The Cost of A Building a Home For God (Exodus 38:21-31)

"Anytime I need something repaired, I have two questions: how much and how long? I want to know how much it’s going to cost, and I want to know how long it’s going to take before I commit to getting my car fixed. I think it’s in my DNA to be wary. Now, we have been talking about the Tabernacle, and as I’ve looked at the Tabernacle and all of the things that went into its construction, I’ve wondered, in today’s money how much would it cost to build this thing? If you put the gold and the silver and the bronze and the wood and linen and just the materials, I guess the labour was done by volunteers but what would it cost in today’s money?

Well, apparently, Moses was interested in that question too because after he gives us the blueprint he then talks about the actual construction, he concludes the whole thing by giving us the price of everything. Would you like to know how much the tabernacle cost, well the text tells us.  But what is the spiritual benefit to us to know that? Why is this even in the bible? What can we learn spiritually from pricing the Tabernacle? Well, with that in mind, will you turn with me to Exodus chapter 38? Exodus chapter 38, and I’m going to begin reading at verse 21. 

This is the inventory of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the Testimony, which was counted according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.

(Exodus 38: 21)

Now, let’s stop just right here and work through this bit by bit. He’s first going to tell us about three men who worked on the Tabernacle. He’s also going to describe the value and quantity of the materials.  At this point, we’re just talking about the men. This fellow was a priest, and he was a son of Aaron, so he’s a priest, and he was responsible for the inventory. So, the materials that are going to be laid out, he was the one responsible for gathering all that information. Now, some who come to this passage and study this suggest that he didn’t do it by himself, that he had help, and therefore, he probably was the director of the inventory, what we would today call, the project manager. Verse 22 gives us some additional information.

Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord had commanded Moses. And with him was Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver and designer, a weaver of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and of fine linen.

(Exodus 38: 22-23)

This passage indicate that Bazalel had help because other artisans are mentioned. So, he was maybe the director of the construction. And Aholiab was the engraver. When we think of engraver, we think of one limited thing. It is probably a broader term than that. Maybe artisan or craftsman is more accurate. He was a designer, which means just that. He may have drawn up the plans and calculated the construction, and the fact that he was also a weaver, means he probably also dealt with the wood, the metal, and the cloth. So, the opening verses are just telling us about the people who were involved. God has a task to do; So He raises up people to do it.' For the Tabernacle, He called and equipped these three men as leaders of the project. I don’t think this is what we today would call a committee. I think God here chooses and individual and then he calls other people to help. In my view, I would prefer to call it the team rather than a committee, but with one person has to be in charge. As one famous university chancellor was famous for saying repeatedly, 'Everything rises and falls on leadership.' You put the right person in the position, and it goes well. 

Someone once said, if you put the right person in the position, you can sleep at night. If you put the wrong person in the position, you end up having to pray all night instead. The whole principle is, you got to find that one person that fits that slot. And I think God raises up people to fit those various slots in His work. That person can go get helpers, and that can form a team, but then everybody knows he’s in charge, and he’s responsible, and he recruits the team. I think that’s a much more satisfactory way of organizing a place than just forming committees. I’m not opposed to committees. I’m just telling you, I think, biblically, when God wants to do something, He chooses an individual. Alright, back to Exodus chapter 38. and it’s geting interesting. 

All the gold that was used in all the work of the holy place, that is, the gold of the offering, was twenty-nine talents and seven hundred and thirty shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary.

(Exodus 38: 24)

Let me see if I can unpack this verse. Remember, coined money did not exist until the 8th century BC. This is written around 1500 BC. So, we don’t have coined money yet. So, consequently, the shekel that Moses is referring to was actually a measure of weight, and it was not quite half an ounce. So, they’re giving us the gold in terms of its weight, not in terms of its price. So, it’s 29 talents and 730 shekels instead of pounds shillings and pence, dollars and cents. This is a massive amount of God, 29 talents, 730 shekels was over a ton of gold. Now I did a little calculating based on to the Gold today in August 2023 and the price is £1494.00 per ounce and the fact that there are 32,000 ounces in a ton. I thereby came up with a price of just over  £52 million pounds or $60 million dollars. What's your knee-jerk reaction to that figure?" I suspect you thought that is a massive amount of money.

And the silver from those who were numbered of the congregation was one hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary: 26 a bekah for each man (that is, half a shekel, according to the shekel of the sanctuary), for everyone included in the numbering from twenty years old and above, for 603,550 men. 

27 And from the hundred talents of silver were cast the sockets of the sanctuary and the bases of the veil: one hundred sockets from the hundred talents, one talent for each socket. 28 Then from the one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, overlaid their capitals, and made bands for them.

(Exodus 38: 25-28)

This where I got the figure of the children of Israel numbering 600,000+ men I have mentioned earlier in our studies in Exodus together. All those individuals have given a  ton of gold and 4 tons of silver, by the way that another couple of million in today’s money. Now, what we've come up with so far is in the neighbourhood of £55M or $65M million, and all we've done is the gold and the silver. We've not included the bronze or the wood or the linen. And then, of course, if you're doing this today, you have to throw in the labour cost, so this could push up the price

29 The offering of bronze was seventy talents and two thousand four hundred shekels. 30 And with it he made the sockets for the door of the tabernacle of meeting, the bronze altar, the bronze grating for it, and all the utensils for the altar, 31 the sockets for the court all around, the bases for the court gate, all the pegs for the tabernacle, and all the pegs for the court all around.

(Exodus 38: 29-31)

Am I right so far? 

The next thing it does in this passage is it tells us what the bronze was used for. They made the sockets of the door, the bronze altar, the bronze grating for it, and all the utensils of the altar, the sockets of the court barrier, and for the bases holding the court gate, as well as the pegs for the tabernacle, and all the pegs for the area all around." 

What can we learn from this? What is the spiritual insight we can gain from this passage? Well, let me tell you the two things that come out of this passage. When God wants to do something, He needs three things, men, woman and money. He needs people and materials, which amounts to people and money. That's just a simple reality. Now, we've already talked about the fact that the people gave willingly, and they gave so willingly and so much that the Lord had to finally tell them to stop giving. I want to make several other observations.

Firstly, I think the story tells us something about God. So, the Tabernacle outer coverings were the hides of animals. It may have made the Tabernacle look like the colour of a Bedouin tent. The richness of the metals signified to Israel the holiness, glory, and majesty of God who dwelt in that tent, His house. Someone has suggested that it told them that He was able to provide lavishly for His own. Now, they got all this material from Egypt, remember? They despoiled the Egyptians, they plundered the Egyptians, you may remember back after the plague on the firstborn the Egyptians handed over the valuable in an attempt to urge them to go. It was voluntary, but now they have all these materials from the Egyptians and God says, "I want to use this stuff to build my house. So, when He built his house, God was lavish. And I think He wants to be lavish us with. Now, I don't want to push this, but it may say something about building. 

There is no doubt that given the financial ability, some churches spend too much money on a building. I think that's true. I know of cases like that. At the same time, there's nothing wrong with spending money on building or maintaining God's house. Every time a church builds a building, some people think they're spending too much money. I know people that have left the church because they were spending too much money on the building. But on the other hand, I'm not suggesting you start a building program to raise money to gold plate the church. I'm just pointing out that God built the tabernacle, and He didn't spare costs by the standards of that day.

Apparently with God’s approval, Solomon built something even more expensive. In fact, some would say, it's not what you pay; it's how many times you pay it." Sometimes if you do something on the cheap you just keep buying it and buying it over and over again. So if you are going to do it, do it right. 

I have one more suggestion. I think this tells us something about God. I think it tells us something about building, and I think it tells us something about people. 

We too can dedicate our possessions to the work of the Lord, saying, in effect, "Take my silver and my gold. Not a mite would I withhold." They gave so much that in an earlier passage, they said, "Stop giving. We have enough now." So, I just think one of the things we have to learn from this is that we can never outgive the Lord.

The Bible teaches that in 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, chapter 9. We don't have time to look at it today, but that passage says it also cost to build a relationship with the Lord, and the cost is individual  and spiritual.

So let me just tell you, if you're going to build a relationship with the Lord, it's going to cost you. We don't have a temple made out of silver, and gold, and bronze, and wood, and linen today. But God has a temple. God has a tent. God lives among us. 

 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.

(I Cor 6:19)

And if you want Him to feel at home, it's going to cost you. Before I say anything else let me just say salvation is absolutely, positively free. In fact, Romans 3 says, "Justified freely by His grace." It is a Greek word that means without cost. It's free. All you have to do is trust Jesus Christ, who died for you and arose from the dead, for the gift of eternal life, and it's yours. "He that believes on the Son has everlasting life." It's free. Salvation is free, without cost. Did you get the point? It costs nothing,. Zero, zilch, nada, nothing. But if you want to grow or build your relationship with the Lord, that's going to cost you. 

So, I'm suggested that the building of the Tabernacle is analogous to our building a relationship with the Lord because that's where He dwelt, and that was our approach to Him. Well, let me suggest the cost also applies to that aspect of our spiritual lives as well. Look at John, chapter 14, and look at verse 21. 

"He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."

By the way, I think this is one of the most important verses in the New Testament on the spiritual life. Are you interested in knowing what it is going to cost you to enable God to manifest Himself in you? Here's the cost: Keep My commandments! That's the cost. I'm telling you, some people are spiritually as blind as the proverbial bat. They know the Lord, but they don't know zilch about spiritual truths. Why? Because they're living their life their way, and they're not obeying the Lord. When you obey the Lord, and He reveals truth to you. And the more you obey, the more truth He reveals to you. That's what that passage is saying. Look at verse 23. Jesus says.

"If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him."

(John 14: 23)

Now, if you trust Christ, He's living in you, right? And you can choose to make Him live in the backroom, and stay in the background, or you can make Him feel at home. But it's going to cost you. And the cost is obedience, and that has a cost, it can be expensive. 

So, there is a cost to building God's house. We are God's house, and the cost is simply obeying all that He commands us to do.

I want to close by illustrating this, and I want to warn you before I do that this illustration is not perfect, but it makes a very good point. The illustration goes like this: 

Once there was a dairy farmer who wanted to buy a new tractor. He had seen an ad in the paper about a discount and special prices, so he decided to get rid of his old rust bucket and get something new.

He went to the dealership. They showed him the new model, priced at £20.000, just as it said in the paper, he was ready to write the cheque but the salesman said, "Wait, I haven't given you the final cost yet." 

The farmer said, "I saw the price advertised in the paper." The salesman said, "Yeah, I know, but that's the basic model, there is all the options to add on and all the extra taxes and costs." So, the farmer reluctantly paid for the extra’s including the tax drove off in his new tractor total cost £28,900.

A few months later, the salesman called the farmer because he wanted to buy a cow for his allotment. The farmer assured the garage salesman that he had several good cows and the cows sold for £500. 

The salesman drove out and selected one of the cows and took out his cheque book. And the farmer said, "Wait, I haven't given you the final price yet." Then he handed the salesman a bill for the cow, which was £500. The extra twin stomachs were $75 each. The milk storage compartment was £60. The straw recycling compartment,  (The mouth by the way) was £40. The four handy milk dispensers attached to the udder  were £10 each. The luxury leather covering was £3930. The two-tone horns system was £120. The automatic rear water overflow outlet was £80 and rear fertilizer dispenser  was £290. Grand total: £1670.00

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Now, I warned you that's not a perfect illustration because the basic cow cost £500. But assuming that the basic cow was free, the extras cost and cost a lot. 

God’s salvation is always free. You get to go to heaven, no questions, settled, sealed, secure, no doubt about it. God cow, or access to God house is always free. But if you want the extras, like the Lord revealing Himself to you, the Lord, He making himself known to you, reveals his truth to you. If you want those extras, it's going to cost you. It’s not going to cost you money,, but it will cost you in time and in diligence and most importantly in obedience. 

So, there is no cost for salvation, that's free, but there is a cost for extras benefits of knowing God and building a relationship with him. I guess the question is, do you want to settle for just the basic salvation package, or do you want the extras, of seeing God at work in your life? 

I suggest the extras are worth paying for. The question is, is a close relationship with the Lord worth having? Is it worth the cost? And I suggest it absolutely is. 

You can't buy God's love or God's mercy. You can't buy God's grace. You can't buy His forgiveness. That's a gift. But if you want the extras benefit of seeing him at work in your life that is going to cost you extra.