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The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 26:1-37
The tabernacle itself. Consider here— I. GOD'S COMMANDMENT THAT A DWELLING-PLACE SHOULD BE PROVIDED FOR HIM. Against even the least degree of image-making there was a stern edict; and we might also have expected that th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 26:1-37
Jehovah's dwelling. Instructions are now given for the making of the "dwelling-place," of that sacred house or tent which was to be the special abode of Jehovah, and within which, when reared according to the fashion sh…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 26:2
Eight and twenty cubits. This is the exact length required for a rectangular tented roof over such a space, which should descend (as tent roofs usually do) within about seven feet of the ground. The comparison made in E…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 26:3
When the ten "breadths" had been woven, five were to be sewn together to form one portion of the awning, and the other five to form another portion, the reason for this being, probably, that if all the ten breadths had…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 26:6
The Authorised Version gives the sense fairly. The two curtains, each composed of five "breadths," were to be united by means of one hundred loops, fifty on each curtain, which were to be coupled together by fifty "tach…
Matthew Henry on Exodus 26:7-14
The curtains of meaner materials, being made both longer and broader, covered the others, and were defended by coverings of skins. The whole represents the person and doctrine of Christ, and the church of true Christian…
Matthew Henry on Exodus 26:7-14
Moses is here ordered to make a double covering for the tabernacle, that it might not rain in, and that the beauty of those fine curtains might not be damaged. 1. There was to be a covering of hair camlet curtains, whic…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 26:7
The goat's skin tent-cloth (Exodus 26:7-13). From the inner covering of the tabernacle the directions proceed to the external covering, or rather coverings, which constituted the real strength of the structure, and its…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 26:8
The length … shall be thirty cubits. A tent with a rectangular roof, over such a chamber as the mishkan, brought down, as tents usually are, within six or seven feet of the ground, would have required a covering of this…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 26:9
Thou shalt couple, etc. As with the inner awning of linen, so with the goats' hair tent-cloth. The whole when made up was to be in two pieces, for convenience of transport. (See the comment on Exodus 26:3.) The number o…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 26:10
Fifty loops in the edge of the curtain that coupleth the second. Rather, "fifty loops at the edge of the second curtain of coupling." The two portions of the goats' hair covering were to be united in exactly the same wa…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 26:11
Fifty taches of brass. Rather "of bronze." The links of the inner curtain were of gold (Exodus 26:6).
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 26:12
The remnant which remaineth, etc. Both this and the next verse presume a very close connection between the fine linen covering of the mishkan and the goats hair tent-cloth which protected it. "The remnant that remaineth…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 26:13
And a cubit. Rather, "And the cubit." The cubit by which the goats' hair tent-cloth, which was thirty cubits across (Exodus 26:8), would exceed the linen covering, which was twenty-eight cubits (Exodus 26:2), on either…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 26:14
The outer protection (Exodus 26:14). And thou shalt make a covering for the tent. Nothing is said of the size of this covering; but, as its object was clearly to protect the roof of the tent from penetration by wet, it…
Matthew Henry on Exodus 26:15-30
The sockets of silver each weighed about 115 pounds; they were placed in rows on the ground. In every pair of these sockets, a strong board of shittim-wood, covered with plates of gold, was fitted by mortises and tenons…
Matthew Henry on Exodus 26:15-30
Very particular directions are here given about the boards of the tabernacle, which were to bear up the curtains, as the stakes of a tent which had need to be strong, Isaiah 54:2. These boards had tenons which fell into…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 26:15
The boarding of the tabernacle (Exodus 26:15-30). Boards … of shittim wood. These boards were to be fifteen feet long by two feet three inches broad, and, if they were each of a single plank, can scarcely have been furn…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 26:17
Two tenons. Literally, "hands." Projecting rods, such as those common in our dinner tables, seem to be meant. They may have been of metal, let into the boards to a certain depth, and projecting several inches beyond the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 26:18
Twenty boards. Each board being a cubit and a half in width (Exodus 26:16), the length of the chamber was, necessarily, thirty cubits. On the south side southward. Literally, "On the south side, to the right." The Orien…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 26:19
Forty sockets of silver. Nothing is said of the shape of these "sockets." They were certainly very massive, as each contained a silver talent (Exodus 38:27), and thus weighed from eighty to ninety pounds. It has been su…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 26:20
The second side … the north side. The north side, or left hand, was always regarded as less honourable than the south side or right hand (see Genesis 48:13-20), probably because in the northern hemisphere the sun illumi…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 26:24
They shall be coupled together beneath … unto one ring. This is very obscure, and might be explained in several ways. Perhaps it is best to suppose that the coupling was by the "bars," cf. Exodus 26:26-29, the ends of w…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 26:25
And they shall be eight boards. Counting in the two comer boards, or posts, the boards of the back would be eight. Each of them was to have two "tenons," like the boards of the sides, and every "tenon" was to have its o…