Why were Bezalel and Oholiab given the ability to teach?
Because a single Spirit-filled craftsman was never meant to work alone - Bezalel and Oholiab were given not just skill but the ability to pass it on, and that teaching gift is what turned two named men into a whole community of builders.
Because the tabernacle was too big a job for two men - so God gave Bezalel and Oholiab not just the skill to build it, but the ability to hand that skill to others.
Moses first names one man alone: Bezalel, בְּצַלְאֵל (H1212, "in the shadow of God"), "filled" - vaymalle, from מָלֵא (H4390) - "with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all workmanship" (Exodus 35:31). But the very next verse widens the picture: "and to teach he has put in his heart, he and Oholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan" (Exodus 35:34). The word for "to teach," l'horot, comes from יָרָה (H3384) - the same root that gives us the word torah, "instruction." Skill alone was not the whole gift. The ability to transfer it was built in from the start.
Notice who receives that teaching-gift alongside Bezalel. Bezalel comes from Judah, the tribe that would one day give Israel her kings. Oholiab - אָהֳלִיאָב (H171), a name that appears only five times in the Bible, all in Exodus - comes from Dan, a smaller tribe that Jacob's blessing treats with some ambivalence (Genesis 49:16-17). The leading tribe and a lesser one are paired to teach the same craft. The building of God's house was never meant to belong to one tribe's elite.
The text never narrates a second Spirit-filling for anyone else. Instead it traces a widening circle: Bezalel alone is filled (the Hebrew object is singular, "him," Exodus 35:31); then both Bezalel and Oholiab are "filled with wisdom of heart" (the object shifts to plural, "them," Exodus 35:35); then Exodus 36:1 opens the work to "every wise-hearted man in whom YHWH had put wisdom and understanding" (חֲכַם־לֵב, H2450 + H3820) - a whole community. The most natural way to read that sequence is that the skill was taught, not repeatedly poured in from scratch. That is an inference from the narrative order rather than a direct statement, but it is the inference the arrangement invites: the Spirit filled two men, the two men taught, and the taught built.
And to teach he has put in his heart, he and Oholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. Exodus 35:34
So the teaching-gift is the hinge of the whole passage. Without it, the tabernacle stays the project of two exceptional men. With it, "every wise-hearted man" - and, a few verses later, every wise-hearted woman who spins with her hands (Exodus 35:25-26) - joins the work. Read the full study for how this same Spirit-filled craftsmanship echoes forward to Solomon's temple-builder and beyond.
How does the tabernacle's over-giving relate to New Testament generosity?
Israel's surplus of gifts for the tabernacle finds a close Old Testament echo in David's temple offering and a real but looser New Testament echo in the early church's generosity and Paul's teaching on abundance - some connections share the same words, others only the same spirit, and it matters to know which is which.
Was the tabernacle built exactly as God commanded it?
Yes - comparing the instructions in Exodus 26 to the construction report in Exodus 36 term by term shows that 92 of the same words appear in both, almost 95 percent of the building account's vocabulary drawn straight from the command God gave on the mountain.
What does it mean to be 'wise-hearted' in the Bible?
To be 'wise-hearted' (chakham-lev) is to have God-given skill for a task, not just book-learning - and Exodus applies the same phrase the wisdom books use for the sage to the ordinary men and women who cut, cast, and weave the tabernacle.
Why did Moses tell the Israelites to stop giving?
Because the people brought so much gold, silver, and fabric for the tabernacle, morning after morning, that the craftsmen had more materials than the building required - so Moses had to issue the only order in the Bible that halts giving because there is already too much.