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What the Bible says about Bezaleel and Aholiab
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Exodus 31:1-6

God personally appointed Bezaleel and Aholiab: "I have called by name"; "I have put." They were given favor by God to carry out this responsibility in His behalf for Israel. He gave them wisdom. The basic concept behind the Hebrew word translated wisdom is synonymous with the English word "skill." It is a word with wide-ranging application. For instance, Proverbs 4:7, Solomon advises, "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom." In that context, it means skill in living, in common sense, in relationships with other people. We are to become skilled at doing these things.

The widsom of Bezaleel and Aholiab is skill in supervising and teaching others how to do things, as well as being able to do intricate, artistic things themselves. Another way of putting it would be "strength of capacity" or even "expansion of their minds." In addition, God gave them understanding, which means "discernment." In this context of building the Tabernacle, it would mean being able to arrange or connect all the different parts.

God also increased their knowledge, which means "a particular acquaintance." Cunning works implies "inventiveness," having a mind that can look at something and say, "We need this kind of a tool to accomplish this task," and then produce the tool to make it. By inspiration, God added to natural ability so that they could execute God's design. He gave them skill far beyond their natural abilities.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Holy Spirit and the Trinity (Part Six)

Exodus 31:2-4

Who was Bezaleel? Was he a chief architect and designer of Raamses or Pithom, the treasure cities the children of Israel built while enslaved in Egypt (Exodus 1:11)? Was he trained by the best artisans of Egypt? Of course, we cannot say for sure. What we do know is that he was an expert in his field. Now, once freed from Egypt, God called him and supplied him with wisdom and understanding and knowledge. More than all this, God imparted to him His Spirit along with another very important gift of God: "The ability to teach" (Exodus 35:34). Why all these blessings? So Bezaleel could provide the instruction and leadership the other craftsmen needed to build the Tabernacle.

God even gave Bezaleel a lieutenant, apparently a second-in-command, to lead the other craftsmen. He told Moses, "I, indeed I, have appointed with him Aholiab..., of the tribe of Dan" (Exodus 31:6).

In this area as well, God has done His part for us today. He has given us a leader filled with His Spirit, a teacher with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. The children of Israel had their Bezaleel; we have a pastor. And, as Bezaleel had his Aholiab, so our pastor has elders, deacons, and other converted leaders to assist within the congregation.

Charles Whitaker
God Our Provider

Exodus 35:30-35

Perhaps it would be helpful to understand that the basic meaning of the Hebrew word translated as "wisdom" is equivalent to the English word "skill." Solomon, in Proverbs 4:7, tells us, "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom." He is really saying, "Above all things, get skill." Skill in what? Skill in living. God wants us to be skilled in living. In this case, God has filled Bezalel with wisdom, and this wisdom has to do with the responsibility that He had given to him in constructing the Tabernacle and its furnishings and utensils.

This principle becomes vital to us in regard to our place in the church of God, understanding about the Spirit of God, and understanding about God Himself and what He does in our conversion. These verses show that God Himself was personally and directly involved by means of His Spirit enhancing the natural and developed abilities of humans involved in His work. Bezalel and Aholiab already had skill, but what God did to enable them to perform a function directly for Him is that He increased their natural ability to enable them to function at a higher level than normal. A supernatural element was added to their lives.

If God did this for Bazalel and Aholiab, will He not also do it for us? Will He not give us powers greater than we have by nature? He does this by His Spirit and by stirring up the spirit in man.

If we follow the usage for "spirit" and apply it here, we see that "spirit" is an invisible and immaterial source of some sort of needed power, but in this case, it is external to mankind—supernatural. In other words, we can communicate spirit from one person to another, but that spirit will only be what any human is capable of. As we become more skilled, our ability to project or to communicate spirit to another person is also increased as well, but we reach a limit in our human ability to do this. However, God is showing that in order to do a work for Him, He will empower us to go beyond what is normally possible for a human being to do.

God gave these craftsmen supernatural power for them to operate in His behalf, to produce good fruit within the purpose of God, and therefore it was of God. However, when we see abilities that seem to be beyond the ken of a normal human being, we may not know the identity of the supernatural force or power until we begin to see its fruit: "You will know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:16).

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Holy Spirit and the Trinity (Part Four)

Exodus 36:2

The Keil-Delitzsch Commentary says in reference to verse 1:

The idea is this, "Bezaleel, Aholiab, and the other men who understand, into whom [Yahweh] has infused wisdom and understanding [there is no way around it: God gave to them the ability to do this from His mind to their minds], that they may know how to do, shall do every work for the holy service (worship) with regard to all that [Yahweh] has commanded."

Let us make this personal. He shows this in the context of building the Tabernacle, which, like the Temple, is a type of the church. In His creative efforts, He adds what we lack to carry out His will. God transferred to them some of the Spirit of His mind. God favored them in this: It was a gift of grace to enable them to build the "church."

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Holy Spirit and the Trinity (Part Six)

Matthew 25:14-21

Tie this thought to Exodus 31 and 35: God gave gifts - power and abilities - to everyone working on the Tabernacle. Tie this thought to the church and to Christ as our Leader. He traveled into heaven, as shown in the Parable of the Talents, giving gifts to His servants to exercise in His "absence."

These talents, or gifts, are attributes of His mind, His Spirit, and He communicates them to us to enable us to serve within His will. As we can see in the parable, they are not given to remain static within us, but are to be developed and used. The servants are commended and rewarded for to their faithful use of His gifts. God, then, enables us to carry out our responsibilities within the church, thus we have no excuse for not building and strengthening it. We have no more excuse than Bazeleel and Aholiab had, or all the others who worked on the Tabernacle.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Holy Spirit and the Trinity (Part Six)


 




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