Below is an excerpt from an article on the Biblical aspects of fundraising. Many times people look at fundraising as begging. We need to put that idea out of our heads and look at some Biblical examples where God used people to raise money to fund his Kingdom work.
By Marc A. Pitman, FundraisingCoach.com
Moses
The Text – Exodus 25, 35, & 36 :: New English Translation (NET)
Exodus 25:1-9
25:1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 25:2 “Tell the Israelites to take an offering for me; from every person whose heart makes him willing you are to receive my offering. 25:3 This is the offering you are to receive from them: gold, silver, bronze, 25:4 blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goat’s hair, 25:5 ram skins dyed red, fine leather, acacia wood, 25:6 oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for fragrant incense, 25:7 onyx stones, and other gems to be set in the ephod and in the breastpiece. 25:8 Let them make for me a sanctuary, that I may live among them. 25:9 According to all that I am showing you—the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings—you must make it exactly so.
Exodus 35: 4 – 36:7
35:4 And Moses spoke to all the community of the Israelites, “This is the word that the Lord has commanded: 35:5 ‘Take from you an offering for the Lord. Let everyone who has a willing heart bring an offering to the Lord, gold, silver, bronze, 35:6 blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, fine linen, goat’s hair, 35:7 ram’s skins dyed red, fine leather, acacia wood, 35:8 olive oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 35:9 onyx stones, and other gems for mounting on the ephod and the breastpiece. 35:10 And every skilled person among you is to come and make all that the Lord has commanded: 35:11 the tabernacle with its tent, its covering, its clasps, its frames, its crossbars, its posts, and its bases; 35:12 the ark, with its poles, the propitiatory lid, and the veil that conceals; 35:13 the table with its poles and all its vessels, and the bread of the Presence; 35:14 the lampstand for the light and its accessories, its lamps, and oil for the light; 35:15 and the altar of incense with its poles, and the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense, and the hanging for the door at the entrance of the tabernacle; 35:16 the altar for the burnt offering with its bronze grating that is on it, its poles, and all its utensils; the laver and its pedestal; 35:17 the hangings of the courtyard, its posts and its bases, and the curtain for the gateway to the courtyard; 35:18 tent pegs for the tabernacle and tent pegs for the courtyard and their ropes; 35:19 the woven garments for serving in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments for his sons to minister as priests.”
35:20 So all the community of the Israelites went out from the presence of Moses. 35:21 And they came forward—every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whose spirit was willing; they brought the offering for the Lord for the work of the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments. 35:22 And they came forward, men and women alike, all who had willing hearts; they brought brooches, earrings, rings and ornaments, all kinds of gold jewelry, and every one who waved a wave offering of gold to the Lord.
35:23 And everyone who had blue or purple or scarlet yarn, or fine linen, or goats’ hair, or rams’ skin dyed red, or fine leather, brought them. 35:24 Everyone making an offering of silver or bronze brought it as an offering to the Lord, and everyone who had acacia wood for any work of the service brought it. 35:25 And every woman who was skilled spun with her hands, and brought what she had spun, blue, or purple, or scarlet yarn, or fine linen. 35:26 And all the women whose heart stirred them up and who were skilled, spun goats’ hair.
35:27 And the leaders brought onyx stones, and other gems for mounting for the ephod and the breastpiece; 35:28 and spices, and olive oil for the light and for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense.
35:29 The Israelites brought a freewill offering to the Lord, every man and woman whose heart was willing to bring for all the work which the Lord had commanded them to do through Moses.
35:30 Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. 35:31 He has filled him with the Spirit of God—with skill, with understanding, with knowledge, and with all kinds of work, 35:32 to design artistic designs, to work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, 35:33 and in cutting stones for their setting, and in cutting wood, to do work in every artistic craft. 35:34 And he has put it in his heart to teach, he and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. 35:35 He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, designers, embroiderers in blue and purple and scarlet yarn and in fine linen, and weavers. They are craftsmen in all the work and artistic designers.
36:1 “So Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person in whom the Lord has put skill and ability to know how to do all the work of the service of the sanctuary, are to do the work according to all that the Lord has commanded.” 36:2 Then Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person in whom the Lord had put skill—everyone whose heart stirred him up to volunteer for the work, to do it. 36:3 And they received from Moses all the offering the Israelites had brought to do the work of the service of the sanctuary, and they still brought him a freewill offering each morning. 36:4 So all the skilled people who were doing all the work of the sanctuary came from their work they were doing, 36:5 and told Moses, “The people are bringing much more than is needed for the service of the work which the Lord commanded us to do.”
36:6 Moses instructed them to take his message throughout the camp, saying, “Let no man or woman do any more work for the offering for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing any more. 36:7 Now the materials were more than enough for them to do all the work.
Moses—Observations
What an amazingly successful capital campaign! Has your organization had to restrain people from bringing more? May we all have this problem. One of the most amazing things to me about this text is the emphasis on the lack of manipulation in Moses’ appeal. God clearly told Moses to “take an offering for me; from every person whose heart makes him willing” (Ex 25:1). And Moses’ solicitation (Ex 35:4-9) is exactly what God told him to ask for, word-for-word (Ex 25:3-7). He faithfully detailed the needed gifts and the ways that those gifts were to be used. The requirement that only those “whose heart makes him willing” were to give is significant. This fundraising drive came after the golden calf debacle. People could’ve been easily manipulated to give out of guilt. But God wasn’t interested in that kind of giving.I’m impressed by the variety of gifts Moses asked for. This seems to have made the giving open to more people. (Of course they were in the desert so there wouldn’t have been that much need of money!) I hadn’t realized how many skills were resident in the people that had been slaves in Egypt. I’m sure this is true of our congregations and constituents.
The rabbis find a difference in “whose heart stirred him up” and “whose spirit was willing” (Ex 35:21). Those who were willing, they say, brought what was required. This is good. But those whose heart stirred them were more generous giving more than their obligation. This was the better way. The sages also criticize the leaders being mentioned later in this section. They say the leaders probably had good intentions in waiting—they wanted to make up whatever would be lacking from the people’s giving—but they fell short of their position since leaders should give first. They make up for this in Numbers 7.
The people responded incredibly well to Moses’ obedient solicitation. If you go on and read all of chapter 25, you’ll see the very specific detail God gave Moses in how the gifts were to be used. And there’s a very detailed account of how the gifts were used and who led the effort in Ex 35 & 36.
It’s interesting that it’s specifically recorded that the offering was made to the Lord, not to the tabernacle. In fact, this story is amazingly God-centered. God is present in every step of the process:
- God details the need;
- God tells how to use the supplies;
- God prompts Moses to ask for them;
- God prompts certain people to respond;
- the people give to God;
- the gifts are used to glorify God by craftsmen God gifted.
I think that this story shows us the importance of seeking God and communing with Him to determine our organization’s needs and to faithfully share that with our constituents. When asked by a leader obeying God, the people responded with more than enough to finish the work. It also clearly shows that God is intimately involved with every step in the solicitation.
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