The Berean - Exodus 35:30-35 NASB

The Berean - Exodus 35:30-35 NASB (30) Then Moses said to the sons of Israel, “See, the LORD has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. (31) “And He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding and in knowledge and in all craftsmanship; (32) to make designs for working in gold and in silver and in bronze, (33) and in the cutting of stones for settings and in the carving of wood, so as to perform in every inventive work. (34) “He also has put in his heart to teach, both he and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. (35) “He has filled them with skill to perform every work of an engraver and of a designer and of an embroiderer, in blue and in purple {and} in scarlet {material,} and in fine linen, and of a weaver, as performers of every work and makers of designs. 

Exodus 36:1-2

(1) “Now Bezalel and Oholiab, and every skillful person in whom the LORD has put skill and understanding to know how to perform all the work in the construction of the sanctuary, shall perform in accordance with all that the LORD has commanded.” (2) Then Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every skillful person in whom the LORD had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him, to come to the work to perform it. 

New American Standard Bible

Perhaps it would be helpful to understand that the basic meaning of the Hebrew word translated as “wisdom” is equivalent to the English word “skill.” Solomon, in Proverbs 4:7, tells us, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom.” He is really saying, “Above all things, get skill.” Skill in what? Skill in living. God wants us to be skilled in living. In this case, God has filled Bezalel with wisdom, and this wisdom has to do with the responsibility that He had given to him in constructing the Tabernacle and it furnishings and utensils.

This principle becomes vital to us in regard to our place in the church of God, understanding about the Spirit of God, and understanding about God Himself and what He does in our conversion. These verses show that God Himself was personally and directly involved by means of His Spirit enhancing the natural and developed abilities of humans involved in His work. Bezalel and Aholiab already had skill, but what God did to enable them to perform a function directly for Him is that He increased their natural ability to enable them to function at a higher level than normal. A supernatural element was added to their lives.

If God did this for Bazalel and Aholiab, will He not also do it for us? Will He not give us powers greater than we have by nature? He does this by His Spirit and by stirring up the spirit in man.

If we follow the usage for “spirit” and apply it here, we see that “spirit” is an invisible and immaterial source of some sort of needed power, but in this case, it is external to mankind—supernatural. In other words, we can communicate spirit from one person to another, but that spirit will only be what any human is capable of. As we become more skilled, our ability to project or to communicate spirit to another person is also increased as well, but we reach a limit in our human ability to do this. However, God is showing that in order to do a work for Him, He will empower us to go beyond what is normally possible for a human being to do.

God gave these craftsmen supernatural power for them to operate in His behalf, to produce good fruit within the purpose of God, and therefore it was of God. However, when we see abilities that seem to be beyond the ken of a normal human being, we may not know the identity of the supernatural force or power until we begin to see its fruit: “You will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16).

— John W. Ritenbaugh