Exodus/Shemoth 35-39: Do we have to read these chapters?

[If the previous chapters were disturbing and intriguing, these next 5 chapters are frustrating if not downright boring, so much so readers probably tend to skip them altogether.  One begins to wonder why Divine Revelation would include minutiae that might be interesting only to carpenters, tailors, and craftsmen but then why not, YHWH wants His visible Presence among His people to be observable to the nations who would marvel at a people whose God actually travels with them in theophanies of cloud and fire. So why not build a special tent for YHWH, but only according to His specifications; remember He is a God of details so they must pay careful attention, as should we. 

Actually, our first exposure to the construction of this portable dwelling for the God of Israel was early on in our Messianic orientation, because we had a bible teacher who loved to teach this topic over and over, understandably because so much detail (as you will read in these chapters) had to be explained as relating to New Testament teaching.  Second to the topic of the Last Supper being the Passover Seder, our Messianic teacher considers the Tabernacle in the Wilderness as a structure where every little detail is related to the ministry of Jesus Christ. Some of our S6K members have attended seminar after seminar on the study of the Tabernacle; some of us even constructed mini-copies for final projects if we wanted to receive a certificate.

 

One sample teaching series on the web explains clearly why Christians/Messianics are encouraged to seriously study the details of this structure: [http://www.hadavar.org/drupal/content/messiah-and-tabernacle-0]

This series concentrates on . . . . the Book of Exodus exploring both the original construction and importance of Israel’s Tabernacle in the wilderness as well as its Messianic significance, [taking] you through the texts from a Jewish perspective. The series will unfold the original instructions given to Israel and the New Covenant truths they portray. Finally, you will learn how these truths relate to Believers today.

The Tabernacle course is designed to enhance your understanding of this significant portion of the Bible, to deepen your understanding of Jesus and His priestly work on the behalf of Believers, and to strengthen your walk with the designer of the Tabernacle, The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You will find yourself better equipped to share the Messiahship of Jesus with your Jewish friends, relatives, co-workers, and neighbors.

Well, at least the original “Designer” is acknowledged in these teachings as the God of Israel’s Patriarchs.  Now that we are re-reading the TNK in its proper context of focusing only on YHWH and Israel, minus the connection with the New Testament and its God, we do finally understand the real purpose of this temporary dwelling of Israel’s God with His people and not surprisintly, it had absolutely nothing to do with Christianity’s second person of its trinitarian godhead no matter how fascinating is the forced connection made in every detail.

From the time of the giving of the Covenant, the 40 years of wilderness wanderings and through the conquest of the promised land, the constant reminder  ‘I will be your Elo’hiym and you will be my people’ is visibly and symbolically demonstrated by the centrality of this Tent of Meeting not only when the Israelites encamped, but also as they journeyed through the wilderness, and even as they fought their battles with the hostile desert-dwellers, gentile nations whose territory they had to pass through. 

So back to the question in our title:  Do we have to read these chapters?

There is always blessing in reading, absorbing, remembering divinely-revealed instructions, in short, YES!

Translation is EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses; additional commentary from AST/ArtScroll Tanach and P&H/Pentateuch & Haftorahs. Reformatting and highlights ours; images are from Google.–Admin1.]

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Exodus/Shemoth 35

 [Tabernacle image from Google Images]

AND
1 Now Moshe assembled the entire community of the Children of Israel
 
and said to them:
 
These are the words that YHVH has commanded, to do them:
2 For six days is work to be made,
 
but on the seventh day,
 
there is to be holiness for you,
 
Sabbath, Sabbath-ceasing for YHVH;
 
whoever makes work on it is to be put-to-death!
3 You are not to let fire burn throughout all your settlements on the Sabbath day.
4 Now Moshe spoke to the entire community of the Children of Israel,
 
saying:
 
This is the matter that YHVH has commanded, saying:
5 Take, from yourselves, a raised-contribution for YHVH,
 
whoever is of willing mind is to bring it,
 
YHVH’S contribution:
 
gold, silver, and bronze,
6 blue-violet, purple, worm-scarlet, byssus and goats’-hair,
7 rams’ skins dyed-red, tanned-leather skins,
 
acacia wood,
8 oil for lighting,
 
spices for oil of anointing and for fragrant smoking-incense,
9 onyx stones and stones for setting,
 
for the efod and for the breastpiece.
10 And everyone wise of mind among you
 
is to come and is to make all that YHVH has commanded:
11 The Dwelling, its tent and its cover,
 
its clasps and its boards,
 
its running bars, its columns and its sockets;
12 the coffer and its poles,
 
the purgation-cover and the curtain for the screen;
13 the table and its poles and all its implements,
 
and the Bread of the Presence;
14 and the lampstand for lighting and its implements and its lamps,
 
and the oil for lighting;
15 and the site for smoke-offering and its poles, and the oil for anointing,
 
and the fragrant smoking-incense;
 
and the entrance screen for the entrance of the Dwelling;
16 the site for offering-up and the bronze lattice that (belongs) to it, its poles and all its implements;
 
the basin and its pedestal;
17 the hangings of the courtyard, its columns and its sockets, and the screen for the gate of the
courtyard;
18 the pins of the Dwelling and the pins of the courtyard, and their cords,
19 the officiating garments for attending at the Holy-shrine;
 
the garments of holiness for Aharon the priest
 
and the garments of his sons for acting-as-priest.
20 So the entire community of the Children of Israel
 
went out from Moshe’s presence,
21 and then they came, every man whose mind uplifted him,
 
and everyone whose spirit made-him-willing brought YHVH’S contribution
 
for the skilled-work on the Tent of Appointment, for all its service (of construction), and for the garments of holiness.
22 Then came men and women alike, everyone of willing mind,
 
they brought
 
brooch and nose-ring and signet-ring and necklace, every kind of gold object,
 
every man that wished to elevate an elevation-offering of gold to YHVH;
23 and everyone with whom could be found
 
blue-violet, purple, worm-scarlet, byssus and goats’-hair, rams’ skins dyed-red and tanned-leather skins,
 
brought it.
24 Everyone that raised a raised-contribution of silver and bronze
 
brought YHVH’S contribution,
 
and everyone with whom could be found
 
acacia wood for all the work of the service (of construction), brought it.
25 And every woman wise of mind,
 
with their hands they spun
 
and brought their spinning-
 
the blue-violet, the purple, the worm-scarlet and the byssus,
26 and every one of the women whose mind uplifted them in practical-wisdom
 
spun the goats’-hair.
27 And the exalted-ones brought
 
the onyx stones and the stones for setting,
 
for the efod and for the breastpiece,
28 and the fragrant-spice and the oil
 
for lighting, for oil of anointing, for fragrant smoking-incense.
29 Every man and woman
 
whose mind made-them-willing to bring (anything) for all the workmanship
 
that YHVH had commanded (them) to make through Moshe, the Children of Israel brought it, freewill-offering for YHVH.
30 Now Moshe said to the Children of Israel:
 
See,
 
YHVH has called by name
 
Betzalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Yehuda,
31 he has filled him with the spirit of God
 
in practical-wisdom, in discernment and in knowledge,
 
and in all kinds of workmanship
32 to design designs,
 
to make (them) in gold, in silver and in bronze,
33 in the carving of stones for setting and in the carving of wood,
 
to make all kinds of designed workmanship,
34 and (the ability) to instruct he has put in his mind,
 
he and Oholiav son of Ahisamakh, of the tribe of Dan;
35 he has filled them with wisdom of mind
 
to make all kinds of workmanship
 
of the jewel-cutter, the designer and the embroiderer,
 
in blue-violet, in purple, in worm-scarlet and in byssus,
 
and of the weaver-
 
makers of all kinds of workmanship
 
and designers of designs.

 

 

Exodus/Shemoth 36

1 So are Betzalel and Oholiav to make, 

and every man wise of mind

in whom YHVH has put wisdom and discernment, 

to know (how) to make all the work for the service of (constructing) the Holy-shrine

for all that YHVH has commanded.
2 So Moshe called

for Betzalel, for Oholiav, 

and for all men wise of mind into whose mind YHVH had put wisdom, 

all those whose mind uplifted them to come-near for the work, 

to make it.
3 And they took from Moshe all the contributions 

that the Children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of (constructing) the Holy-shrine, to make it. 

Now they brought him further, freewill-offerings in the morning, (every) morning;
4 and came, all the wise-ones who were making all the skilled-work for the Holy-shrine,

man after man, from their skilled-work that they were making,
5 and said to Moshe, saying:

The people are bringing much more

than enough for the service of (doing) the work

that YHVH has commanded, to make it!
6 So Moshe commanded and they had a call go throughout the camp, saying: 

Man and woman-let them not make-ready any further work-material for the contribution of the Holy-shrine! 

So the people were stopped from bringing;
7 the work-material was enough for them, for all the work, to make it, and more.
8 Then made all those wise of mind among the makers of the work, 

the dwelling, of ten tapestries 

of twisted byssus, blue-violet, purple and worm-scarlet; 

with winged-sphinxes, of designer’s making, was it made.
9 The length of each one tapestry, twenty-eight by the cubit, 

and the width-four by the cubit, 

of each one tapestry, 

one measure for all of the tapestries.
10 Then were joined five of the tapestries, each-one to each-one, 

and five tapestries were joined, each-one to each-one.
11 Then were made loops of blue-violet

on the edge of the one tapestry, at the end of the one joint; 

thus were made in the edge of the end tapestry at the second joint.
12 Fifty loops were made on the one tapestry, 

and fifty loops were made at the end of the tapestry that is at the second joint, 

opposite the loops, this-one to that-one.
13 Then were made fifty clasps of gold 

and then were joined the tapestries, this-one to that-one, with the clasps, 

so that the dwelling became one-piece.
14 Then were made the tapestries of goats’-hair for a tent over the dwelling, 

eleven tapestries were they made.
15 The length of each one tapestry (was) thirty by the cubit, 

and four cubits, the width of each one tapestry, 

one measure for the eleven tapestries.
16 Then were joined five of the tapestries separately a

nd six of the tapestries separately.
17 Then were made loops, fifty (of them), at the edge of the end tap estry, at the joint,

and fifty loops were made at the edge of the second joining tapestry.
18 Then were made clasps of bronze, fifty (of them), 

to join the tent together,

to become one-piece.
19 Then was made a covering for the tent, of rams’ skins dyed-red, 

and a covering of tanned-leather skins, above it.
20 Then were made the boards for the Dwelling, 

of acacia wood, standing-upright;
21 ten cubits the length of the board 

and a cubit and a half the width of each one board,
22 with two pegs for each one board, parallel this-one to that-one, 

thus were made for all the boards of the Dwelling.
23 And then were made the boards for the Dwelling:

twenty as boardwork on the Negev border, southward,
24 and forty sockets of silver were made beneath twenty of the boards, 

two sockets beneath each one board for its two pegs 

and two sockets beneath each other board for its two pegs;
25 and for the second flank of the Dwelling, on the northern border, were made twenty as boardwork,
26 with their forty sockets of silver,

two sockets beneath each one board 

and two sockets beneath each other board.
27 And for the rear of the Dwelling, toward the sea, were made six boards,
28 and two boards were made for the corners of the Dwelling, at the rear,
29 so that they were of twin-use, (seen) from the lower-end, 

and together formed a whole-piece, toward the top, toward the first ring;

thus were made for the two of them, for the two corners.
30 So there were eight boards with their bases of silver, sixteen bases,

two bases each, two bases beneath each one board.
31 Then were made running-bars of acacia wood, five bars for the boards of the Dwelling’s one flank
32 and five bars for the boards of the Dwelling’s second flank,

and five bars for the boards of the Dwelling at the rear, toward the sea.
33 Then was made the middle running-bar, to run amidst the boards,

from (this) end to (that) end.
34 And the boards were overlaid with gold, 

and their rings were made of gold, as holders for the bars, 

and the bars were overlaid with gold.
35 Then was made the curtain 

of blue-violet, purple, worm-scarlet and twisted byssus; 

of designer’s making was it made, with winged-sphinxes.
36 Then were made for it four columns of acacia 

and were overlaid with gold, their hooks of gold, 

and four bases of silver were cast for them.
37 Then was made a screen for the entrance to the Tent

of blue-violet, purple, worm-scarlet and twisted byssus, 

of embroiderer’s making,
38 and their columns, five (of them), 

and their hooks, and their tops and their binders were overlaid with gold- 

and their bases, five, of bronze.

Exodus/Shemoth 37

 

1 Then Betzalel made 

 

the coffer, of acacia wood, 

 

two cubits and a half its length,

 

a cubit and a half its width, 

 

and a cubit and a half its height.
2 He overlaid it with pure gold, inside and outside, 

 

and made for it a rim of gold all around.
3 He cast for it four rings of gold

 

(to be) upon its four feet, 

 

with two rings on its one flank 

 

and two rings on its second flank.
4 He made poles of acacia wood 

 

and overlaid them with gold,
5 he brought the poles into the rings on the flanks of the coffer, to carry the coffer.
6 He made a purgation-cover of pure gold,

 

two cubits and a half its length 

 

and a cubit and a half its width.
7 He made two winged-sphinxes of gold,

 

of hammered-work did he make them, 

 

at the two ends of the purgation-cover.
8 One sphinx at the end here 

 

and one sphinx at the end there,

 

from the purgation-cover did he make the sphinxes, at its two ends.
9 And the sphinxes were spreading (their) wings upward, 

 

with their wings sheltering the purgation-cover, 

 

their faces, each toward the other; 

 

toward the purgation-cover were the sphinxes’ faces.
10 He made the table of acacia wood,

 

two cubits its length,

 

a cubit its width, 

 

and a cubit and a half its height.
11 He overlaid it with pure gold.

 

And he made a rim of gold for it, all around,
12 and made a border for it, a handbreadth all around,

 

thus he made a rim of gold for its border, all around.
13 He cast for it four rings of gold 

 

and put the rings at the four edges, where its four legs (are).
14 Parallel to the border were the rings,

 

holders for the poles, to carry the table.
15 He made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold, 

 

to carry the table.
16 He made the implements that are on the table:

 

its dishes and its ladles,

 

its jugs and jars, from which (offerings) are poured, 

 

of pure gold.
17 He made the lampstand of pure gold, 

 

of hammered-work did he make the lampstand, its shaft and its stem,

 

its goblets, its knobs and its blossoms were from it;
18 six stems issuing from its sides,

 

three lamp-stems on the one side,

 

three lamp-stems on the second side:
19 three almond-shaped goblets on the one stem, with knobs and blossoms, 

 

and three almond-shaped goblets on the other stem, with knobs and blossoms-

 

thus for the six stems that were issuing from the lampstand.
20 And on the lampstand (itself) four almond-shaped goblets, with their knobs and their blossoms,
21 a knob beneath two stems, from it, 

 

a knob beneath two stems, from it, 

 

and a knob beneath two stems, from it,

 

for the six stems that were issuing from it.
22 Their knobs and their stems were from it, 

 

all of it one-piece of hammered-work, of pure gold.
23 He made its lamps, seven (of them), 

 

and its tongs and its trays, of pure gold.
24 From an ingot of pure gold did he make it, with all its implements.
25 He made the site for smoking-incense, of acacia wood,

 

a cubit its length and a cubit its width, 

 

squared, and two cubits its height,

 

from it were its two horns.
26 He overlaid it with pure gold- 

 

its roof, its walls all around, and its horns, 

 

and he made a rim of gold for it, all around.
27 Two rings of gold did he make for it, beneath its rim,

 

on its two flanks, on its two sides, 

 

as holders for poles, to carry it by (means of) them.
28 He made the poles of acacia wood, 

 

and overlaid them with gold.
29 And he made the anointing oil of holiness 

 

and the fragrant smoking-incense, pure, of perfumer’s making.

Exodus/Shemoth 38

1 Then he made the slaughter-site of offering-up, of acacia wood,

five cubits its length, five cubits its width, square, 

and three cubits its height.
2 He made its horns on its four points,

from it were its horns.

He overlaid it with bronze.
3 He made all the implements for the slaughter-site,

the pails, the scrapers, the bowls, the flesh-hooks, and the pans; 

all its implements, he made of bronze.
4 He made for the slaughter-site a lattice, as a netting of bronze is made, 

beneath its ledge, below, (reaching) to its halfway-point.
5 He cast four rings on the four edges of the netting of bronze, 

as holders for the poles.
6 He made the poles of acacia wood 

and overlaid them with bronze.
7 He brought the poles through the rings on the flanks of the altar, 

to carry it by (means of) them;

hollow, of planks, did he make it.
8 He made the basin of bronze, its pedestal of bronze, 

with the mirrors of the women’s working-force that was doing-the-work at the entrance of the Tent of Appointment.
9 And he made the courtyard:

on the Negev border, southward,

the hangings of the courtyard, of twisted byssus, a hundred by the cubit,
10 with their columns, twenty, their sockets, twenty, of bronze,

the hooks of the columns and their binders, of silver.
11 And on the northern border, a hundred by the cubit,

their columns, twenty, their sockets, twenty, of bronze, 

the hooks of the columns and their binders, of silver.
12 And on the sea border, hangings, fifty by the cubit,

their columns, ten, their sockets, ten,

the hooks of the columns and their binders, of silver.
13 And on the eastern border, toward sunrise, fifty by the cubit,
14 (namely:) hangings of fifteen cubits to the shoulder-piece,

their columns, three, their sockets, three,
15 and for the second shoulder-piece-(over) here and (over) there for the gate of the courtyard- hangings of fifteen cubits,

their columns, three, their sockets, three.
16 All the hangings of the courtyard all around, of twisted byssus,
17 and the sockets for the columns, of bronze,

the hooks of the columns and their binders, of silver, 

and the overlay for their tops, of silver, they themselves bound with silver, 

all the columns of the courtyard.
18 The screen of the courtyard gate, of embroiderer’s making, 

of blue-violet, purple, worm-scarlet and twisted byssus, 

twenty cubits in length,

their height along the width, five cubits, 

corresponding to the hangings of the courtyard,
19 their columns, four, their sockets, four, of bronze, 

their hooks, of silver, 

and the overlay for their tops and their binders, of silver,
20 and all the pins for the Dwelling and for the courtyard all around, of bronze.
21 These are the accountings of the Dwelling, 

the Dwelling of Testimony, 

that were accounted by Moshe 

for the service of the Levites, 

under Itamar, son of Aharon the priest:
22 So Betzalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Yehuda

had made

all that YHVH had commanded Moshe,
23 and with him, Oholiav son of Ahisamakh, of the tribe of Dan, 

carver, designer, embroiderer in the blue-violet, purple and worm- scarlet and byssus.
24 All the gold that was made-use-of in the work, in all the work of (building) the Holy-shrine 

all the gold from the elevation-offering (was) 

twenty-nine ingots and seven hundred thirty shekels, by the Holy-shrine shekel.
25 And the silver accounted for by the community (was) a hundred ingots, 

and a thousand and seven hundred and seventy-five shekels by the Holy-shrine shekel,
26 a beka/split-piece per capita, the half of a shekel by the Holy-shrine shekel, 

for every one who went through the counting,

from the age of twenty years and upward,

for the six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty.
27 There were a hundred ingots of silver for the casting of the sockets of the Holy-shrine and of the sockets of the curtain 

a hundred bases per hundred ingots, an ingot per socket.
28 And the thousand, seven hundred and seventy-five they made into hooks for the columns, 

and overlaid their tops and bound them.
29 And the bronze from the elevation-offering (was) seventy ingots, 

and two thousand and four hundred shekels.
30 They made with it the sockets for the entrance of the Tent of Appointment, 

the slaughter-site of bronze, the netting of bronze that belonged to it, all the implements of the slaughter-site,
31 the sockets of the courtyard all around and the sockets of the courtyard gate 

and all the pins of the Dwelling and the pins of the courtyard, all around.

Exodus/Shemoth 39

1 Now from the blue-violet and the purple and the worm-scarlet 

they made the officiating garments for attending at the Holy-shrine 

and they made the garments of holiness that are for Aharon, 

as YHVH had commanded Moshe.
2 Then was made the efod 

of gold, blue-violet, purple, worm-scarlet and twisted byssus.
3 Then were beat out sheets of gold 

and they were split into threads,

to make-use-of-them amid the blue-violet, amid the purple, amid the worm-scarlet and amid the twisted byssus, 

(all) of designer’s making.
4 Shoulder-pieces they made for it, (to be) joined together, 

on its two ends joined.
5 The designed-band of its efod that was on it, was from it, of like making, 

of gold, blue-violet, purple, worm-scarlet and twisted byssus, 

as YHVH had commanded Moshe.
6 They made the onyx stones,

surrounded by braids of gold, 

engraved with seal engravings, with the names of the Children of Israel.
7 They placed them on the shoulder-pieces of the efod,

as stones of remembrance for the Children of Israel, 

as YHVH had commanded Moshe.
8 Then was made the breastpiece 

of designer’s making, like the making of an efod, 

of gold, blue-violet, purple, worm-scarlet and twisted byssus.
9 Square it was, doubled they made the breastpiece, 

a span its length and a span its width, doubled.
10 They set-it-full with four rows of stones-

a row of carnelian, topaz, and sparkling-emerald, the first row,
11 the second row: ruby, sapphire and hard-onyx,
12 the third row: jacinth, agate, and amethyst,
13 the fourth row: beryl, onyx and jasper; 

surrounded, braided with gold in their settings.
14 And the stones were with the names of the Children of Israel,

twelve with their names, 

signet engravings, each-one with its name, 

for the twelve tribes.
15 They made, on the breastpiece, laced chains, of rope-making, of pure gold:
16 They made two braids of gold and two rings of gold, 

and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastpiece,
17 and put the two ropes of gold on the two rings on the ends of the breastpiece,
18 and the two ends of the two ropes they put on the two braids, 

and put them on the shoulder-pieces of the efod, on its forefront.
19 They made two rings of gold, 

and placed them on the two ends of the breastpiece, on its edge that is across from the efod, inward,
20 and they made two rings of gold and put them on the two shoulder- pieces of the efod, below, facing frontward, parallel to its joint, above the designed-band of the efod.
21 They tied the breastpiece from its rings to the rings of the efod, with a thread of blue-violet, 

to be (fixed) on the designed-band of the efod; 

the breastpiece was not to be dislodged from the efod, 

as YHVH had commanded Moshe.
22 Then was made the tunic of the efod, 

of weaver’s making, all of blue-violet.
23 The head-opening of the tunic (was) in its middle, like the opening for armor, 

a seam-edge for its opening, all around-it was not to be split.
24 They made, on the skirts of the tunic, pomegranates, 

of blue-violet, purple, worm-scarlet and twisted byssus.
25 They made bells of pure gold 

and they put the bells amidst the pomegranates 

on the skirts of the tunic, all around, amidst the pomegranates:
26 bell and pomegranate, bell and pomegranate, 

on the skirts of the tunic, all around, 

for attending,

as YHVH had commanded Moshe.
27 They made the coat of byssus, of weaver’s making,

for Aharon and for his sons,
28 and the turban of byssus,

the splendid caps of byssus,

the breeches of linen, of twisted byssus,
29 and the sash of twisted byssus, blue-violet, purple, and worm-scarlet, of embroiderer’s making, 

as YHVH had commanded Moshe.
30 They made the plate (for) the sacred-diadem of holiness, of pure gold, 

and wrote upon it writing of signet engravings:

Holiness for YHVH.
31 They put on it a thread of blue-violet, to put on the turban from above, 

as YHVH had commanded Moshe.

32 Thus was finished all the service (of construction) for the Dwelling, the Tent of Appointment. The Children of Israel made (it) 

according to all that YHVH had commanded Moshe, 

thus they made.
33 And they brought the Dwelling to Moshe: 

the tent and all its implements,

its clasps, its beams, its bars and its columns and its sockets,
34 the covering of rams’ skins dyed-red and the covering of tanned-leather skins,

the curtain for the screen,
35 the coffer of Testimony and its poles 

and the purgation-cover,
36 the table, all its implements and the Bread of the Presence,
37 the pure lampstand, its lamps-lamps for arranging, and all its implements,

and the oil for lighting,
38 the site of gold, 

and anointing oil and the fragant smoking-incense 

and the screen for the entrance of the Tent;
39 the slaughter-site of bronze and the netting of bronze that belongs to it, its poles and all its implements, 

the basin and its pedestal;
40 the hangings of the courtyard,

its columns and its sockets, 

and the screen for the courtyard gate,

its cords and its pegs 

and all the implements for the service (of constructing) the Dwelling, the Tent of Appointment;
41 the officiating garments for attending at the Holy-shrine, the garments of holiness for Aharon the priest and the garments for his sons, to be-priests-
42 according to all that YHVH had commanded Moshe,

thus had made the Children of Israel, 

all the service (of construction).

 

[P&H: Credit is here given to the nameless donors and workers, who made the achievement of Bezalel and Oholiab possible.]

[P&H: i.e., expressed his thanks by invoking a blessing upon them.  The time had been short, the task great and arduous, but the labourers, fired by holy enthusiasm and zeal, had joyfully completed the work they had undertaken.  Moses does not pronounce his blessing at the beginning of the sacred enterprise.  Beginnings are easy; completions are as hard as they are rare.]