EXODUS CHAPTER 31 ~ 35

EXODUS 31

1 Then YHWH spoke to Moses, and said
2 "See, I have called by name and bred
One Bezalel the son of Uri,
The son of Hur, and in a hurry,
Of the tribe of Judah. 3 "And I
Have filled him with a skilful spirit
In wisdom, understanding near it,
In knowledge in each kind of task,
4 "To design fine works, such as ask
Skill in gold, in silver, in bronze,
5 "In cutting jewels for setting fronds,
In carving wood, each kind of task.
6 "And I, indeed I, have appointed
With him Aholiab anointed
The son of Ahisamach, of
The tribe of Dan, and as above
I have put wisdom in the hearts
Of all gifted in the fine arts,
That they may make all I command
You, 7 "tent of meeting, on one hand,
Ark of covenant, mercy seat,
That is on it, vessels complete
Of the tent, 8 "table and its store,
The pure gold lampstand on the floor
With all its utensils and more,
The altar of incense and yet,
9 "The altar of burnt offering met
With all its holdings, laver and
The confected place of its stand,
10 "The garments of the ministry,
The holy garments for to see
On Aaron the priest and the ones
Of garments for the priestly sons,
To minister therein as priest,
11 "And the anointing oil, increased
Incense for the holy place, just
As I've commanded, so you must."

The origin of art spelled out as plain
As anything, Beloved, for woe and gain,
Is in Your spirit gifts bestowed upon
The wilderness artist and paragon.
Gloria Dei only writes the scribe
Of melody in memory of the tribe
That once invented art and beauty for
To glorify of Your name and to adore.
I hear the faint reverberations of
Those harmonies set down in faith and love,
I see the brush-strokes of the cadmium lore,
And know Your spirit still rests as before
On all descendants of the chosen man
Who decorates the universe or can.

12 And YHWH spoke to Moses, and said
13 "Speak also to Israel's folk bred,
Saying 'My Sabbaths you shall keep,
For it's a sign gracious and steep
Between Me and you throughout your
Generations, to keep in store
The knowledge that I'm truly YHWH
Who on Sabbath sanctifies you.
14 'You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore,
It's holy to you as I swore.
Everyone who profanes it shall
Surely suffer death capital,
For whoever does any work
On it, that person shall not lurk
But be cut off among his folk.
15 'Work shall be done for six days' stroke,
But the seventh is Sabbath rest,
Holy to YHWH, of days the best.
Whoever does work on the day
Of Sabbath, he'll be put to death.
16 'Therefore the folk of Israel's way
Shall keep the Sabbath with their breath,
To observe Sabbath throughout their
Generations as they concur
Upon perpetual covenant.
17 'It is a sign that I have sent
Between Me and Israel for
Always, since in just six days' chore
YHWH made the heavens and the earth,
And on the seventh day of worth
He rested and He was refreshed,
Example to man work enmeshed.'"

Beloved, Your holy Sabbath's secret place
Where You meet with the chosen of the race.
It seems the grace to love and seek Your face
Is given to but few, the rest deface
The soul with harsh forgetfulness, replace
The love tryst with the heathen Sunday chase
Gyrating to the rock of the debase
Or elevated to the awe's embrace.
My soul elated with Your call and trace
Seeks out umbrage of Your day to erase
The metal of the week that goes apace
Draped in its royal velvets and its lace.
Beloved, I meet the ecstasies and pains
From week to week in Sabbath suns and rains.

The sentence fell in harshness on
The sons of Israel long ago.
Now all receive his benison,
So all must share his woe.
We stand today before the Lord
As then before the Mount
Within our mothers' loins God's word
Brought us to an account.
As we forget the Sabbath day
And struggle on for ill,
Depending each on his own way,
The prophecies fulfil.
The spirit that returns each week
Partakes of life and song,
But they who turn away the cheek
Do their own souls the wrong.
The spirit dies that does not crave
God's blessing and His rest.
The anguish and the yawning grave
Receive each week their guest.
O God, help me to flee that tomb
Of living death and fires,
And for that rest let me make room
That quenches vain desires.
As Thou didst whisper Adam's name
In thy creation's joy,
Remember me too just the same
In this Sabbath's employ.
And I too shall remember Thee,
Though troubled, toil-enmeshed,
Escape the hour that threatens me,
To rest and be refreshed.

18 And when He had finished His speaking
With him on Mount Sinai's critiquing,
He gave Moses two tablets of
The Testimony, tablets of
Stone, written with the finger of
Ælohim in His grace and love.

EXODUS 32

1 When the folk saw Moses delayed
To come down from the mount, but stayed,
The people came to Aaron , and
Said to him, "Come, make by command
Gods for us that shall go before
Us, for this Moses, we deplore
The man who brought us up out of
The land of Egypt, for both love
Nor money we do not know what
Has become of him, and clear-cut."
2 And Aaron said to them, "Break off
The golden earrings which are shroff
In the ears of your wives, your sons,
And your daughters, bring me by tons."
3 "So all the folk broke off the gold
Earrings which were in their ears told,
And brought them to Aaron. 4 And he
Received from their hand, and in fee
He fashioned with engraving tool,
And made a moulded calf, the fool.
Then they said "This is your god, O
Israel, that has made you go
Up out of Egypt's land!" 5 And so
When Aaron saw, he built an altar
Before it, and Aaron, no falter,
Made proclamation and he said
"Tomorrow's a feast in YHWH's stead."
6 Then they rose early the next day,
Offered burnt offerings in their way,
And brought peace offerings, and the folk
Sat down to eat and drink and joke,
And then rose up again to play.

Idolatry has always the same root
And therefore always bears a common fruit.
It always claims to offer prayer and praise
In sacrifice to You, Beloved, in stays.
It has a form of godliness indeed,
But leaves the people poorer for their greed.
Idolatry is always dealt in gold,
It always has attractive forms and bold,
It always has to end it in the lounge
Coffee and doughnuts, never has to scrounge,
And last and best it is a lot of fun
And full of music good and loud when done.
The golden calf is worshipped everywhere
A crowd comes out when the weather is fair.

7 And YHWH said to Moses, "Go, get
Down! For the folk for whom you sweat,
Whom you brought out of Egypt's land
Have somehow gotten out of hand.
8 "They have turned aside quickly out
Of the way I told them about.
They've made themselves a moulded calf,
Bowed, sacrificed in its behalf,
And said and sung, 'This is your god,
O Israel, that brought from the sod
Of Egypt!'" 9 And YHWH said to Moses,
"I've seen what this people discloses,
And indeed it's a stiff-necked folk!
10 "Now therefore, let Me lay the stroke,
That My wrath may burn hot against
Them and consume them once commenced.
And I will make of you a great
Nation." 11 Moses pleaded a rate
With YHWH his God, and said "YHWH, why
Does Your wrath burn hot against my
And Your people whom You have brought
Out of the land of Egypt sought
With great power and a mighty hand?
12 "Why should Egyptians understand,
'He brought them out to harm them and
To kill them in the mountains, and
To consume them from the earth's face'?
Turn from Your fierce wrath, and retrace
Your steps from this harm to Your folk.
13 "Remember Abraham, his oak,
Isaac, and Israel, Your servants,
To whom You swore by Your own grants,
And said to them, 'I'll multiply
Your descendants as in the sky
The stars stand, and all of this land
That I have spoken of remand
To your descendants, and they shall
Have inheritance eternal.'"
14 So YHWH relented from the harm
He said He'd do His folk by arm.

You hate, Beloved, the din of heathen song
So much that even Moses begs You long
Not to destroy them pintle, paunch, and neck.
When rock comes on, You'd rather have a wreck.
Between You and Moses, if I must choose
Sides, O Beloved, I have no time to lose,
But join You in Your clamour to be rid
Of worship music that You would forbid.
Ah Moses, ever gracious, merciful,
Caused troubles in the earth which is now full
Of raucous beats and melodies galore.
He should have let You nip the bud before.
But once the lesson has been taught, I'm free
To abhor the sounds of the Trinity.

15 And Moses turned and went down from
The mountain to where he had come,
And the two tablets of the law
Were in his hand, the algebra
Of tablets written on both sides,
On the one and on other sides
They were written. 16 Now the tablets
Are the work that Ælohim sets,
And the writing the writing that
Ælohim on the tablets set.
17 And when Joshua heard the noise
Of the people shouting like boys,
He said to Moses, "Noise of war
Is in the camp," 18 "No, troubadour"
He said "not the noise of the shout
Of victory, nor cry of rout,
The sound of singing's what I hear."

The kind of singing that the people used
In their fond worship of the dread abused
Was rather modern in kind and in savour.
It had a very jazzy, rocky flavour,
So much so that one took the sound for war.
You can hear such in every record store.
At distance, though, such music sounds to me
More like the strains running high and freely
Of washing machine in the basement set
To do the laundry in a due time yet.
Beloved, speak in a still small voice or thunder,
But do not leave my stricken soul to wonder
About the rate of the idolatry
That comes from Christian rock and other blunder.

19 So it was, soon as he came near
The camp, he saw the dancing calf.
So Moses' anger for riff-raff
Burned hot, he cast the tablets out
Of his hands and broke them about
At the foot of the mountain there.
20 Then he took their calf in repair,
Which they had made, and burned it in
The fire, and ground to genuine
Powder, and scattered it abroad
On the water and where he strawed
He made Israel's folk drink the fraud.

The wrath of Your servant Moses appeared
At last when he saw and heard what he feared
From Your warning of what took place below.
No doubt he would have tempered all the show
Of patience and his intercession for
The people in idolatry and roar.
If You had not opened occasion to
Pray for the folk, I'm sure he would not do
It when he saw the thing, and heard the ring
Of tambourine, and saw them dance and sing.
He threw the table of the law down crash
And saw the sapphire stones in splintered trash.
Beloved, I cast the tables down again
Before the golden calves of modern men.

21 And Moses said to Aaron, "What
Did this people do to you that
You've brought so great a sin on them?"
22 So Aaron said "I touch your hem,
Do not let my lord's anger burn,
You know the people, set to spurn
The good and take the evil row.
23 "For they said to me, 'Make us gods
That shall go before us, as prods,
This Moses, the man who brought us
Out of Egypt's land with a fuss,
We do not know where this man went.'
24 "I said to them, 'Who has unspent
Gold, let them break it off.' So they
Gave it to me, I cast away
Into the fire, this calf came out."
25 Now when Moses saw without doubt
That the people there danced about
And unrestrained (for Aaron had
Not restrained them who acted bad,
For shame among their enemies),
26 Then Moses stood for homilies
At the entrance of the camp, said
"And who's on YHWH’s side, born and bred,
To me." And all of Levi's sons
Gathered to Moses' benisons.
27 And he said to them, "Thus says YHWH
God of Israel, 'Let each man do
His duty his sword on his side,
And go through the camp and not hide,
From one side to the other and
Let every man raise slaying hand
Upon his brother and his friend,
And on his neighbour to the end.'"
28 And so the sons of Levi did
According as Moses' words bid.
And about three thousand men of
The people fell in that day's shove.
29 Then Moses said "Now consecrate
Yourselves to YHWH, and that He state
On you a blessing on this day,
For every man has gone his way
Against his son, brother and mate."

Theory of spontaneous generation
Is not invention of Darwin, Lamarck.
It is a flight of fancy every nation
Has taken since we left the heavenly park.
For those who believe gods arise and stand
To be worshipped and played to in the land
There is a strange and livid countermand:
Death by the sword of right and human hand.
Since raving dance and jazzing haunch deny
The Decalogue, that safety passes by.
Thou shalt not kill is for those who will keep
Your word, Beloved, but not for those who sleep.
By Your command alone may killing be.
Without command to kill, I remain free.

30 Now it happened on the next day
That Moses told the people, "Say,
You have committed a great sin.
Now I'll go up to YHWH within,
Perchance make atonement for sin."
31 Then Moses returned to YHWH and
Said "Oh, these people in the land
Have committed a great sin, and
Have made themselves a god of gold!
32 "Yet now, if You'll forgive the told
Sin, but if not, I pray, blot me
Out of Your book writ faithfully."
33 And YHWH said to Moses, "Who has
Sinned against Me, I'll blot him as
A sinner out of My book. 34 "Now
Therefore, go, be the people's prow
To the place of which I have spoken
To you. My Angel as a token
Shall go before you, but the day
When I lay punishment's dismay,
I'll visit punishment on them
For their sin and their stratagem."
35 So YHWH plagued the people because
Of what they did against His laws
With the calf which Aaron had made
While Moses in the mountain stayed.

The human heart is moved to anger or
To mercy, but both are the graceless store
Of winds of foul desire to cling to show
Of illusions beyond the power to let go.
Who prays for pardon to the world prays ill,
Who prays for punishment too prays ill still.
Who pray for that mercy that must arise
From unbroken tables of law, surprise
You, my Belovèd, to step down again
And speak in love to sleeping hearts and men.
Let me not act in anger or in suit
Of sympathy for hardened human brute,
But let me act unswerving by the love
Of Decalogue alone, sight high above.

EXODUS 33

1 Then YHWH said to Moses, "Depart
And go up from here, for a start,
You and the people whom you've brought
Out of Egypt's land to be taught,
To the land of which I swore to
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob too,
Saying 'To your descendants I
Will give it.' 2 "And I will send My
Angel before you, and I'll drive
Out Canaanites, each one alive,
And Amorite and the Hittite,
The Perizzite and the Hivite,
And Jebusite. 3 "Go to a land
Flowing with milk and honey scanned,
For I will not go up with you,
Lest I consume you to be true
On the way, you're a stiff-necked folk."
4 When the people heard what He spoke,
They mourned, and none put on his jewels.
5 For YHWH'd told Moses, "Tell the fools,
Children of Israel, 'You're stiff-necked.
I could come up where you have trekked
In one moment, destroy your tents.
Therefore, take off your ornaments,
So I'll know what to do to you.'"
6 So Israel's folk stripped off their few
Ornaments there by Horeb's dew.

The people made the calf of gold, god's blood,
Because they sensed that metal was a flood
Of blessing and protection, changeless well
Of wealth of well-being, to cast a spell
To shield them from all harm. The ring today
That keeps its wearer from hazards bears sway
Among the people of the east who still
Like Israel claim to follow Your known will.
That's why You tell them to strip off pretence
Of ornaments' protection, have good sense,
And stand before You with no guiles between.
Stripping off idols is thing rarely seen.
Naked I come onto the slaughter floor,
And yet I seek a window and a door.

7 Moses took his tent and pitched it
Outside camp, far from their outfit,
And called it tent of meeting. It
Happened that everyone who sought
YHWH went outside the camp to sit
At tent of meeting to be taught.
8 So it was, when Moses went out
To the tent, all the people rose,
And each man stood and looked devout
At his tent door and watched until
Moses went in the tent's enclose.
9 And it happened, to Moses' thrill
When he went in the tent the cloud
In pillar came down like a shroud
Before the door of the tent and
He talked with Moses there first-hand.
10 And all the people saw the cloud
In pillar at the tent door proud
And all the people rose again
Prostrating at tent door like men.
11 YHWH spoke to Moses face to face,
As a man speaks to his friend's grace.
And he would return to the camp,
But Joshua, servant and champ,
The son of Nun, a young man, did
Not depart from the tent, but hid.

The many stand afar and bow down to
The ground in worship, but the thirsty few
Come out to the tent of Your presence for
Instruction from the prophet at the door.
The lawful and the loving thus presume
To find a nearness that does not consume.
The prophet enters in the tent aware
Of all Your glories as they abide there.
But let me, O Beloved, like son of Nun
Come in the glorious fourth gate when I've won,
And hide within Your heart. I shall not go
Back to the camp and make prostration so.
Let me be so near there is no direction
Toward which I may raise my insurrection.

12 Then Moses said to YHWH, "See, You
Tell me, 'Bring up this folk.' But You
Have not let me know whom You will
Send with me, You speak to me still,
'I know you by name, and you've found
Also grace in My sight around.'
13 "Now therefore, I pray, if I've found
Grace in Your sight, show me Your way,
Now that I may know You today
And I may find grace in Your sight.
And see that this nation's Your right."
14 And He said "My Presence will go
And I will give you rest also."
15 He said to Him, "If Your Presence
Does not go with us, there's no sense
To bring us up from here. 16 "For how
Then will it ever be known now
That Your people and I've found grace
In Your sight, except to that place
You go with us? So we shall be
Separate, Your people and me,
From all the people on the earth."
17 So YHWH said to Moses in worth,
"I will also do this thing that
You have spoken from where you're at,
For you have found grace in My sight,
And I know you by name and sight."
18 And he said "Please, show me Your glory."
19 He said "My goodness pass before you,
And I'll proclaim the name of YHWH
Before you, I'll be gracious to
Whom I will be gracious, and I
Will have compassion on whom I
Will have compassion." 20 But He said
"You cannot see My face, you're dead,
For no man shall see Me, and live."
21 And YHWH said "Here's a place I give
By Me, and you'll stand on the rock.
22 "So it shall be, while with a shock
My glory passes by, that I
Will put you in the cleft of rock,
Cover you with hand and pass by.
23 "Then I will take away My hand,
And you shall see My backside spanned,
My face shall not be seen by eye."

Beloved, show me not backside, no, nor face.
I bow before You, sink my will, efface
My vain desires and so desire You only.
Show me no part of You but leave me lonely.
I know You have no parts nor limits that
I might perceive with sentiments and fat.
So show no part and I shall escape vain
Imaginings. Leave my dark memory sane.
Though You are absolutely one, I know
There is no youness to be seen or go
Towards. Leave me alone and yet not be
Far in the distance nor yet near to me.
Be, my Beloved, so close to heart and mind
That to Your being my eyes must be blind.

EXODUS 34

1 And YHWH said to Moses, "Cut two
Tablets of stone like the first, do,
And I'll write on tablets the words
That were on the first tablets' sherds
Which you broke. 2 "So be ready in
The morning, and come take a spin
In the morning to Mount Sinai,
Present yourself there high and dry
Before Me on the mountaintop.
3 "And no man shall come up with you,
And let no man be seen all through
The mountain, let no flocks nor herds
Feed on that mountain of storm-birds."
4 So he cut two tablets of stone
Like the first ones, then he alone,
Moses rose early in the morn
And went up Mount Sinai trueborn,
As YHWH commanded him, and he
Took in hand two tablets stonely.

Each day anew You call Your servant to
Cut new tablets of stone from his heart's due
For You to write again the broken law
The world refuses to accept in awe.
I hold my shredded heart up to Your pen
Awaiting the new scribblings there again.
All men are one, and that's eternal pain,
Since what all men do falls again like rain
Upon the head of all. Though I prostrate
My soul in humble straightness at the gate,
Obedience is met upon the scroll
With idol worship taking on its toll.
Let my obedience this day once more
Repair the splintered stone the idols tore.

5 Now YHWH descended in the cloud
And stood with him there, proclaimed proud
The name of YHWH. 6 And YHWH passed by
Before him and proclaimed, "YHWH, aye
YHWH El El God, merciful and
Gracious, and longsuffering, and
Abundant in goodness and truth,
7 "Keeping mercy for thousands' ruth,
Forgiving iniquity and
Transgression and sin in the land,
By no means clearing the guilty,
But visiting iniquity
Of the fathers no further than
Upon the children of each man
And children's children to the third
And fourth generation deterred."
8 Moses made haste and bowed his head
Toward the earth, prostrate like dead.
9 Then he said "If now I have found
Grace in Your sight, O Lord, abound,
Let my Lord, I pray, go among us,
Though we're stiff-necked, You should have hung us,
And pardon our iniquity
And from our sin do set us free,
And take us as Your property."

Belovèd, let my life be straight and true
According to Your law leave me to do
So that my doing is a prayer to keep
Your mercy on the dreaming world asleep.
I do not pray for mercy on the guilt,
But that the guilt in mercy might be spilt
And washed away in floods of righteousness.
That is the prayer of my life and no less,
Not written in calligraphy nor spoken,
But written in commandments left unbroken.
Gracious You are, and merciful, I see,
And that You are from time eternally.
I too therefore make haste to bow before
Your Word and Throne, and sacred open door.

10 And He said "Indeed, now I make
A covenant and for your sake.
Before all your people I'll do
Marvels such as have not been true
In all the earth, in any nation,
And all the earthly generation
Among whom you are shall see how
That YHWH has not worked until now.
For it's a truly awesome thing
That I'll do with you as your King.
11 "Observe what I command this day.
I am driving out of your way
The Amorite and Canaanite,
The Hittite and the Perizzite,
The Hivite and the Jebusite.
12 "Take heed to yourself, lest you make
A treaty for the dwellers' sake
Of the land toward which you take
Your way, lest it become your snare.
13 "But you shall destroy all of their
Altars, break up their pillars, and
Cut down images in the land.
14 'For you'll worship no other god,
Since YHWH, whose name's Jealous, will prod
Being a jealous God, 15 "lest you
Make a covenant with a few
Of the land's inhabitants, and
They play the harlot with their gods
And make sacrifice to their gods,
One invite you and you eat of
His sacrifice, 16 "and you take of
His daughters for your sons, and his
Daughters play the harlot, that is,
With their gods and make your sons play
The harlot with their gods one day.
17 "You shall make no moulded gods for
Yourselves nor none within your door.

There is no horror in the sacrifice
Of idols in this modern world and nice.
It is a churchly club of the refined
Who get together for a lunch and kind
Reception of the same financial class,
To break the bread and taste the glittering glass,
To lift up hands and sway the hip awhile,
Greet with a hug, good morning, and a smile,
Read the epistle and the psalm to boot,
And hardly notice the revealing suit
Until a private get-together after
Replaces solemns with a lustful laughter.
The harlotry of faith's an ancient thing
Symbolic in the way the people sing.

18 "The feast of unleavened bread you
Shall keep, seven days you shall do
Eating unleavened bread, as I
Commanded you, in the time I
Appointed in month of green ears,
For you came in month of green ears
Out from Egypt. 19 "And so all that
Open the womb are Mine out flat,
And every male firstborn among
Your livestock, ox or sheep unsung.
20 "But the firstborn of a donkey
You shall redeem with a lamb's fee.
And if you will not redeem it,
Then you shall break its neck unfit.
And all the firstborn of your sons
You shall redeem with orisons.
And none shall appear before Me
Empty-handed and then go free.
21 "Six days you shall work, but upon
The seventh day you shall rest on,
In plowing time and in harvest
You shall take that day for a rest.
22 "And you shall observe feast of weeks,
Of the firstfruits of corn harvest,
And the feast of ingathering seeks
To come at the year's end. 23 "Three times
In the year all your men in primes
Shall appear before the Lord, YHWH,
The Ælohim of Israel.
24 "For I will cast out nations well
Before you and enlarge your borders,
Neither will any men nor hoarders
Covet your land when you go up
To appear before YHWH to sup
With your God three times in the year.
25 "You shall not offer, though sincere,
The blood of sacrifice with leaven,
Nor shall sacrifice under heaven
Of the feast of passover be
Left over until morning, see.
26 "The first of firstfruits of your land
You shall bring to the house as planned
Of YHWH your God. You shall not boil
A young goat in its mother's milk."
27 Then YHWH said to Moses, "No spoil,
Write these words, for by these words' ilk
I've made a covenant with you
And with Israel's people too."

Why should I not boil baby goat along
With its own mother's milk for wrong?
Beloved, I guess the reason why You say
Not to do that thing is in mercy's way,
An odious trick revealing that the owner
Sees animals with eyes of a condoner
Of cruelty. To make a rule beyond
That not to mix milk and meat's to respond
To Canaanite ways and their superstition.
To me that is idolatrous position.
Let me, Beloved, take You at Your word true,
And do exactly what You tell me too,
Not going beyond nor in innovation
Replacing Your commands with my gyration.

28 So he was there with YHWH forty
Days and forty nights, no bread he
Ate nor did he drink water. And
He wrote on the tablets the words
Of the covenant, each command
In view of humans, beasts and birds.
29 Now it was so, when Moses came
Down from Mount Sinai with the same
Two tablets of testimony
In Moses' hand when faithfully
He came down from the mountain, that
Moses did not know that the skin
Of his face shone while he was at
The council with Him as akin.
30 So when Aaron and all the folk
Of Israel saw Moses, the bloke
Had skin on his face shining so
They were afraid to come or go.
31 Then Moses called them, Aaron and
All the folk's rulers by command
Returned to him, and Moses talked
With them and so none of them balked.
32 Then all the folk of Israel came
Near, and he gave them of the same
Commandments all that YHWH had spoken
With him on Mount Sinai with token.
33 And when Moses finished speaking
With them, he put a veiling thing
On his face. 34 But whenever Moses
Went in before where YHWH encloses
To speak with Him, he would take off
The veil until he left the trough,
And he would come out and speak to
Israel's folk what God said to do.
35 And whenever Israel's folk saw
The face of Moses, and with awe
That the skin of Moses' face shone,
Then Moses would put veil high-flown
On his face once again, until
He went back to His domicile.

The veil, the veil, Beloved, men always think
Lies between the soul and the precious drink
Of paradise, but it's not so, not so!
The veil is not between the human soul
And You, Beloved, of all lovings the goal.
The veil is placed between the company
Of congregants and every holy see,
And the lone soul that lives in You alone
And drinks Your nectar though in flesh and bone.
Not between Moses and Your face it lies,
But between Moses and the others' guise.
The masks are made for the magician's show.
I set me here within the veil to be
One with You and for all eternity.

WEEK 22 EXODUS 35

1 Then Moses gathered all the folk
Of Israel together and spoke
To them, "These are the words which YHWH
Has commanded for you to do:
2 "Work shall be done for the six days,
But the seventh day in your ways
Shall be a holy day for you,
A Sabbath day of rest to YHWH.
Whoever does any work on
It shall be put to death undrawn.
3 "On Sabbath you shall light no fire
Throughout your dwellings in a pyre."

Death sentence, My Beloved, for failing to
Take breaks for rest from all the work I do?
No doubt, no doubt, the sentencing is true
And cannot be avoided. Soul of death
Is all that results from one's holding breath.
There is the natural moment to exhale,
And that comes long before the face turns pale.
The soul dies and the husk remains to be
Driven by all the winds that blow freely.
Ah, freedom of the tumbling husks that vie
And jostle for position on the try!
Let my rest come between the earth and sky,
Not when I will, but when You say the word
Illuminating living heart and stirred.

O God of Jacob, guide my days
With flickering flames of light.
Enlighten all my wavering ways
And teach me paths of right.
Oh let me kindle not mine own
Indulgent flames of lust,
Nor lights of wisdom that alone
Search where should only trust.
Let not appear fanatic fires
In me in place of Thine,
Nor let me follow what inspires
Conforming crowds' design.
Let not the eager music pound
My heart in sensual thrill,
That in the groves today is found
And in the high-place still.
Inflame me with another faith
On this new Sabbath eve,
Not made to image, gold or wraith.
To Jacob's God I cleave.
I offer no strange fire upon
The altar of my heart.
Breathe but the Sabbath flame of dawn
To show me where Thou art.

4 And Moses spoke to all the folk
Of Israel, saying to convoke,
"This is the thing which YHWH commanded,
Saying 5 'Take from among you handed
An offering to YHWH. Whoever
Is of a willing heart, or clever,
Let him bring it as offering to
YHWH: gold, silver, and bronze, 6 'and blue,
Purple, and scarlet, linen fine,
And goats' hair, 7 'ram skins in design
Dyed red, badger skins, and the wood,
8 'Of the acacia, oil for light,
And spices for anointing good
Oil and for the sweet incense quite,
9 'Onyx stones, and stones to be set
In ephod and breastplate facette.
10 'All who are gifted artisans
Among you shall come and make plans
For all that YHWH has commanded:
11 'The tabernacle, tent, its lid,
Its clasps, its boards, its bars, its pillars,
Its sockets, 12 'the ark and its drillers'
Poles, with the mercy seat, and veil
Of covering, 13 'the table grail
And its poles, all its utensils,
And the showbread, 14 'and for no ills
Also the lampstand for the light,
Its utensils, its lamps, and oil
For the light, that it might not spoil,
15 'The incense altar, its poles, and
Anointing oil, the sweet command
Of incense, and screen for the door
At the tent entrance and before,
16 'The altar of burnt offering and
Its bronze grating, its poles, at hand
All its utensils, laver and
Its base, 17 'the hangings of the court,
Its pillars, their sockets, the sort
Of screen for the gate of the court,
18 'The tent pegs, the pegs of the court,
And their cords, 19 'the garments to serve,
For ministering and not to swerve
In the holy place, the holy
Garments for Aaron the priest, see,
And the garments of his sons, to
Minister as priests as they do.'"

Give me the wisdom of Your heart to build
The palace of my soul one Spirit-filled.
Let me construct the gifts of willing heart,
The preciousness of gold, empurpled art.
From priceless treasures let me build my room,
From twenty kinds of gem and sweet perfume,
Let rise my tabernacle with its bars
And forty steps of love toward the stars.
Beyond the altar, laver, curtain there,
Let my soul bathe in heaven's light and air,
Unkindled but by divine touch this day,
Let Sabbath bread and prayer console my way.
Within my inmost heart and secretly
Reign You alone, unseen Your majesty.

20 And all the congregation of
The children of Israel with love
Departed from Moses' presence.
21 Then everyone came whose heart's sense
Was stirred, and everyone whose spirit
Was willing, and they brought gifts near it
To YHWH for the tent of meeting,
For all its service, completing
The holy garments. 22 They came, both
Men and women, who were not loath
But had a willing heart, and brought
Earrings and nose rings, finger rings
And necklaces, all jewels sought
Of gold, that is, each man's offerings
Of gold to YHWH. 23 And every man,
With whom was found blue, purple, and
Scarlet, fine linen, and goats' hair,
Red skins of rams, and badger's fair
Skins, brought them. 24 Everyone who offered
An offering of silver or proffered
Bronze brought YHWH's offering. And all
With whom was found acacia wood
For any work of service call,
Brought it in offering as they could.
25 All women gifted artisans
Finely spun yarn with their own hands,
And brought what they had spun, of blue,
Purple, scarlet, fine linen too.
26 And all the women whose heart stirred
With wisdom spun yarn of goats shirred.
27 The rulers brought onyx stones, and
The stones to be set by command
In the ephod and in breastplate,
28 And spices and oil for the great
Light, for the anointing oil, and
For the sweet incense at close hand.
29 The children of Israel brought
A freewill offering to YHWH sought,
All the men and women whose hearts
Were willing to bring in their parts
For all kinds of work of which YHWH,
By Moses commanded to do.

Gold is the offering that the lovely bring
Out to the stores of every precious thing.
Lovely indeed are those who have a share
Doing Your will, Beloved, with heartfelt care.
Beloved, You ask for many things of weight,
Linen and blue, scarlet and purple state,
Until the lines are drawn and it's enough,
Enough of brights and sweets, the smooth and rough.
Polished to bear the rays of every sun
Under the sapphire sky, the hard stones run
Riot in colour in the nobles' gifts.
Perhaps there is an offering still that lifts
Love and the heart, but such I do not know:
Enough, a gift in empty hand I show.

30 And Moses said to Israel's folk,
"See, YHWH has called by name and spoke
To Bezalel the son of Uri,
The son of Hur, not in a hurry,
Of the tribe of Judah, 31 "and He
Has filled him, made in him to be
A skilful spirit, in wisdom
And understanding, knowledge sum,
And all manner of workmanship,
32 "To design fine works without slip,
To work in gold, silver and bronze,
33 "In cutting jewels for setting fronds,
In carving wood, to work in all
Kinds of fine workmanship by call.
34 "And He's put in his heart to teach,
In him and Aholiab's reach,
The son of Ahisamach, of
The tribe of Dan. 35 "He's filled with love
And skill to do all kinds of work
Of the engraver without shirk
And the designer and the maker
Of tapestries, in blue by acre,
Purple, and scarlet thread, and fine
Linen, and of weaver design,
Those who do every work and those
Who design fine works as God chose.

Beloved, You call by name, I answer quick,
But do not give me wisdom to be slick.
I've had enough of envy from the crowd.
Fill me with wisdom to avoid the proud.
I need no wisdom for the building of
A house to You whereby express my love.
The world is filled with monuments and fine
To Your glory and glory's undersign.
Let me admire the tapestries and stone,
And turn from them to worship You alone.
I praise the skill You give to artist and
The knowing way the beggar holds his hand.
I neither give scribed art, Beloved, nor take.
I merely am in sort and for Your sake.



AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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