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Bezalel and Oholiab – Finding Credit in Obscurity

In an age of celebrity, influence, and brand, we are quick to throw our names on . . . well, just about everything.

There was a time this wasn’t the case. In fact, many writers wrote all-time classics under a fake name.

For instance, J. K. Rowling of the famed Harry Potter series wrote The Cuckoo’s Calling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith to avoid the expectations of repeating one of history’s top-selling series.

Mary Ann Evans wrote Middlemarch under the pseudonym George Eliot to be taken seriously in a time when women were often disparaged.

Peter Abrahams wrote the New York Times bestseller Dog On It under the pseudonym Spencer Quinn in order to better identify a new audience without the stigma of past works.

The point is, the rush to brand and label everything hasn’t always been so strong.

So, my question for you is this: If God asked you to do something miraculous, but you couldn’t—or wouldn’t—get credit for it, would you do it?

That’s the legacy of Bezalel and Oholiab.

Who?

Exactly.

You’re probably familiar with the Tabernacle—as in the Israelite’s first place of worship after the Exodus. It becomes the epicenter of Jewish life and serves as the prototype for the Israelite Temple to come.

The Tabernacle is an architectural masterpiece. Its preciseness, portability, and quality was unmatched in that cultural moment. And it was a project that was all spearheaded by Bezalel and Oholiab.

Bezalel is described like this: “[God] has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills—to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts (Exodus 35:31-33, NIV).

And Oholiab is described like this: “[God] has given both [Bezalel] and Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them skilled workers and designers” (Exodus 35:34-35, NIV).

I’d argue those are pretty good items to have on your résumé.

And yet, the Tabernacle is often attributed to Moses—the leader of the Israelites. So it goes in life.

Many times, our greatest contributions and achievements go unnoticed and unnamed. But what if the recognition and subsequent glory or praise isn’t ours to have? What if God has positioned you in a place of obscurity to amplify and magnify his glory.

At the end of the day, that’s who all of this is about, right?

Many of us are willing to claim Christ as Lord and Savior until the credit is claimed by him.

These two men are but a blip in articles of Scripture, and yet their contribution laid the foundation for a communal worship and flourishing for generations to come.

My guess is these two guys found their security and status in God alone. There was no need to go back and rewrite the annals of history as, “The Tabernacle that Bezalel and Oholiab made.” Rather, it’s just remembered as the Tabernacle, and it’s most often accredited to Moses. Yet, something tells me that’s just fine with these two. To be filled with, “the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding” probably means that their perspective was set eternally, not momentarily.

Their gaze was fixed on something transcendent, not tweet-worthy. May it be said of us as well.