Crystal Writes A Blog

It’s Curtains for You, Israel

Hand Embroidery by Flickr User Celeste Goulding, CC License = Attribution, Noncommercial
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It has been quite awhile since I was in a “home ec” class, but I know I liked the cooking ones better than the sewing ones. Maybe because I could eat my creations. 😉 Of course, I did get called to the principal once as a result of one cooking class. I made my first and only lemon meringue pie, and I brought a piece of it to my Spanish teacher. When the principal called me in, he asked if I was the one who gave pie to the teacher. I thought I’d done something horribly wrong until the principal told me the teacher gave him some of it, and he just wanted to know if I had any left and would bring some to him.

Well, Israel already had their cooking class back when God rained down manna for them. In today’s reading from Exodus 26:1 through Exodus 26:14, they get their sewing class. God gives them detailed instructions for making the curtains of finely woven linen for the wilderness tabernacle. He gives them measurements, amount of material, colors of yarn–royal colors of blue, purple, and scarlet–and even the color of the loops that will be used to hang the curtains. He tells them to use their artists to create embroidered cherubim (angels) in the drapes and to add golden fasteners, so the curtains can be joined as one complete unit.

After the linen curtains, God instructs Israel to make coverings with sheets made of goat hair. He gives strong details for making the coverings, but it is clear by the details that artistry is not of the same importance for the outer covering as for the inside drapes. This is what I was talking about when I spoke of the hidden beauty in an earlier post. And if goat hair isn’t enough to hide the beauty inside, Israel is then instructed to make more outer coverings of ram’s skins dyed red followed by dolphin or porpoise skins. That detail is given more clearly in the Amplified version of the last verse.

I think the thing I’m loving about the wilderness tabernacle is that everyone is working together with detailed instruction, and each person is to work within his or her own strengths. In my high school home economics elective, I was given the choice of “Threads” or “Grub,” so I could take the class I was most interested in. I tried the sewing one, and I think I remember making a blue corduroy pantsuit, but it’s long enough in the past that I don’t recall if I ever finished it. But I do remember that neither of those things was ever a strength to me like writing (especially poetry) and singing were. I am thankful, though, for everything God has allowed me to learn and experience in life. I’m even more thankful that He is a personal Creator that knows the strengths and weaknesses of those who walk with Him.

February 3, 2014 Posted by Crystal A Murray (aka CrystalWriter) | Bible Study, Nonfiction, Torah Commentary | Adonai, Almighty, Bible, Bible Gateway, Bible reading, Bible study, Complete Jewish Bible, covering, Creator, crystalwriter, curtains, design, Exodus, God, Holy Bible, instruction, Israel, Lord, Old Covenant, Old Testament, Parashah, Portions, Scripture, tabernacle, The Complete Jewish Bible, Torah, Torah commentary, Torah Portions, Torah Reading, Word, Word of God, Word of the Lord, www.biblegateway.com, Yahveh, Yahweh | 2 Comments