The Meaning of the Free Will Offerings (Bible Study by Beth Moore)

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Yesterday, we studied the freewill offerings that were given to God by the children of Israel.  The Israelites gave freely, so freely that they had more than they needed to complete the work toward building the tabernacle.  Today, we studied the meaning of the freewill offerings.  The Israelites were allowed to give freely, each man and woman according to his or her heart's desire.  However, God gave them specific instructions about what they were to give.  God instructed them to give offerings of gold, silver, bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet material; fine linen; goat hair; ram's skins dyed red; porpoise skins; acacia wood; oil for lighting; spices for the anointing oil; fragrant incense; onyx stones; and setting stones.  God was specific about the materials that would be used to build His tabernacle.

The Meaning of the Free Will Offerings

Beth Moore uses several scriptures to teach us about the meaning of the freewill offerings.  She teaches us that:

Gold represents God's deity.

Silver represents redemption and atonement.

Bronze suggests strength and judgment.

Precious stones represent God's children.

God chose specific materials for the building of the tabernacle because He wanted the tabernacle patterned after heavenly things.

Who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, “See,” He says, “that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.” - Hebrews 8:5

So far, this study of A Woman's Heart has focused heavily on God's desire to be here with His people.  His desire is to be present with us.  His Old Testament tabernacle was to provide such a place.  God wanted the Israelites to build a place where He could be present with His children and He wanted that place to be patterned after heavenly things.  What a beautiful picture!

Beth digs deeper in her Bible studies.  She digs a deeper into the meaning of the freewill offerings and the materials needed for the tabernacle.  She talks about which offerings will survive the test of fires, which offerings will be burned up, and how this relates to our own offerings today.

You can get your copy of Beth Moore's A Woman's Heart: God's Dwelling Place here.

 Read all posts in this series here.

If you're hosting the study in your home or going through it all by yourself as opposed to a small group at your church, you'll need the leadership kit which includes the videos.  You can get that here.

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