Exodus 38:21-31
The tabernacle materials are inventoried, showing accountable stewardship of gold, silver, and bronze for the Lord’s dwelling.
21 These are the amounts of materials used for the tabernacle, even the Tabernacle of the Testimony, as they were counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest.
22 Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that Yahweh commanded Moses.
23 With him was Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a skillful workman, and an embroiderer in blue, in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen.
24 All the gold that was used for the work in all the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the offering, was twenty-nine talents and seven hundred thirty shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary.
25 The silver of those who were counted of the congregation was one hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary:
26 a beka a head, that is, half a shekel, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for everyone who passed over to those who were counted, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty men.
27 The one hundred talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the sanctuary and the sockets of the veil: one hundred sockets for the one hundred talents, one talent per socket.
28 From the one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, overlaid their capitals, and made fillets for them.
29 The bronze of the offering was seventy talents and two thousand four hundred shekels.
30 With this he made the sockets to the door of the Tent of Meeting, the bronze altar, the bronze grating for it, all the vessels of the altar,
31 the sockets around the court, the sockets of the gate of the court, all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins around the court.
The tabernacle materials are inventoried, showing accountable stewardship of gold, silver, and bronze for the LORD’s dwelling.
To record the audited inventory of materials used for the tabernacle, including the gold, silver, and bronze received and applied under the oversight of Moses, Ithamar, Bezalel, and Oholiab for the LORD’s commanded dwelling work.
This unit follows the construction reports for the altar, basin, and courtyard and functions as a concluding material inventory before the priestly garments are reported in Exodus 39. It gathers the tabernacle work under the heading of the 'tabernacle of the testimony,' locating the completed objects within the covenant witness given at Sinai. The passage also looks backward to the contribution commands in Exodus 25 and the census ransom command in Exodus 30, showing that Israel's obedience has now been materially embodied in the sanctuary.
After the tabernacle structure, furnishings, courtyard, altar, and basin have been made, the narrative pauses to record the material inventory. Moses commanded the accounting, Ithamar oversaw it, and Bezalel and Oholiab carried out the work of construction.
The Altar, Basin, Courtyard, and Inventory of Tabernacle Materials
The LORD’s restored people construct the altar, basin, courtyard, and material inventory of the tabernacle, showing that approach to God requires sacrifice, cleansing, ordered boundaries, and accountable stewardship.