Exodus 26:22

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. Thus walls were formed for the two sides, and for the west end. The wall was further held together by bars, which passed through rings of gold. Over this the curtains were spread. Though movable, it was strong and firm. The materials were very costly. In all this it was a type of the church of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-stone, Eph 2:20,21.

And for the sides of the tabernacle,.... Or the ends of it, the east and west, and the account begins with the west: westward thou shalt make six boards; so that the breadth of the tabernacle was but nine cubits, or four yards and a half, according to a common cubit; but two boards more placed at the two corners of the sides, next observed, added to the breadth of it.

(22) For the sides of the tabernacle westward. —Rather, for the back of the tabernacle (LXX., τῶν ὀπίσω ). (See Note on Exodus 26:18 .) The west is always regarded as “behind” by the Orientals. Six boards.—Six boards, presumably of the same width with the others (Exodus 26:16), would extend a length of nine cubits only, or thirteen and a half feet. The tenth cubit seems to have been made up by the corner boards, or posts, which are counted with the “six” boards as forming the back of the tabernacle in Exodus 26:25.

Verses 22, 23. - For the sides of the tabernacle westward . Rather, "for the back" ( τὰ ὀπίσω - LXX.). Here there were to be six boards only, which would give the abnormal and improbable width of nine cubits. The additional cubit required was no doubt obtained from the corner boards, or posts, each of which added to the (internal) width half a cubit (see ver. 23). Exodus 26:22

22 . westward ] lit. sea - ward. Sea (i.e. the Medit. sea) is in Heb. the regular word for ‘west’; and the usage, like that of négeb in v. 18 in the sense of ‘south,’ could only have arisen after Israel had been long settled in Canaan. So Exodus 10:19 ; Exodus 10:27 ; Exodus 27:12 ; Exodus 36:27 ; Exodus 36:32 ; Exodus 38:12 . The twenty frames for the sides of the Dwelling made up its entire length of 30 cubits (= 1 ½ × 20). The six frames at the end would make 9 cubits: so that, as the entire width of the Dwelling was 10 cubits, if the frames at the sides were ½ a cubit thick, the six at the end would just fill up the 9 cubits between them.

15-30. thou shalt make boards … rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion … which was showed thee—The tabernacle, from its name as well as from its general appearance and arrangements, was a tent; but from the description given in these verses, the boards that formed its walls, the five (cross) bars that strengthened them, and the middle bar that "reached from end to end," and gave it solidity and compactness, it was evidently a more substantial fabric than a light and fragile tent, probably on account of the weight of its various coverings as well as for the protection of its precious furniture.

Six boards were to be made for the back of the dwelling westwards (ימּה), and two boards "for the corners or angels of the dwelling at the two outermost (hinder) sides." למקצּעת (for cornered), from מקצּע, equivalent to מקצוע an angle ( Exodus 26:24 ; Ezekiel 46:21-22 ), from קצע to cut off, lit., a section, something cut off, hence an angle, or corner-piece. These corner boards ( Exodus 26:24 ) were to be "doubled (תּאמם) from below, and whole (תּמּים, integri, forming a whole) at its head (or towards its head, cf. אל Exodus 36:29 ) with regard to the one ring, so shall it be to both of them (so shall they both be made); to the two corners shall they be" (i.e., designed for the two hinder corners). The meaning of these words, which are very obscure in some points, can only be the following: the two corner beams at the tack were to consist of two pieces joined together at a right angle, so as to form as double boards one single whole from the bottom to the top. The expressions "from below" and "up to its head" are divided between the two predicates "doubled" (תּאמים) and "whole" (תּמּים), but they belong to both of them. Each of the corner beams was to be double from the bottom to the top, and still to form one whole. There is more difficulty in the words האחת אל־הטּבּעת in Exodus 26:24 . It is impossible to attach any intelligible meaning to the rendering "to the first ring," so that even Knobel, who proposed it, has left it unexplained.

There is hardly any other way of explaining it, than to take the word אל in the sense of "having regard to a thing," and to understand the words as meaning, that the corner beams were to form one whole, from the face that each received only one ring, probably at the corner, and not two, viz., one on each side. This one ring was placed half-way up the upright beam in the corner or angle, in such a manner that the central bolt, which stretched along the entire length of the walls ( Exodus 26:28 ), might fasten into it from both the side and back.

[Reformed Biblical] rve the rest from the injury of the weather. Exodus 26:15 Exodus 26:16 Exodus 26:17 ## Two tenons , Heb. hands , i.e. parts of the boards, so cut and framed that like hands they may take hold of and be fastened into the sockets, Exo_26:19. Exodus 26:18 Exodus 26:19 ## Forty sockets , or bases, or pedestals, or feet , upon which the boards stood, and to which they were fastened. Exodus 26:20 Exodus 26:21 Exodus 26:22 Exodus 26:23 Which were of another fashion than the former, as may be gathered both from the distinct nomination and use of them, and from the laws of building. And whereas the rest were but single boards, these were double, for greater strength and conveniency of joining them together. Exodus 26:24 ## Coupled together , Heb. as twins , i.e. equal and equally joined together, and exactly answering one to the other. ## Unto one ring , which ring was exactly in the corner, and with the h elp of the b ars kept the corner boards, and with them the other boards of the tabernacle, close together. But you must note, that here were two rings in each corner, the one in the upper, the other in the lower parts. Exodus 26:25 Exodus 26:26 ## By bars you may understand either, 1. Several rows or orders of bars, one bar beginning at the end of the other, and each containing four cubits in length, and altogether twenty cubits, which was the length of the tabernacle ; or, 2. Single bars, which seem truer, 1. Because the wor