Exodus 39 · a question people ask
Why does Exodus describe everything a second time?
The text doesn't say why. What it shows is two halves. In chapters 25 to 31 the LORD tells Moses what to make: "According to all that I show you, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all of its furniture, even so you shall make it" (25:9). From chapter 35 on, the same things are made, and this chapter keeps saying they were made "as the LORD commanded Moses" (39:1). The retelling isn't word for word. It adds how the gold was worked into the ephod (39:3), and it doesn't mention the Urim and the Thummim that 28:30 puts in the breastplate. Hebrews quotes the command of 25:40, "See, you shall make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain" (Hebrews 8:5). In 39:43 Moses sees that they had done it "as the LORD had commanded".
The verses
“According to all that I show you, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all of its furniture, even so you shall make it.”
“See that you make them after their pattern, which has been shown to you on the mountain.”
“Of the blue, purple, and scarlet, they made finely worked garments for ministering in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron, as the LORD commanded Moses.”
“They beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in with the blue, the purple, the scarlet, and the fine linen, the work of the skillful workman.”