This page gives you ready-to-use study questions for Exodus 25, with a leader’s note for each one. It is written for small groups, Sunday school classes and personal study. The chapter describes the offering God asks Israel to bring for the tabernacle, the furnishings of the ark, the table and the lampstand, and the instruction to build everything according to the pattern shown on the mountain.
Exodus 25 at a Glance
The chapter opens with God speaking to Moses and inviting the people to give willingly toward a dwelling place for God among them. It then lists the materials to be gathered, from precious metals and fine fabrics to wood, oil, spices and stones. From verse 10 onward the focus narrows to specific furniture: the ark with its poles and the mercy seat with its cherubim, which marks the place where God promises to meet with Moses. Verses 23 to 39 turn to the table for the bread of the presence and the golden lampstand, and the chapter closes with a repeated charge to follow the heavenly pattern exactly.
Keep this flow in mind as you move through the questions. The first half is about what is gathered and why, the middle is about the holy furniture, and the last note returns the reader to the principle that obedience means following the pattern God has shown.
Observation Questions
Use this set first, before anyone offers interpretation. Ask the group to point to the text and name what is there, without explaining it yet. Let quieter members answer early, and write the answers on a board so the group can see the details they have noticed.
Exodus 25:1-2
1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, that they take an offering for me. From everyone whose heart makes him willing you shall take my offering.
(WEB)
Read this opening passage at the start of the session to set the tone of voluntary, heartfelt giving. It establishes that God’s invitation begins with willingness, and it frames everything that follows in the chapter.
Exodus 25:8-9
8 Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. 9 According to all that I show you, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all of its furniture, even so you shall make it.
(WEB)
Reading these verses aloud highlights the purpose behind the sanctuary, which is God’s desire to dwell among his people. The verses also stress that the design must follow the pattern shown, so they are a good anchor for the study as a whole.
Exodus 25:17-22
17 You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two and a half cubits shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its width. 18 You shall make two cherubim of hammered gold. You shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. 19 Make one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end. You shall make the cherubim on its two ends of one piece with the mercy seat. 20 The cherubim shall spread out their wings upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces toward one another. The faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. 21 You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I will give you. 22 There I will meet with you, and I will tell you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the testimony, all that I command you for the children of Israel.
(WEB)
This passage describes the mercy seat and God’s promise to meet with Moses there. Hearing it aloud helps the group picture the central scene of the chapter and notice the specific promise God makes about his presence.
Exodus 25:30
You shall set bread of the presence on the table before me always.
(WEB)
A single short verse about the bread of the presence reminds the group that God’s presence is marked by continual, ordered worship. Reading it slowly can prompt conversation about what regular, faithful practice looks like in daily life.
Exodus 25:40
See that you make them after their pattern, which has been shown to you on the mountain.
(WEB)
Ending the reading with this verse brings the chapter back to its central instruction to follow the pattern shown. It makes a strong closing point for the discussion and sets up the application questions that follow.
Memory Verse for Exodus 25
Exodus 25:8
Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
(WEB)
This verse captures the heart of the chapter in one sentence: God wants to dwell among his people. Encourage the group to memorize it and to repeat it during the week as a reminder that God’s nearness is the purpose behind all the instructions.
A Closing Prayer for the Group
Father, we thank you that you invite us to be part of what you are building among your people. Make our hearts willing, as the people were willing in Moses’ day, to give what you ask and to hold our resources and time with open hands. Teach us to trust the pattern you have shown us in Scripture, even when we would rather build something of our own. Thank you that you still desire to dwell with us, and that you meet us where you have promised to be present. Help each person in this group to listen as well as speak, and to act on what you show us this week. Amen.
