God stays with Israel, who builds the tabernacle. Rejoice!  

Synopsis

So Moses heads into this tent he had put up and God comes down in the cloud and talks to him face-to-face like he would a friend. They have a discussion in which Moses, apologizing for the idol worship of Israel, asks God to stay with them and travel with them. God agrees to. Then Moses asks to see God's glory. This is when it really gets interesting.

God passes in front of Moses but doesn't allow Moses to see his face, or else Moses will die. This is all very intimate and reminds me of the more serious God-to-man scenes of Genesis. God declares as he goes by: I am compassionate, gracious, patient, loving, faithful, loyal, forgiving, and yet still just.

God goes over the covenant again, emphasizing especially the sabbath and festivals and not worshiping idols. After this experience, Moses face actually glows and he has to wear a veil so as not to scare everyone to death.

Now the Israelites bring their offerings to the Lord to build God's sanctuary so that may dwell among them. It is a triumphant part of the story because the Israelites are generous and give more than what is needed. Everyone follows God's instructions exactly when building what becomes known as the tabernacle. At the end Moses sets up the tabernacle and everything is done for God and by God's commands. From then on when the Israelites set out God is with them and leading them. This is the end of Exodus

Analysis

Whew! That's it for Exodus. Once again I'll be writing a couple more posts before I get to Leviticus. Over all Exodus is very much explaining how the Israelites came to be in covenant with God. But in that, he brings Moses from a place of incompetence to total trust in and friendship with God. Meanwhile, the nation of Israel is coming along very slowly but have moments of triumph and still have God being very faithful to them.

All the laws and commands God gives in this book is so that God can know the people and can dwell among them. I have to say it's a powerful and exciting book.