Moses inspected the work and saw that they had done it just as the LORD had commanded. So Moses blessed them.
Exodus 39: 42
This comes at the end of several chapters in Exodus that go to a lot of bother to repeat details — details about the construction of the ark, the tent, and the priest’s clothes. I do a lot of editing, and generally repetition is something you want to get rid of. In ancient times, writers had the added constraint of papyrus or parchment being a bulky product. It would have been more efficient to bundle these details up in summary. Just as this verse finally does.
So why the repetition? I have asked myself. Not without annoyance — a sense of here we go again. If you assume that the writing of this book was thoughtful, even inspired (which I do), then the details must be important. Not just for their individual symbolic significance – twelve stones for twelve tribes etc – but for their effect en masse. This verse explains why.
God gave particular instructions, which required a lot of planning, and faithful execution. Everything was made by hand, from thread to tent pegs. The craftspeople of the Israelite tribes had to go to a lot of bother. It must have been tempting to cut corners — not to use gold thread in the embroidery, say, because it had to be smelted, then beaten, then cut, all before it was painstakingly sewn on. But they didn’t cut corners. They went to the bother. Because if anything deserves it, God does.
Ditto with me. Don’t cut corners. Put in the extra time to pray, or call someone. Prepare the Bible studies fully. When serving Jesus here and now — serving the church, serving people — takes time and effort, let me give what it takes.
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