Overflow Giving

Exodus 35:4-9 initiates the fulfillment of what the Lord had previously told Moses in Exodus 25:8 “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.” Moses begins to instruct the people of Israel to “take an offering for the Lord” (35:5). See here though, before any construction could begin, Moses reemphasizes God’s command that they observe the Sabbath. We’ll get back to that toward the end.

Moses then provides a list of materials that can be given as an offering to the Tabernacle. (35:6-9). Before announcing the list, Moses clarifies the type of contribution that Israel was being asked to participate in. Moses tells them, “Everyone who is willing is to bring to the Lord an offering” (35:5). The word “willing,” as translated by the NIV is actually two Hebrew words. The first is nadib, which means “pertaining to being voluntary and uncoerced, implying generosity” (Dictionary of Biblical Languages). The second Hebrew word is leb, which is usually translated “heart” and can mean “heart, mind, soul, spirit, self, the source of life of the inner person” (Dictionary of Biblical Languages). Moses is inviting everyone who has a generous heart to give. This offering is not mandated or coerced. The Israelites are to give freely, as moved in their hearts.

Every morning, Moses sat on a tribunal counsel as a judge for the peoples disputes and disagreements. Moses was appointed to make injustices write and declare the law and reparations. But, during this time, hear this, during this time, all of the people whose hearts were “touched by piety, penitence, or gratitude” ran eagerly to the presence of Moses, not to have verdicts for the disputes and wrongs they had, not to have their arguments heard, but to give! To give to the sanctuary of God!

The following illustration tells the story of how an ordinary encounter on a street corner between two couples turns into an extraordinary story of how the act of giving freely from the heart will impact the lives of others.

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The people of God respond to the invitation to give. In Exodus 36:1-3, the construction of the Tabernacle begins as Moses distributes all the offerings to various skilled workers. However, even thought the construction project has already started, the people continue to give freely and generously: “And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning” (36:3). In fact, their willingness to give was so tremendous that the skilled workers stopped their work to find Moses. They said, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the Lord commanded to be done” (36:5). As a result of their continued generosity, Moses gave an order that the people were to stop giving! In fact, the Bible says, “And so the people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work” (36:6-7).

Every single morning, these folks brought their offerings to the Lord. We should take note to always bring our own offerings to the Lord every morning, even the spiritual offerings we have, of prayer and praise, and a broken heart surrendered entirely to God. His mercies renew every morning, His compassion is new every morning.

Now we get to check this out, the honesty of the workers. Matthew Henry writes this:

Now observe, 1. The honesty of the workmen. When they had cut out their work, and found how their stuff held out, and that the people were still forward to bring in more, they went in a body to Moses to tell him that there needed no more contributions, v. 4, 5. Had they sought their own things, they had now a fair opportunity of enriching themselves by the people’s gifts; for they might have made up their work, and converted the overplus to their own use, as perquisites of their place. But they were men of integrity, that scorned to do so mean a thing as to sponge upon the people, and enrich themselves with that which was offered to the Lord. Those are the greatest cheats that cheat the public. If to murder many is worse than to murder one, by the same rule to defraud communities, and to rob the church or state, is a much greater crime than to pick the pocket of a single person. But these workmen were not only ready to account for all they received, but were not willing to receive more than they had occasion for, lest they should come either into the temptation or under the suspicion of taking it to themselves. These were men that knew when they had enough

Israel’s willingness to give was the overflow of a thankful heart. Israel had witnessed God in powerful ways: God had delivered them from bondage from Egypt and enabled them to cross the Red Sea (Exodus 14). God had provided quail and manna from heaven (Exodus 16) and water from a rock (Exodus 17). God had promised his presence to go with Israel on their journey (Exodus 33). As we cultivate thankful hearts for God’s goodness, provision, and presence, a natural overflow of our lives is generosity. Thankful hearts lead to giving hearts.

Eileen Taylor was in the drive-through line at a Heav’nly Donuts. She was thankful for the kind gesture of a stranger paying for her coffee the day before. Eileen was out of work and short on cash. However, out of thankfulness from the act of kindness the day before, she decided to pay for the family’s donuts in the car behind her, an order which totaled twelve dollars. As a result of her actions, many more people were thankful and became givers themselves. In fact, her act of generosity led to a chain reaction of fifty-five customers paying for the person behind them in line; this lasted two-and-a half hours!

May we all have thankful hearts that lead to an overflow of giving and acts of random kindness.