Bring together
Interwoven in gold
The blessing that
The blessing that
comes at completion
[For full chapter, click here
The creation of the Dwelling continues. From
the outer structure, we moved to the sanctuary gold, then outwards to the
courtyard of bronze. This chapter incorporates the human component, with the creation
of the priestly garments. Once again, translation is also transformation. Here,
the gold of the sanctuary is actually incorporated into the clothing: "they did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it
into threads, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet,
and in the fine linen". The priests become the nerve system
of the Dwelling,
connecting the internal and external space. The chaotic
human involvement is
emphasized: The ephod "carries"--as
commanded--"the name of the children of Israel." However, no longer
is it specified that they are listed by a hierarchical order of birth. Rather it is simply the
individualized "each according to his name."
The chapter closes with the Children of
Israel “bringing together” all the components to Moses. He acts as the unifying force,
the vision. The disparate is interwoven in a catalog, that climaxes with an emphasized verbal fugue connecting the initial
vision and the earthly doing, with Moses at the center as intermediary: “According
to all that God commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did the work…And
Moses saw all the work, and, behold, they had done it as God had commanded…”
With the coming together comes blessing: “and Moses blessed them.”]
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