Given that “wisdom” is central to Yahweh’s building project, it is hardly surprising that women are the ones singled out for their contributions to the building of the tabernacle (35:22, 35, 36, 38:8). There were clearly men leading the building project, but it is women who are identified most directly with being “gifted artisan” or having “wise hearts.”
Wisdom, as Proverbs insists, is a woman.
What’s also interesting is that in the instructions for building the tabernacle, the tabernacle itself is identified as a woman or as womanly. In chapter 26, the curtains and boards are said repeatedly to be “coupled to one another” (26:3, 5, 6, 17), but literally the hebrew says “a woman to her sister.” The curtains are joined together like “a woman to her sister.” Literally the curtains and boards of the tabernacle are sisters; they are feminine. It is the wise women who are weaving the fabrics and spinning the yarn for the curtains who are themselves women.
Wisdom, as the book of Exodus insists, is a woman.
Leave a Reply