fore one of the projecting bastions (2 Ch 26", Neh 3-') which guarded the wall at important changes in its course. We conclude from these data that Iha word in the pas.'sage before us must denote some- thing of the natiue of a projecting buttre.s8 at the two western comers of the wooden framework. V.** has been the despair of many generations of students, and is almost certainly corrupt. If with most modern scholars we read D'pri (t« ms) in both clauses, it seems to imply that these corner frames shall be made ' double,' i.e. consist of two ordinary frames braced together for the sake of strength ; further, that each is intended to form a buttress sloping upwards and terminating short of the top of the framework, at ' thelirst' or topmost 'ring' (see RVm), that is, underneath the top bar of the west side (see illustration). In any case, three purposes are apparently served by these corner buttres>cs. They supj)ly additional strength at the two weakest parts of the framework — the points of meeting of the two long \vall3 with the west wall ; they take up the folds of the curtains at these two comers, and — we do not hesitate to add — they raise the number of the frames to a multiple of four (48, so many were the pillars in Solomon's temple accord-
llODBL or TUB Tarernaclb in perspective with the two appennost coverings removed, showing the framework covered by the tapestry curtains aa with the cherubim fi;rurcs, the goats' hair curtains of 'the tent '6 6, one of the comer frames c, the bars ddd, the veil e, and the screen/.
like these, mutit be treated as une quantity n^fjligenhle where proportit>n.s are concerned. (2) All P*8 other mt-asurcmente are (nUsuU measurements, as in the altar of burnt-otfering, the ark, etc. (3) Only on the supix'sition that the entire fabric of the tabernacle covered a si^ace 30 x 10 cubits is the true propor- tion (3 : 1) of the structure and the complete 8,\Tnmetr>' of the western square maintained. It u absolutely necessary from P's standpoint that the perfect cube of the Most Holy Place shall be entirely contained witliin the centre 8(|uare of its own court (see diairam). With an inside an-a cjf 30x10, requiring on the traditional hyitothesis an outside mexsuremcnt of 31x12, the symmetry of the whole sanctuary is ruined.
We are now prepared to take up the problem of the two frames described with tantalizing ob- scurity in the difficult verses '^■'^■^.' These two frames are expressly stated to be ' for the nviirpt of the dwelling in the hinder part.' What, now, is the meaning of this rare word? The key, we believe, will be found in Ezckiel's presumably technic.'il use of it to denote the jirojecting corners, popularly known as ' horns,' of his altar of shew- bread (41'-"-, see for these § vi. above; and cf., besides the Assyrian altars, the plan of a PIkc- nician sanctuary in Piet-schmann's Geschirhte dcr Phanizicr, 200 f.). It is used by later WTitcrs to indicate a part of the wall of Jerusalem akin to, yet distinct from, .i)9 ' a corner,' apparently there-
• For the extraordinary number of guesses that have been hazarded as to the meaning of these verses, see, besides tbe Comm., the text and diognuus of Riggenbach, Schick, and Brown.
t To be pointed so, with mo«t modem*, for nyyj^ o( MT.
ing to the Gr. of 1 K ?■"), and the number of the ba.-.es required for the dwelling to a multiple of ten (100, see next section).
(c) I'he arrangemetit of the Cm-tains of the Dwelling and the Tent. The dicisivns of the Dwelling. The Screen and the Veil (Ex 26»- '"• "■"•*"■ and parallels).— In the secondary stratum of P (40"") we read how 'the tabernacle was reared up ' by Moses. First he put down its bases, then he placed its frames, put in its bars, and ' reared up its jjillars.' Thereafter ' he spread the tent over the dwelling, and placed the covering of the tent above upon it.' Here the tapestry and hair curtains are strangely enough together named ' the tent,' and the two outer coverin<;s similarly taken as one.* Now it is worth noting (I) that Moses is said to have ' spread ' the curtains over the dwellin(j, the same word (fc^p) being used as is employed of wrajipiiig up the sacred furniture for transport (Nu 4'"'- § xi.) ; and (2) that neither here nor elsewhere is the ordinary word for erecting or ^litching a tent (.i?;) applied to the tabernacle, as it is to the old ' tent of meeting ' (33') and to David's tent for the ark (2 S C", see § i.). This fact of itself tells against the view, noted above, that the curtains were stretched tent-wise above the dwelling, and in favour of the usual conceji-
^ • The author of this section (PO. however, may not have had Ex 25 f. before him ill quite the same furui as wc now have it (see 9 iii. above).
662
TABERXACLE
TABERXACLE
tion, that they were spread over the framework ' as a pall is tlirown over a coliin.' The ta]iestry curtains measuring 40 cubits from front to back and "28 cubits across (§ vii. (a)) thus constitiite the dwellinj;, the centre portion (30 x 10 cubits) forming the roof and the remainder the three sides. On the long sides it hung down 9 cubits till it met, as ve may conjecture, tlie silver bases of the frame- work, which made up the remaining cubit (so tlie authorities of the Boraitim (Flesch, 50) ; cf. Philo, op. cit. ii. 148, who no doubt gives the true reason of the vacant cubit, ' that the curtain might not be dragged,' and Jos. Ant. III. vi. 4 [Niese, § K!0]). At the back, however, where 10 cubits (40-30) were left over, the last cubit would have to be folded along the projecting base, one of the results of requiring the total length to be another multiple of ten (40 cubits instead of 39). A striking confirmation of the signification here assigned to the kerasliim is now brought to light. Instead of nearly tw o-thirds of the ' all-beautiful and most holy curtain' (Trar/KaXov Kal UpoirpcTis iiipaaiia., Philo, I.e.) being hidden from view by the so-called ' boards,' the whole extent of the curtain is now disclosed, with, we may fairly conjecture, a double row of the mystic inwoven cherubim filling the panels of the framework, just as they filled the wainscot panels with which the temples of Solomon and Ezekiel were lined (1 K 6^*-, Ezk 41'**).* The view of Bahr, Neumann, KeU, Hol- zinger, and others (see Literature), that these curtains were suspended, by some method un- known to the te.\t, inside the framework, — in their case the gold-sheathed walls, — has been already disposed of (vii. (h)].