Bezalel and Oholiab (WOW) A Divine Artist!!!

In Exodus 31:3 “I have filled him with divine spirit, with ability, intelligence, and knowledge in every kind of craft, to devise artistic designs.”


The first person the Bible mentions as being filled with the spirit of God is an artist. Bezalel will help make the tabernacle, that forerunner of the temple that Solomon will one day build in Jerusalem and also the first image of the coming Messiah: “The Word became flesh,” John writes, “and lived [lit. tabernacled] among us” (John 1:14).

Everything Bezalel and others fashion will spring from God’s imagination. Only this time, humanity assists in creation, putting into three-dimensional form what is, at the beginning only in God’s mind. This is a tremendous honor and the fact that Bezalel is filled with the Spirit of God to do it immediately stresses the importance God places not only on the tabernacle, but the act of creation itself.

It is a common thought that art is simply a fringe benefit of society, something that occurs when there is enough leisure time left over from the essentials to produce it. The Bible knows nothing of this sort of thinking. God’s art is right in the middle of everything, not on the margins, and is in fact what is essential to Israel’s existence and identity. Without this art there is no tabernacle and therefore no presence of God among the people of Israel.

On page after page we hear about basins and altars and lamp stands and tables – all of them beautiful as well as functional. God himself has designed and specifically appointed artist to build the place he will dwell to be composed as art. These are not human ideas they are divine. I for one will never look at art the same.
God Bless,

Deacon Jim





(Renovare’ Spiritual Formation Bible, NSRV, 1989 Harper Collins

Israel's God is also Israel's Warrior in Exodus!!

There is a dramatic element to this story that cannot be overlooked. We are asked to see the hopelessness of the Hebrew's situation, the almost impossible struggle to change pharaoh's mind, the power of Yahweh and his total mastery of the events at the showdown at the Red Sea, the bitter disappointment and forgetfulness of Israel in the desert, and the final compelling show of divine majesty and offer of a covenant at Sinai. All of this is told from the viewpoint of Moses the leader. But is it? Although Moses is certainly the hero of the story, he never claims the credit. He always appears instead as an instrument of God.

The drama and tension of the story centers on whether God will act at this moment or not. We never doubt who runs the show, but only when he will choose to reveal his plan. At times we even despair over Moses and Aaron and the people for their hardheaded behavior, their faults and lack of insight into what is happening. In short, Israel narrates the story of the exodus to glorify God who saves!!

To us modern readers, much of the biblical story seems harsh and primitive and too violent and warlike. But in a world where the weak had little protection and fewer rights, a God who can fight for his people and defend them is the God who receives worship. The Israelite story frankly praises God as a Warrior. His military prowess is miraculous; he leads, he defeats enemies, he even marches triumphantly to his own holy mountain and receives his people's obedience and praise there. It is summed up in the victory hymn of Miriam at the Red Sea: (Exodus 15:20-21)

"Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea."

God Bless,

Deacon Jim

The Patriarchs nail down God's true name: "The God of the Fathers"

The Joseph story expresses the major theme of the entire patriarchal history. Through the ups and downs, successes and failures, God has directed the course of events so that the promises will be fulfilled. He overcomes all obstacles, whether it is the power of kings, the threats from neighboring peoples, the curse of childlessness, the occasional lapses of an Abraham or the human craftiness of a Jacob. For the Yahwist and Elohist, as well as for the later Priestly editors, this God was the one God of Israel, Yahweh. Where the Yahwist has announced in Genesis 4:26 that people called God by his proper name "Yahweh" from the beginning, both the Elohist and Priestly writers reserve the revelation of that sacred name until Moses' meeting with God on Mount Sinai at the burning bush in Exodus 3:14. Before that point in the Bible, they always call God by the general word "Elohim" which means simply "God". Lawrence Boadt in his book entitled Reading of the Old Testament claims that in this they are probably closer to the historical reality that is J's use of the name so early. Exodus 3 clearly implies that Moses was the one who first brought about the use of the name "Yahweh" for Israel’s God. (Boadt, L., (1984) Reading the Old Testament, Paulist Press, New York)

Some of the earlier names used by different tribes and leaders can still be discovered in the older parts of the Genesis traditions. Thus Abraham addresses God as El-Elyon, "God most high," Lester has pointed this out to us in class and it can be found in Genesis 14:19-20, while Jacob prays to God under the name "The fear of his father Isaac" in Genesis 31:53. Lester also brought up in class God as El Shaddai, "God the Almighty" and we find this in Genesis 35:11 where God is actually identifying himself as El Shaddai. This again occurs in Genesis 49:25 in the blessing of Joseph. Interestingly enough a name I had never heard before appears in the verse just before in Genesis 49:24 "Mighty One of Jacob."

Like the different writers of E, J, P, and D in the narratives we are studying, the different patriarchal traditions know of different ancient names for the deity, but by far the most common designation is the term "God of your father(s)." This comes up often Genesis 26:24, 31:53, 46:1-3, and 49:25. This phrase is striking, especially since it is the term by which God makes himself known to Moses at first in the burning bush (Exodus 3:6): "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

So maybe as we move forward we as students can finally settle on a name that will not be confused and changed in the ever changing narratives whether it was penned by E, J, P, or D or at what point in the timeline which becomes a great point of at least for me a source of great confusion.

God Bless,

Deacon Jim

(Boadt, L., (1984) Reading the Old Testament, Paulist Press, New York)