Exodus 35:29 The children of Israel brought a willing offering to the LORD, every man and woman… 1. The answer of the people was marked by the spirit of willinghood. Some form of the word willing occurs again and again: "Every one whom his spirit made willing"; "As many as were willing-hearted." God will have nothing out of the reluctant hand. We may throw an offering down, but it is not taken up by heaven. It evaporates downwards; it is not received by the condescending and sympathetic sun. 2. The answer was the deepest and truest cure of all murmuring. The people had been murmuring again and again, but the moment they began to work they ceased to complain. You would murmur less if you worked more. An evil thing is idleness. It must always sit with coldness, and the two must keep one another in evil countenance. The one thing to be feared is stagnation. Hear heaven's sweet appeal for service, for sacrifice, and know that the appeal is not the demand of exaggeration, but that it is inspired by the very spirit of consideration for human feeling, and expresses the very philosophy of human spiritual education. (J. Parker, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the LORD, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses. |
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