Exodus 38:21-31

21 [af]This is the number of the things for the [ag]tabernacle, the [ah]tabernacle of the testimony, as they were [ai]numbered according to the [aj]command of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. 22 Now Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord had commanded Moses.23 With him was Oholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver and a skillful workman and a [ak]weaver in [al]blue and in purple and in scarlet material, and fine linen.

24 All the gold that was used for the work, in all the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the wave offering, was 29 talents and 730 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. 25 The silver of those of the congregation who were [am]numbered was 100 talents and 1,775 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary; 26 a beka a head (that is, half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary), for each one who passed over to those who were [an]numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for 603,550 men. 27 The hundred talents of silver were for casting the [ao]sockets of the sanctuary and the [ap]sockets of the veil; one hundred [aq]sockets for the hundred talents, a talent for a [ar]socket. 28 Of the 1,775 shekels, he made hooks for the pillars and overlaid their tops and made [as]bands for them. 29 The bronze of the wave offering was 70 talents and 2,400 shekels. 30 With it he made the [at]sockets to the doorway of the tent of meeting, and the bronze altar and its bronze grating, and all the utensils of the altar, 31 and the [au]sockets of the court all around and the [av]sockets of the gate of the court, and all the pegs of the [aw]tabernacle and all the pegs of the court all around.

After reading this, it is interesting to remember that the Israelites were slaves in the land of Egypt. They didn’t have a lot of posessions, and probably very little gold and silver. But when God was getting ready to deliver them from Egypt with the last plague, He told them to ask for precious items from their Egyptian masters, and the Egyptians were only too willing to be rid of them, at any cost.

So here we see, probably not everything, but a sizable portion of what God blessed them with on that day when they escaped Egypt. The amounts are pretty incredible when converted to modern measurements. Over a ton of gold, nearly four tons of silver, and two and a half tons of bronze were given as offerings. When God blesses us lavishly, it is only right that we be generous in giving back to Him.

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