A Droplet of Hope

Our story today begins with an example of creativity gone bad – this episode is a mirror image of the previous seven chapters • it runs parallel to God’s instructions for the sacred tent ◦ only what is produced here is a grotesque distortion • the resources that were to be used for God’s tent– ◦ including the sacred objects, sacrifices, and service of its artisans and priests ◦ gets hijacked by patchwork cult – we can explore this episode using a key marker • when the word “this” is used in a dismissive way ◦ for example, the way the Israelites refer to this Moses in verse 1 ◦ “this” creates distance from a person (like when a mother refers to her child as “this son of yours . . . .”) • when we come to these markers, they will indicate a change of attitude