Exodus 36:5-38
When God puts grace into the heart, the hands will be diligently employed in every good work.
<03498> [and too much.]
skilled <02450> [wise.]
doing .... made ................... made <06213> [made.]
cherubim <03742> [cherubims.]
{Keroovim,} cherubim, not cherubims. What these were we cannot determine. Some, observing that the verb {kerav} in Syriac, sometimes means to resemble, make like, conceive the noun {keroov} signifies no more than an image, figure, or representation of anything. Josephus says they were flying animals, like none of those which are seen by man, but such as Moses saw about the throne of God. In another place he says, "As for the cherubim, nobody can tell or conceive what they were like." These symbolical figures, according to the description of them by Ezekiel, (ch. 1:10; 10:14,) were creatures with four heads and one body; and the animals of which these forms consisted were the noblest of their kind; the lion among the wild beasts; the bull among the tame ones; the eagle among the birds, and man at the head of all. Hence some have conceived them to be somewhat of the shape of flying oxen; and it is alleged in favour of this opinion, that the far more common meaning of the verb {kerav,} in Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, being to plough, the natural meaning of {keroov,} is a creature used in ploughing. This seems to have been the ancient opinion which tradition had handed down, concerning the shape of the cherubim with the flaming sword, that guarded the tree of life. (Ge 3:24.)
together ... one ............ unit <0259> [so it became.]
covering ............... covering <04372> [covering.]
ram skins dyed red ......... leather <05785 0119 0352> [rams' skins dyed red.]
This was the third covering of the tabernacle. The first and lowermost was made of fine linen, richly embroidered with figures of cherubim, in shades of blue, purple, and scarlet (ver. 8-13). It is reasonable to suppose, that the right side of this curtain was undermost, and so it formed a beautiful ceiling in the inside of the tabernacle. The second covering, which lay over the embroidered one, was made of a sort of mohair, (ver. 14-17,) and the fourth, or uppermost one, which was to keep the others from the weather, was made of {tachash,} or badgers' skins.
frames <07175> [boards.]
acacia wood <06086 07848> [shittim wood.]
length <0753> [The length.]
Each of these boards, taking the cubit at nearly twenty-two inches, was about eighteen feet long, and two feet nine inches broad. As these boards are said to be standing up (ver. 20,) their length was consequently the height of the tabernacle; and as the two sides were composed of twenty of these, standing up (ver. 23, 25,) and the west end of six, with two boards to project at the corners, (ver. 27, 28,) the tabernacle must therefore, have been thirty cubits, or fifty-five feet long, and about ten cubits, or eighteen feet broad. These boards were fastened at the bottom by two tenons in each board, which fitted into two mortices in the foundation, at the top by links or hasps, and on the sides by five wooden bars, which ran through rings or staples in each of the boards. The boards and bars were all overlaid with gold; and their rings for the staves, and their hasps at top, were of the same metal. The foundation on which they stood consisted of about ninety-six solid blocks of silver, two under each board, about eighteen inches long, and of a suitable thickness; and each weighing a talent, or about a hundred weight. Four blocks of silver formed the bases of the columns which supported the curtain that divided the inside of the tabernacle into two rooms.
west <03220> [westward.]
doubled <08382> [coupled. Heb. twined.]
frames ..... bases ... bases two bases ... each frame <0134 0259 07175 08147> [under every board two sockets. Heb. two sockets, two sockets, under one board.]
tabernacle .......... tabernacle <04908> [the tabernacle.]
curtain ... blue <08504 06532> [vail of blue.]
{Parachoth,} from {parach,} to separate, divide, make a distinction between somewhat, the inner vail, which divided the tabernacle into two, and separated, and made a distinction between the Holy place and the Holy of Holies. This vail was made of the same rich materials as the inner covering of the tabernacle, and curiously embroidered with cherubim and other ornaments. Though it does not appear from Scripture at what distance from either end of the tabernacle this vail was hung, yet is reasonably conjectured, that it divided it in the same proportion in which the temple, built after this model, was divided; that is, two-thirds of the whole length were allotted to the first room, and one-third to the second; so that the room beyond the vail, the Holy of Holies, was exactly square, being ten cubits each way, and the first room, the sanctuary, was twice as long as it was broad.
hanging <04539> [an hanging.]
This vail was a fine embroidered curtain, of the same materials and of the same workmanship as the inner vail and inner covering of the tabernacle. The text does not say how low it hung. Philo makes it touch the ground; but Josephus will have it to come down but half way, so that the people might have a view of the inside of the tabernacle; but then he says there was another curtain over that, which came to the ground, to keep it from the weather, and was drawn aside on the sabbath and other festivals.
embroiderer <07551> [of needlework. Heb. the work of a needle worker, or embroider.]
bands ... gold <02091 02838> [fillets with gold.]
