Exodus 26

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• Josephus37–c. 100JewishAntiquities of the Jews · on Exodus 26:31–33As for the inside, Moses parted its length into three partitions. At the distance of ten cubits from the most secret end, Moses placed four pillars … Now the room within those pillars was the most holy place; but the rest of the room was the tabernacle, which was open for the priests. However, this proportion of the measures of the tabernacle proved to be an imitation of the system of the world; for that third part thereof which was within the four pillars, to which the priests were not admitted, is, as it were, a heaven peculiar to God. But the space of the twenty cubits, is, as it were, sea and land, on which men live, and so this part is peculiar to the priests only. … The first veil was ten cubits every way, and this they spread over the pillars which parted the temple, and kept the most holy place concealed within … This veil was very ornamental, and embroidered with all sorts of flowers which the earth produces; and there were interwoven into it all sorts of variety that might be an ornament, excepting the forms of animals.

  As for the inside, Moses parted its length into three partitions. At the distance of ten cubits from the most secret end, Moses placed four pillars … Now the room within those pillars was the most holy place; but the rest of the room was the tabernacle, which was open for the priests. However, this proportion of the measures of the tabernacle proved to be an imitation of the system of the world; for that third part thereof which was within the four pillars, to which the priests were not admitted, is, as it were, a heaven peculiar to God. But the space of the twenty cubits, is, as it were, sea and land, on which men live, and so this part is peculiar to the priests only. … The first veil was ten cubits every way, and this they spread over the pillars which parted the temple, and kept the most holy place concealed within … This veil was very ornamental, and embroidered with all sorts of flowers which the earth produces; and there were interwoven into it all sorts of variety that might be an ornament, excepting the forms of animals.

  Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Antiquities 3.6.4; translated by William Whiston (1737); the text of Project Gutenberg. The edition

  A Jewish priest from Jerusalem who fought Rome in the war of 66–70 and afterwards wrote the history of his people for Greek readers.

• Rashi1040–1105JewishCommentary on the Torah · on Exodus 26:9–13AND THOU SHALT DOUBLE THE SIXTH CURTAIN which was additional in these upper curtains over and above the lower curtains, … OPPOSITE THE FRONT OF THE TENT; half of its breadth (two cubits) hung down, being doubled, over the screen which was on the east side before the entrance, whereby the Tabernacle gained the appearance of a modest bride who has her face covered by a veil. … SHALL HANG OVER THE SIDES OF THE TABERNACLE — on the north and on the south as I have explained above. The Torah here teaches you a rule of life — that a man should take care of his artistic objects (this the Torah does by commanding that the beautiful lower curtains should be protected by coarse upper ones) (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 422).

  AND THOU SHALT DOUBLE THE SIXTH CURTAIN which was additional in these upper curtains over and above the lower curtains, … OPPOSITE THE FRONT OF THE TENT; half of its breadth (two cubits) hung down, being doubled, over the screen which was on the east side before the entrance, whereby the Tabernacle gained the appearance of a modest bride who has her face covered by a veil. … SHALL HANG OVER THE SIDES OF THE TABERNACLE — on the north and on the south as I have explained above. The Torah here teaches you a rule of life — that a man should take care of his artistic objects (this the Torah does by commanding that the beautiful lower curtains should be protected by coarse upper ones) (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 422).

  Rashi, Commentary on the Torah, on 26:9 and 26:13; translated by M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann (London: Genesis 1929, Exodus 1930). The edition

  Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki of Troyes, in France, whose commentary on the Torah is still the first that Jewish readers turn to.

• Rashi1040–1105JewishCommentary on the Torah · on Exodus 26:31–36פרכת is a term denoting a partition; in the language of the Sages (in Rabbinical Hebrew) פרגוד is something which separates the king from the people (Berakhot 18b). … CHERUBIM — i. e. he shall make on it figures of different creatures. … AND THOU SHALT MAKE A SCREEN — a curtain which formed a protecting screen in front of the entrance. the word מסך being of the same meaning as the verb in (Job 1. 10) “Hast Thou not hedged (שכת) him about?” It is an expression denoting protecting.

  פרכת is a term denoting a partition; in the language of the Sages (in Rabbinical Hebrew) פרגוד is something which separates the king from the people (Berakhot 18b). … CHERUBIM — i. e. he shall make on it figures of different creatures. … AND THOU SHALT MAKE A SCREEN — a curtain which formed a protecting screen in front of the entrance. the word מסך being of the same meaning as the verb in (Job 1. 10) “Hast Thou not hedged (שכת) him about?” It is an expression denoting protecting.

  Rashi, Commentary on the Torah, on 26:31 and 26:36; translated by M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann (London: Genesis 1929, Exodus 1930). The edition

  Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki of Troyes, in France, whose commentary on the Torah is still the first that Jewish readers turn to.

• John Calvin1509–1564ReformedCommentaries · on Exodus 26:1–30Nor indeed did anything magnificent appear in the tabernacle to delight men's eyes, but rather was all its richness and excellence covered up with goats' hair and paltry leather, in order that believers beneath that hidden beauty might reflect on something higher than the carnal sense. … I now descend to particulars, in which let not my readers expect of me any conceits which may gratify their ears, since nothing is better than to contain ourselves within the limits of edification; and it would be puerile to make a collection of the minutiae wherewith some philosophize; since it was by no means the intention of God to include mysteries in every hook and loop; and even although no part were without a mystical meaning, … it is better to confess our ignorance than to indulge ourselves in frivolous conjectures. … They allegorically explain that the covering of the tabernacle was made of rams' skins, … because the Church is protected by the blood of Christ, who is the spotless lamb; but I ask, what do the badgers' skins, which were above, mean? Why was the covering of goats' hair put below? Wherefore, sobriety is our best course.

  Nor indeed did anything magnificent appear in the tabernacle to delight men's eyes, but rather was all its richness and excellence covered up with goats' hair and paltry leather, in order that believers beneath that hidden beauty might reflect on something higher than the carnal sense. … I now descend to particulars, in which let not my readers expect of me any conceits which may gratify their ears, since nothing is better than to contain ourselves within the limits of edification; and it would be puerile to make a collection of the minutiae wherewith some philosophize; since it was by no means the intention of God to include mysteries in every hook and loop; and even although no part were without a mystical meaning, … it is better to confess our ignorance than to indulge ourselves in frivolous conjectures. … They allegorically explain that the covering of the tabernacle was made of rams' skins, … because the Church is protected by the blood of Christ, who is the spotless lamb; but I ask, what do the badgers' skins, which were above, mean? Why was the covering of goats' hair put below? Wherefore, sobriety is our best course.

  John Calvin, Commentaries, on 26:1–30; Calvin Translation Society (Edinburgh, 1843–1855); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition

  The French reformer of Geneva, from whose teaching the Reformed and Presbyterian churches come.

• Matthew Henry1662–1714English PresbyterianCommentary on the Whole Bible · on Exodus 26:1–14The house must be a tabernacle or tent, such as soldiers now use in the camp, which was both a mean dwelling and a movable one; and yet the ark of God had not better, till Solomon built the temple 480 years after this, Kg1 6:1. God manifested his presence among them thus in a tabernacle, 1. In compliance with their present condition in the wilderness, that they might have him with them wherever they went. … 2. That it might represent the state of God's church in this world, it is a tabernacle-state, Psa 15:1. We have here no continuing city; being strangers in this world, and travellers towards a better, we shall never be fixed till we come to heaven. … Now observe here, (1.) That the outside of the tabernacle was coarse and rough, the beauty of it was in the inner curtains. Those in whom God dwells must labour to be better than they seem to be. … (2.) That where God places his glory he will create a defence upon it … The protection of Providence shall always be upon the beauty of holiness.

  The house must be a tabernacle or tent, such as soldiers now use in the camp, which was both a mean dwelling and a movable one; and yet the ark of God had not better, till Solomon built the temple 480 years after this, Kg1 6:1. God manifested his presence among them thus in a tabernacle, 1. In compliance with their present condition in the wilderness, that they might have him with them wherever they went. … 2. That it might represent the state of God's church in this world, it is a tabernacle-state, Psa 15:1. We have here no continuing city; being strangers in this world, and travellers towards a better, we shall never be fixed till we come to heaven. … Now observe here, (1.) That the outside of the tabernacle was coarse and rough, the beauty of it was in the inner curtains. Those in whom God dwells must labour to be better than they seem to be. … (2.) That where God places his glory he will create a defence upon it … The protection of Providence shall always be upon the beauty of holiness.

  Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on 26:1–6 and 26:7–14; 1706–1714; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition

  An English Presbyterian minister whose commentary on the whole Bible Protestants have read for three centuries.

• John Gill1697–1771BaptistAn Exposition of the Old and New Testament · on Exodus 26:31–32this vail may represent the sin of man, which separates between God and man, was removed by the death of Christ when the vail was rent, and so the way to heaven opened; or the obscurity of the legal dispensation, the Gospel being veiled under the shadows of the law, and the way into the holiest of all then not so manifest … or rather it was typical of the human nature of Christ, his flesh, called in allusion to it the vail of his flesh, Hebrews 10:20. … It being made of "fine linen" denotes the purity of Christ, of his nature, life, and righteousness; of "twined linen", his strength, courage and steadiness; "of blue, purple, and scarlet", the several graces of the Spirit, with which his human nature was adorned … these pillars may signify the deity of Christ, which is the support of his human nature, and in which it has its personal subsistence

  this vail may represent the sin of man, which separates between God and man, was removed by the death of Christ when the vail was rent, and so the way to heaven opened; or the obscurity of the legal dispensation, the Gospel being veiled under the shadows of the law, and the way into the holiest of all then not so manifest … or rather it was typical of the human nature of Christ, his flesh, called in allusion to it the vail of his flesh, Hebrews 10:20. … It being made of "fine linen" denotes the purity of Christ, of his nature, life, and righteousness; of "twined linen", his strength, courage and steadiness; "of blue, purple, and scarlet", the several graces of the Spirit, with which his human nature was adorned … these pillars may signify the deity of Christ, which is the support of his human nature, and in which it has its personal subsistence

  John Gill, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, on 26:31–32; 1746–1763; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition

  An English Baptist pastor in London and a scholar of Hebrew and the rabbis, who wrote a verse-by-verse commentary on the whole Bible.

• Adam Clarkec. 1760–1832MethodistCommentary on the Holy Bible · on Exodus 26:31–33Thou shalt make a veil - פרכת parocheth, from פרך parach, to break or rend; the inner veil of the tabernacle or temple, (Ch2 3:14), which broke, interrupted, or divided between the holy place and the most holy; the Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was standing. Compare Heb 9:8. … Does not the Hebrew name פרכת parocheth moreover intimate the typical correspondence of this veil to the body or flesh of Christ? For this καταπετασμα or veil was his flesh, (Heb 10:20), which, being rent, affords us a new and living way into the holiest of all, i.e., into heaven itself. … And accordingly when his blessed body was rent upon the cross, this veil also … was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; Mat 27:51 … Into this the high priest alone was permitted to enter, and that only once in the year, on the great day of atonement. It was in this inner place that Jehovah manifested himself between the cherubim.

  Thou shalt make a veil - פרכת parocheth, from פרך parach, to break or rend; the inner veil of the tabernacle or temple, (Ch2 3:14), which broke, interrupted, or divided between the holy place and the most holy; the Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was standing. Compare Heb 9:8. … Does not the Hebrew name פרכת parocheth moreover intimate the typical correspondence of this veil to the body or flesh of Christ? For this καταπετασμα or veil was his flesh, (Heb 10:20), which, being rent, affords us a new and living way into the holiest of all, i.e., into heaven itself. … And accordingly when his blessed body was rent upon the cross, this veil also … was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; Mat 27:51 … Into this the high priest alone was permitted to enter, and that only once in the year, on the great day of atonement. It was in this inner place that Jehovah manifested himself between the cherubim.

  Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Holy Bible, on 26:31; 1810–1826; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition

  A Methodist preacher and scholar from Ulster, whose commentary on the whole Bible took him nearly forty years.

• Keil and Delitzsch1807–1888 and 1813–1890LutheranBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament · on Exodus 26:31–35The division of the dwelling into two parts corresponded to the design of the tabernacle, where Jehovah desired not to dwell alone by Himself, but to come and meet with His people (Exo 25:22). The most holy place was the true dwelling of Jehovah, where He was enthroned in a cloud, the visible symbol of His presence, above the cherubim, upon the capporeth of the ark of the covenant. The holy place, on the other hand, was the place where His people were to appear before Him, and draw near to Him with their gifts, the fruits of their earthly vocation, and their prayers, and to rejoice before His face in the blessings of His covenant grace. By the establishment of the covenant of Jehovah with the people of Israel, the separation of man from God, of which the fall of the progenitors of our race had been the cause, was to be brought to an end; an institution was to be set up, pointing to the reunion of man and God, to true and full vital communion with Him

  The division of the dwelling into two parts corresponded to the design of the tabernacle, where Jehovah desired not to dwell alone by Himself, but to come and meet with His people (Exo 25:22). The most holy place was the true dwelling of Jehovah, where He was enthroned in a cloud, the visible symbol of His presence, above the cherubim, upon the capporeth of the ark of the covenant. The holy place, on the other hand, was the place where His people were to appear before Him, and draw near to Him with their gifts, the fruits of their earthly vocation, and their prayers, and to rejoice before His face in the blessings of His covenant grace. By the establishment of the covenant of Jehovah with the people of Israel, the separation of man from God, of which the fall of the progenitors of our race had been the cause, was to be brought to an end; an institution was to be set up, pointing to the reunion of man and God, to true and full vital communion with Him

  Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, on 26:36–37 (the dwelling as a whole); translated by James Martin and others (Edinburgh, 1866–1891); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition

  Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, two German Lutheran scholars of Hebrew whose commentary on the Old Testament is still read for its learning.