Exodus 31:11

And the anointing oil, and sweet incense for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

31:1-11 The Israelites, who had been masons and bricklayers in Egypt, were not qualified for curious workmanship; but the Spirit who gave the apostles utterance in divers tongues, miraculously gave Bezaleel and Aholiab the skill that was wanting. The honour which comes from God, is always attended with a work to be done; to be employed for God is high honour. Those whom God calls to any service, he will find or make fit for it. The Lord gives different gifts to different persons; let each mind his proper work, diligently remembering that whatever wisdom any one possesses, the Lord put it in the heart, to do his commandments.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And the cloths of service - Rather, And the garments of office; that is, the distinguishing official garments of the high priest. The three kinds of dress mentioned in this verse appear to be the only ones which were unique to the sanctuary. They were:

(1) The richly adorned state robes of the high priest (see Exodus 28:6-38; Exodus 39:1 following).

(2) the "holy garments" of white linen for the high priest, worn on the most solemn occasion in the year (see Exodus 28:39; Leviticus 16:4).

(3) the garments of white linen for all the priests, worn in their regular ministrations (see Exodus 28:40-41).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6. I have given with him Aholiab—He belonged to the tribe of Dan, one of the least influential and honorable in Israel; and here, too, we can trace the evidence of wise and paternal design, in choosing the colleague or assistant of Bezaleel from an inferior tribe (compare 1Co 12:14-25; also Mr 6:7).

all that are wise-hearted I have put wisdom—At that period, when one spirit pervaded all Israel, it was not the man full of heavenly genius who presided over the work; but all who contributed their skill, experience, and labor, in rendering the smallest assistance, showed their piety and devotedness to the divine service. In like manner, it was at the commencement of the Christian Church (Ac 6:5; 18:2).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the anointing oil, and sweet incense for the holy place,.... Of the composition of both which, see Exodus 30:23.

according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do: not only make all the said things, but make them exactly according to the form and pattern given to Moses, communicated to Bezaleel and Aholiab, whose business it was to see that all things were done by the workmen agreeably to it.

Geneva Study Bible

And the {e} anointing oil, and sweet incense for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do.

(e) Which was only to anoint the Priests and the instruments of the tabernacle, not to burn.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

11. sweet spices] fragrant powders: see on Exodus 30:34.

12–17 (cf. Exodus 35:2-3). The observance of the sabbath inculcated. The section has in vv. 13, 14a (see the notes) strong affinities with the ‘Law of Holiness,’ or H (the older laws embedded in P, in Leviticus 17-26); and there is little doubt that some of H’s injunctions on the observance of the sabbath have here been excerpted by P or P2[216] and emphasized by him with the addition of vv. 14b–17: the whole thus forming a law inculcating the observance of the sabbath at a time when the execution of urgent sacred work might be taken as an excuse for disregarding it. The parts excerpted from H have also (like those in Leviticus 17-26 : see LOT. pp. 45 f., 138–141; ed. 6–8, pp. 49 f., 145–148) remarkable affinities with Ezekiel.

[216] Secondary strata of P (see p. xii top; pp. 328f., 378).

Exodus 31:11

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

There were associated with Bezaleel as assistants, Oholiab, the son of Achisamach, of the tribe of Dan, and other men endowed with understanding, whom God had filled with wisdom for the execution of His work. According to Exodus 38:23, Oholiab was both faber, a master in metal, stone, and wood work, and also an artistic weaver of colours. In Exodus 38:7-11, the words to be executed, which have been minutely described in ch. 24-30, are mentioned singly once more; and, in addition to these, we find in Exodus 31:10 השּׂרד בּגדי mentioned, along with, or rather before, the holy dress of Aaron. This is the case also in Exodus 35:19 and Exodus 39:41, where there is also the additional clause, "to serve (שׁרת ministrare) in the sanctuary." They were composed, according to Exodus 39:1, of blue and red purple, and crimson. The meaning of the word serad, which only occurs in these passages, is quite uncertain. The Rabbins understand by the bigde hasserad the wrappers in which the vessels of the sanctuary were enclosed when the camp was broken up, as these are called begadim of blue and red purple, and crimson, in Numbers 4:6. But this rendering is opposed to the words which follow, and which indicate their use in the holy service, i.e., in the performance of worship, and therefore are quite inapplicable to the wrappers referred to. There is even less ground for referring them, as Gesenius and others do, to the inner curtains of the tabernacle, or the inner hangings of the dwelling-place. For, apart from the uncertainty of the rendering given to serad, viz., netted cloth, filet, it is overthrown by the fact that these curtains of the dwelling-place were not of net-work; and still more decisively by the order in which the bigde hasserad occur in Exodus 39:41, viz., not till the dwelling-place and tent, and everything belonging to them, have been mentioned, even down to the hangings of the court and the pegs of the tent, and all that remains to be noticed is the clothing of the priests. From the definition "to serve in the sanctuary," it is obvious that the bigde serad were clothes used in the worship, στολαὶ λειτουργικαί, as the lxx have rendered it in agreement with the rest of the ancient versions-that they were, in fact, the rich robes which constituted the official dress of the high priest, whilst "the holy garments for Aaron" were the holy clothes which were worn by him in common with the priests.