Exodus 35
4 And Moses spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “This is the thing which the LORD commanded, saying: 5 ‘Take from among you an offering to the LORD. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the LORD: gold, silver, and bronze; 6 blue, purple, and scarletthread, fine linen, and goats’ hair; 7 ram skins dyed red, badger skins, and acacia wood; 8 oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense; 9 onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate.

There was a command from the Lord to give but it was conditional on the people having a willing heart. In the context of this narrative, here is a people who witnessed first hand a miraculous deliverance from a 430 year bondage. God remembered them, in fact He never forgot them! The plagues were to depose the pagan gods of the Egyptians. The Passover was to show them salvation through sacrifice. The parting of the sea showed them the power of a God who is almighty! If I had personally witnessed all of this, I think my heart would have been willing to give everything I had!

Exodus 35
20 And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. 21 Then everyone came whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and they brought the LORD’s offering for the work of the tabernacle of meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments. 22 They came, both men and women, as many as had a willing heart, and brought earrings and nose rings, rings and necklaces, all jewelry of gold, that is, every man who made an offering of gold to the LORD. 23 And every man, with whom was found blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, goats’ hair, red skins of rams, and badger skins, brought them. 24 Everyone who offered an offering of silver or bronze brought the LORD’s offering. And everyone with whom was found acacia wood for any work of the service, brought it. 25 All the women who were gifted artisans spun yarn with their hands, and brought what they had spun, of blue, purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. 26 And all the women whose hearts stirred with wisdom spun yarn of goats’ hair. 27 The rulers brought onyx stones, and the stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate, 28 and spices and oil for the light, for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense. 29 The children of Israel brought a freewill offering to the LORD, all the men and women whose hearts were willing to bring material for all kinds of work which the LORD, by the hand of Moses, had commanded to be done.

There was no hesitation to give on the part of the people. In fact they were excited to provide everything that was needed for the ministry. They now knew that their God was active, involved and interested in His people! Giving was taking a priority over there own wants and desires. Their priorities were in order!

Exodus 36
2 Then Moses called Bezalel and Aholiab, and every gifted artisan in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, everyone whose heart was stirred, to come and do the work. 3 And they received from Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of making the sanctuary. So they continued bringing to him freewill offerings every morning.4 Then all the craftsmen who were doing all the work of the sanctuary came, each from the work he was doing, 5 and they spoke to Moses, saying, “The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which the LORD commanded us to do.”
6 So Moses gave a commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, “Let neither man nor woman do any more work for the offering of the sanctuary.” And the people were restrained from bringing, 7 for the material they had was sufficient for all the work to be done—indeed too much.

The outpouring of their giving was abundant! They had to be constrained from giving because they had given more than enough! Oh to have that kind of problem in the church today!

Exodus 38

24 All the gold that was used in all the work of the holy place, that is, the gold of the offering, was twenty-nine talents and seven hundred and thirty shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary.

Conversion:
talent (Biblical Hebrew): 29 is equal to pound [lb]: 2186.54471635

2186 x 16 x $1787.85 = $62,531,841.60

25 And the silver from those who were numbered of the congregation was one hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary:

Conversion:
talent (Biblical Hebrew): 100 is equal to pound [lb]: 7539.809366723

7540 x 16 x 34.65 = $4,180,176

A quick computation of just the “talents” of gold and silver given by the people shows the magnitude of their gifts. Over a ton of gold and over 3 tons of silver were brought by the people for the Lord! The next question that arises in my mind is this: Here is a large group of people, maybe in excess of two million that are now nomads, wandering in the wilderness, so where did they get all the gold and silver since they are former slaves? Did they mine these from the desert?

Exodus 11:2-3
“Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.” (The LORD made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people.)
Exodus 12:35-36
The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. The LORD had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.

It is God who supplies our every need. In this case, he gave them more than enough for the building of the tabernacle and it’s furnishings and operation. He provided for them abundantly! When they gave willingly as they were stirred, there was more than enough left to meet their individual needs also. I know this is an Old Testament account, but the God who is the same yesterday, today and forever wants to stir our spirits and give us willing hearts to be givers….BIG givers…just like He is.