We now proceed to test the value of this tradi- tion. The avowed intention of P, it is admitted on all hands, is to construct ' a movable and am- bulatory temple' for the desert marches. Could anything be more absurd than to begin by con- structing enormous logs of wood, each with a cubic content — on the most usual computation ot 1 cubit of thickness — of about 50 cubic feet, each weighing, according to a recent calculation (Brown, The TabcrnacW^, 1899, 275), close upon 1 lion, ami out of all proportion to the weight they would have to bear? And this quite apart from the open question of the possibility of obtaining beams of such dimensions from the acacia tree of Arabia.jj Further, how is the fact that the tapestry curtains with their cherubim figures are always called ' the dwelling' to be reconciled with the t r.-ulitional theory that they were completely hidden from view, except on the roof, by the intervention of the wooden walls? This difliculty has been felt by several writers, who have sought to avoid it by hanging these curtains i>t.<iide the boards as a lining, thereby doing violence to the clear intention of the text (see below). These considerations by no means exhaust the difficulties presented bj' the current conception of the tabernacle, as may be seen on any liage of the commentaries and special moiio- grapiis cited in the Literature at the end of this article.
The way is now clear for a fresh examination of the technical terms of vv.'"'". The first of the three (iJlp) is practically conlined to P's account of the tabernacle, for its only other occurrence (Ezk 27') reiiuircs light from our pas.sages rather than throws light upon them. The tjr. translators bad no clear idea of what the word meant, and were content to render throughout by ori/Xoi, ' pillars,' a rendering
• So LXX, I'csh. etc.
t E\' 'tenons' ; L.\X a>'M(*<V««t«B' Joints or armi,* but else where ^fv, ' sides.'
: KV 'Joined' ; LX.X i.»i»/»»«iT«« as in v.' for n'-'Sfp,
§ The familiar renderin(f * boords," adojitcd by I'indiile, goes back to Jerome, who thouj.'ht of the luhula', of wiiich tho Itonian tal/ertiacrUa were frequently constructed, and from whicii, indeed, the name is derived.
II No use is fiere made of the argument from Nn 78 compared with 3*1, /ottr wapKons, eacli drawn by a ]>air of oxen, for tha transport of tbo 'Iraards,' ti:uies, pillars, etc., as these poasagel are probably from adilTerent hand from Kx 26.
660
TABERNACLE
TABERXACLE
saggested to them by the last word of v.'', wliich they apparently read C'l^i', the ordinary word for 'pillars (cf. Dillra. in. /kc'.). Passing, therefore, to the second technical term yudoth (v."), we tind the current text of the LXX responsible for a grave mis- interpretation of this verse,
by prelixin}; 'and thou shalt make' to tlie original text (but AF omit (tai iroiijireis). In reality we have here the continuation of v.", from which it is separated merely by a parenthesis, as trans- lated above. The yddMh are thus seen not to be some- thing additional to the keresh, but to constitute its •main component parts (as indeed may underlie the Gr. rendering lUpri in vv.'"- -' and elsewhere). What then is the signification of r as a technical term in the con- structive arts ? In 1 K 10" = 2 Ch 9'* yaduth denotes the ' arms ' of Solomon's throne, of which iyKC^fe^ is the technically correct equi- valent(2 Chron. i.e., see illus- tration of chair with arras bent at right angles in Rich, Diet, of Antiq. s. ' Ancon '). In 1 K 7'-- =»— as Stade (ll.cc.) has conclusively proved from extant ancient models — yd- doth is the technical name for the stays or supports (EV 'axletrees') underneath the bodj' or framework of the laver (illustrs. ZATiV, 1901, 15-2, 167), as also for the similar stays projecting fi-om the top of the frame and supporting the stand of the basin (cf. Layer, vol. iii. p. 64»). Technically, there- fore, like our own ' arm,' and the classical ayKuiv and ancon, i; may denote any arm-like slractural element, whether straight or bent, especially if occurring in pairs. This result is streng- thened by the plirase that follows, nnns-'jx .is-x ni^fo (v.", cf. 30'-'^ and the various renderings in AV and RV). Here again the description of the lavers comes to our aid (1 K l^"-), for the cognate term there em- ployed (c'j'jf, with which cf. r?'^;', i'a'jif', the rounds or rungs of a ladder in later Heh.) is now universallj- understood to mean the cross-rails joining the uiirights of the frame of the laver. It seems evident, therefore, that the keresh of P must bo a frame of wood, such as builders in all countries have employed in the construction of light walls (.see Bliimner, Technologic, etc. iii. 151, for the paries craticius with its arrectarii and tratisversarii ; cf. our own brick-no^ged partitions with their timber ' quarters '). This sense suits Ezk 27" admirably : ' thy panels are of ivory inlaid in boxwood ' (see illustr. m Toy, SBOT 15U). We may now tr. v."*- thus, taking the parenthesis last : ' And thou shalt make tne frames for the dwelling of acacia wood, standing up, two ujirights
PRAMB AND ITS UASES.