WISDOM

[airIam2worship]

Ex 28:3 And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron's garments to sanctify him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office.

Poole

All that are wise-hearted, i.e. skilful artists. The Hebrews make the heart, not the brain, the seat of wisdom See Job 9:4.
 Whom I have filled; either,
 
1. By my ordinary providence and assistance, giving them both ability and opportunity to learn the arts; or rather,
 
2. By extraordinary inspiration, which was necessary for the Israelites, whose base and laborious drudgery took off their minds and hands from all ingenious studies and arts. To consecrate him, i.e. to be an outward sign of my calling and consecration of him to my holy service. A metonymical expression.

ACC

  Whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom]  So we find that ingenuity in arts and sciences, even those of the ornamental kind, comes from God.  It is not intimated here that these persons were filled with the spirit of wisdom for this purpose only; for the direction to Moses is, to select those whom he found to be expert artists, and those who were such, God shows by these words, had derived their knowledge from himself.  Every man should be permitted as far as possible to follow the bent or direction of his own genius, when it evidently leads him to new inventions, and improvements on old plans.  How much has both the labour of men and cattle been lessened by improvements in machinery!  And can we say that the wisdom which found out these improvements did not come from God?  No man, by course of reading or study, ever acquired a genius of this kind: we call it natural, and say it was born with the man.  Moses teaches us to consider it as Divine.  Who taught NEWTON to ascertain the laws by which God governs the universe, through which discovery a new source of profit and pleasure has been opened to mankind through every part of the civilized world?  No reading, no study, no example, formed his genius.  God, who made him, gave him that compass and bent of mind by which he made those discoveries, and for which his name is celebrated in the earth.  When I see NAPIER inventing the logarithms; COPERNICUS, DES CARTES, and KEPLER contributing to pull down the false systems of the universe, and NEWTON demonstrating the true one; and when I see the long list of PATENTEES of useful inventions, by whose industry and skill long and tedious processes in the necessary arts of life have been shortened, labour greatly lessened, and much time and expense saved; I then see, with Moses, men who are wise-hearted, whom God has filled with the spirit of wisdom for these very purposes; that he might help man by man, and that, as time rolls on, he might give to his intelligent creatures such proofs of his Being, infinitely varied wisdom, and gracious providence, as should cause them to depend on him, and give him that glory which is due to his name.
 
How pointedly does the Prophet Isaiah refer to this sort of teaching as coming from God, even in the most common and less difficult arts of life! The whole passage is worthy of the reader's most serious attention.
 
"Doth the ploughman plough all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?  When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat, and the appointed barley, and the rye, in their place?  For HIS GOD DOTH INSTRUCT HIM to discretion, and doth teach him.  For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing-instrument, neither is a cart-wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.  Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working," Isa 28:24-29.
 
But let us take heed not to run into extremes here; machinery is to help man, not to render him useless.  The human hand is the great and most perfect machine, let it not be laid aside.  In our zeal for machinery we are rendering all the lower classes useless; filling the land with beggary and vice, and the workhouses with paupers; and ruining the husbandmen with oppressive poor-rates. Keep machinery as a help to the human hand, and to lighten the labour, but never let it supersede either.
 
This principle, that God is the author of all arts and sciences, is too little regarded: Every good gift, and every perfect gift, says St. James, comes from above, from the FATHER of LIGHTS.  Why has God constructed every part of nature with such a profusion of economy and skill, if he intended this skill should never be discovered by man, or that man should not attempt to examine his works in order to find them out?  From the works of CREATION what proofs, astonishing and overwhelming proofs, both to believers and infidels, have been drawn both of the nature, being, attributes, and providence of God!  What demonstrations of all these have the Archbishop of Cambray, Dr. Nieuwentyt, Dr. Derham, and Mr. Charles Bonnet, given in their philosophical works!  And who gave those men this wisdom?  GOD, from whom alone MIND, and all its attributes, proceed.  While we see Count de Buffon and Swammerdam examining and tracing out all the curious relations, connections, and laws of the ANIMAL kingdom; -Tournefort, Ray, and Linne, those of the VEGETABLE;-Theophrastus, Werner, Klaproth, Cronstedt, Morveau, Reamur, Kirwan, and a host of philosophical chemists, Boerhaave, Boyle, Stahl, Priestley, Lavoisier, Fourcroy, Black, and Davy, those of the MINERAL; the discoveries they have made, the latent and important properties of vegetables and minerals which they have developed, the powerful machines which, through their discoveries, have been constructed, by the operations of which the human slave is restored to his own place in society, the brute saved from his destructive toil in our manufactories, and inanimate, unfeeling NATURE caused to perform the work of all these better, more expeditiously, and to much more profit; shall we not say that the hand of GOD is in all this?  Only I again say, let machinery aid man, and not render him useless. The nations of Europe are pushing mechanical power to a destructive extreme.  He alone girded those eminent men, though many of them knew him not; he inspired them with wisdom and understanding; by his all-pervading and all-informing spirit he opened to them the entrance of the paths of the depths of science, guided them in their researches, opened to them successively more and more of his astonishing treasures, crowned their persevering industry with his blessing and made them his ministers for good to mankind.  The antiquary and the medalist are also his agents; their discernment and penetration come from him alone.  By them, how many dark ages of the world have been brought to light; how many names of men and places, how many customs and arts, that were lost, restored!  And by their means a few busts, images, stones, bricks, coins, rings, and culinary utensils, the remaining wrecks of long-past numerous centuries have supplied the place of written documents, and cast a profusion of light on the history of man, and the history of providence.  And let me add, that the providence which preserved these materials, and raised up men to decipher and explain them, is itself gloriously illustrated by them.
 
Of all those men (and the noble list might be greatly swelled) we may say the same that Moses said of Bezaleel and Aholiab: "GOD hath filled them with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge; and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works; to work in gold and in silver, and in brass, in cutting of stones, carving of timber, and in all manner of workmanship;" Ex 31:3-6. "The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein;" Ps 111:2.

[airIam2worship]

 
The ingenuity of men, their genius and judgment, their ability to plan, and their power to execute, all come from God, and should all be devoted to his service. 


Jas 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning.


* wise hearted. Ex 31:3-6; 35:30; 36:1,2; Pr 2:6; Isa 28:24-26

* filled. De 34:9; Isa 11:2; 1Co 12:7-11; Eph 1:17; Jas 1:17

[airIam2worship]

Authority without wisdom is like a heavy axe without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish. -A Bradstreet

[airIam2worship]

 
Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom. -Coleridge

[airIam2worship]

 Ex 31:3 And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,

GBN

 
31:3 And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of  (b) workmanship,
 
(b) This shows that handicrafts are the gifts of God's spirit, and therefore ought to be esteemed.


ACC

  In wisdom]  hmkx, chochmah, from Mkx chacham, to be wise, skilful, or prudent, denoting the compass of mind and strength of capacity necessary to form a wise man: hence our word wisdom, the power of judging what is wise or best to be done; from the Saxon, [Anglo-Saxon], to teach, to advise, and [Anglo-Saxon], to judge; hence [Anglo-Saxon], the doom or judgment of the well taught, wise, or prudent man.
 
  Understanding]  hnwbt tebunah, from Nb ban or bun, to separate, distinguish, discern; capacity to comprehend the different parts of a work, how to connect, arrange, &c., in order to make a complete whole.
 
  Knowledge]  ted daath, denoting particular acquaintance with a person or thing; practical, experimental knowledge.


FBN

God bestows various talents on men, not for the purpose of their lying useless, or being employed only for the gratification or benefit of their possessors, but for the promotion of his glory and the good of mankind.

JFB

 I have filled him with the spirit of God--It is probable that he was naturally endowed with a mechanical genius, and had acquired in Egypt great knowledge and skill in the useful, as well as liberal, arts so as to be a first-class artisan, competent to take charge of both the plain and ornamental work, which the building of the sacred edifice required. When God has any special work to be accomplished, He always raises up instruments capable of doing it; and it is likely that He had given to the son of Uri that strong natural aptitude and those opportunities of gaining mechanical skill, with an ultimate view to this responsible office. Notwithstanding that his grand duty was to conform with scrupulous fidelity to the pattern furnished, there was still plenty of room for inventive talent and tasteful exactness in the execution; and his natural and acquired gifts were enlarged and invigorated for the important work.

JWN

  And I have filled him with the spirit of God; and Ex 31:6. In the hearts of all that are wise-hearted I have put wisdom.  Skill in common employments is the gift of God; It is he that puts even this wisdom into the inward parts, Job 38:36.  He teacheth the husbandman discretion, Isa 28:26, and the tradesman too, and he must have the praise of it.


TSK


* filled. Ex 35:31; 1Ki 3:9; 7:14; Isa 28:6,26; 1Co 12:4-11
* the spirit of God.
{Ruach Elohim,} rather, "a spirit of God;" which is a usual
Hebraism, signifying "an excellent spirit;" or, as we should
now say, "a distinguished genius for the work he had to
perform."  No man, by course of reading or study, ever
acquired a genius of any kind:  we call it natural, and say
it was born with the man:  Moses teaches us to consider it
divine.  The prophet Isaiah, (ch. 28:24-29,) pointedly refers
to this sort of teaching as coming from God, even in the most
common and less difficult arts of life.  Dark as the heathens
were, yet they acknowledged that all talents and the seeds of
all arts came from God.

[airIam2worship]

Any talents, any skills, any knowledge that seems to come natural to us is given to us from God, we of our own selves are nothing without the wisdom, the God has given us.

[airIam2worship]

Words of Wisdom

It doesn't take a very big person to carry a grudge.

You cannot unsay a cruel word.

The best sermons are lived, not preached.

If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is to stop digging.

Letting the cat out of the bag is a whole lot easier than putting it back in.

If you get to thinking you're a person of influence,
try ordering somebody else's dog around.

If you get to thinking you're a person of influence, try ordering somebody else's dog around.

[airIam2worship]

 Ex 31:6 And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee;

FBN

 Given with him; as his associate and assistant in making the tabernacle and its furniture, according to the pattern and directions which God had given to Moses.
 
Different gifts are imparted to men, that they may feel their need of each other, and be mutual helpers in the discharge of their various duties, and the accomplishment of the work to which He calls them.

[airIam2worship]

Ex 35:26 And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats' hair.


Poole

 In wisdom: this word seems better to agree with the following than with the foregoing word, they spun with wisdom, i.e. with skill and art.

[airIam2worship]

Ex 35:31 And he hath filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship;

TSK

* wisdom.
{Chochmah,} (from {chacham,} to be wise, skilful, prudent,)
wisdom, denoting the compass of mind and strength of capacity
necessary to form a wise man; hence our word wisdom is the
power of judging what is wise, or best to be done; from the
Saxon {wisedom,} the doom or judgment of the well taught,
wise, or prudent man, from {wisan,} to teach, advise, and
{deman,} to judge.
 

* understanding.
{Tevoonah,} (from {boon,} to separate, distinguish, discern,)
understanding, discernment, capacity to comprehend the
different parts of a work, how to connect, arrange, etc., in
order to make a complete whole.
 

* knowledge.
{Daƒth,} (from {yadƒ,} to know, be acquainted with,)
knowledge, or a particular acquaintance with a person or
thing, practical, experimental knowledge.

[airIam2worship]

Ex 35:35 Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of workmanship, of the engraver, and of the skilful workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any workmanship, and of those that devise skilful works.

GBN

35:35 Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner  (h) of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise cunning work.
 
(h) Belonging to graving or carving, or such like.


Brothers and Sisters. let us stop and think for a moment; some of us have absolutely no idea how to even begin to do these types of works, yet these chosen to do it knew exactly what to do and how to  do the work, there were no colleges, and no trade schools. These talents were bestowed upon these people by God Himself, he had a purpose for the people, just as He has a purpose for us today, it would be wise for us to ask God to reveal to us His purpose for us. We may have hidden talents we may not be aware of. The work done by the people God chose was so well done that it was fit for the Tabernacle

[airIam2worship]

 Ex 36:1 ¶ Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whom the LORD put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the LORD had commanded.

 The making of the tabernacle The liberality of the people restrained.
 
 The readiness and zeal with which these builders set about their work, the exactness with which they performed it, and the faithfulness with which they objected to receive more contributions, are worthy of our imitation. Thus should we serve God, and our superiors also, in all things lawful. Thus should all who are in public trusts abhor filthy lucre, and avoid all occasions and temptations to covetousness. Where have we the representation of God's love towards us, that we by love dwell in him and he in us, save in Emmanuel? Mt 1:23. This is the sum of the ministry of reconciliation, 2Co 5:18,19. This was the design of the "tabernacle of witness," a visible testimony of the love of God to the race of men, however they were fallen from their first state. And this love was shown by Christ's taking up his abode on earth; by the Word being made flesh, Joh 1:14, wherein, as the original expresses it, he did "tabernacle" among us.

[airIam2worship]

De 4:6 And you shall keep and do them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

FBN

This is your wisdom and your understanding; it would promote their reputation for wisdom and understanding among other nations.
 
Obedience to God is the height of human wisdom, and all who neglect his commandments are guilty of the greatest folly.  Ps 14:1

POOLE

Ver. 6. For though the generality of heathen people in the latter and degenerate ages of the world, did, through inveterate prejudices, and for their own lusts and interest, condemn the laws of the Hebrews as foolish and absurd, yet it is most certain that divers of the wisest heathens did highly approve of them, so far that they made use of divers of them, and translated them into their own laws and constitutions; and Moses, the giver of these laws, hath been mentioned with great honour for his wisdom and learning by many of them. And particularly the old heathen oracle expressly said, that the  Chaldeans or Hebrews, who worshipped the uncreated God, were the only wise men.

My Words

There is only one source of wisdom, and that is wisdom from God.

[airIam2worship]

 1Ki 4:29 ¶ And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.

MHCC


29-34 Solomon's wisdom was more his glory than his wealth. He had what is here called largeness of heart, for the heart is often put for the powers of the mind. He had the gift of utterance, as well as wisdom. It is very desirable, that those who have large gifts of any kind, should have large hearts to use them for the good of others. What treasures of wisdom and knowledge are lost! But every sort of knowledge that is needful for salvation is to be found in the holy Scriptures. There came persons from all parts, who were more eager after knowledge than their neighbours, to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Solomon was herein a type of Christ, in whom are hid all treasures of wisdom and knowledge; and hid for us, for he is made of God to us, wisdom. Christ's fame shall spread through all the earth, and men of all nations shall come to him, learn of him, and take upon them his easy yoke, and find rest for their souls.

[airIam2worship]

 Job 4:21 Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.

SDC


In comparison with God what are men or even angels?  Angels have but finite wisdom, and where their wisdom ends folly begins; theirs is not sinful folly, but such as ever must be in creatures when compared with the Omniscient One.  Even angels know but little in comparison with God.  How then can we think highly of frail beings, who from day to day are dying, and are so accustomed to see each other turn to dust that they think nothing of it?  How can a mere insect like man, who is moreover foolish and sinful, dare to call in question the doings of the Eternal God?