Exodus 35:21

19 ^athe garments of ministry, for ministering in the holy place—the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, to minister as priests.’ ”

The Tabernacle Offerings Presented

20 And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses.

21 Then everyone came ^awhose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and they ^bbrought the Lord’s offering for the work of the tabernacle of meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments.

22 They came, both men and women, as many as had a willing heart, and brought ^aearrings and nose rings, rings and necklaces, all ^bjewelry of gold, that is, every man who made an offering of gold to the Lord.

23 And ^aevery man, with whom was found blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats’ hair, red skins of rams, and¹ badger skins, brought them.

24 Everyone who offered an offering of silver or bronze brought the Lord’s offering. And everyone with whom was found acacia wood for any work of the service, brought it.

Commentaries:

Forerunner Commentary
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What Does Exodus 35:21 Mean?

Exodus 35:21

The context is the building of the Tabernacle in the wilderness, and the subject is "spirit." Spirit is what impels and motivates.

We need to understand the structure of verse 21. The second phrase, "and every one whom his spirit made willing" is parallel with the first phrase, "they came, every one whose heart stirred him up." Parallelism is a Hebraic syntactical form used to clarify and reinforce a statement.

The human heart, the blood-pumping muscle, is invisible to sight, being inside the body, but it is the activating and animating source of physical life: "The life is in the blood." The Hebrews knew that, and so they used "heart" in a way that parallels "spirit." In their speaking and writing, Hebrews used the heart to symbolize the seat of the intellect, as well as the emotional and spiritual life. To them, it was also, not only the animating part of physical life, but also the invisible energizer and motivator of activity in the areas of intellectual, emotional, and spiritual life. They simply made a connection between the physical heart and its energizing physical life, and spirit, which energizes intellectual, emotional, and spiritual life.

Thus, in this verse, "heart" and "spirit" are brought together as though they were one, involved in stirring, exciting, or motivating people into action to build the Tabernacle. We could take this one step further to say that spirit was exciting or inclining the mind to be willing to choose to give of themselves.

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

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The Tabernacle Offerings Presented

What Does Exodus 35:21 Mean?

A Verse and a Thought,Every Morning

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