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Exodus 37 · a question people ask

Who made the ark, Bezalel or Moses?

Interpretation

Exodus says, "Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood" (37:1). In Deuteronomy, Moses remembers the LORD saying, "Cut two stone tablets like the first, and come up to me onto the mountain, and make an ark of wood" (Deuteronomy 10:1), and he says, "So I made an ark of acacia wood, and cut two stone tablets like the first, and went up onto the mountain" (Deuteronomy 10:3). Exodus 34, which tells of the second tablets, doesn't mention an ark (34:1-4). Both books agree the tablets were kept in an ark: "there they are as the LORD commanded me" (Deuteronomy 10:5), and Moses "put the covenant into the ark" (Exodus 40:20). Readers put the two accounts together in two main ways.

How Christians read it

Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.

One ark, made at Moses' word

Those who hold this view read Moses as speaking of what was made under his direction. Exodus says Bezalel "made all that the LORD commanded Moses" (38:22), and "According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did all the work" (39:42). On this reading, Deuteronomy 10 tells the same story briefly, from Moses' side.

Exodus 38:22 · Exodus 39:42 · Deuteronomy 10:1-5

A first chest, then Bezalel's ark

Those who hold this view follow the order Deuteronomy gives: Moses is told to make an ark before he goes up for the second tablets (Deuteronomy 10:1-3), while Bezalel's work begins after Moses has come down (Exodus 34:29, 36:2). Deuteronomy 10 speaks of "an ark of wood" (Deuteronomy 10:1) and mentions no gold. On this reading Moses made a wooden chest to hold the tablets for a time, and they were later put into the ark Bezalel made (Exodus 40:20).

Deuteronomy 10:1-3 · Exodus 34:29 · Exodus 36:2 · Exodus 40:20

The verses

“Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood. Its length was two and a half cubits, and its width a cubit and a half, and a cubit and a half its height.”
Exodus 37:1 · World English Bible
“He took and put the covenant into the ark, and set the poles on the ark, and put the mercy seat above on the ark.”
Exodus 40:20 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Exodus 37

Exodus 37: Bezalel made the ark

Exodus 37 repeats the LORD's measurements to the half cubit and names one maker: "Bezalel made the ark" (37:1). What it leaves out is just as telling: no "There I will meet with you", no bread, no lit lamps, no incense burned. The bread, the lamps and the incense wait for the day the tent is raised (40:23-27).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions