Exodus 26:31

31 You shall make a curtain of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and of fine twisted linen; it shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it.

Exodus 26:31 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 26:31

And thou shalt make a vail
The use of this, as follows, was to divide the holy place from the most holy place in the tabernacle; it has its name from hardness, it being very stiff and strong, for it was made of thread six times doubled, and was four fingers thick, as the Jewish writers say: 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, and particularly the ceremonial law, which separated between Jew and Gentile, and is now abolished by the death of Christ; 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 ) . This vail was made of

blue, and purple, and scarlet, of fine twined linen of cunning work;
it seems to have been made of the same materials, and in the same curious manner of workmanship with the curtains of the tabernacle, ( Exodus 26:1 ) , and was itself no other than a curtain, and so it is interpreted by some Jewish writers F24. 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, his flaming zeal for his Father's glory and the good of his people, his bloody wounds, sufferings, and death, the preciousness of his blood, the dignity of his person, and his glorious exaltation, purple and scarlet being the colours wore by kings:

with cherubim shall it be made;
signifying either the ministration of angels to him in his incarnate state, or the mission of Gospel ministers by him, see ( Psalms 139:15 Psalms 139:16 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F24 Vid. R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 37. 2.

Exodus 26:31 In-Context

29 You shall overlay the frames with gold, and shall make their rings of gold to hold the bars; and you shall overlay the bars with gold.
30 Then you shall erect the tabernacle according to the plan for it that you were shown on the mountain.
31 You shall make a curtain of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and of fine twisted linen; it shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it.
32 You shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, which have hooks of gold and rest on four bases of silver.
33 You shall hang the curtain under the clasps, and bring the ark of the covenant in there, within the curtain; and the curtain shall separate for you the holy place from the most holy.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.