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Daily Devotions

Exodus

Exodus 
Day 
Day 233

"For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods." Psalm 96:4

Text: Exodus 25 : 13-16

POLES OVERLAYED WITH GOLD

How would you understand the following text? Imagine poles overlaid with gold!

“And you shall makes poles of acacia wood,
and overlay them with gold. You shall put the poles
into the rings on the sides of the ark, that the ark
may be carried by them. The poles shall be in the rings
of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. And you shall put
into the ark the Testimony which I will give you.”
EXODUS 25:13-16

1. Was the gold-overlay “necessary”?

2. Would the gold-overlay be considered “extravagance”?

THE BIG PICTURE

In order to answer the above questions, we would need to look at “the big picture”. Perhaps asking a series of relevant questions would help us come up with good answers!

1.What if Israel had remained slaves in Egypt?

What if Israel had not been freed from bondage? Would they even possess a gram of gold at all?

2. Did God not provide for Israel adequately?

It was God who instructed the children of Israel to ask the Egyptians for whatever they wanted. Among the things they would have requested for and obtained would be “gold” (lots of it, most likely)!

3. What good would gold be on its own?

Israel was in the wilderness! What good would gold be in the wilderness? Could the gold purchase water, or bread, or meat? God saw to their every need!

4. Did Israel love God enough to give something valuable?

What had God asked from Israel all this while? What price would Israel have paid to be redeemed from their bondage? God had asked nothing from Israel!

A SMALL TEST

God had spoken specifically concerning bringing “an offering” to Him! This “request” from the Lord may indeed be seen as a test! How would the children of Israel respond? Anyone with even a smidgeon of faith and love would not consider this request for the staves to be overlaid with gold anything unreasonable! The use of gold for the Lord’s work cannot be said to be “extravagant” at all!