When the people of God were about to build the sanctuary in the wilderness, extensive preparations were necessary. Costly materials were collected, and among them was much gold and silver. As the rightful owner of all their treasures, the Lord called for these offerings from the people; but He accepted only those that were given freely. The people offered willingly, until word was brought to Moses: “The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the Lord commanded to make.” And the proclamation was made to all the congregation: “Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.” {5T 268.1}

Da Guds folk var ved at bygge helligdommen i ørknen, var omfattende forberedelser nødvendige. Kostbare materialer blev samlet sammen og blandt dem var meget guld og sølv. Som den retmæssige ejer til alle deres rigdomme, kaldte Herren disse ofringer fra folket; men han antog kun dem der blev givet betingelsesløst. Folket ofrede villigt, indtil Moses fik ordet: »Folket kommer med mere, end der kræves til udførelsen af det arbejde, Herren har påbudt!« da bød Moses, at følgende kundgørelse skulle udråbes i lejren: »Hverken mænd eller kvinder skal yde mere som offergave til helligdommen!« Så hørte folket op med at komme med gaver. Og det, der var ydet, var dem nok til at udføre hele arbejdet, ja mer end nok.."