Exodus 26:30 Kommentar

Moses here receives instructions, I. Concerning the inner curtains of the tent or tabernacle, and the coupling of those curtains (Exo 26:1-6). II. Concerning the outer curtains which were of goats' hair, to strengthen the former (Exo 26:7-13). III. Concerning the case or cover which was to secure it from the weather (Exo 26:14). IV. Concerning the boards which were to be reared up to support the curtains, with their bars and sockets (v. 15-30). V. The partition between the holy place and the most holy (Exo 26:31-35). VI. The veil for the door (Exo 26:36, Exo 26:37). These particulars, thus largely recorded, seem of little use to us now; yet, having been of great use to Moses and Israel, and God having thought fit to preserve down to us the remembrance of them, we ought not to overlook them. Even the antiquity renders this account venerable.

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 26 In this chapter a description is given of the tabernacle itself, and first of its inward curtains, of their number, matter, length, and breadth, and the manner of coupling them together, Exo 26:1, and then of the outward curtains of it, their number, matter, length, and breadth, and coupling, and how disposed of, Exo 26:7, and next of the two coverings of the tabernacle, of rams' skins and badgers' skins, Exo 22:14, the boards for the tabernacle are also described, with their tenons and sockets, Exo 26:15 and the bars and rings for it, by which it was kept firm together, Exo 26:26, an account is given of the vail between the holy and the most holy place, Exo 26:31, and of the hanging for the door of the tabernacle, Exo 26:36.

And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood, overlaid with gold,.... For it was ten cubits long, and as many broad; and being of such a stiffness and thickness as it was, required so many pillars to support it: these pillars may signify the deity of Christ, which is the support of his human nature, and in which it has its personal subsistence, and gives all its actions and sufferings virtue and efficacy; and being of "shittim wood", which is incorruptible, may denote his eternity, and being covered with gold, his glory: their hooks shall be of gold; which were upon the tops of the pillars on which the vail was hung: and the pillars were upon the four sockets of silver; which were properly the pedestals or feet of the pillars; and these sockets, into which the pillars were let and placed, and the hooks the vail hung by, may hint to the union of the two natures in Christ, who is God and man in one person, God manifest in the flesh; see Sol 5:15.

The ten curtains of the tabernacle, and of what composed, Exo 26:1. Their length, Exo 26:2, Exo 26:3; their loops, Exo 26:4, Exo 26:5; their taches, Exo 26:6. The curtains of goats' hair for a covering, Exo 26:7; their length and breadth, Exo 26:8. Coupled with loops, Exo 26:9, Exo 26:10, and taches, Exo 26:11. The remnant of the curtains, how to be employed, Exo 26:12, Exo 26:13. The covering of rams' skins, Exo 26:14. The boards of the tabernacle for the south side, Exo 26:15; their length, Exo 26:16, tenons, Exo 26:17, number, Exo 26:18, sockets, Exo 26:19. Boards, etc., for the north side, Exo 26:20, Exo 26:21. Boards, etc., for the west side, Exo 26:22; for the corners, Exo 26:23; their rings and sockets, Exo 26:24, Exo 26:25. The bars of the tabernacle, Exo 26:26-30. The veil, its pillars, hooks, and taches, Exo 26:31-33. How to place the mercy-seat, Exo 26:34. The table and the candlestick, Exo 26:35. The hanging for the door of the tent, Exo 26:36; and the hangings for the pillars, Exo 26:37.

TEN CURTAINS (Exo. 26:1-37) cunning work--that is, of elegant texture, richly embroidered. The word "cunning," in old English, is synonymous with "skilful."

(cf. Ex 36:8-38). The Dwelling-Place. - This was to be formed of a framework of wood, and of tapestry and curtains. The description commences with the tapestry or tent-cloth (Exo 26:1-14), which made the framework (vv. 15-30) into a dwelling. The inner lining is mentioned first (Exo 26:1-6), because this made the dwelling into a tent (tabernacle). This inner tent-cloth was to consist of ten curtains (יריעת, αὐλαίαι), or, as Luther has more aptly rendered it, Teppiche, pieces of tapestry, i.e., of cloth composed of byssus yarn, hyacinth, purple, and scarlet. משׁזר twisted, signifies yarn composed of various colours twisted together, from which the finer kinds of byssus, for which the Egyptians were so celebrated, were made (vid., Hengstenberg, Egypt, pp. 139ff.). The byssus yarn was of a clear white, and this was woven into mixed cloth by combination with dark blue, and dark and fiery red. It was not to be in simple stripes or checks, however; but the variegated yarn was to be woven (embroidered) into the white byssus, so as to form artistic figures of cherubim ("cherubim, work of the artistic weaver, shalt thou make it"). חשׁב מעשׂה (lit., work or labour of the thinker) is applied to artistic weaving, in which either figures or gold threads (Exo 28:6, Exo 28:8, Exo 28:15) are worked into the cloth, and which is to be distinguished from רקם מעשׂה variegated weaving (Exo 26:36).

"And set up the dwelling according to its right, as was shown thee upon the mountain" (cf. Exo 25:9). Even the setting up and position of the dwelling were not left to human judgment, but were to be carried out כּמשׁפּטו, i.e., according to the direction corresponding to its meaning and purpose. From the description which is given of the separate portions, it is evident that the dwelling was to be set up in the direction of the four quarters of the heavens, the back being towards the west, and the entrance to the east; whilst the whole of the dwelling formed an oblong of thirty cubits long, ten broad, and ten high. The length we obtain from the twenty boards of a cubit and a half in breadth; and the breadth, by adding to the nine cubits covered by the six boards at the back, half a cubit as the inner thickness of each of the corner beams. The thickness of the corner beams is not given, but we may conjecture that on the outside which formed part of the back they were three-quarters of a cubit thick, and that half a cubit is to be taken as the thickness towards the side. In this case, on the supposition that the side beams were a quarter of a cubit thick, the inner space would be exactly ten cubits broad and thirty and a quarter long; but the surplus quarter would be taken up by the thickness of the pillars upon which the inner curtain was hung, so that the room at the back would form a perfect cube, and the one at the front an oblong of exactly twenty cubits in length, ten in breadth, and ten in height.