Êxodo 26

Êxodo 26

Guzik comments that "We approach the sanctuary from the outside in, but God builds the sanctuary from the inside out. He works in His people according to the same pattern." Tabernacle (Dwelling) (04908) see notes below on mishkan and rendered in the Septuagint here with skene - tent, booth. Comment - Chapter 26 gives the details for building the tabernacle itself. The word “tabernacle” comes from the Latin tabernaculum (“tent”), used in the Latin Vulgate to translate the Hebrew mishkan (“tent-dwelling”). The Hebrew word sometimes refers to the entire structure, including the larger area enclosed by curtains, as in Ex 25:9, and sometimes it refers to the smaller tent inside the larger area, as in Ex 26:1. Which one is intended is usually clarified by the context. (Handbook on Exodus) Curtains (03407)(yeriah from yara - to quiver) denotes a hanging, a shelter. Since tents were made out of curtains, these two words are paralleled frequently in the OT. The ark of the covenant was viewed as dwelling within curtains (2 Samuel 7:2; 1 Chron. 17:1; RSV "tent"). Gilbrant - Primarily yerîʿāh refers to the "curtains" of a tent and, in limited contexts, to the tent itself. Of its more than fifty occurrences, the majority appear in Exo. 26 and 36, where the tabernacle design is revealed, then constructed. There were ten linen "curtains" of blue, purple and scarlet, measuring twenty-eight times four cubits. They were to be woven. They were then to be linked into two sets of five curtains each. Covering the Tabernacle's interior were eleven curtains, each measuring thirty times four cubits. These curtains were waterproof, unlike the linen curtains. Exodus 36:8-17 records that Bezalel made these curtains.With the rest of the Tabernacle, the curtain sets were carried by the Gershonites as Israel journeyed (Num. 4:25). David later lamented that God's dwelling was within the "tent curtains," in stark contrast to his own palace of cedar (2 Sa 7:2). Curtains are symbolic of judgment, as curtains are destroyed (Jer. 4:20), sold (Jer 49:29) or lay unset because death has claimed the children who put them up (Jer 10:20). God's judgment makes tent curtains "tremble," according to Hab 3:7. Zion's tent curtains expand because of the work of Yahweh's rejected, suffering Servant (Isa. 54:2). The imagery is symbolic of family expansion, as new areas are prepared to accommodate descendants, a message of hope for the "barren one."The noun is used in similes in Ps 104:2, where the heavens are "stretched out like a curtain," and in SS 1:5, where the Shulamite is "black but lovely... like the curtains of Solomon." (Complete Biblical Library Hebrew-English Dictionary) Yeriah - 54x in 32v - curtain(23), curtains(28), tent curtains(3). Exod. 26:1; Exod. 26:2; Exod. 26:3; Exod. 26:4; Exod. 26:5; Exod. 26:6; Exod. 26:7; Exod. 26:8; Exod. 26:9; Exod. 26:10; Exod. 26:12; Exod. 26:13; Exod. 36:8; Exod. 36:9; Exod. 36:10; Exod. 36:11; Exod. 36:12; Exod. 36:13; Exod. 36:14; Exod. 36:15; Exod. 36:16; Exod. 36:17; Num. 4:25; 2 Sam. 7:2; 1 Chr. 17:1; Ps. 104:2; Cant. 1:5; Isa. 54:2; Jer. 4:20; Jer. 10:20; Jer. 49:29; Hab. 3:7 Psalm 104:2 = "Covering Yourself with light as with a cloak, Stretching out heaven like a tent curtain." This gives us the picture of the heavens as forming the "habitation" of God.