They had been slaves in Egypt, and their work involved taking mud and straw and producing bricks for the Egyptians. However, after they crossed the Red Sea the task before many of them changed. God gave a precise description of the tabernacle and its furnishing, and none of them had the ability to take the wood, the gold, the fabrics and create a place where God could meet them in the Most Holy Place. Unskilled men were expected to become skilled.
God had a solution for this, and it involved two chosen men, Bezalel and Aholiab. He filled them with the Holy Spirit to give these unskilled men the divine skills to create the tabernacle (Ex. 31:3–11; 35:30-35). The Spirit gave these two men the wisdom to teach others how to accomplish this task (35:34).
There is an amazing parallel to this in building the church of Christ. He took “unskilled fishermen” and filled them with the Spirit to become part of the foundation of the church (Eph. 2:20). These apostles became the source, by the laying on of hands, to give specialized abilities (described as gifts of the Spirit) to others to insure the new temple of God was built.
What happened as the apostles were martyred and no longer did men have this divine skill instantly given to them is parallel to the events in Exodus. Paul had laid his hands on Timothy, but since only the apostles had the power to fill men with the Spirit by the laying on of hands (Acts 8:18), Timothy could not impart the Spirit to others. Since this was true, how could the church survive? Timothy, with the divine gift he had, was told to take the truths he had received and give it to others. Just as Bezalel and Aholiab taught those Jews, who once made bricks of mud, how to do God’s works, so Timothy was told to do the same. Timothy was told to teach unskilled men the truths he knew, who were then told to teach others these same truths.
What does this have to do with us and our place in the kingdom of God? It is obvious there are no apostles among us, but we stand in the same place those men stood who were taught by Timothy. They did not need the apostles’ hands laid on them. Through Timothy and other inspired men, they received all the truth that pertains to life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3). Like them, we have the scriptures which perfectly and completely supplies all the truth (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
However, just having the Bible is not enough. God expects us to take the time to learn the truth and teach others. Read the closing verses of Hebrews chapter five to see how God looks at us when we fail to learn Bible truths and fail to give it to others. God wants all of us, who are unskilled teachers, to become skilled teachers of others. God help us!