Unsung Heroes in Scripture: Bezalel the Artist

Unsung Heroes in Scripture: Bezalel the Artist.

“The Lord made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand He hid me. And He made me as a polished arrow; in His quiver He concealed me.” (Isaiah 49:2).

There are so many characters in the Bible that have been hidden from us who read the Word. So many unsung heroes who have been destined to be underappreciated and overlooked. Like Ananias, they have a pivotal role in a limited event and then they disappear from us. Like Abigail, they are often celebrated by one group of believers and completely ignored by another group of believers. Like Barnabas, they might be overshadowed by a strong, more compelling personality. Like Cornelius, they might have set the stage but were not the main event. Like Bezalel, they might be supremely gifted for one particularly crucial task, after which their usefulness seems to end. Like Shiphrah and Puah, they might rise heroically to the challenge of becoming human saviors but then humbly point to the person that they saved. Like Caleb, they might have their moments of profound faith and courage and then seem to be written right out of the script. The Scripture is full of unsung heroes, relative unknowns, hidden in God’s quiver. These polished arrows are actually more numerous and often more significant than the heroes who are more commonly sung by the faithful. After all, where would the skyscrapers be were it not for the hidden pillars of support?

“And Lord Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Look and see what I have done! I have singled out and personally chosen one of the sons of Judah, and placed on him a special calling. His name is Bezalel, the son of Uri, the grandson of Hur. I have filled him with the Holy Spirit of God, and gifted him with wisdom and ability, with understanding and intelligence, with knowledge, and all kinds of craftsmanship, to devise skillful works. He is an expert designer and able to work in gold, silver, and bronze. He is able to cut and set gemstones, engage in wood-carving, and skillfully work in all varieties of craftsmanship.” (Exodus 31:1-5).

Fun Facts about Bezalel, the most inspired artist and craftsman of all time, and yet somehow is not a household name, and instead is an unsung hero in Scripture if there was one:

1. He was the grandson (or perhaps great-grandson) of Miriam, and so was the grandnephew of Moses.
2. His name means “in the shadow of God,” implying that the Lord was constantly covering him, protecting him, inspiring him to do his work on the Tabernacle.
3. Rabbinic tradition maintains that he was only a teenager when he accomplished his work on the Tabernacle.
4. He was the first person in Scripture to be “filled with the Holy Spirit of God.” He was gifted with the creative Spirit of the Lord, reflecting and imitating the inspired excellence of Creator God.
5. He was also inspired and equipped to be a teacher of a big team of apprentice craftsmen to construct the Tabernacle, its sacred furniture (the golden lampstand, the Table of Shewbread, the bronze basins, the altars, the Ark of the Covenant), and all the furnishings and materials( the priests’ garments, the coverings of goatskins, the holy oil, the incense, the tapestries, the outer fencing). His main assistant in all this work was also hand-picked by Yahweh…. Oholiab from the tribe of Dan.
6. They both were also gifted by the Lord to be the architects of the Tabernacle, as well as expert engravers, embroiderers with fine linen, and master weavers. ( 35:30-35).
7. He was not a priest, nor a prophet, nor any type of religious leader. And yet, his calling was a holy calling with special privileges. He was the only non-priest to touch the Ark of the Covenant without dying, since he made the Ark! He was the only person other than the High Priest to stand before the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies, since he made the Mercy Seat and built the Holy of Holies!
8. Messianic pastor Isaac Gabizon believes that God must have been very excited about His Dwelling Place being constructed in Exodus 36, since that chapter reports Bezalel every step of the way in detail… The passage says that “he made” 36 times alone in that chapter. And in the next five chapters “he made” was mentioned 55 times. Pastor Barbizon says that there must have been great rejoicing in heaven as Scripture reports that “he joined,” “he overlaid,” “he cast,” “he inserted,” etc. Pastor Garbizon says that what started as a list became like a song.
9. Bezalel was responsible to construct a sacred space according to the very specific instructions that the Lord gave to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Bezalel must have been an extraordinary listener, and a completely obedient believer in Yahweh, to follow such explicit, detailed instructions so completely.
10. There is a rabbinic teaching that declares that Bezalel’s completed work of craftsmanship “healed the wound caused by the sin in the Garden of Eden.” Adam and Eve’s sin separated humankind from God, and the Tabernacle reunited God with humankind by creating a space for the Shekinah glory, a Dwelling Place to be in union with His chosen people. So the Tabernacle is seen by faithful Jews as “Paradise regained,” a return to Eden. Rabbinic teaching notes that the Tabernacle is designed to be like a mini-Eden, a small picture of the Garden of Eden: the entrance to both the Tabernacle and the Garden faces east and the source of light; both were guarded by cherubim; both have a purpose of joining heaven and earth through God’s real Presence; both speak to God’s desire to dwell with His people.
11. Rabbi Jonathon Sacks says that “the creation of the Sanctuary by the Israelites is intended to represent a human parallel to the divine creation of the universe. In making the world, God created a home for humankind. In making the Tabernacle, humankind created a home for God.” He goes on to say that God made the cosmos, humans made the micro-cosmos, a mini-universe, and “a symbolic glimpse of creation.”
12. Christians believe that the wilderness Tabernacle, the brilliant work of Bezalel and his team of craftsmen, is a temporary shadow of the eternal sanctuary in heaven, an earthly copy of the heavenly sanctuary. The Tabernacle served its righteous purposes for that time, but was actually a visual parable that could be used later to teach spiritual truths regarding Christ’s earthly mission and ministry. So the Tabernacle was an invaluable object lesson for mankind, full of visual aids and symbolism. The Mosaic system was adequate and God-ordained for a time. But it was only a shadow, a hint of a better system coming along in God’s perfect timing. It was a necessary beginning to what turned out to be a perfect end. In the Old Covenant, the Mosaic sacrifice was necessary but insufficient. The best was yet to come in the fullness of time with the coming of Messiah Jesus. “Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered Himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.” (Hebrews 9:13-14).
13. Actually, there is a Christian organization that is doing its best to remove Belazel from the “unsung” category by establishing a community, “The Order of Bezalel,” that extends an “invitation for all who choose to live out their creativity in covenant relationship with the Creator God and His mission for the world… a movement that invites creatives everywhere to a deeper understanding of what it means to be truly creative and to a more robust application their creative calling, identity, gifts, and vocation for mission amid the diversity of their contexts for the building up of the body of Christ for mission.” We are reminded in their mission statement that every person has the gift of creativity to varying degrees, since we are all made in the image of a creative God. As the Order’s spokesman, Uday Balasundaran states, “Bezalel and his band of brothers in a way foreshadow the work of the Master Craftsperson in Jesus Christ in building the church. If in the OT Bezalel et al were called and commissioned to build the tabernacle, in the NT the task entrusted to us – creatives worldwide in the capacities of apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd, and teacher (see Ephesians 4:11-13) – is to build-up the church for mission in order to bring people to the maturity of Jesus Christ.”