The Divine Inspection: Obedience, Order, and Blessing Text: Exodus 39:32-43
Introduction: Worship is Not Improv Night
We live in an age that prizes authenticity, spontaneity, and heartfelt expression, particularly in our worship. These are not bad things in themselves, but when they become the central pillars of our approach to God, they quickly morph into a cover for sloppiness, irreverence, and ultimately, disobedience. The modern evangelical impulse is to treat worship like an open mic night at a coffee shop. Come as you are, do what you feel, and as long as you are sincere, God is somehow obligated to be pleased. Sincerity has become the ultimate sacrament.
But the book of Exodus, and particularly this closing section of chapter 39, lands on this sentimental scene like a ten-ton weight of glorious, objective reality. God is not interested in our creative liturgical improvisations. He is not looking for worship consultants. He is looking for faithful obedience. He gave His people a pattern on the mountain, a detailed blueprint for how He was to be approached. This was not to crush their creativity, but to protect them from His holiness and to teach them the grammar of true communion with the living God.
After the great apostasy with the golden calf in chapter 32, where the people engaged in a worship service of their own devising, a service full of revelry and pagan syncretism, we now see the fruit of their repentance. The same people who gave their gold for an idol now give their gold, their skill, and their labor for the tabernacle. And the central, repeated theme is not how they felt about it, but whether they did it "as Yahweh had commanded Moses." This is the bedrock of all true worship. God sets the terms. God writes the script. Our part is to perform it faithfully, with joy and precision.
This passage is not a dry inventory, a packing list for the Levites. It is a triumphant conclusion to a massive undertaking of faithful, corporate obedience. It is the people of God bringing the fruit of their labor to their mediator, for his inspection, before it is presented to God. And in this act, we see the pattern for all godly work, for all true worship, and for the blessing that only comes when we do things God's way.
The Text
Thus all the service of constructing the tabernacle of the tent of meeting was completed; and the sons of Israel did according to all that Yahweh had commanded Moses; so they did. They brought the tabernacle to Moses, the tent and all its furnishings: its clasps, its boards, its bars, and its pillars and its bases; and the covering of rams’ skins dyed red, and the covering of porpoise skins, and the screening veil; the ark of the testimony and its poles and the mercy seat; the table, all its utensils, and the bread of the Presence; the pure gold lampstand, with its arrangement of lamps and all its utensils, and the oil for the light; and the gold altar, and the anointing oil and the fragrant incense, and the veil for the doorway of the tent; the bronze altar and its bronze grating, its poles and all its utensils, the laver and its stand; the hangings for the court, its pillars and its bases, and the screen for the gate of the court, its cords and its pegs, and all the equipment for the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of meeting; the woven garments for ministering in the holy place and the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, to minister as priests. Thus, according to all that Yahweh had commanded Moses, so the sons of Israel did in all their service. And Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it; just as Yahweh had commanded, so they had done. Then Moses blessed them.
(Exodus 39:32-43 LSB)
The Bookends of Obedience (vv. 32, 42)
The narrator bookends this entire section with the central point he wants to drive home. Look at verse 32 and verse 42.
"Thus all the service of constructing the tabernacle of the tent of meeting was completed; and the sons of Israel did according to all that Yahweh had commanded Moses; so they did." (Exodus 39:32)
"Thus, according to all that Yahweh had commanded Moses, so the sons of Israel did in all their service." (Exodus 39:42)
This is not accidental repetition. This is the Holy Spirit, through the author, banging the drum. This is the main point. The work was finished, yes, but it was finished in a particular way. It was done "according to all that Yahweh had commanded Moses." This phrase, or one very like it, appears some seventeen times in these closing chapters of Exodus. The Spirit is laboring the point because we are so prone to miss it. We think what matters is that we build something for God. God insists that what matters is that we build what He commanded, the way He commanded it.
This is the principle of Sola Scriptura in architectural form. God's Word is sufficient. It is the pattern. We are not to add to it or subtract from it. This is not legalism; it is the logic of love. If your wife tells you she wants a particular thing for her birthday, it is no great act of love to get her something else entirely because you thought it was a better idea. Love listens and love obeys. The Israelites here are demonstrating their renewed covenant faithfulness. After the debacle with the calf, they are now showing that they have learned the lesson. Their hands, which fashioned an idol, are now consecrated to fashioning a sanctuary according to the divine blueprint.
Notice the chain of command. Yahweh commands Moses, and the sons of Israel do what Moses says. This establishes the principle of mediated authority. God speaks through His appointed servant. This is not a free-for-all. It is an ordered, structured community, receiving the Word of God through the means God has appointed. This is why the church needs faithful elders who preach the Word, and faithful people who receive it and do it.
A Holy Inventory (vv. 33-41)
What follows is a long list. Our eyes can easily glaze over. Clasps, boards, bars, pillars, skins, veils. It sounds like a contractor reading off an invoice. But we must read this with sanctified imagination. This is not a list of materials; it is a presentation of consecrated work. The people bring every single, meticulously crafted item and lay it before Moses.
"They brought the tabernacle to Moses, the tent and all its furnishings..." (Exodus 39:33a)
This is a liturgical act. Imagine the scene. The craftsmen, Bezalel and Oholiab, and all the wise-hearted men and women, bringing forth the fruit of their labor. Here is the Ark, overlaid with pure gold. Here is the mercy seat with its cherubim. Here is the lampstand, hammered from a single talent of gold. Here are the priestly garments, woven with blue, purple, and scarlet. This is not just stuff. Each item is saturated with theological meaning. Each piece is a sermon in wood, metal, and fabric, pointing to a greater reality.
The Ark of the Testimony held the law, God's covenant word, and was covered by the mercy seat, the place of atonement. Here, God's justice and His mercy meet. The Table held the Bread of the Presence, showing that God provides fellowship and sustenance for His people. The Lampstand, the only source of light in the Holy Place, testified that all true light comes from God. The Altar of Incense represented the prayers of the saints ascending to God. The Bronze Altar outside is where the sacrifices were made, the place of blood and atonement, without which no one could approach.
Every detail was a shadow, a type, pointing forward to the substance, who is Jesus Christ. He is the true Ark, the embodiment of God's Word. He is our Mercy Seat, our propitiation. He is the Bread of Life. He is the Light of the World. His intercession for us is the fragrant incense, and His sacrifice on the cross is the ultimate reality to which the bronze altar pointed. The people were building more than they knew. They were building a scale model of the gospel.
The Mediator's Inspection and Blessing (v. 43)
The climax of the passage comes in the final verse. After this grand presentation, the mediator inspects the work.
"And Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it; just as Yahweh had commanded, so they had done. Then Moses blessed them." (Exodus 39:43)
Moses saw. This is a divine inspection, carried out by God's representative. And what is the standard of his evaluation? Not artistic flair. Not cost-effectiveness. Not popular opinion. The standard is singular: "just as Yahweh had commanded." He holds up the blueprint given on the mountain and compares it to the finished product. And he finds a perfect match.
This echoes the creation account in Genesis 1. Six times God saw what He had made and declared it "good." On the seventh, He saw all His work and declared it "very good." Here, Moses sees all the work of this new creation, this microcosm of heaven and earth, and finds that it corresponds perfectly to the divine Word. It is good. It is right. It is true.
And what is the result of work that is done in precise obedience to the command of God? Blessing. "Then Moses blessed them." This is not a sentimental "have a nice day." This is a formal, covenantal pronouncement of God's favor. The blessing of God rests upon the obedience of God's people. This is a fundamental principle of the covenant. Obedience is the pipeline through which the blessing of God flows. When we disregard God's commands, we kink the hose. When we do things our way, we should not be surprised when we are living outside the realm of His pronounced favor.
Christ, Our Tabernacle and Builder
As with everything in the Old Testament, we must read this with Christian eyes. The tabernacle was God's dwelling place among Israel, but it was a temporary one. It was a shadow. The reality, the substance, is Christ. John tells us that "the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we have seen his glory" (John 1:14). Jesus is the true meeting place between God and man.
Furthermore, Jesus is not only the true Tabernacle; He is also the true Israel, the one who rendered perfect obedience. Where Israel failed, He succeeded. He did everything "just as Yahweh had commanded." His constant refrain was that He came to do the will of His Father. He fulfilled the law down to the last jot and tittle. He presented His life's work to the Father, a perfect and spotless sacrifice, and the Father inspected it and declared from heaven, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."
And now, by His Spirit, Christ is building His new temple, which is the Church (1 Cor. 3:16). We are the living stones being built into a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5). And the blueprint for this construction is the Word of God. The task of the church is not to innovate or to invent a new way of doing things that we think will be more relevant or attractive to the culture. The task of the church is to do all that the Lord has commanded us in the New Testament. We are to preach the Word, administer the sacraments, disciple the nations, and order our worship, our government, and our lives "according to the pattern."
And a day of final inspection is coming. Paul says that every man's work will be tested by fire to see what sort it is (1 Cor. 3:13). The great question on that day will not be "Were you sincere?" or "Did you follow your heart?" The question will be, "Did you do what I commanded?" Our only hope on that day is to be found in Christ, clothed in His perfect obedience. And because we are in Him, our flawed and stumbling works of obedience, done in faith, are accepted and purified. They are brought by our great Mediator, Jesus, and presented to the Father. And because of Him, we too will hear the blessing of the Father: "Well done, good and faithful servant."