Shemot 26:31

31 And thou shalt make a Parochet of turquoise, purple, and scarlet wool, and twisted linen of ma’aseh choshev (artistic craftwork) with keruvim shall it be made:

Shemot 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.

Shemot 26:31 In-Context

29 And thou shalt overlay the kerashim (planks) with zahav, and make their rings of zahav as housing for the crossbars: and thou shalt overlay the crossbars with zahav.
30 And thou shalt erect the Mishkan according to the mishpat (plan, specifications) thereof which was showed thee in HaHar.
31 And thou shalt make a Parochet of turquoise, purple, and scarlet wool, and twisted linen of ma’aseh choshev (artistic craftwork) with keruvim shall it be made:
32 And thou shalt hang it upon four ammudim of acacia wood overlaid with zahav: their hooks shall be of zahav, upon the four sockets of kesef.
33 And thou shalt hang up the Parochet under the hooks, that thou mayest bring in there behind the Parochet, the Aron HaEdut: and the Parochet shall separate unto you between HaKodesh and the Kodesh HaKodashim.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.