Exodus 35 to 37: Te Deum or tedium?

Exodus 35

Moses calls a meeting and passes on the Lord's commands...

... sabbath

... kindle no fires on t'sabbath

And Moses creates one of those present lists you do when you're getting hitched, only this time it's for the Lord's temple.

Onyx, linen, shrewbread, candlesticks etc.

And Moses' audience Getteth With The Programme.

Verse 21 “And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him up, and everyone whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the LORD's offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation and for all his service and for the holy garments.”

and badgers' skins, silver, bracelets, sugar and spice and snails and puppy dogs tails

It's a regular potlatch, except without the redistribution.

And Moses shouts out some particularly skilled craftsmen (and women)

Verse 35 “Them he hat filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise cunning work.”

Exodus 36

But Moses' subcontractors/wisemen tell him that there's now More than Enuff Stough

Verse 6-7 “And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.”

And then there's this long description of taches and loops and curtains. Having the decorators in is bloody painful.

Yep, more boards, tenons, shittim wood. More gaudy gaudiness. More cherubims.

It's as boring as the begatting, frankly.

Verse 38 “And the five pillars of it with their hooks: and he overlaid their chapiters and their fillets with gold: but their five sockets were of brass.”

Exodus 37

And he's still at it.

Verse 1-2 “And Bezaleel made the ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half was the length of it, and a cubit and a half of breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it. And he overlaid it with pure gold within and without, and made a crown of gold to it round about.”

And it goes on and on in this vein. Give me a family tree full of Muppims and Amaleks and Beelzebuubs any day of the week (including the sabbath) instead of this.

Te Deum? No, tedium....