Over the tapestry curtain was spread in like manner the curtain of goats' hair, the ' tent ' of P*. Our present text (vv.*-'-), however, presents an insurmountable difficulty in the arrangement of these curtains. To cover the dwelling, and that completely, they required to be only 40 x 30 cubits. But even when the sixth curtain of the one set is doubled, as required by v.', a total length of 42 cubits remains. The explanation usually given, which indeed is required by v.'*, is that ' the half curtain that remaineth ' must have been stretched out by ropes and pegs behind the dwelling ; an assumption which is at variance with the arrange- ment at the other sides, and which leaves the sacred tapestry curtain exposed to view. The only remedy is to regard v.'-'- as a gloss, as Hol- zinger does (Kitrzer Hdrom. in loc), from the pen of a reader who misunderstood v."". Taken by itself, this half-verse plainly directs that the sixth curtain shall be doubled ' in the forefront of the dwelling' ; that is, not, as Dillm. and other com- mentators maintain, laid double across the easter- most tapestry half-curtain, but — as already advo- cated in the Baraiiha, p. 58 — hanging doubled over the edije 'jf the latter, covering the pillars at the door ot the tabernacle and entirely excluding the light of dijuv. This secures that the dwellinf' shall be in perfect darkness. This is not secured on the ordinary supposition that the edges of both curtains were flush with each other, for the screen could not possibly be so adjusted as to completely exclude the light. The objection, of which so much is made by Kiggenbach, etc., that the joinings of the two sets of curtains would thus coinciile and moisture be admitted, is utterly invalid when we recall the two heavy and im- pervious coverings that overlay the two inner sets of curtains. In this way, then, we find that the goats' hair curtains exactly fitted the dwelling on all three sides, covering the tapestry and the ba?es as well, and, in Josephus' words, ' extending loosely to the ground.' They were * See illustration.
doubtless fixed thereto by means of the bronze pins of the dwelling (27" P*, which makes no mention of cords), precisely as the Kisu-a or covering of tlie Kaaba at Mecca is secured by metal rings at tlie base of the latter (Hughes, Diet, of Islam, s.v.).*
Two items still remain to complete tlie fabric ol the dwelling, viz. the screen and the veil. The former (^p^, RV 'screen,' AV 'hanging') was a portiere of the same material as the portifcre of the court, closing the dwelling on the east side. It was hung by means of gold hooks or pegs fiuin five pillars of acacia wood standing ou bases of bronze (26»«'- Se^"- [LXX 37"-]), a detail which marks tliem out as pertaining to the court leather than to the dwelling, the bases of which are of silver. Like the rest of the woodwork, they were probably left unadorned in the original text, for the text of P' (36**, cf. Gr. of 26") speaks only of the capitals being overlaid with gold, a later hand, as in 1 K 6 f., heightening the magnificence of the tabernacle by sheathing the whole pillars (26^').
At a distance of 20 cubits t from the entrance screen was hung another of the same beautiful tapestry as the curtains (v."), depending from four pillars ' overlaid with gold,' and standing, like the framework, on bases of silver (v.'-). This second screen is termed the paruketh (nsns,! AV ' vail,' RV ' veil • ; LXX KOiTaviTa.aiM, 'cf . He 9» ' the second veil ' as distinguished from the veil or screen just mentioned). By means of 'the veil' the dwelling was divided into two parts, the larger twice the area of the smaller (2:1). The former is termed by the priestly writers ' the holy place' (vi-\?^ 26^ and oft.) ; the latter receives the name D-c'iij^n ey, best rendered idiomatically 'the most holy place,' also literally ' the holy of holies, '§ in LXX rd Hyiov and rb dyiov (or ret dyta) Tuiv aylue. These names first came into use 11 priestly circles in the Exile. The corresponding parts of Solomon's temple were known as the hekcd or temple proper (1 K 6" RVm), and the dchir (EV 'oracle, v."). II The former is retained by Ezekiel, while the latter is discarded and the ' most holy place ' substituted (41'', but also ' holy place,' v.^). P by his nomenclature stamps hu sanctuary still further with the attribute of holi- ness in an ascending scale as we approach the presence of J".
viii. Thk Furniture of the Holy Place.— (a) The Table of Shewbread (Ex 25=3-3o^37io-u [LXX 38'"'-] ; .Tos. Ant. III. vi. 6).— This section is intended merely to supplement the art. Shew- bread by giving the barest details regarding the 'presence-table' (D'jsji [ij^if', see I.e. § i.) of the priestly writers.
Our understanding of this section is materially assisted by the representation of the table of Herod's temple, whirli may still be seen on the Arch of Titus at Rome. Careful nicjisure- ments were taken and drai\nnc9 ma<ie both of the table and of the candlestick (see next section) by frieniis of Adrian Iteland in 1710-11, at a time when the sculptures were less dilapidated than at present. These were published by him in his work, De spoliis Teinpli Hieroaotymitani, etc., 1716.