Exodus 35:30—36:2 is one of the most helpful summary passages in Scripture that reveals a description and role of the artistic specialist in the life of the believing community.
This Old Testament passage highlights the role of the artistic expression specialist in the worship-life of the believing community. It also provides critical instructional details that are specifically applied to specialized servants of God that were “filled with the Holy Spirit” and given “the ability to teach others:”
Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of skills [crafts]— to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts [craftsmanship]. And he has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers [craftsmen], designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers — all of them skilled workers [master craftsmen] and designers. So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the LORD has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary are to do the work just as the LORD has commanded. Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work” (Ex. 35:30—36:2).
The first area of expertise for the “artist” involves craftsmanship. The term craftsman seems the best biblical expression for what people today think of as an artist. Certainly, there are numbers of different kinds of crafts, industries, and trades noted in the Scripture. There are at least nineteen different artistic crafts[1] mentioned in the Bible. But craftsman seems to be one of those wide-ranging terms, a class term, that serves as an umbrella under which exist many more specific craft areas. Craftsman is very similar to two other wide-ranging, umbrella class terms: one being musician, where there certainly exist more specific kinds of musicians—for example, harp players, flute players, trumpet (shofar) players, and cymbal players—each having a technical name. The other class term is singers. The term craftsman means “someone unusually wise at imaginative design and expression.”
First, craftsman is someone unusually wise at imaginative design and expression. This definition arises from the fact that the term craftsman comes from the Hebrew word family for “wisdom.” In the Old Testament one finds at least four words that label specialist creative types[2]—those today labeled as artists—and all those words are connected to the idea of wisdom. Interestingly, three of these four terms are found in Exodus 35:30—36:2. The specialists observed in the Exodus 35 passage—Bezalel and Oholiab—are designated or characterized by three of these four main specialist terms recorded in the Bible. Bezalel and Oholiab, God says, are “unusually wise” in all these areas we today call artistic expression.[3]
What is more, there are also five adjectives that describe these specialized creative types; all of them also springing out of the wisdom word family. These adjectives are: skill, knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and ability.[4] The Exodus 35 passage uses four of these fives adjectives in that passage itself.
There are at least two verbs in Scripture that describe specialized artistic activity:[5]: “to do workmanship of artistic design” (malacha), and “to celebrate in song and music” (zamyr). The Exodus 35 passages uses one of these two terms—the term, malacha.
In the minds of Hebrew speakers in 1500 BC, all of these terms possess the characteristics and attributes of what we would today label as “artists”—people who are especially endowed (possessing unusual wisdom) by God to imagine, and then make things. They are the creative and imagination specialists.
Second, the craftsman is someone unusually wise at imaginative design and expression. They are the imagination specialists of the human community. Even so, these craftsmen are not the only ones who possess imagination. The biblical position on this issue is that every human possesses imagination—one of the most significant human capacities that clearly reveals that humans are a higher order of creation than animals—because humans are made in the image of God.[6] Craftsmen have simply been designed by God with a larger capacity for imaginative ability, so that they can carry out the specific assignments God has given them in the human context (that assignment will be addressed further below).
Third, humans and human community are not simply intellectual. According to God’s design, humans possess two other dynamics of human intelligence—imagination and emotions. And then, so that those two realms (imagination and emotions) are dealt with well, God designed craftsmen, as the “imagination and emotion specialists.” Apparently, God did this so that people can touch, hold, and interact with the transcendent realities of God, and the rest of life.
So, with those things in mind, note three biblical truths God reveals about these uniquely capacitated artistic specialists. It is God who is the prime mover in all this. And God did this for the sake of the worship vitality of His community of worshipers.
One, God specially equipped Bezalel “. . . with wisdom, with understanding, and with all kinds of skills—to make artistic designs for work in . . . all kinds of artistic crafts [craftsmanship] . . . He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as [craftsmen]” (Ex 30:31-33, 35). Here, the focus is not so much on the “craftsman” issue but on why they were creatively endowed and gifted for the design of worship environments; particularly for the Tabernacle.
Bezalel was equipped as an artist, and called into a specialized assignment, all for the purpose of creating a worship environment. God called him to oversee the design and making of the Tabernacle. Bezalel was actually helping to lead the entire worshipping community into the actual worship transaction itself, by designing the environment in which the community would do their worship—the Tabernacle.
Two, God commanded the involvement of artistic specialists in creating the context (environment) for the believing community’s (Israel’s) worship. Exodus 35:1, 10-11 states, “Moses assembled the whole Israelite community and said to them, ‘These are the things the LORD has commanded you to do: . . . All who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the LORD has commanded: the tabernacle with its tent . . .” God knows how He made humans and the human community to work. They need more than just “information”—they must deal with objective truth. Therefore He designed, then directed, “human expression specialists” (what current culture labels “artists”) to lead the community into touching and interacting with Him, the Transcendent Living God! And that interaction with Him requires more than just rational reasoning. Interaction with God is intercourse, not simply information.
Interacting with God requires all of the faculties He gave to humans—rationality, imaginality, and emotionality. He did this so that to enjoy relationship with the crown of His Creation—His people! That interaction is a multi-dimensional mystery. So He created a specialized kind of person, the artist (the person unusually wise at imaginative expression) to creatively rearrange human metaphors, symbols and human signal systems in such a way that the whole of their creative rearrangement provides a kind of miracle. Those creative expressions allow for finite people to hold and interact with transcendent reality.
Three, God directs the artistic specialist to lead the congregation into the activities of worship. God directs the “human expression specialists” (artists) to lead the believing community into the “experience” of worship, both by creating the environments where that worship happens and by leading them into those experiences.
Here in this Exodus 35 passage, the craftsmen were leading the entire community into a worship way of life—by virtue of their work of forming the actually structure, equipment, and furniture of the Tabernacle, which then became the environment around which revolved the worship life of the community. The Tabernacle was to be in the middle of the camp, symbolizing that God Himself was dwelling with them in the middle of the life of the community. His presence would be visibly with them (e.g., see Ex. 40:36-38—the Tabernacle, the Ark, the Cloud by day and the Fire by night). These “expressions” were far more than entertainment, far more than novelty, far more than just pretty things. These expressions, and the activities the Israelis were later to “practice,” were environments in which their hearts would be shaped—through the Tabernacle worship practices—toward God. Their Tabernacle-centered living comprised the spiritual disciplines (liturgies) that God used to train Israel and the rest of the world to understand Himself and the ways He requires (or desires) of all peoples to relate to Him.
Later, one sees the Levitical musicians and other specialists leading the congregation 1) in regular worship (Asaph and his associates before the Ark “. . . regularly, according to each day’s requirements . . .” 1 Chron 16:37ff), 2); in celebration (e.g. bring the Ark to Jerusalem, properly in line with God’s directives, 1 Ch 15:19ff); and, 3) in worship-related ministry assignments (e.g. the Battle of Jericho, Josh 6:3ff).
Artistic leadership was also necessary for instruction and admonition
Throughout the Prophetic Books of the Bible, one sees serious dramatic teaching, instructing, and admonishing. This was done through media (vision), story, and parable and with a view to engaging both the content/information God wanted to be communicated and the relational interaction God expects from His believers. Consider this:
1. God’s communication to Pharaoh via Moses’ multi-media confrontations (e.g. Ex 7:10ff),
2. God’s pastoral counseling through David’s Psalms (e.g. the entire Book of Psalms),
3. God’s instructions on life and living through Solomon’s proverbs and epic poems (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon,
4. God’s warnings through the Laments of Ezekiel (e.g. Ez. 19) and the allegories of Ezekiel (Ez. 16),
5. God’s prophetic calls to Israel through Isaiah’s poetry (a majority of the entire Book of Isaiah),
6. God’s prophetic announcements through the dramas of Jeremiah (e.g. Jer. 13, 18, 19, 27),
7. God’s instruction to all Creation through the Incarnation for Messiah Jesus (The Gospels),
8. God’s instruction about Himself and His Kingdom through the parables of Jesus (e.g. Luke 14-18),
9. God’s Revelation of The End Times and the New Heaven and Earth through John’s Revelation (The Revelation of John).
The Exodus 35 passage revealing the work of the Craftsman—the artistic expression specialist, the imagination and emotions specialist—provides clear that God has designed this specialized Kingdom servant to serve His believing community. Other passages that give evident to the way artistic expression is woven into the fabric of the Scripture and life of God’s people include, but are not limited to: Exodus 31:1-11; Judges 5; 21 Kings. 10:12ff; 1 Chronicles. 9:33ff; 15; 2 Chronicles 5:7ff; 23:13ff; 29:28ff; 35:15ff; Ezra 2:40ff; 7:7; 10:24; Nehemiah 7, 10, 11, 12, 13; and Psalm 68:25; All of the Literary genre of the Old Testament Scriptures; The hymns inserted into the passages of Scripture—e.g. Romans. 11:33-36, Philippians 2:5-11; Ephesians 5:18-12; Colossians 3:16-17; and Revelation 4-5; The Seven Angels of the Revelation sounding their trumpets; the poetry inserted throughout the text of John’s Revelation; Rev. 15:2ff;. Hallelujah. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
[1] Nineteen (19) artistic crafts mentioned in the Bible: 1. Brick Making, 2. Carpentering (Wood-Working), 3. Carving (Engraving), 4. Ceramics, 5. Dyeing and Cleansing, 6. Embroidering (Needlework), 7. Glass-Making, 8. Grinding, 9. Mason Work, 10. Metal-Working (Mining), 11. Oil-Making, 12. Painting, 13. Paper-Making, 14. Perfume-Making, 15. Plastering, 16. Spinning and Weaving, 17. Tanning,
18. Tent-Making, and 19. Wine-Making. (From James A. Patch,International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE), Electronic Database Copyright © 1996; all these definitions were researched from ISBE in Biblesoft PC Study Bible 5.0, Electronic Database, Biblesoft, Inc; Copyright, 1996, 2003, 2006.)
[2] Four (4) words that label specialist creative types—those we today label as “artists”:
- machashabah (makh-ash-aw-baw’) 4284; or machashebeth (makh-ash-eh’-beth);
master craftsman. From Ex. 35:35. - chashab (khaw-shab’) 2803; e.g. Ex 35:32 – here rendered to devise cunningly, to think up, to imagine
craftsman . . . the root word of “Master Craftsman” – machashabah of Ex. 35:35. - chakam (khaw-kawm’) 2450; skilled person . . . From Ex. 36:2.
- shiyr (sheer) 7891; or (the original form) shuwr (1 Sam. 18:6) (shoor); singer, musician a primitive root [identical with 7788 through the idea of strolling minstrels]; to sing: sing (-er, -ing man, -ing woman). From e.g. 1 Chr. 6:33 or Ps. 27:6.
From James A. Patch, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Electronic Database Copyright © 1996. All these definitions were researched from Biblesoft PC Study Bible 5.0 , Electronic Database, Biblesoft, Inc; Copyright, 1996, 2003, 2006.
[3] It is true that Bezalel and Oholiab, technically, are not musicians or singers. And it is true that technically this Exodus 35 passage does not deal with the specific artistic-expression area of music. But once one understands the capacities of wisdom that these terms embrace, one easily makes the clear connection that all these kinds of people—craftsmen, musicians and singers—are all “unusually wise at imaginative design and expression.”
[4] Five (5) adjectives that describe creative types as specialized expression specialists:
- yatab (yaw-tab’) 3190; Skillful. From Ps. 33:3.
- da` ath (dah’-ath) 1847; Knowledge. From Ex. 35:31.
- tabuwnah (taw-boon’) 8394; and (feminine) tebuwnah (teb-oo-naw’); or towbunah (to-boo-naw’); Understanding in. From Ex. 35:31. This term is from biyn 995.
- chokmah (khok-maw’) 2450 & 2451; Wisdom in. From Ex. 35:31.
- melakah (mel-aw-kaw’) 4399; Ability, Workmanship, Artistic Ability. From Ex. 35:1 & 3.
(From James A. Patch, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Electronic Database © 1996 by Biblesoft; along with observations from Byron Spradlin.)
[5] Two (2) verbs that describe specialized artistic activity:
a. mela’kah (mel-aw-kaw’)] 4399; to do workmanship of artistic design [NIV]). From Ex. 35:31.
b. zamiyr (zaw-meer’) 2158; or zamir (zaw-meer’); and (feminine) zemirah (zem-ee-raw’); from zamar (zaw-mar’) 2167; to celebrate in song and music: KJV– give praise, sing forth praises, psalms; -psalm (-ist), singing, song; a primitive root [perhaps identical. with 2168 through the idea of striking with the fingers]; properly, to touch the strings or parts of a musical instrument, i.e. play upon it; to make music, accompanied by the voice.
(From James A. Patch, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Electronic Database © 1996 by Biblesoft.)
[6] Dr. Dallas Willard and Dr. James Le Fanu both write about this very issue. Dr. Willard writes about the human’s unique “thinking process” as follows: “Thought brings things before our minds in various ways (including perception and imagination) and enables our will (or spirit) to range far beyond the immediate boundaries of our environment and the perceptions of our senses. Through (thought) our consciousness reaches into the depths of the universe, past, present, and future, by reasoning and scientific thinking, by imagination and art—and also by divine revelation which comes to us mainly in the form of thought.” (See Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ (Colorado Springs, Colo: NavPress, 2002), 32.)
Medical doctor, author, and science columnist for the London Daily Telegraph, the Christian Dr. James Le Fanu writes about the unique human capacity of imagination as follows: “The self, the ‘inner person’ . . . is composed of several distinct attributes which define (the person). . . . The fourth component is the ‘higher’ attributes of the mind, those powers of reason and imagination that through the power of language transcend the boundaries of personal experience to commune with the minds o others and make sense of the world we inhabit. These several distinct attributes are in turn closely interdependent—so, my subjective impressions of those trees outside my window are influenced by my memories and emotional feelings about trees in general, and so on.” (See James Le Fanu, Why Us?: How Science Rediscovered the Mystery of Ourselves (New York: Vintage Books, 2010), 150.)