Now, on the very threshold of our study of Ex 26, we meet with a clear statement, the far- reaching significance of which has been overlooked by most of those who have written on this sub- ject. It is contained in these few words: 'Thou shalt make the dwelling (iJf?, EV ' tabernacle ') of ten curtains' (26'). To this fact we must hold fast through all our discussion as to the measure- ments and arrangements of the tabernacle. Jt is the curtains, not the so-called ' boards,' that con- stitute the dwelling of J". The full bearing of this fact will appear as we proceed. The walls of the true dwelling, then, are to consist, on three sides at least, of ten curtains of beautiful Oriental tapestry, full of figures of the mystic chembira, woven in colours of the richest dyes, violet, purple, and scarlet (see § iv.). The curtains form, as it were, the throne-room of J". It is therefore ap- propriate that the mysterious beings that ministei around His heavenly throne should be represented
TABERNACLE
TAIU'.RXACLE
659
ifl J^s presence-chamber upon earth (see, further, § ix. for clierubim upon the mercj'-seat). The curtains measure each 28x4 cubits (7 : 1), and are sewed together in two sets of live. Along one long side of either set are sewed lifty loops (nsSS) made of violet thread. Uv means of an equal number of gold clasps (D'f;ij, llV ; AV ' taches ') the two hangings are coupled together to form one large covering, 40 (4 x 10) cubits in length by 28 c. in breadth, for ' tlic dwelling shall be one ' (26*).
For a tent ('?"'*) over the dwelling (v.'), eleven curtains are to be woven of material usually em- ployed for the Eastern tent (.see CURTAIN'S), viz. goats' hair, and, to ensure that the dwelling shall be completely covered by them, they are each to be 30 cubits in lenrth by 4 in breadth. These are to be sewed together to form two sets of five and six curtains respectively, coupled together as before by loops and clasps; the latter, in this case, of bronze, and forming one large surface (44 x 30 cubits), that the tent also 'may be one' (v."). Thus far there is no dilliculty such as emerges in the verses{v.'-'-) thatfollow, and will be considered later (§ vii. (c)).
As the dwelling is to be covered by the tent, so the tent in its turn is to receive two protecting coverings, the dimensions of which are not given. Immediate!}- above it is to be a covering of ' rams' skins dyed red ' (ca^ijp, ripvOpoSavijitiiva). The dye employed is not the costly Pha-nician scarlet or crimson dje previously met with (obtained from the coccus ilicis, see CoLOUli.s, vol. i. p. 457 f.), but, as the Gr. rendering suggests, madder UpvOpioavov, rubxa tinctorm), a vegetable dye.* The outermost covering is formed of the slcina of an obscure animal (s^-ri, A V ' badger,' KV ' seal,' KVm ' por-
Soise '), now most frequently identified with tlie ugong, a seal-like mammal found in the Red Sea (see note with illustration in Toy's ' Ezekiel ' [SBOT], p. 124).
At this point in P's statement, one naturally expects him to proceed to give directions for the pitching of this fourfold tent and for the prejiara- tion of the necessary poles, ropes, and pegs. There is thus every a pnori probability in favour of the theory of the tabernacle associated in this country with the name of Mr. Fergusson, that the four sets of coverings now described were in reality intended by the author to bo suspended by means of a ridge pole or otherwise over the wooden framework about to be described. But it is inconceivable that so radical a part of thn construction as the provision of a ridge-pole and its accompaniments should have been passed over in silence in the text of P. (For this theory see Fergusson's art. 'Temjjle' in Smith's DB ; the Speaker's Coiiuiicntnrt/, i. 374 fV.; more recently, and in greatest detail, by .Schick, Die Stiflshutte, der Tewpct, etc.). On the contrary, P's wilderness sanctuary is to combine with certain features of a nomad's tent others suggestive or reminiscent of the temples of a sessile population. In short, as Josejijius puts it, the finished structure is to "difler in no respect from a movable and anibu- lattry temple' (Ant. III. vi. 1 [Niese, § 103]).
(i) Tlie woudcn framework of the Diixl/hir/ (F.x 26"-«' = 3G»-" [LXX 38«'-2']; Jos. Avt. I.e. liefl'.). —The right understanding of this important part of the dwelling, by which it is to be transformed into a portable temple, depends on our interpreta- tion of the opening verses of the section (vv."'"). Literally rendered they run thus : ' And thou shalt make tlie kcrashimf for the dwelling of acacia
• The Heb. nnme ot this dye Is HKIS, frequent in the Mishno. In OT it occurs onlv na a i>roper name, e.g. the minor Jud^e, Tolah ben I'uali (S<:arlct, the son of Madder 1 Jic 10'). t KV 'boards'; LXX rrvXai, Joa. and Pbifo s;«r«, bottaa plllan.'
wood, standing up — 10 cubits the length of th« single* keresh, and a cubit and a half the breadth of the sintjle hcrc.sh — 2 ijddOthf for the single krresh, m^wnUabOthX to each other.' Here every- thing depends on the three more or less obscure technical terms of the Heb. arts and crafts given in transliteration. The true exegetical tradition, we are convinced, had been lost, as was the case with the still more complicated description of Solomon's brazen lavers (1 K T^"-), until the key was discovered by Stade and published in his clas- sical essay (ZAriVVii. (1883) \'2.^ti: = Akn<l. licden, 145(1"., corrected in details ZAT]V xxi. (I'.lOl) 14511.). The Jewish tradition, as we find it first in Joseplius (I.e.) and in the Baraithn, has held the field to the present day. According to these authorities the Kirdshim were great columns or beams of wood 15 ft. high, 2 ft. 3 in. wide, and — by a calculation to be tested in due time — 1 ft. 6 in. thick, i.e. 10 X 1 J X I cubits. The ydddth were pins or tenons (Jos. <TTpi(piy-yes, 'pivots') by which the beams were inserted into mortices in the silver sockets or bases. Forty-eight of these beams were placed side by side to form the three walls (S.W. and N.) of the tabernacle, the eastern end or entrance being formed by a screen (for details and reir. see below). This interpretation, with numer- ous modiiications in detail, particularly as regards the thickness of the so-called ' boards,' § has been adopted by every previous writer without excep- tion.