Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Exodus, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
God’s Identity and Power
Redemption and Deliverance
The Covenant
Mediators and the Priesthood
Summary
Analysis
The LORD tells Moses that he has appointed two artisans, Bezalel and Oholiab, to make all the things God has commanded, from the ark of the covenant to the vestments and the incense. God has given these men “divine spirit,” knowledge, and skill to carry out what he has commanded.
Although all the Israelites have the opportunity to contribute materials for the tabernacle and its special objects, specific artisans have been chosen and equipped by God to make the objects.
Themes
The LORD tells Moses to speak to the Israelites and tell them that they must keep the Sabbath. This will be a sign between them and God for all generations, so that they may know that the LORD sanctifies them. Everyone who does not keep the sabbath, who profanes it by doing work, must be cut off from the people and put to death. It is a perpetual sign that the LORD spent six days creating and rested on the seventh. When God finishes giving Moses these commands on Mount Sinai, God gives him two tablets of stone; the commandments are written on the tablets by the finger of God.
This section pauses from giving building instructions to remind the Israelites of another feature of their holy lifestyle: keeping the Sabbath. While this observance has been discussed before, here it’s specifically tied to the rest that God’s took after completing the work of creation. Thus, keeping the Sabbath is a way of imitating God. It also distinguishes the Israelites from other peoples, which is why the death penalty is incurred for Sabbath-breaking. With this dramatic conclusion, God’s instructions to Moses come to an end.
Themes
