A lovely picture this of devotedness to the work of the sanctuary! It needed no effort to move the hearts of the people to give, no earnest appeals, no impressive arguments. Oh, no! their "_hearts_ stirred them up." This was the true way. The streams of voluntary devotedness flowed from within. "Rulers," "men," "women,"--all felt it to be their sweet privilege to give to the Lord, not with a narrow heart or niggard hand, but after such a princely fashion that they had "_enough, and too much_."
Then, as to _their implicit obedience_, we read, "_According to all that the Lord commanded Moses_, so the children of Israel made all the work. And Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, _they had done it as the Lord had commanded, even so had they done it_: and Moses blessed them." (Chap. xxxix. 42, 43.) The Lord had given the most minute instructions concerning the entire work of the tabernacle. Every pin, every socket, every loop, every tach, was accurately set forth. There was no room left for man's expediency, his reason, or his common sense. Jehovah did not give a great outline and leave man to fill it up. He left no margin whatever in which man might enter his regulations. By no means. "'See,' saith He, 'that thou make _all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount_.'" (Exod. xxv. 40; xxvi. 30; Heb. viii. 5.) This left no room for human device. If man had been allowed to make a single pin, that pin would most assuredly have been out of place in the judgment of God. We can see what man's "graving tool" produces in chapter xxxii. Thank God, it had no place in the tabernacle. They did, in this matter, just what they were told--nothing more, nothing less. Salutary lesson this for the professing church! There are many things in the history of Israel which we should earnestly seek to avoid,--their impatient murmurings, their legal vows, and their idolatry; but in those two things may we imitate them. May our devotedness be more whole-hearted, and our obedience more implicit! We may safely assert that if all had not been done "according to the pattern showed in the mount," we should not have to read, "then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." (Chap. xl. 34, 35.) The tabernacle was in all respects according to _the divine pattern_, and therefore it could be filled with _the divine glory_.