Year 7, Day 87: Exodus 38

Theological Commentary: Click Here

I’m not feeling like repeating myself again today, although I could certainly do a blog post on obedience and the movement of the tabernacle again.  Instead, I’d like to take the opportunity to go down a rabbit trail.  I’ll be extrapolating on small side topics within the greater framework of the tabernacle construction.

Do you notice what metals we hear being used?  Primarily, we hear about the tabernacle implements being covered in bronze and gold.  We also hear about an occasional use of silver.  I stopped and asked myself about it today.  What is so special about gold, bronze, and silver?

I think part of the answer lies in the sheer value of the elements and alloys.  Gold and silver were valuable.  Bronze was less valuable, but it was still a very useful technology.  Certainly part of the point is to look at the value.

However, I think there is far more at work here than simple value.  Gold is highly resistant to tarnish and being dissolved by acids.  Things made out of gold tend to stay the way they are across the centuries.

Silver, by the way, has much of the same rationale as gold, so I’ll not repeat it.

Bronze is quite similar.  Bronze does patina, developing a layer of copper oxide or copper carbonate.  These are the green colorations that develop on bronze.  Once this layer develops, the bronze underneath is perfectly preserved.  Furthermore, Bronze is highly resistant to metal fatigue.  This means that bronze can be work and used frequently without risking damage from breaking or fracturing the metal.  Bronze makes sense to use in a tabernacle that is going to see repeated continuous use.

What can we glean from all of this?  As the tabernacle is being built, the framework is made of wood.  However, these metals are overlaid across the wood in order to help preserve them and allow them to be used without risking damage.  There are some neat symbolic things that we can learn.  When we are coming to worship God, we do not need to fear breaking things or destroying their structure.  When we are going out and doing mission, we can have assurance that whatever God is a part of will absolutely last the test of time. God calls us to lifelong mission, developing routines, patterns, thoughts, teachings, and other things that will last and be with us.

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