Shemot 26:9

9 And thou shalt join into one five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and shalt fold the sixth curtain over the front of the Ohel.

Shemot 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.

Shemot 26:9 In-Context

7 And thou shalt make curtains of goat hair to be an Ohel over the Mishkan: eleven curtains shalt thou make.
8 The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, the width of one curtain four cubits: and the eleven curtains shall be all of the middah achat (same size).
9 And thou shalt join into one five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and shalt fold the sixth curtain over the front of the Ohel.
10 And thou shalt make fifty loops along the edge of the first curtain at the end of one choveret (set), and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain of the second choveret (set).
11 And thou shalt make fifty hooks of nechoshet, and put the hooks into the loops, and attach the Ohel, so that it may become echad (one).
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.