Exodus 39 completes the Tabernacle’s construction. The chapter has two movements: the priestly garments (39:1-31) and the work’s completion, inspection, and blessing (39:32-43).
The priestly garments (39:1-31). The chapter records the construction of the garments specified at Exodus 28↗. The ephod of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen (39:1-7) — with two onyx shoulder-stones engraved with the names of the twelve tribes, six per stone, set in gold ouches. The breastplate of judgment (39:8-21) — square, doubled, with four rows of three gemstones each (the same twelve stones of Exod 28:17-20), each engraved with a tribal name; bound by gold chains and rings to the ephod, sitting over the high priest’s heart.
The blue robe of the ephod (39:22-26) — fringed at the hem with alternating gold bells and pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet, the audible-presence pattern of Exodus 28:33–35↗. The white linen coats, mitre, bonnets, and breeches for Aaron and his sons (39:27-29). And the gold plate (39:30-31) — engraved “ HOLINESS TO THE LORD ” and fixed by a blue lace upon the mitre.
The work’s completion (39:32-43). The chapter’s structural climax. Verse 32: “Thus was all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation finished: and the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they.” The recapitulating-list of all constructed items follows (39:33-41) — every major component, every accessory, every priestly garment, brought “unto Moses.” The chapter’s closing verses ring with the obedience-formula: “According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel made all the work. And Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the LORD had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them.”
The work-finished-and-blessed pattern is the OT’s most direct structural echo of Genesis 1’s creation-completion. The parallel is striking: at Genesis 2:1–3↗ (“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them… And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it”), the LORD finishes His creative work, inspects it, blesses, and rests. At Exod 39:42-43, the LORD’s people finish the Tabernacle, Moses inspects, and blesses. The Tabernacle is structurally portrayed as a microcosm — a created order within the larger created order — built to the LORD’s pattern, completed in obedience, blessed in inspection. The chapter at hand is the obedience-architecture’s structural climax; Exod 40 will record the LORD’s own completion-act when the glory-cloud fills the finished sanctuary.
Language & Translation Notes
The eight-fold “as the LORD commanded Moses” refrain. Exodus 39 contains the OT’s most concentrated single obedience-attribution refrain. The phrase “as the LORD commanded Moses” appears at 39:1, 5, 7, 21, 26, 29, 31, 32 (and 39:42-43’s “according to all that the LORD commanded Moses”). The repetition is structurally insistent: every major garment-construction-step is punctuated with the formula. The next chapter (Exod 40) will continue the pattern with seven more occurrences (40:16, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 32) — the setup of the Tabernacle is similarly punctuated. The cumulative effect across these two chapters is the OT’s most architecturally-concrete demonstration that the LORD’s people built and set up what the LORD specified, exactly as He specified it. The construction-account’s theological work is to leave the reader with no doubt: the divine pattern given on the mount was kept, completely. The Golden Calf-period covenant-breaking-and-renewal narrative is here decisively concluded by the new-faithful-construction; what Israel could not do in their own improvisation they did precisely when they followed the LORD’s instruction.
The Tabernacle-finished and the creation-finished structural parallel. The chapter’s verses 42-43 work-completed-and-blessed pattern is the OT’s most direct structural echo of Genesis 2:1–3↗. The parallel is striking and the rabbinic tradition has noted it for centuries:
| Genesis 1-2 (creation) | Exodus 25-40 (Tabernacle) |
|---|---|
| “And God said… and it was so” (Gen 1, repeated) | “as the LORD commanded Moses” (Exod 39-40, repeated) |
| “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished” (Gen 2:1) | “Thus was all the work of the tabernacle… finished” (Exod 39:32) |
| “God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Gen 1:31) | “Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the LORD had commanded” (Exod 39:43) |
| “And God blessed the seventh day” (Gen 2:3) | “Moses blessed them” (Exod 39:43) |
The structural parallel reads the Tabernacle as a microcosm — a created order within the larger created order, built to the LORD’s pattern, completed in obedience, blessed in inspection. The chapter at hand installs the architectural-theological parallel; Exodus 40↗ will complete the parallel with the LORD’s own completion-act (the glory-cloud filling the sanctuary, as the LORD’s spirit hovered over the waters at Gen 1:2). Standard commentaries (especially the rabbinic tradition and modern scholars like Mary Douglas) have developed this parallel at length; the Tabernacle is read as a re-creation of cosmic order in miniature, a place of dwelling-presence where the LORD’s chosen rest can be experienced and the LORD’s chosen pattern of work-and-rest preserved.