¶ Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them.
The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and every one of the curtains shall have one measure.
And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling; and likewise shalt thou make in the uttermost edge of another curtain, in the coupling of the second.
Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the coupling of the second; that the loops may take hold one of another.
And thou shalt couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and shalt double the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tabernacle.
And thou shalt make fifty loops on the edge of the one curtain that is outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops in the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second.
And a cubit on the one side, and a cubit on the other side of that which remaineth in the length of the curtains of the tent, it shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it.
And thou shalt make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons.
And they shall be coupled together beneath, and they shall be coupled together above the head of it unto one ring: thus shall it be for them both; they shall be for the two corners.
And five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the side of the tabernacle, for the two sides westward.
And thou shalt hang up the vail under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy.
And thou shalt set the table without the vail, and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south: and thou shalt put the table on the north side.
And thou shalt make for the hanging five pillars of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, and their hooks shall be of gold: and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for them.
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Study Notes for Exodus 26
Verse 1
ten curtains of fine twined linen — Yeriah is a curtain, hung over the mishkan; shesh is the linen and shazar means twisted. ‘Cunning work’ (chashab) is the work of a skilled designer, so the cherubim are worked into the cloth, as in the veil (v.31). Ex 36:8 says that ‘every wise hearted man’ among the workers made the curtains.
Verse 6
fifty taches of gold — Qeres is a clasp or knob. Fifty gold clasps join the linen curtains, ‘and it shall be one tabernacle’; Ex 36:13 repeats that ‘it became one tabernacle’. The tent of goats’ hair is joined differently, with fifty taches ‘of brass’ (v.11), so that the covering also may be ‘one’.
Verse 7
curtains of goats’ hair — The ‘covering’ here is ohel, a tent: the goats’ hair forms a tent set over the mishkan. There are eleven curtains, one more than the linen ten (v.1). The material was spun by hand: ‘all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats’ hair’ (Ex 35:26).
Verse 14
rams’ skins dyed red — Mikseh is a covering. Over the tent come rams’ skins (or, hide) ‘dyed red’ (adam), and above them tachash skins, rendered ‘badgers’ skins’; the same word is in Ezek 16:10, ‘shod thee with badgers’ skin’. On the march the ark was covered with ‘the covering of badgers’ skins’ (Num 4:6).
Verse 15
boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood standing up — Qeresh is a board or plank, and ‘standing up’ is amad: the frames stand upright to form the walls. They are overlaid with gold (v.29) and set in sockets of silver (v.19). The Merarites carried ‘the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the pillars thereof, and sockets thereof’ (Num 4:31).
Verse 19
forty sockets of silver — Eden is a base or pedestal. ‘Tenons’ is yad, hand: each board has two hands set in two sockets. The silver came from the half shekel given by every man numbered, ‘a ransom for his soul’ (Ex 30:12–13); of the hundred talents ‘were cast the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the vail’ (Ex 38:27).
Verse 28
the middle bar — Bariach is a bolt or bar. The middle one runs ‘in the midst of the boards’ (tavek, midst) ‘from end to end’; ‘reach’ is barach, the verb used in Ex 36:33, ‘to shoot through the boards from the one end to the other’. The bars were overlaid with gold, as the boards were (v.29).
Verse 30
the fashion thereof which was shewed thee in the mount — ‘Fashion’ is mishpat, the word usually rendered ‘judgment’, as in Ex 21:1. The command echoes Ex 25:9 and 25:40. Moses obeyed: ‘Moses reared up the tabernacle’ (Ex 40:18). Hebrews cites the charge (Heb 8:5), as does Stephen (Acts 7:44).
Verse 31
a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet — Parocheth, the veil, is a separator. It has the same colours and linen as the curtains (v.1), with cherubim worked in. At the death of Christ ‘the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom’ (Matt 27:51); Hebrews speaks of a way ‘through the veil, that is to say, his flesh’ (Heb 10:20).
Verse 33
divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy — Badal is to separate. The ark is brought ‘within the vail’, and the veil hangs ‘under the taches’ that joined the curtains. Hebrews calls the inner room ‘after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all’, into which ‘went the high priest alone once every year’ (Heb 9:3, 7).
Verse 35
the table without the vail — Chuts is outside. The table stands on the north (tsaphon) side, outside the veil, and the candlestick ‘over against’ it on the south (teman). Moses set them so (Ex 40:22–24). Hebrews names them as the furniture of the first tabernacle: ‘the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread’ (Heb 9:2).
Verse 36
an hanging for the door of the tent — Masak is a screen, from the root sakak, to cover. It has the same blue, purple, scarlet and linen as the veil, but ‘wrought with needlework’ (raqam, embroidery) and with no cherubim named. It hangs on five pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold, set in five sockets of brass (v.37).
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