Exodus 26:9

9 "You shall join five curtains by themselves and the other six curtains by themselves, and you shall double over the sixth curtain at the front of the tent.

Exodus 26:9 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 26:9

And thou shall couple five curtains by themselves
And make one large curtain of them, as was ordered with respect to the linen curtains:

and six curtains by themselves;
as there were eleven of them, such a division was made of five into one large curtain, and six into another; and as that which had six in it would reach further than the other, provision is made for the disposal and use of that as follows:

and shall double the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tabernacle;
at the entrance of it, in the east end of it; the sixth curtain reaching to that, and hanging down, was turned up, and so doubled, opposite the door or entrance; and was, as Jarchi says, like a modest bride that covers her face with a vail, which before this had no covering; for thus it was, as Dr. Lightfoot F13 describes it, the holy place was ten yards long, and the five curtains sewed together were just so broad, and so they covered only the top and the sides, but hung not down at the end, which was eastward--but the six (goat hair curtains) that lay east reached to the end, covered the pillars whereon that vail hung, and they hung half a curtain's breadth or a yard over the entrance.


FOOTNOTES:

F13 Works, vol. 1. p. 718.

Exodus 26:9 In-Context

7 "Then you shall make curtains of goats' hair for a tent over the tabernacle; you shall make eleven curtains in all.
8 "The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; the eleven curtains shall have the same measurements.
9 "You shall join five curtains by themselves and the other six curtains by themselves, and you shall double over the sixth curtain at the front of the tent.
10 "You shall make fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the first set, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the second set.
11 "You shall make fifty clasps of bronze, and you shall put the clasps into the loops and join the tent together so that it will be a unit.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Or "couple"
  • [b]. Lit "toward the front of the face of the tent"
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