Read & explore together
Materials Used for the Tabernacle
This passage lists the materials used for the tabernacle and names some of the people responsible. It is not a new event but a careful record showing that the work, the workers, and the quantities were all noted.
Understanding the passage
Understanding this record
The text calls this an account of the materials used for the tabernacle, the Tabernacle of the Testimony. The counting was done according to Moses’ commandment, for the Levites’ service, under Ithamar son of Aaron. Then the passage names workers and totals for gold, silver, and bronze.
Exodus 38:21–31Main takeaway
This inventory shows that the tabernacle work was carefully carried out, counted, and connected to the people and purposes named in the passage.
Explore the record
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01A counted record for tabernacle serviceVerse 21 says these are the amounts used for the tabernacle, also called the Tabernacle of the Testimony.
Explanation
Verse 21 says these are the amounts used for the tabernacle, also called the Tabernacle of the Testimony. The materials were counted by commandment of Moses, and this counting was linked with the service of the Levites under Ithamar. The passage begins as an organised record, not as a separate story.
02Named workers and their skillsThe passage next names Bezalel and says he made all that Yahweh commanded Moses. Oholiab worked with him and is described as an engraver, a skilful workman, and an embroiderer in blue, purple, scarlet, and fine linen.
Explanation
The passage next names Bezalel and says he made all that Yahweh commanded Moses. Oholiab worked with him and is described as an engraver, a skilful workman, and an embroiderer in blue, purple, scarlet, and fine linen. The inventory remembers both obedience and skill.
03Gold and silver are totalled carefullyThe gold used for the sanctuary is given as twenty-nine talents and seven hundred thirty shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary.
Explanation
The gold used for the sanctuary is given as twenty-nine talents and seven hundred thirty shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. The silver is also totalled, and verse 26 explains a beka as half a shekel for each counted man aged twenty years and upward. The text is precise about measures and counting.
04How silver and bronze were usedThe silver was used for casting the sockets of the sanctuary and the veil, with one hundred sockets from one hundred talents.
Explanation
The silver was used for casting the sockets of the sanctuary and the veil, with one hundred sockets from one hundred talents. The remaining silver made hooks, overlaid capitals, and fillets. The bronze total is then given, and it was used for sockets, the altar and its grating, altar vessels, court sockets, and pins.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01Why does the passage begin by stressing that the materials were counted?
Look at the words about Moses’ commandment, the Levites’ service, and Ithamar’s oversight to see that this is a deliberate record.
02What do Bezalel and Oholiab add to this inventory besides names?
Notice that the text links Bezalel with doing what Yahweh commanded Moses and describes Oholiab’s specific craft skills.
03How does the passage show that different materials had different uses?
Compare what is said about silver sockets and fittings with the bronze altar items, court fittings, and pins.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Exodus 38:21–31
21These are the amounts of materials used for the tabernacle, even the Tabernacle of the Testimony, as they were counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest.
22Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that Yahweh commanded Moses.
23With him was Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a skillful workman, and an embroiderer in blue, in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen.
24All the gold that was used for the work in all the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the offering, was twenty-nine talents and seven hundred thirty shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary.
25The silver of those who were counted of the congregation was one hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary:
26a beka a head, that is, half a shekel, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for everyone who passed over to those who were counted, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty men.
27The one hundred talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the sanctuary and the sockets of the veil: one hundred sockets for the one hundred talents, one talent per socket.
28From the one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, overlaid their capitals, and made fillets for them.
29The bronze of the offering was seventy talents and two thousand four hundred shekels.
30With this he made the sockets to the door of the Tent of Meeting, the bronze altar, the bronze grating for it, all the vessels of the altar,
31the sockets around the court, the sockets of the gate of the court, all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins around the court.