38:21–31 This inventory of the gold, silver, and bronze used in the tabernacle serves as a preliminary conclusion to the construction. It supplements the general description of the offerings of the people in 35:20–29. The list expresses the generosity of the wave offering (vv. 24, 29; see the comments at 29:27; 35:22; 36:3–7). The gold and bronze represented the people’s significant financial investment in the worship space. They had collected the silver as a census atonement tax for men over twenty years of age (see the comments at 30:11–16).

The expression tabernacle of the Testimony is unique in Exodus, referring to the testimony of the Ten Commandments in the ark (see comment at 31:18; see also Num. 1:50, 53; 10:11). This name communicates a primary purpose of the tabernacle. The comm…