15 ¶ And thou shalt make boards | one board, set in order one against for the tabernacle of shittim-wood another: thus shalt thou make for standing up. all the boards of the tabernacle. 18 And thou shalt make the boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards on the south side southward. 16 Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half shall be the breadth of one board. 17 Two tenons shall there be in THE BOARDS. 15. Thou shalt make boards, &c. Heb. Dp kerashim, boards or planks. The appropriate root karash does not occur in Hebrew, but in Chaldee the verb signifies to coagulate, congeal, condense, as op keres likewise does in Arabic, and the Syriac uses A karsha as a noun for contignation, or coupling together. The radical idea of the Heb. karash seems to be to compact, contignate, or fasten together, as in the frame-work of a building. Such a frame-work was necessary to support the curtains, and to give more stability to the sacred tent. Of the 'shittim-wood,' or acacia, we have already spoken; the remaining particulars will be considered as we proceed. 16. Ten cubits shall be the length of a board. As the length of the boards constituted the height of the Tabernacle, it follows from this, according to the common computation of the cubit, that it was five yards or fifteen feet high. As there were twenty of these on each side, each of which were a cubit and a half, or twenty-seven inches in breadth, it made the whole length thirty cubits, or fifteen yards. Nothing, however, is said of the thickness of the boards, which Lightfoot fixes at nine inches, and which we have every reason to believe did not fall short of that estimate, though the Rabbins make it an entire cubit. This inference is confirmed by the fact that the Sept renders the original Dp by orvλot pillars, and this they would scarcely have done had they understood it to mean only boards, which would certainly be a very inadequate material for such a structure. 17. Two tenons. Heb. 1 yadoth, hands; so called probably from their holding fast in the sockets into which they were mortised. These tenons' are generally understood to have been affixed to the bottom of each board, and to have been precisely the same with those mentioned below, v. 19. But we are rather of opinion that the two tenons here spoken of projected from the side of each board, and were inserted into corresponding receptacles in the adjoining board, in order to give more com 19 And thou shalt make forty | tabernacle on the north side there sockets of silver under the twenty shall be twenty boards. boards: two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons. 20 And for the second side of the pactness to the wall. With this substantially agrees the rendering of the Vulg. In the sides of the boards shall be made two mortises, whereby one board may be joined to another board.' The original for 'set in order' (♫ meshallaboth) properly signifies 'set ladderwise,' and it is perfectly easy to conceive that where two boards were brought near together, and yet not quite closed up, the connecting tenons would 21 And their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. 22 And for the sides of the tab look like the rounds of a ladder. The tenons at the bottom of each board we suppose to have been additional to these. Still it must be admitted that this interpretation is not quite certain. The matter is left to the judgment of the reader. The annexed cut may be considered as a probable approximation to a correct idea of the position of the boards, tenons, and sockets. The different parts will be readily distinguished. ernacle westward thou shalt make six boards. 23 And two boards shalt thou make for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides. 24 And they shall be coupled together beneath, and they shall be coupled together above the head of it unto one ring: thus shall it be for them both; they shall be for the two corners. 25 And they shall be eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. 26 And thou shalt make bars parts. The idiomatic plural term 'sides' therefore is here equivalent to end.' So it is distinctly interpreted both in the Targum of Onkelos and Jonathan. 23, 24. Tuo boards shalt thou make for the corners. These two verses are involved in an obscurity which we have endeavored in vain to penetrate. The reader must be thrown upon his own resources to imagine such a construction of the corners as the general plan and objects of the building would admit or require. The original word for "'coupled' literally signifies 'twinned' or 'made' like twins,' i. e. exactly alike; but beyond this we are unable to afford him any light. Should he obtain it from other commentators, he will be more fortunate than ourselves. Our inability, however, to make out satisfactorily this part of the structure detracts nothing from the accuracy of the explanations of the rest. 25. They shall be eight boards. The two corner boards being added to the six others made up the complement of eight. 26. Thou shalt make bars. The south and north sides, and the west end of the Tabernacle had five gold-covered bars, each of which were carried through rings or staples of gold, but what the of shittim-wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, 27 And five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the sides of the tabernacle, for the two sides westward. 28 And the middle bar in the midst of the boards shall reach from end to end. 29 And thou shalt overlay the boards with gold, and make their rings of gold for places for the bars, and thou shalt overlay the bars with gold. 30 And thou shalt rear up the tab length of these bars was, is not said. The middle ones, indeed, on the different sides and end, were appointed to be of the whole length, or thirty cubits on the north and south sides, and ten cubits at the west end; which was probably sunk into the boards, and ran along a groove from end to end, at five cubits from the ground. The other four bars, which Josephus says were each five cubits long, were perhaps variously disposed on the sides and end of the structure in such a way as to conduce at once most effectually to its beauty and strength. Having no certain information as to the precise manner in which the four were disposed along the sides we have represented them in our cut as arranged uniformly with the middle one. It is obviously a matter of little importance. In the phrase, 'for the two sides westward,' the plural is prob ably put for the singular, as it was the end in which the two sides terminated. 29. Thou shalt overlay the boards with gold. We are thrown upon our own conjectures as to the thickness of the metal by which the boards and bars were overlaid. If it were done with gold plates, they must have been extremely thin, as otherwise the weight would have been altogether too great to ernacle d according to the fashion | ning work: with cherubims shall thereof which was shewed thee in it be made. the mount. 31 ¶ And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cund ch. 25. 9, 40. & 27. 8. Acts 7. 44. Heb. 8. 5. e ch. 36. 35. Lev. 16. 2. 2 Chron. 3. 14. Matt. 27. 51. Hebr. 9. 3. allow of their having been carried but with the utmost difficulty. We pre. sume, therefore, that they were rather gilded than plated. Such a thin coating would no doubt have been liable to be easily worn off, but it could as easily be repaired. THE PARTITION-VAIL. .paroketh פרכת 32 And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim-wood overlaid with gold: their hooks shall be of gold upon the four sockets of silver. 33 ¶ And thou shalt hang up the were unquestionably at the bottom of the pillars, and the clause, 'their hooks shall be of gold,' ought to be inclosed in a parenthesis, as it is in the old Geneva version; 'And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim-wood covered with gold (whose hooks shall be of gold), standing upon four sockets of silver.' It was the pillars and not the hooks that stood upon the silver sockets. 33. Shalt hang up the vail under the taches. That is, under the golden clasps that connected the two larger hangings of the inner curtain, spoken of above, v. 6. These were joined just over the dividing line between the two rooms of the Tabernacle, so that this separating vail hung exactly under the taches or clasps. It does not appear from any express passage of Scripture, in what proportions the interior of the Tabernacle was divided. But as Solomon's Temple, of sixty cubits in length, was divided into two parts of forty and twenty, so it is highly probable that the thirty cubits in length of the Tabernacle was divided into similar propor tions of twenty cubits for the Holy, and ten for the Most Holy Place, making the latter a perfect cube of ten cubits every way. This accounts, as we have before intimated, for the remarkable feature in the description of the heaven 31. Thou shalt make a vail, &c. Heb. Gr. καταπέτασμα, a vail, a spreading. The etymology of the original term is doubtful, though we find in the Chaldee perak, to break, rend apart, forcibly separate, and according to Parkhurst is applied to the inner Vail from its breaking, interrupting, or dividing between the Holy and Most Holy Place. This Vail was undoubtedly of the same material with the inner set of curtains, and figured and embroidered in the same manner. And as it constituted, when hanging down, the lining of one side of both the Holy and Most Holy Place, it goes somewhat, perhaps, to confirm our suggestion above relative to the position of the wrought linen curtains of the Tabernacle, as hanging within the edifice instead of without; for this would make the adorning of the whole interior uniform throughout. The Vail was to be suspended from golden hooks attached to four pillars of shittim-wood resting, like the boards, upon an equally city, mentioned Rev. 21. 16, to wit, number of silver sockets. And this, by the way, leads us to remark, that the punctuation of our English Bibles conveys an idea entirely erroneous, viz., that the hooks were to be placed upon the silver sockets. But these sockets that it lay four square, the length, breadth, and height of it being equal. This was because it answered to its type the Holy of Holies. In the Holy Place, into which none but the priests were allowed to enter, were stationed vail under the taches, that thou | cy-seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place. 35 And ithou shalt set the table without the vail, and k the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south: and thou shalt put the table on the north side. mayest bring in thither within the vail f the ark of the testimony: and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy. 34 And thou shalt put the mer f ch. 25. 16. & 40. 21. g Lev. 16. 2. Hebr. 9.2, 3. h ch. 25. 21. & 40. 20. Hebr. 9. 5. the Candlestick, the Table of Shewbread, and the Altar of Incense. In the Most Holy, into which none but the High Priest could enter, and he but once a year, was deposited only the Ark of the Covenant or Testimony, with its surmounting Mercy-seat. The special design of this Vail was to debar the people from entering, or even looking, into the Most Holy Place, or place of the Ark, and the reason of this rigid exclusion acquaints us at once with the general mystical import of Vail, as a part of the apparatus of the Tabernacle. On this point we have happily the apostle Paul as the angelus interpres. Heb. 9. 6-9, 'Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle (the first or outer room), accomplishing the service of God: but into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: the Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: which was a figure for the time then present.' In other words, the way into the true heaven, of] which the inner sanctuary was a type, was not laid open under the old economy, or by means of any of its services, but remained to be opened by Christ, of whom it is said, v. 24, that he is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.' i ch. 40. 22. Hebr. 9. 2. k ch. 40. 24. But this does not yet exhaust the pregnant import of the Mosaic symbols. Still farther light is thrown upon it, Heb. 10. 19, 20, 'Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the vail, that is to say, his flesh, let us draw near.' Here it is clear that the Vail is repre. sented as in some way shadowing forth the flesh or body of Christ, although it is perhaps at first view difficult to avoid an impression of incongruity in the imagery. What is Christ's flesh or body but himself? And how can he be described as the person entering, and yet he himself the medium through which the entrance is made? But a right view of the glorious constitution of Christ's person as God-man Mediator, and of the prominent place which he holds as the soul and centre and substance of nearly every part of the typical economy, will afford a clue to the solution of the problem. We have previously shown, if we mistake not, in our remarks upon the Cloudy Pillar, and upon the Shekinah in general, that that splendid symbol pointed directly to Christ as the central mystery which it involved. As the sombre folds of the guiding Cloud in the wilderness enshrouded the Glory of Jehovah, except when occasional displays of it were made, so the human nature or body of Christ, while he tabernacled on earth, served as a kind of temporary invelope or vail of the divine nature which dwelt within. This mystic cloud or vail of |