chron. 29:14).
The verse announces things to do, yet what follows is no demand laid on everyone alike. One commentator marks the change of principle.
But we are now to consider something that is not law at all, but in contrast to law. The word of the Lord directs Moses to take an offering to the Lord from the children of Israel. But he may take it only from those who are of a willing heart (vv. 4-5). The law does not speak this way; it makes stern demands of everyone under it. But the purpose of all these offerings is to prepare a dwelling for the Lord among them. Grace is the only principle allowed any part in this.
Read as a heading over the chapter, this verse opens the people's part in the work.
The Sabbath is appointed. Then, with grace shown in this way, His people are encouraged to show their goodwill and their generosity in everything that concerns the service of God. So we find the display of the spirit of wisdom and of gift in service, God calling by name those He especially intended for the work. They did this generously. They brought more than was needed. Every wise-hearted man worked at the things he was gifted for, and Moses blessed them.
- Grace resumes. The instructions that stopped at chapter 31 start again here — only because mercy spared a nation whose story could have ended there.
- Grace speaks. The commands come through a man's voice and a man's hand, yet they are as truly God's words as anything His own finger wrote.
- Grace rests. The first thing commanded is not work but rest. God's own rest is the goal of all His ways with His people.
- Grace gives. What follows is not a demand pressed on all alike. It is an offering from willing hearts. Grace is the only principle allowed any part in preparing God's dwelling.
- Grace works. The announcement ends in a people generous beyond need, gifted workers called by name, and Moses blessing them.
Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a sabbath of rest to Jehovah whoever does work on it shall be put to death.
Exodus 35 opens the last stretch of the book, where Israel builds the tabernacle — but first Moses gathers the whole nation and repeats the Sabbath law. Why does a command to stop working open Israel's biggest work project, and why is death the penalty for breaking it?
Before the building starts, God returns to the Sabbath. One writer sees a pattern in that:
The Lord always reminds the people of the goal and object of all His ways with them: entering into His rest. This was the goal He set before them, however impossible it became for them to reach it because of their unbelief. So the Sabbath appears again here, as it always does whenever God forms a new relationship with the people. It becomes something like a preface to the account of the construction of the sanctuary.
This work was God's own commission. Surely that let it run through the week? The camp was about to become a workshop, and one day in seven the workshop shut down:
The stir of daily work stopped on each Sabbath day. The spinning wheels stood still. The shuttles lay unused. The workers put away saws and planes on that one day in seven — the Sabbath of rest to the Lord. Is this not why the reminder to keep the Sabbath comes before the instructions about building the Tabernacle (35:1-3)? It was work for God to prepare the Tabernacle, but that was to be no excuse for breaking the Sabbath. The Sabbath began in Eden, and God gave it to Israel as a sign. They first learned to keep it on the way to Sinai, when God gave the manna (Ex. 16). The fourth commandment reminded them of it at Sinai (Ex. 20). Then, after Moses had received all the directions for the Tabernacle… God charged him to impress that day on the people (31:12-17).
Why repeat a law the people already knew so well? One answer looks past the practical to the principle underneath:
If we look for a spiritual reason, we may find it in this: rest is only possible in God. His divine sufficiency can bear every demand made on it. And is this not the first requirement for any sufficiency on our part, this rest in God? A Sabbath to the LORD, because we know the LORD as the God of all deliverances, acting from Himself and for the glory of His name? It is this that enables us to bring Him our freewill offering and build His tabernacle.
The same writer states the lesson in a single line: "if we are to bring to God, we must first receive from Him; if we are to work for Him, we must first rest in Him."
The death sentence sounds severe to modern ears. One commentator meets the objection and contrasts how God acts now:
Anyone who defiled the Sabbath came under sentence of death at once… Does this seem cruel? The answer is that any Israelite guilty of breaking the Sabbath was showing contempt for God… People today are no less guilty when they coldly disobey the Word of God. But God deals in patient grace. He does not judge yet, but gives sinners opportunity to repent and be saved.
Another writer reads the ban on "any manner of work" as a picture with a warning inside it:
No command was more strict. The people could do no work of any kind on the Sabbath, not even light a fire… Is there not something very unusual in this ban on all manner of work? Here the wages of works is death. The wages of sin is death, and not only that. If anyone does works — yes, any manner of works — for salvation, for rest, for peace, the wages of such works will be everlasting death.
The Sabbath stands at the head of the building work. It ties God's rest to God's dwelling:
It is the rest of God… He can never rest in the presence of sin. He would declare that His dwelling place must stand on an eternal Sabbath… God's rest and God's dwelling place must be together, and that for eternity. But come back to now, to the basis on which God dwells with His people today. How precious the reminder of Him who is the true basis of rest — not our work or our worthiness.
- Preface — The Sabbath opens the tabernacle account. God ties His rest to every new relationship He forms with His people.
- Priority — Rest comes before service: what we bring to God, we must first receive from Him.
- Pause — Building God's house was no excuse to break God's day. The looms and saws stopped anyway.
- Penalty — Death for working showed how grave it is to despise God's word. Commentators also read it as a picture: works done to earn salvation pay only death.
- Purpose — God's rest and God's dwelling belong together. The true basis of rest is never our work or worthiness.
Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your dwellings upon the sabbath day.
This Sabbath rule comes just as Israel is about to build the tabernacle. It bans one small act: lighting a fire at home. Why open the building of God's dwelling with a call to rest, and why name a household fire?
Moses put a Sabbath reminder before the building instructions. One writer asks why, and pictures the camp on the seventh day.
The stir of the daily work stopped on each Sabbath day. The spinning wheels were then at rest. The shuttles lay unused. People put away saws and planes on that one day in seven — the Sabbath of rest to the Lord. Is not this why the reminder to keep the Sabbath comes before the instructions for building the Tabernacle (35:1-3)? It was work for God to prepare the Tabernacle, but that was to be no excuse for breaking the Sabbath.
Another writer sees the same placing as pointing to a goal. God keeps setting the end of His ways before the people.
The Lord, as has been said before, always reminds the people of the end and object of all His ways with them; that is, entering into His rest. This was the end proposed, however impossible it became for them to reach it because of their unbelief. So the Sabbath is found again in this place, as it always is whenever any new relationship is formed between God and the people. It becomes in this way a kind of preface to the account of the construction of the sanctuary.
The ban reaches into every home. Why single out fire? One writer finds the answer in what fire stands for.
To kindle a fire on the Sabbath day was not only a direct breach of the law. It also showed complete alienation from the mind of the Lawgiver, because it brought into the day of rest the very thing that pictures judgement. Fire is emblematic of judgement, and as such it was completely out of keeping with the repose of the Sabbath.
Would such a rule be cruel in a freezing country? One writer answers that, then looks ahead to what the day pictures.
Also no fire was to be kindled that day (v. 3). This would be a cruel law if applied to people living in an extremely cold climate, but it applied only to Israel. The Sabbath was also to be a day when God's judgment was not kindled — neither a day of work nor of judgment, but of rest. So it looks on to God's eternal day. On that day He will have finished all His work, and judgment will have accomplished its ends. Then He may fully rest in His love and rejoice over us with singing.
Why does this law appear again right here? One writer looks for a spiritual reason, and finds it in what rest gives the worker.
But if we look for a spiritual reason, we may find it in this: rest is only possible in God. Rest is found in that divine sufficiency which is able to bear every demand made on it. And is not this the first thing needed for any sufficiency on our part, this rest in God? A Sabbath to the Lord, because the Lord is known as the God of all deliverances, acting from Himself and for the glory of His name? It is this that enables us to bring Him our free-will offering and build His tabernacle.
Even lighting a spark counted as work here. One writer takes that strictness as a warning about works done to earn salvation.
No command was stricter. No work of any sort was to be done on the Sabbath, not even lighting a fire. And nothing displeased Israel's God more than the polluting of His Sabbath. Now is there not something very striking in the ban on all manner of work on the Sabbath? Here the wages of works is death. Not only is the wages of sin death. If any works at all are done for salvation, for rest, for peace, the wages of such works will be everlasting death.
- Rest first. Moses set the Sabbath reminder before the building of the sanctuary, so even work done for God gave way to God's day.
- Rest supplies. Rest in God is what makes the free-will offering possible; it is the first requirement for any sufficiency on our part.
- Rest excludes fire. Fire pictures judgement, and judgement had no place in a day of rest.
- Rest excludes works. The ban on every kind of labour, down to a spark, shows that works done for salvation, rest or peace earn death, not life.
- Rest arrives. The command points to God's eternal day. His work will be finished, judgement will have done its work, and He will rest in His love and rejoice over His people with singing.