1Moses assembled all the congregation of the children of Israel, and said to them, “These are the words which Yahweh has commanded, that you should do them. 2‘Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of solemn rest to Yahweh: whoever does any work in it shall be put to death. 3You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations on the Sabbath day.’”
4Moses spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “This is the thing which Yahweh commanded, saying, 5‘Take from among you an offering to Yahweh. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as Yahweh’s offering: gold, silver, bronze, 6blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats’ hair, 7rams’ skins dyed red, sea cow hides, acacia wood, 8oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense, 9onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod and for the breastplate.
10“‘Let every wise-hearted man among you come, and make all that Yahweh has commanded: 11the tabernacle, its outer covering, its roof, its clasps, its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its sockets; 12the ark, and its poles, the mercy seat, the veil of the screen; 13the table with its poles and all its vessels, and the show bread; 14the lamp stand also for the light, with its vessels, its lamps, and the oil for the light; 15and the altar of incense with its poles, the anointing oil, the sweet incense, the screen for the door, at the door of the tabernacle; 16the altar of burnt offering, with its grating of bronze, its poles, and all its vessels, the basin and its base; 17the hangings of the court, its pillars, their sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court; 18the pins of the tabernacle, the pins of the court, and their cords; 19the finely worked garments for ministering in the holy place—the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons—to minister in the priest’s office.’”
20All the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. 21They came, everyone whose heart stirred him up, and everyone whom his spirit made willing, and brought Yahweh’s offering for the work of the Tent of Meeting, and for all of its service, and for the holy garments. 22They came, both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted, and brought brooches, earrings, signet rings, and armlets, all jewels of gold; even every man who offered an offering of gold to Yahweh. 23Everyone with whom was found blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats’ hair, rams’ skins dyed red, and sea cow hides, brought them. 24Everyone who offered an offering of silver and bronze brought Yahweh’s offering; and everyone with whom was found acacia wood for any work of the service, brought it. 25All the women who were wise-hearted spun with their hands, and brought that which they had spun: the blue, the purple, the scarlet, and the fine linen. 26All the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun the goats’ hair. 27The rulers brought the onyx stones and the stones to be set for the ephod and for the breastplate; 28with the spice and the oil for the light, for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense. 29The children of Israel brought a free will offering to Yahweh; every man and woman whose heart made them willing to bring for all the work, which Yahweh had commanded to be made by Moses.
30Moses said to the children of Israel, “Behold, Yahweh has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. 31He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of workmanship; 32and to make skillful works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, 33in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all kinds of skillful workmanship. 34He has put in his heart that he may teach, both he and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. 35He has filled them with wisdom of heart to work all kinds of workmanship, of the engraver, of the skillful workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of those who do any workmanship, and of those who make skillful works.
This is a short chapter of just eight verses. In these, we see that the number seven is used seven times. Seven is God’s number for completion. What is to take place is the total completion of God’s wrath on the earth. The word used here for “wrath” in Greek is a powerful word. It is (θυμός – thymos/thumos). You can recognize it in the word “thermos,” which means “heat.” It is something beyond mere anger. It is unusual. It speaks of a passionate, overwhelming “flash point”, an explosive kind of anger. It is a seething, boiling, burning kind of anger. The text tells us that in these plagues, the wrath of God is “complete”. Interestingly, the word “complete” is related to tetelestai [God’s work of redemption is done], the last word Jesus uttered from the cross. The word used here is ἐτελέσθη (etelesthe), meaning that in these judgments God’s wrath will be perfected, finished, and completed. God’s judgment will be over. God will vindicate His people.
John looks into heaven and sees all the saints of God as victorious. That’s all the believers in Jesus throughout history, standing on a sea of what looks like water mixed with fire. He sees the saints of God standing victoriously above all of humanity. They are on something “like” a sea of glass and fire, and they are holding harps. I think the description of “fire” describes what these saints have been through. They are standing victoriously, having passed the test. The mention of harps is interesting to me. I guess this is where the idea of people sitting around in heaven playing harps comes from. And they are having a great big huge praise and worship service. Two or three songs of Moses are recorded in the Torah and the Ketuvim. We find a song of Moses in Exodus 15, Deuteronomy 32, and Moses also wrote Psalms 90. One song of Moses is recorded as being sung after the children of Israel have crossed the Red Sea. The song begins, “I will sing unto the Lord for He has triumphed gloriously, the horse and rider thrown into the sea.” Moses sings of God’s faithfulness in triumphing over the enemies of God and His people. (see Exodus 15:11).
God will indeed avenge the blood of His servants. He will avenge the blood of righteous Gentiles along with His own righteous people. This revenge is part of what is happening during the time of these bowls of wrath. John sees seven angels clothed in bright linen coming out of the temple's inner shrine. This is the place where the Ark of the Covenant is housed. Each of these seven angels is given a bowl of wrath. The presence of God saturates the temple in smoke and glory and will remain so until the end of the wrath is completed. I have to admit, when I read this, all I could think about was that scene from Indiana Jones: “In Search of the Lost Ark”. The Nazis have tried to use the Ark to somehow harness the power of God in their quest for evil. When they get out in the desert and open the Ark, holy angels come out of it, clothed in linen robes, and they annihilate the Nazi goons. These plagues, these bowls of wrath, are God pulling out all the stops. These seven angels came out of the area where not only the Ark of the Covenant was placed, but where the Menorah, the Showbread Table, and the Altar of Incense rested (Exodus 35-40). Reader, the only normative instruction to be found in this passage is that we don’t want to experience anything of the wrath of God. In Scripture, you and I are given repeated opportunities to avoid the wrath of God. It is in accepting Jesus and His work on the cross that the wrath of God passes over us. He that knew no sin was made sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21 paraphrased).