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 LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
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THE HIGH PRIEST 
 
THE SANCTUAipfirFsi^^_ 
 
 * NOV 7 1922 * 
 
 TENT OF MEETING 
 
 SSsuallg (falleti STJje Eabcrnacle 
 
 A SHORT STUDY OF ITS FORMS, MATERIALS, ETC. 
 
 BY 
 
 G. WOOLWORTH COLTON 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 G. W. & C. B. COLTON & COMPANY 
 
 1895 
 
Copyright 1895 
 
 BY G. W. AND C. B. COLTON & Co. 
 
 Typography by Mass, New-Church Union, Boston, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The incentive to this study was the desirabihty 
 of having a series of illustrations of the tabernacle 
 and its furniture, to accompany a new Sunday 
 School map showing the route of the Israelites 
 in their journey from Egypt to Canaan. Fail- 
 ure on a former occasion to obtain a satisfac- 
 tory result from commentators, led now to a 
 careful examination of the Bible record, and new 
 things were seen almost from the commence- 
 ment, every one of which carried with it changes 
 in other parts of the structure, so that, in the 
 end, a scheme was developed differing essen- 
 tially from anything before published. 
 
 To prove the accuracy of the conclusions 
 reached, models on accurate scales were made 
 of boards, curtains, etc. The views presented 
 
iv THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OE MEETING 
 
 here are, therefore, practical and not simply 
 theories which may fail when put to actual 
 tests. The story has been taken literally. Noth- 
 ing has been intentionally added to the plain 
 record, and everything mentioned there is be- 
 lieved to be present. The forms are simple, and 
 harmonize with our knowledge of those still pre- 
 vailing in that land of unchanging customs, and 
 thus, presumably, with those of the distant day 
 when Moses saw in vision the models he was 
 to follow. 
 
 The author, though thinking the views pre- 
 sented to be a distinct advance on those gener- 
 ally held, makes no claim to having finally set- 
 tled any controverted point. He has made too 
 many changes in his own work as his study has 
 progressed, and has been too often obliged to 
 choose between conflicting presentations, to allow 
 him to think that the view finally adopted is 
 certainly the true one. The things now seen are 
 thus presented, in the hope that students of the 
 Sacred volume may be helped thereby to form 
 correct mental pictures of this wonderful struc- 
 
PREFACE y 
 
 ture, and of its contents, and thus to create natu- 
 ral vessels that may be filled with spiritual truth. 
 
 One important object, kept constantly in mind, 
 has been to present the subject, both as to 
 parts and as a whole, in a manner which would 
 enable teachers in our Sunday Schools to be- 
 come so familiar with the details involved, that 
 they could impart them pleasantly and instruc- 
 tively to their pupils, thus helping them to 
 change otherwise dry details into things of life 
 and beauty. It is also thought that with the 
 objects plainly described and pictured, it may be 
 possible for a class of ordinarily ingenious boys 
 and girls to make a model of the building for 
 themselves. Such an attempt, even if it should 
 not prove eminently successful, could not fail 
 to fix details in their minds which would be 
 most useful to them. 
 
 The text used is the Authorized version, be- 
 cause that is in the hands of all our Sunday- 
 School teachers and scholars, although another 
 translation might, in some cases, have given a 
 clearer expression to the original. 
 
vi THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 Acknowledgement is gratefully made of the 
 help which has been cheerfully given by all of 
 whom it has been asked, as to the subtle mean- 
 ings of Hebrew words and their application to 
 this narrative ; but especially is this due to the 
 painstaking labor of a lifetime given to the in- 
 vestigation of this subject by Rev. T. O. Paine, 
 LL. D., and published by him in his great work 
 on the "Holy Houses." Widely differing from 
 his conclusions on the form of the building, the 
 arrangement of the curtains, and on other points, 
 his philological researches and the mass of facts 
 he has drawn from very many sources, has opened 
 the door for truer conceptions of the tabernacle 
 than would otherwise have been possible. 
 
 G. W. C. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGH 
 
 Preface "i- 
 
 I. The Tabernacle 3 
 
 The Use of Mishkan and Ohel 5 
 
 The Bedouin Tent 6 
 
 11. The Planks and Associated Members 8 
 
 The Planks, their Thickness and Make 9 
 
 The Corner Planks 1 1 
 
 The Rings Beneath and Above the Head .... I2 
 
 The Tenons and their Arrangement 13 
 
 The Socket-Blocks, their Form, etc 14 
 
 The Side Bars and their Rings 16 
 
 The Veil and Door Pillars and their Bars .... 18 
 
 III. The Curtains 22 
 
 The Linen and Wool Colored Curtains 23 
 
 The Colors in Stripes 24 
 
 The Loops and their Arrangement 25 
 
 The Taches, their Form 27 
 
 Doubling the Tabernacle Curtains 29 
 
 Where they were placed 29 
 
 Arrangement of the Surplus in the Corners ... 31 
 Meaning of the Horizontal, Perpendicular, and Di- 
 agonal Lines of the Curtains 31 
 
 Other Arrangements of the Curtains 33 
 
 The Cherubim, their Form and Place 35 
 
 The Holy of Holies a picture of the Holy City . . 36 
 
viii CONTENTS 
 
 III. The Curtains — Continued. page 
 
 The Goats'-Hair Tent 36 
 
 How United and where Placed 37 
 
 The Overhanging Cubit on Each Side 39 
 
 The Priests' Chambers of the Temple 40 
 
 The Tent Overhanging the Rear Wall 41 
 
 The Skin Coverings Above the Tent 41 
 
 The " Badgers' " Skins 43 
 
 IV. The Furniture 45 
 
 The Ark and the Mercy-Seat 46 
 
 The Staves of the Ark 47 
 
 The Pot of Manna and Aaron's Rod 49 
 
 The Altar of Incense 50 
 
 The Table and its Vessels 52 
 
 The Lamp-Stand and its Lamps 53 
 
 The Altar of Burnt Offering 59 
 
 The Laver 61 
 
 V. The Court and its Walls 63 
 
 The Spacing of the Court Pillars 64 
 
 The Arrangement of the Gate and of the East End 65 
 
 The Pillars of the Sides and of the West End ... 69 
 
 Height and Material of the Court Pillars 70 
 
 VI. Removal and Re-erection of the Tabernacle . 71 
 The Work Apportioned Amongst the Three Fami- 
 lies of the Levites 71 
 
 The Coverings of the Furniture 72 
 
 The Process and Order of Erection 73 
 
 The Poles Supporting the Tabernacle Curtains . . 74 
 
 VII. The Priestly Garments 76 
 
 The Linen Breeches 77 
 
 The Linen Coat 77 
 
 The Robe of Blue 78 
 
 The Bells and Pomegranates 80 
 
LIST OF ILL USTRA TIONS ix 
 
 VII. The Priestly Garments — Continued. page 
 
 The Ephod 80 
 
 The Stones of Memorial upon the Shoulders ... 81 
 
 The Breastplate, its Forna and Fabric 82 
 
 The Twelve Stones of the Breastplate 83 
 
 The Head-Dress of the High Priest 84 
 
 Conclusion ^5 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Frontispiece, Aaron's Robes. 
 
 Perspective View of the Tabernacle and its Court . 2 
 
 A Small Bedouin Tent 3 
 
 The Planks, Bars, and Pillars 8 
 
 The Twinned Corner Planks 12 
 
 The Ring " Above the Head " 12 
 
 A Socket-Block, its Form 14 
 
 The Ring " Beneath " and its Support 15 
 
 The Tenons in Pairs 15 
 
 The Middle Side Bar connected with the Middle 
 
 Bar of the Rear Series 17 
 
 The "Waf" of the Moabite Stone 19 
 
 The Bar Over the Door Pillars 20 
 
 The Pillars of the Tabernacle 20 
 
 Five Colored Curtains United 25 
 
 The Taches in their relation to the Colors .... 27 
 
 Suggested Form of the Tache 27 
 
 North and South Section of the Holy of Holies . . 29 
 
 East and West Section of the Holy of Holies ... 30 
 The Overhanging Cubit with the Taches covering 
 
 the Veil 3° 
 
 The Surplus of Curtain in the Corners 3 1 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Interior of the Tabernacle, Longitudinal View . . 32 
 
 The Goats'-Hair Tent Curtains, how United ... 37 
 
 The Goats'-Hair Tent Curtains, Longitudinal Section 38 
 
 The Goats'-Hair Tent Curtains, Cross Section ... 39 
 
 The Ark and the Mercy-Seat 45 
 
 The Altar of Incense 50 
 
 The Table 52 
 
 The Lamp-Stand or Candlestick 53 
 
 The Triple Lamp, Flower, Knop, etc 56 
 
 Ground Plan of the Tabernacle , 58 
 
 The Altar of Burnt Offering 59 
 
 The Laver 61 
 
 Ground Plan of the Court 66 
 
 The High Priest's Robes. 
 
 The Robe of Blue as Woven 79 
 
 The Robe of Blue as Prepared for Wear 79 
 
 The Robe of Blue as Worn 79 
 
 The Bells and Pomegranates 80 
 
 The Ephod and the Curious Girdle 8i 
 
I. 
 
 THE TABERNACLE. 
 
 According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the 
 tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, 
 even so shall ye make it. 
 
 And look that thou make them after their pattern, which 
 was showed thee in the mount. (Exod. xxv. 9, 40.) 
 
 The form of the tabernacle and of its furniture, 
 
 even to the minutest detail, was shown to Moses 
 
 in vision. They are therefore heavenly forms and, 
 
 as such, they are worthy of our closest and most 
 
 careful study ; not as beautiful artistic creations 
 
 3 
 
4 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 as compared with aesthetic standards of today, but 
 as containants or embodiments of spiritual truth 
 beyond our power to exhaust, and the more we 
 examine them, the more we will see in every 
 feature. 
 
 In the Mosaic record the furniture — the ark 
 with its mercy-seat, the table, and the lamp-stand 
 — is first described; then the curtains, followed 
 by the wooden walls and the socket-blocks for 
 their foundation and support ; then the veil, the 
 door curtain, the great altar, and the court hang- 
 ings. The altar of incense, one of the sacred 
 articles in the outer room of the tabernacle, is not 
 spoken of until after descriptions of the official 
 clothing of Aaron and his sons, and directions for 
 the sacrifices and ceremonials connected with their 
 induction into their high offices. 
 
 The meaning of this order it is not the province 
 of this study to explain. It is enough, here, to 
 acknowledge that every item follows the order 
 of the development of the spiritual dwelling-place 
 of the Divine in man. Here it is proposed to 
 consider briefly the things seen in the natural 
 
MISHKAN AND OHEL ^ 
 
 descriptions of the several parts — things which, 
 pointed out, seem in the main so evident that it 
 is not a little remarkable that so varying and con- 
 flicting views have prevailed and are found in our 
 commentaries. 
 
 Instead of following the order given in the 
 Word, it seems better for our present end to 
 consider the frame-work and its accessories first, 
 then the curtains to complete the structure, and 
 lastly the articles the tabernacle is to contain, 
 and which make it the sanctuary — the dwelling- 
 place of the Divine Presence ; after which we 
 will consider the Court and its curtains, and some 
 features presented in the High Priest's dress. 
 
 In the descriptions of the tabernacle two He- 
 brew words are used — Mishkdn ?ind 0/iel — both 
 meaning in general a tent used as a dwelling- 
 place. In King James's version both are ren- 
 dered sometimes ** tent," and in other places "tab- 
 ernacle." In the Revised Version a distinction is 
 made, Mishkdn being uniformly translated *' taber- 
 nacle," and 6^/^^/ " tent." Considered as to their 
 primary meaning MisJikdn has the sense of a dwell- 
 
6 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 ing-place from Shakaii, '' to lie down, to dwell," 
 and 0/iel means the ordinary tent, and is so used 
 from the time of Abram onward. But besides 
 these restricted meanings of tent and dwelling- 
 place, both words are evidently used in a broader 
 sense ; Ohel to include the spaces beneath the 
 canopy within and without the walls, and Mishkdn, 
 the whole building in all its parts and appoint- 
 ments. 
 
 The tabernacle, then, as a whole, was a tent, 
 in its essential features like the tents of the 
 nomads of the desert of that day and this, but 
 glorified in its materials and workmanship ; the 
 nearly flat tent-roof enlarged and multiplied, its 
 walls made higher and more solid, and its parti- 
 tion richer in fabric, in colors, and embroidery. 
 
 The illustration at the head of this chapter is 
 a true picture of a small Bedouin tent, remarkable 
 in showing simplicity of construction and, very 
 closely, the proportions of the' tabernacle ; for if 
 the length between the end roof-su})ports be taken 
 as a scale of thirty, the width and height of sides 
 is ten, and the height of centre the same as de- 
 
BEDOUIN TENT 
 
 manded by the curtains of the tabernacle. Ex- 
 cepting the central one, all the tent-poles are for 
 the support of the outer edge or eaves of the 
 tent, and if in their stead we should build a solid 
 wall of wood we would have a miniature taber- 
 nacle (viewed from the north), with the tent roof 
 called for, the overhanging surplusage at the back, 
 and an approach to the spaces surrounding the 
 sacred building. 
 
II. 
 
 THE PLANKS AND ASSOCIATED 
 MEMBERS. 
 
 THE PL'ANKS. BARS. AND PILLARS 
 
 And thou shalt make boards for the tabernacle of shittim 
 wood standing up. Ten cubits shall be the length of a 
 board, and a cubit and a half shall be the breadth of one 
 board. Two tenons shall there be in one board, set in order 
 one against another ; thus shalt thou make for all the boards 
 for the tabernacle. And thou shalt make the boards for the 
 tabernacle, twenty boards on the south side southward. . . . 
 And for the second side of the tabernacle on the north side 
 there shall be twenty boards. (Exod. xxvi. i 5-18, 20.) 
 
 This description vSccms to admit of but one in- 
 
 8 
 
THE PLANKS 
 
 terpretation, but still there are points to be con- 
 sidered which the making of a model has brought 
 into view. Nothing is said here of the thickness 
 of these planks, nor, clearly, of the relation of 
 the tenons each to the other, though it is evident 
 that there is a uniform rule for these, and that 
 all the planks are alike in these respects. 
 
 Josephus says that the planks were one hand- 
 breadth in thickness, and in this nearly all com- 
 mentators and illustrators have followed him. 
 Still there are indications that these planks were 
 two hand-breadths thick, one of these being the 
 necessity of extending the middle bar of the sides 
 to the extreme west end of the building, as spoken 
 of later ; and another is derived from a study of 
 Solomon's temple, which in so many ways bears 
 direct help in solving tabernacle questions. The 
 serious objection to this plan is the doubling of 
 bulk and weight in transportation — certainly a 
 thing to be considered. Our present illustrations 
 show the planks as of the greater thickness — 
 two hand-breadths. 
 
 A point that has given occasion for much criti- 
 
10 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 cism, even of profane ridicule of the sacred nar- 
 rative, is that of the possibility of procuring pieces 
 of timber of the dimensions named. Shittim 
 wood is mentioned as one of the things to be 
 brought as offerings of materials needed for the 
 building ; and in Exod. xxxv. 24, we are told 
 that every man with whom was found shittim 
 wood for any work of the service brought it ; and, 
 later, that all the materials needed were super- 
 abundant. 
 
 Shittim wood was, therefore, something which 
 in suitable form for the proposed work was with 
 many families, and in greater than the required 
 quantity. Planks of the size named — fifteen feet 
 long, twenty-seven inches wide, and six inches 
 thick after being worked down — would, indeed, 
 be difficult to procure in our best present markets ; 
 but nothing in the account makes it improbable 
 that these were manufactured — were the result 
 of man's labor in joining smaller pieces of wood 
 such as tent poles ; and a plank so made would 
 keep its integrity of shape much better than would 
 one of natural growth. In fact this seems the 
 
THE CORNER PLANKS AND RINGS \ \ 
 
 only way such massive planks could have been 
 procured. The skill to make them was certainly 
 present, and under Divine Providence the mate- 
 rials, as we have seen above, were also there. 
 And here the thought or question comes whether, 
 if the planks were made as we think they were, 
 they were necessarily solid and of greater weight 
 than if of the smaller dimensions, when they must 
 have been solid. The element of weight seems 
 to be quite as important in settling the question 
 of transportation as is that of bulk. 
 
 And for the sides of the tabernacle westward thou shalt 
 make six boards. And two boards shalt thou make for the 
 corners of the tabernacle in the two sides. 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. (ExOD. 
 xxvi. 22-24.) 
 
 Many have been the attempts to make a satis- 
 factory explanation of this very simple account — 
 simple when it is once seen. Six boards are first 
 described, all alike, and in every respect, as to 
 size, tenons, and socket-blocks, like the forty on 
 the north and south sides ; but the two subse- 
 
12 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OP MEETING 
 
 quently pictured are different, or they would not 
 have been so particularly noticed. These two 
 corner planks were, as a whole, exactly like the 
 others ; the difference is that they are each cut 
 into two nearly equal parts. A cubit 
 and a half is nine hand-breadths and the 
 nearest we can come to an unfractional 
 equal division of these is four and five, 
 and, so divided, each of the pieces has a 
 tenon and a socket-block. The two are 
 angled, and are joined to the last plank 
 of the side series by a ring ''beneath" and 
 a ring "above the head." These rings 
 are countersunk into the body of the 
 
 
 
 Kv>^ 
 
 '/2 cu ^9 hand breadths 
 
 planks, and unite the 
 three members of each 
 corner into firm startingf 
 points for the construc- 
 tion of the walls which, 
 as we will see, are thus 
 so strongly united as to need no addition of cords 
 or mortises or plates to prevent either collapse or 
 outward spread. 
 
 Upper end of planks, 
 north wesl corner'. show- 
 ing manner of couplin.^by 
 the Rin^ above the Head . 
 
The tenons 
 
 n 
 
 In some plans of the tabernacle the planks are 
 assumed to need support, and they are shown as 
 tongued and grooved, or with dowels ; in others, 
 plates are added on the top over the joints for 
 the same purpose, but such additions seem unnec- 
 essary with the corners well secured, the cross 
 bars to be spoken of later, and the long outside 
 bars called for in the description. 
 
 The tenons, two to each plank, are not de- 
 scribed as to size or materials. Josephus speaks 
 of them as having been of silver and, of course, 
 as driven into the body of the board ; but this 
 seems not so likely a plan as that they were 
 projections of the body of the plank, especially 
 if, as seems probable, these were manufactured by 
 joining several smaller pieces, in which case the 
 extension of the proper member would give the 
 desired result. Then, too, such a tenon with its 
 larger surface and greater purchase would be 
 much stronger and more useful than would a 
 smaller one of silver. The position of these ten- 
 ons on the planks is determined by the necessity 
 of having a socket-block under each corner for 
 
H 
 
 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OE MEETING 
 
 the support of the ring beneath the twinned 
 boards. Dr. Paine in his great and exhaustive 
 work on the " Holy Houses " demonstrates that 
 a talent of silver, the amount contained in each 
 of the socket-blocks (Exod. xxxviii. 27), would 
 make exactly nine cubic hand-breadths, and ex- 
 periment with different forms has led to the 
 adoption of 4 x 2 1-2 hand-breadths = 10, from 
 which take out the area required by the socket 
 and 9 square hand-breadths are left, 
 in a shape to give greater strength 
 and stability to the structure than 
 if square. This shape also fits the 
 requirements of support under the 
 corners of the building for the ring which must 
 be beneath, and that the planks must be ten- 
 oned alike. They are in pairs. They cannot 
 be separated further, or be equally spaced under 
 the whole extent of wall, nor can they be brought 
 closer together and give the necessary support to 
 the bottom ring, as an examination of the dia- 
 gram or experiment will show. It now rests not 
 only on the corner block, but also on those ad- 
 
 
 
 
 
 p. 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
TENONS AND SOCKETS 
 
 15 
 
 joining it on both sides. 
 
 Under end of corner 
 planks, showing the Ring 
 and its three supporting 
 
 The Revised Version 
 of ExoD. XXXV, 2, 
 reads, " two tenons 
 joined one to an- 
 other," where the Au- 
 thorized Version 
 reads, " two tenons 
 equally distant one 
 
 \i^^ socket blocks 
 
 from another." This seems to mean, as here 
 developed, that they were separated somewhat, 
 but nearer together as pairs, than each pair was 
 from the next. 
 
 ^ \ fS^ah.b.jtl 4!^"hb 
 
 
 This plan makes the inner line of the socket- 
 blocks flush with the inner face of the planks, 
 and outside they project much as the feet of a 
 file of soldiers, in pairs. It may also be noted 
 that the extreme width of the foundation on the 
 west end, from the outside of southern corner 
 socket-block to the outside of the northern corner, 
 is exactly twelve cubits — a measure which seems 
 to be associated with this place. 
 
1 6 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OE MEETING 
 
 And thou shalt make bars of shittim wood ; five for the 
 boards of the one side of the tabernacle and five bars for 
 the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars 
 for the boards of the side of the tabernacle. for the two sides 
 westward. And the middle bar in the midst of the boards 
 shall reach from end to end. 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. 
 (ExoD. xxvi. 26-29.) 
 
 Nothing is said of the thickness of these bars, 
 but the probabihties are that they were a hand- 
 breadth in diameter ; and this conclusion is 
 reached in part by the requirement that the 
 middle bar of each of the side series must extend 
 from end to end of the building. This diameter 
 admits the bar to extend through the return or 
 elbow of the end plank, without materially weaken- 
 ing it (that is if the planks were two hand-breadths 
 in thickness), to the corresponding bar of the west 
 end, and, with a dowel on the end of the side bar, 
 to enter into a socket in the other as Josephus 
 says it did. Any one constructing a model of 
 the tabernacle on a scale, say of two inches to a 
 cubit, will recognize the importance of this feature 
 and the secure locking of the sides together, 
 
SIDE BARS AND RINGS 
 
 17 
 
 thereby leaving no possible chance for spreading 
 of the walls 
 at the end. ( 
 
 The four 
 remaining bars of each series 
 were two in the upper tier and 
 two in the lower, and these were probably of 
 nearly equal length. These do not appear to 
 have gone through to the extreme west end of 
 the building, but seem to have stopped at the 
 easterly face of the elbow of the corner plank. 
 
 The rings usually represented as round were 
 more probably flat, like sections of a tube ; for 
 such rings could be as readily and as firmly at- 
 tached to the planks as if round, and there would 
 be no staples, or their equivalent, to interfere with 
 the free passage of a round bar through them. 
 With the corners of the building secured both 
 by the rings and the bars as above described, 
 one such ring on a plank for each series is all- 
 sufficient for strength, and, indeed, is far better 
 in use than two. 
 
 All the forty-eight planks and the fifteen bars 
 
I 3 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 were to be overlaid with gold, but whether this 
 was in the form of plates or of gold-leaf we are 
 not informed. It must have been thin, for no al- 
 lowance seems to have been made for it in pre- 
 paring the wood form. The dimensions given 
 include the gold. 
 
 The pillars for the veil and for the door-screen 
 with the bars supported by them, were to be of 
 wood and gold covered. 
 
 And thou shalt hang it [the veil] upon four pillars of 
 shittim wood overlaid with gold : their hooks shall be of 
 gold, upon the four sockets of silver. . . . And thou shalt 
 make for the hanging [the door screen] five pillars of shittim 
 wood, and overlay them with gold, and their hooks shall 
 be of gold : and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for 
 them. (ExoD. xxvi. 32, 37.) 
 
 The height of the veil pillars is not given, nor 
 if round or square in form. The only instruction 
 bearing on this point is, that the veil is to hang 
 below the tachcs joining the united sets of linen 
 and wool curtains that formed the tabernacle 
 proper. These taches, it will be shown later, were 
 not more than one cubit below the top of the side 
 planks, and thus these pillars, with their hcoks 
 
THE VEIL AND DOORBARS 19 
 
 and the bar they supported, must have been as 
 hig-h as the walls — ten cubits. Dr. Paine, in the 
 work before mentioned, states that the word trans- 
 lated hooks — waf — in its ancient form as shown 
 on the Moabite stone is shaped 
 thus : and such a form upon the 
 top of each of the four pillars is pre- 
 cisely the thing needed as a rest for 
 a bar which, extending from wall to 
 wall, would serve as a support both for the veil 
 and for the rich colored curtains of the tabernacle. 
 This bar would also greatly strengthen the walls 
 and effectually prevent all danger of collapse. 
 The same arrangement for the door screen seems 
 even more demanded than for the veil, for there 
 not only is that curtain to be supported, but pro- 
 vision must be made for the goats'-hair tent and 
 the outer skin coverings, which if not so held in 
 place must have special support. The centre line 
 of these door pillars naturally comes on the line 
 of the front edge of the first side planks, or thirty 
 cubits from the west end of the enclosed area ; 
 the centre of the bar, therefore, is in the same 
 
20 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 vertical plane, or one half is beyond the front line 
 of the building. By halving the bar and letting 
 
 THE BAR OVER THE DOOR PI LLA RS. SUPPORTING THE ROOF COVERINGS 
 
 from above /rem the inside from the outside 
 
 
 it project along the face of the end planks we not 
 only give support to the walls, as we did 
 with the bar of the veil pillars, but we 
 give a firm rest to the goats'-hair tent 
 and its outer skin-coverings which, in 
 their turn, add stability to the structure 
 and bind all its parts securely together. 
 
 It is possible that both the veil and the 
 door screen were double and were thrown 
 over the bar, thus covering both sides of 
 the pillars ; or it may be that one or the 
 other, or both, were single, in which case 
 hooks must be added to the pillars and 
 rings to the curtains. We incline to the 
 opinion that the veil was double, show- 
 
 in^^ the cherubim on the inner side only, and 
 
THE TABERNACLE PILLARS 21 
 
 these in size and position to match those on the 
 north, south, and west sides of the Most Holy ; 
 and that, because of the great pressure from the 
 roof-coverings upon the front bar and the conse- 
 quent difficulty in hanging the door curtain over 
 it, that that curtain was single and suspended 
 from hooks in the pillars under the overhanging 
 doubled eleventh goats'-hair curtain, as the veil 
 was under the overhanging tabernacle curtains and 
 their taches. We think, too, that the pillars were 
 more likely rectangular than round, because in 
 this form their bases would have firmer support, 
 the upper face would present a better place for 
 hooks from w^hich to hang a curtain, and would 
 bring the edges of the curtains into closer con- 
 nection with the walls. 
 
III. 
 
 THE CURTAINS. 
 
 Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains 
 of fine-twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet : with 
 cherubim of cunning work shalt thou make them. The 
 length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and 
 the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and every one of 
 the curtains shall have one measure. The five curtains shall 
 be coupled together one to another ; and other five curtains 
 shall be coupled one to another. And thou shalt make loops 
 of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge 
 in the coupling; and likewise shalt thou make in the utter- 
 most edge of another curtain, in the coupling of the second. 
 Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain and fifty loops 
 shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the 
 coupling of the second ; that the loops may take hold one 
 of another. And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and 
 couple the curtains together with the taches : and it shall be 
 one tabernacle. (Exod. xxvi. i-6.) 
 
 In the above description we have many items, 
 all important and each bearing on every other — 
 the materials of which the curtains were made; 
 
 23 
 
THE COLORED CURTAINS 33 
 
 their colors ; the method of joining each five into 
 a single curtain ; how the loops were made ; what 
 were the taches and how they were used ; and, 
 finally, where these curtains were placed. There 
 is no unanimity of view among commentators on 
 any one of these points, and the thoughts upon 
 them presented here are essentially different 
 from any known to have been published hereto- 
 fore. 
 
 There is little doubt about the linen having 
 been the thread of the warp, or that the colored 
 threads were the filling, and of wool. This is 
 not so stated, but it is inferred from the fact that 
 the linen is always spoken of as a material dis- 
 tinct from that which was dyed. Cloth made 
 of a combination of linen and wool was certainly 
 known to the people, but its use for clothing was 
 forbidden except to the priest. But here the 
 cloth was not for garments and the prohibition 
 consequently does not apply. 
 
 The colors of the wool are always named in 
 the same order— Blue, Purple, and Scarlet. We 
 are not told how these were associated or used, 
 
24 
 
 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 but stripes are not only the simplest arrange- 
 ment, but it is the one in common use today 
 among the desert peoples, and it seems probable 
 that these curtains, and the others of similar ma- 
 terials, were woven in stripes. Experiment in 
 trying to fit the taches upon stripes so as to fol- 
 low some order representing or embodying spir- 
 itual truth, seems to support this assumption and 
 to prove that the stripes were each a hand-breadth 
 in width. 
 
 The colors here called blue, purple, and scarlet 
 were not those we know by those names. The 
 blue was warmed by a considerable infusion of 
 red. Our purple is a color midway between blue 
 and red, whereas this was a deep crimson inclined 
 towards blue, but still far from the idea conveyed 
 by the name purple as popularly used. The scar- 
 let would more properly be described as "Flame" 
 color. We thus have in the colors named an 
 ascending series. "These three colors serve most 
 accurately to discriminate the threefold quality of 
 the sincere worshipper, i. Blue, descriptive of 
 the quality of celestial light or truth ; 2, Crimson 
 
THE COLORED CURTAINS 
 
 25 
 
 (purple), the quality and brilliancy of celestial heat 
 or love in the affections of the will ; and 3, 
 Flame (scarlet), denoting the quality and warmth 
 of enlightened faith and mutual charity reflected 
 in the outward life." Madcley. 
 
 The ten curtains of ,^ ...k». 
 
 d\j cubits 
 
 equal size, each four 
 cubits by twenty-eight 
 cubits, were joined so as 
 to form two sets of five 
 each, the joining being 
 undoubtedly on the sel- 
 vedges, thus making the 
 joined curtain twenty cu- 
 bits by twenty-eight. 
 
 These two sets of five each were then united 
 by means of loops of blue and taches of gold. 
 
 The loops and their associated taches have 
 caused much speculation, and many ingenious 
 plans have been devised to answer the require- 
 ments ; but the one which seems to satisfy the 
 demand better than any other is, that the loops 
 were such as would be made by stretching a 
 
26 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 piece of cord out and fastening the ends as far 
 apart as possible, rather than the usual form of 
 attaching the ends to the fabric close together. 
 Or, better still it would seem, using a single long 
 cord, sewing tight and leaving a space alternately. 
 Two curtains so treated laid one upon the other, 
 and the taches of the A. V. or the clamps of the 
 R. V. inserted in the loops, the two would be 
 closely united. These loops on both curtains 
 were especially directed to be of blue, and to be 
 fifty in number. Much time and labor was spent 
 in efforts to make these loops and taches fall into 
 some manifest order in their relation to the 
 stripes of color in the curtains, but not until the 
 curtains were actually made in scale, the stripes 
 each a hand-breadth wide, and the taches, each a 
 hand-breadth in length, were spaced upon it, did 
 the order appear. It is this : the stripes being 
 one hand-breadth in width, the space between the 
 taches is two and one-third stripes, the first in a 
 series is a tache on a blue stripe, the second is 
 two-thirds blue and one third red, the third is 
 one-third blue and two-thirds red, the fourtli 
 
Th^ taches 
 
 27 
 
 all red, the fifth two-thirds red and one-third 
 orange, the sixth one-third red and two-thirds 
 orange, the seventh all orange, the eighth two- 
 thirds orange and one-third blue, the ninth one- 
 third orange and two-thirds blue, the tenth, like 
 the first, all blue ; and so through the whole 
 series : the fifty, with the end fastenings, exactly 
 fining the length of twenty-eight cubits, thus 
 confirmino- the selection of a hand-breadth as 
 the width of the stripes. 
 
 THE TACHES IN RELATION TO THE COLORS 
 
 What the form of the taches was is not plainly 
 seen. They were attachments of the curtains, 
 connecting the two united sets of five each so 
 closely that they two were made one. A search 
 in Egyptian collections has failed to show any 
 thino- more likely than a spirally-twisted wire — 
 
 a form used at the time in earrings and in some 
 
28 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 other places. This form seems to answer the 
 requirements, and, in the absence of anything 
 better, it is suggested as an approach to the 
 tache of the tabernacle. 
 
 As to the place where these curtains were 
 used there is a diversity of opinion, some hang- 
 ing them about both rooms inside, some in dif- 
 ferent ways both inside and outside under the 
 goats'-hair tent. Apparently the only definite 
 instruction which bears on this question is "and 
 thou shalt hang up the veil underneath the 
 taches " (Exod. xxvi. 33). The line of taches, 
 the joining of the two curtains, must therefore 
 be over the bar or pillars supporting the veil. 
 This requirement must be closely kept in mind. 
 The fine texture and their coloring and embroid- 
 ery seem to indicate that they were an in-door 
 fabric, and the cherubim upon them point to the 
 Holy of Holies, the home of the ark with its 
 mercy-seat and cherubim, as the place where 
 they were used. They formed the tabernacle in 
 the restricted use of that word, and that room, 
 like the Oracle in the temple, was a cube — its 
 
POSITION OF CURTAINS 20 
 
 length, its breadth, and its height each ten cu- 
 bits, as the Oracle was twenty in each measure. 
 To limit these curtains to these dimensions we 
 must double them. Nothing is said in the 
 record about doubling ; but, except we do so, 
 there seems no way of using them not full of 
 difficult and objectionable features, such as the 
 addition of poles not mentioned in the Word. 
 
 Experiment with accurately proportioned cur- 
 tains in a large model has developed the plan 
 here shown. The veil being across the room, 
 north and south, the edge of this curtain with 
 the taches must be in that line, and the lengfth 
 of the curtain being twenty-eight cubits we see 
 that it will, after crossing the roof of ten cubits, 
 descend on each side nine cubits, or to within 
 
 one cubit of the floor. In 
 the other direction the joined 
 and doubled curtain is twent}- 
 cubits and starting one cubit 
 from the floor, as on the 
 north and south sides we have nine cubits on 
 the back, ten cubits on the roof, and one cubit 
 
30 
 
 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 with the taches hano:ino: over the bar of the veil 
 
 pillars. This overplus of 
 one cubit also extends along 
 
 10 cu 
 
 
 the sides against the north 
 and south boards, and thus 
 the veil hung upon the pil- 
 lars supporting the bar, will be literally under the 
 taches, not only those on the 
 top, but also those on both 
 sides — all of the fifty. No- 
 tice, too, that the veil is thus 
 kept securely in position, the 
 weight of the taches contributing to this end, 
 and that there is no danger of exposure of the 
 inner room from the swaying of the curtain, as 
 might be the case if not so thoroughly protected. 
 This seems to fully answer the requirements 
 named. The interior room thus made, besides 
 bcino- in the cubic form, resembles the Oracle of 
 the temple, in being a dark room, and this seems 
 an essential point, whether viewed naturally or 
 spiritually. 
 
 l^ut the curtain besides being doubled has a 
 
ARRANGEMENT OF THE CURTAINS 
 
 31 
 
 large surplus in the corners. How this is dis- 
 posed of is shown in a 
 
 ^ 9 K io ' 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 S^iipkis^ 
 
 W(5St 
 
 Ead 
 
 Surplus : 
 
 Horth 
 3 ide 
 
 Roof 
 
 !5outl 
 Side 
 
 L 
 
 O 
 
 model. The corners are 
 supported by poles, and 
 the surplus is draped 
 about them completely 
 hiding them and adding 
 greatly to the appear- 
 ance of the room. And 
 here we should notice 
 a feature which at first 
 
 sight may seem to be a blemish, namely, that 
 the stripes are lengthwise, or horizontal on the 
 sides, and perpendicular on the w^est end and in 
 the overhanging front. This necessarily follows 
 from the covering being in one piece ; but as 
 we think of the signification of lines, we see 
 that there is a meaning in this arrangement ; for 
 these horizontal lines running east and west 
 have reference to the love principle of the 
 mind, and perpendicular lines, or width, or dis- 
 tance north and south, point to degrees of wis- 
 dom or intelligence in spiritual things. In the 
 

 \^ 
 
 y 
 
 
 sa 
 
OTHER PLACES PROPOSED 3^ 
 
 corner drapery the lines naturally fall into diag- 
 onal lines, and these represent principles con- 
 necting those shown by the others, or such as re- 
 sult from their union in thought and life. There 
 seems to be no point connected with this study 
 which does not develop phases from which spir- 
 itual truth may be drawn. 
 
 In the scheme just presented, this set of cur- 
 tains is considered as having sole reference to 
 the single inner room containing the ark and its 
 holy treasure, and as in themselves forming the 
 tabernacle in the restricted use of the name, and 
 not as forming a part of the tent, as do the goats'- 
 hair curtains and its two skin-coverings. But this 
 view is not in line with the thought of some who 
 have given this subject much more attention than 
 we have, and whose opinions we feel should be 
 presented for the judgment of the reader. Some 
 see these rich curtains as an under covering of 
 the goats'-hair tent, and as being the roof seen 
 in both of the rooms and under the overhanging 
 sides and rear of the tent outside the walls ; others 
 think they covered the roof of both rooms and 
 
34 
 
 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 hung down on the outside of the gilded planks ; 
 and still others, that they covered the inner walls 
 of both rooms as well as the roof or ceiling. The 
 first and second arrangements leave the walls of 
 the interior entirely uncovered and make no dis- 
 crimination between the outer and the inner room 
 in the matter of curtains : they adorn the outer 
 ceiling in the one case, and the exterior walls in 
 the other, and present structural difficulties not 
 easy to remove. The third plan would require 
 for its fulfilment a number of poles along the 
 sides of the rooms, to hold up the curtains, or 
 the mutilation of the walls themselves for that 
 purpose. We see no way of adopting either of 
 the suggestions made, on account of these and 
 other structural difficulties, though we must ad- 
 mit that there are expressions in the descriptions, 
 and in the authorized explanations of them, that 
 seem to support each of the plans named. 
 
 There is still a point to be spoken of here — 
 the cherubim. These are mentioned in many 
 places in the Word and in various forms. They 
 were evidently purely representative figures and 
 
THE CHERUBIM 35 
 
 not the image of any living earthly creature. 
 They combined something of the human with the 
 wino-s of the bird and the feet of the calf; and 
 in some the faces of the lion and the eagle are 
 added to those of a man and the cherub. In 
 some cases they had hands, in others it is inferred 
 that they were without them. All we can do, 
 therefore, is to show something indefinite, with 
 the acknowledgment that it is the merest ap- 
 proximation and without definite authority. 
 
 These remarks apply to the cherubs on the 
 mercy-seat as well as to those embroidered on 
 the tabernacle curtains. 
 
 We have seen that the bottom of these curtains 
 on the three sides of the room are one cubit from 
 the floor, and if these figures are placed one-half 
 cubit from their lower edge they will be on the 
 same level with cherubs on the mercy-seat. As 
 to size, those on the mercy-seat must have been 
 two cubits in height, with wings spreading two 
 cubits or one cubit each. This will give two 
 pairs on each of the four sides of the room after 
 allowing for the draping in the corners, 
 
36 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OE MEETING 
 
 We see this room, as described above, with its 
 length and breadth and height equal, the cherubs 
 surrounding it and the three spaces on each side 
 formed by them — cherubs on either hand and 
 outstretched wings meeting above — and in it a 
 picture is presented of the Holy City, the new 
 Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 
 having the glory of God . . . and a wall great 
 and high, and twelve gates ... on the east three 
 gates ; on the north three gates ; on the south 
 three gates ; and on the west three gates. . . . 
 And the city lieth four square . . . the length 
 and the breadth and the height of it are equal. 
 
 The next curtains mentioned are those of goats' 
 hair, described as a covering for the tabernacle 
 and as a tent. 
 
 And thou shalt make curtains of goats' hair to be a cov- 
 ering upon the tabernacle : eleven curtains shalt thou make. 
 The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the 
 breadth of one curtain four cubits ; and the eleven curtains 
 shall be all of one measure. And thou shalt couple five 
 curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and 
 shalt double the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tab- 
 ernacle. And thou shalt make fifty loops on the edge of 
 the one curtain that is outermost in the coupling, and fifty 
 
THE GOATS'-HAIK TENT 
 
 37 
 
 loops in the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second. 
 And thou shalt make fifty taches of brass, and put the taches 
 into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be 
 one. And the remnant that remaineth of the curtains of the 
 tent, the half curtain that remaineth shall hang over the 
 back side of the tabernacle. And a cubit on the one side, 
 and a cubit on the other side of that which remaineth in 
 the length of the curtains of the tent, it shall hang over the 
 sides of the tabernacle, on this side and on that side, to 
 cover it. (ExoD. xxvi. 7-13.) 
 
 The directions for size and number are plain, 
 and admit of no misconstruction. Eleven cur- 
 tains, each thirty cubits long and four wide, 
 are first made into two sets of five and six, and 
 these united by fifty brass taches make a sin- 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 z 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 je _ 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 he 
 
 
 
 
 
 (0 
 
 (t) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 3! 
 
 
 Half ( 
 
 'urta 
 
 n 
 
 
 
 
 (0 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^'» 
 
 > 1 
 
 Y\ 
 
 VE 
 
 C^ 
 
 rfF 
 
 TAII 
 
 rs 
 
 en 
 
 SIX 
 
 CUH 
 
 TAIl^ 
 
 fS 
 
 
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 2 
 
 D cbbi 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 
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 bits 
 
 
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 CQ 
 
 
 
 
 
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 Hem 
 
 jinet 
 
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 1 
 
 — 1 
 
 10 CU X 
 
 31 CU. 
 
 ^' 
 
 gle united tent covering thirty by forty-four 
 
38 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 cubits. One-half of the western united curtain 
 of five is to hang over the back of the plank 
 wall, and one-half of the eleventh single cur- 
 tain is to be doubled over the other half and 
 lie, evenly divided, over the bar above the door- 
 screen pillars — the forefront of the building. 
 
 
 
 
 
 z 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 ■*''''""^5fi.<, T, 
 
 ^'— -2^ 
 
 i,..4^ 
 
 ^^5 6 
 
 
 
 
 '" 
 
 
 
 
 K 
 
 
 <n 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 V^ 
 
 »j 
 
 — 
 
 
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 u 
 
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 /■^ 
 
 h 
 
 V 
 
 
 •— 
 
 
 
 (<- 
 
 
 u 
 O 
 
 > 
 V 
 
 x: 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 1- 
 
 « 
 o 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 h- 
 
 LONGITUDINAL SECTION Showing Goals Hair Tent Curtains 
 
 This leaves seven and one-half curtains and one- 
 quarter of the doubled eleventh, or thirty-one cu- 
 bits in all, to cover the thirty cubits of the inside 
 length of the building and the thickness of the 
 rear wall, thus admitting of an elevation of the 
 centre to a height sufficient to shed water in a 
 rain storm. Thus we dispose of the length of the 
 united curtains satisfactorily ; but when we come 
 to the width, we arc met by old ideas which seem 
 to restrict it to an overhanging on the sides, of 
 only one cubit from the upper line of the plank 
 
THE OVERHANGING CUBIT 
 
 39 
 
 wall, and so long as that thought prevails we can 
 come to no satisfactory solution of the problem. 
 Every combination of the curtains in fives and 
 sixes and elevens which could be thought of has 
 been made and tried on our model, and, while 
 some answered in many respects, all were most 
 unsatisfactory somewhere, and had to be laid aside 
 as failing to give a full answer. The plan finally 
 seen to be a complete fulfilment of the require- 
 ments is as follows. 
 
 All through these descriptions things are taken 
 as present which have not yet been spoken of. 
 So here, where reference is made to a cubit on 
 each side over or beyond the size of something 
 else, reference, we think, is made to the two skin 
 coverings which are to lie upon it ; and from 
 this we get one of the dimensions of those cover- 
 ings, namely, 
 twenty - eight 
 cubits, or two 
 cubits less 
 CROSS SECTIONS than the thir- 
 
 ty of the goats'-hair tent. We have from this 
 
 Half seciion of 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 y^ 
 
 One half West end 
 
 \k\AA\c^ i"*'^ 
 
 
 t . . . . 
 
 
 Mluule. ^ JT 
 
 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 
 
 Xo 
 
 y 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 ^« 
 
 yjr 
 
 o 
 
 U 
 
 O 
 
 \. ^ 
 
 \ cyl 51* cu 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 O 
 
 6 CO. rs^cu. 
 
 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
AQ THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 a resulting form for the goats'-hair tent like that 
 shown above ; the one cubit which is the remain- 
 der on each side, after covering it by skins, is 
 seen to ''hang over the sides of the tabernacle, 
 on this side and on that side to cover it." 
 
 A confirmation of this plan is found in the 
 study of temple forms and the fixed relation of 
 dimensions, etc., seen between the two buildings ; 
 for the distance between the overhanging cubit 
 of the goats'-hair tent and the planks is ex- 
 actly one-half those of corresponding portions of 
 the temple — the hall ways or passages surround- 
 ing it, and the priests' chambers opening into 
 them — namely five and one-half cubits in the mid- 
 dle section, and six cubits in the end sections. 
 
 This difference in the two places is caused by 
 the elevation in the centre, which requires twelve 
 cubits between the outer lines of the walls at 
 that point, whereas between the same points at 
 the ends there is but ten and two-thirds cubits 
 so taken up. To be literal, therefore, and make 
 the overhanging part of the goats'-hair tent one 
 cubit throughout the whole length, the outer line 
 
THE TENT OVERHANGING THE REAR ^j 
 
 of the curtain edge cannot be straight, but must 
 be slightly concave (as shown in the ground 
 plan of the Court, etc., p. 66), 
 
 A very interesting feature developed in this 
 arrangement of the goats'-hair curtains is the 
 tent or living accommodation on the back of the 
 western end of the building. That there was 
 something of the kind connected with the tab- 
 ernacle, as there certainly was with the temple, 
 is evident from the fact that Aaron and his sons 
 remained in the tabernacle seven days during 
 their consecration, and it is said that Joshua de- 
 parted not from the tabernacle. Both of these 
 statements involve such a place as is furnished 
 by this tent in the rear of the building, and they 
 seem to confirm the correctness of the plan. 
 
 The remaining outside coverings are described 
 in few words, but these contain much to puzzle 
 the investigator. They are : 
 
 And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams' 
 skins dyed red, and a covering above of badgers' skins. 
 (ExOD. xxvi. 14.) 
 
 The order in which these and the others are 
 
42 
 
 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OE MEETING 
 
 mentioned is always the same, proceeding from 
 the inside outward — i, the tabernacle; 2, the 
 goats'-hair tent ; 3, the rams' skins ; and 4, those 
 called badgers' skins ; and these skins are said to 
 be a covering above the others, and there con- 
 sequently they must go. 
 
 As to the size of these skin coverings, it has 
 been remarked that they were two cubits smaller 
 than the goats'-hair tent, or twenty-eight cubits 
 in their north and south dimensions. East and 
 west we may assume that they extended over 
 the entrance and the rear wall about as much 
 as over the sides. 
 
 Did these skins have hair upon them, or were 
 they dressed like leather } The same Hebrew 
 word is used for skins as taken from the animal, 
 and for those dressed for clothing or for bottles, 
 and we get no light there except as we learn 
 that the root word signifies something bare, 
 smooth, or naked. We are justified, therefore, 
 in deciding that these skins were leather and 
 without the hair. The lower of the two cover- 
 ings then, in this light, is of rams' skins or leather 
 
THE BADGERS' SKINS 
 
 43 
 
 dyed Red. What shall we say of those called 
 badgers' skins ? Scholars have examined this 
 matter from all sides. Certainly there are no 
 wild animals in the Mount Sinai peninsula now, 
 nor have we evidence of there having been at 
 the time of the Exodus, whose skins would an- 
 swer the demand. The Revised version gives 
 the name " Seal " skins, and in the margin " Por- 
 poise " ; but neither of these seems to fit the 
 case, and, if this were different, the use of the 
 skins of an unclean animal in such a relation to 
 this Holy building seems unlikely, if not en- 
 tirely inadmissible. We get some light on the 
 subject by noticing that the innermost curtains 
 are essentially a sheep product — wool ; the next 
 are a goat product — goats' -hair cloth; the 
 third are again sheep — rams' skins dyed red ; 
 and analogy suggests that the fourth was of 
 goat or kid skins. They certainly were some- 
 thing which was in the houses (tents) of the 
 people, like the shittim-wood, the gold, silver, 
 and copper, the dye stuffs, the wool and goats' 
 hair, the spices, the oil, and the precious stones. 
 
44 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OE MEETING 
 
 They were not sent for from a distance ; they 
 were with them and a part of the offerings 
 brought in answer to the call of Moses (see 
 ExoD. XXXV. 23). Further, in the Septuagint 
 the passage reads, " Rams' skins dyed red and 
 hyacinth;" not an animal but a skin colored the 
 peculiar blue before spoken of, as the others are 
 colored red. And Josephus, perhaps an authority 
 of little value here, though he may have been 
 taught by traditions since lost, says of them, 
 "viewed ... at a distance . . . they seemed 
 not at all to differ from the color of the sky." 
 (Book III. Chap. vi. 4.) 
 
 A correspondent, well qualified to speak on 
 the subject, suggested that the two skin cover- 
 ings were of equal value and that neither cov- 
 ered the entire building ; but that one was over 
 the holy place, and the other over the most holy, 
 illustrating the thought both from nature and 
 from the correspondences indicated by the colors 
 and the materials themselves. The suggestion 
 is given here that it may be thought of, and 
 perhaps lead to a determination of an interesting 
 point. 
 
IV. 
 
 THE FURNITURE. 
 
 The descriptions of size and materials of the 
 several articles are simple and precise. Still the 
 effort to make of them something ornamental 
 and elaborate in beautiful details, according to 
 our modern standards, has led many illustrators 
 to add features not supplied in the narrative. 
 The pictures here presented are, in the main, 
 those developed by Rev. Dr. Paine. They are 
 
 45 
 
46 
 
 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 severely simple in their forms ; but better so 
 than add items purely of the fancy. 
 
 THE ARK AND THE MERCY-SEAT. 
 
 And they shall make an ark of shittim wood : two cubits 
 and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a 
 half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height 
 thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within 
 and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a 
 crown of gold round about. And thou shalt cast four rings 
 of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof; 
 and two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings 
 in the other side of it. And thou shalt make staves of 
 shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt 
 put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that 
 the ark may be borne with them. The staves shall be in 
 the rings of the ark : they shall not be taken from it. And 
 thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which 1 sliall give 
 thee. (ExoD. XXV. 10-16.) 
 
 This gold-covered wooden chest or box, with 
 its covering mercy-seat of gold, was made to en- 
 close and protect the tables of stone — the testi- 
 mony — to be given to Moses ; and because of 
 the presence of these it was the essential and 
 most holy thing connected with the tabernacle. 
 It was the sole occupant of the richly-curtained 
 Holy of Holies — the cubic room, occupying the 
 
THE ARK 
 
 47 
 
 western end of the building — and about it the 
 Divine Presence manifested itself visibly, not only 
 to Moses and Aaron, but to the whole consfreofa- 
 tion of Israel. 
 
 There are some things to be particularly noted 
 respecting the Ark. The size is precisely stated 
 — in our measure forty-five inches long, twenty- 
 seven inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high. 
 The crown, or border, about its upper edge seems 
 to have been, in part at least, for the purpose of 
 retaining the cover, the mercy-seat, in its place. 
 The rings on the sides for the bars or staves were 
 of gold, and the staves themselves, wood in body, 
 were covered with gold. These staves were not 
 to be withdrawn, as were those of the other arti- 
 cles in the eastern room, but were to remain in 
 the rings, and yet in Numb. iv. 6, where the mov- 
 ing of the camp is described, it is directed that 
 the staves should be put in the Ark. How put 
 in if not previously removed ? In the temple the 
 staves of the Ark were drawn out, not entirely, 
 but enough for their presence and place to be 
 seen in the outer room (i Kings viii. 8), and so 
 
43 
 
 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 they probably were here. They were drawn for- 
 ward so as to push out the veil and make their 
 position known ; and this shows that all the illus- 
 trations or ground plans of the tabernacle which 
 place the Ark across the Holy of Holies — on a 
 north and south line — are in error. We know 
 of no single one which is correct in this respect. 
 It should be placed on the central east and west 
 line of the axis of the building. 
 
 And thou shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold : two cu- 
 bits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and 
 a half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt make two cher- 
 ubim of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the 
 two ends of the mercy-seat. And make one cherub on the 
 one end, and the other cherub on the other end : even of 
 the mercy-seat shall ye make the cherubim on the two ends 
 thereof. And the cherubim shall stretch forth their wings 
 on high, covering the mercy-seat with their wings, and their 
 faces shall look one to another; towards the mercy-seat 
 shall the faces of the cherubim be. And thou shalt put the 
 mercy-seat above upon the ark ; and in the ark thou shalt 
 put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will 
 meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above 
 the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim which are 
 upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will 
 give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel. 
 (EXOD. XXV. 17-22.) 
 
 The mercy-seat was not of wood like the body 
 
THE MERCY-SEAT AND THE CHERUBIM ^q 
 
 of the Ark, but of pure gold, and upon it stood 
 the two cherubs with outstretched wings. These 
 cherubs must have been a Httle removed inwards 
 from the edge and so, probably, just two cubits 
 apart at their feet. This would make the wings 
 each one cubit long, or with a spread of two cu- 
 bits ; and if of an approach to human proportions 
 they would stand about two cubits in height as 
 figured in the illustration. The form of these 
 cherubim has been spoken of in connection with 
 the tabernacle curtains. 
 
 Possibly both the wings of the cherubim and 
 the figures themselves should have been drawn in 
 our illustration more in the style of the Egyptian 
 cherubs ; that is, with their conventional form of 
 wings rather than with those of birds, and the 
 figures less human in form ; but being understood 
 to be purely imaginary it is probably of little con- 
 sequence how they are made. 
 
 Within the Ark were deposited the two tables 
 of stone on which were written the Command- 
 ments, and nothing else. The pot of manna and 
 Aaron's rod have been thought of by some as 
 
^O THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETEKG 
 
 being within the Ark, and by others as being be- 
 side it in the same room. These two articles 
 were to be laid before the testimony (Exod. xvi. 
 34 : Numb. xvii. lo), by which we understand that 
 they were, like the altar of incense, in the outer 
 room just before the veil, perhaps between it and 
 the altar. 
 
 THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 
 
 And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon : of 
 shittim wood shalt thou make it. A cubit shall be the length 
 thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof ; four square shall 
 it be, and two cubits shall be the height thereof : the horns 
 thereof shall be of the same. And tliou shalt overlay it with 
 pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, 
 and the horns thereof ; and thou shalt make unto it a crown 
 of gold round about. And two golden rings shalt thou make 
 to it under the crown of it, by tlie two corners thereof, upon 
 tlie two sides of it shalt thou make it ; and tliey shall be for 
 places for the staves to bear it withal. And thou shalt make 
 the staves of sliittim wood, and overlay them with gold. And 
 thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the 
 
THE ALTAR OF INCENSE 
 
 51 
 
 testimony, before the mercy-seat that is over the testimony 
 where I will meet with thee. And Aaron shall burn thereon 
 sweet incense every morning : when he dresseth the lamps, 
 he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth 
 the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual 
 incense before the Lord, throughout your generations. Ye 
 shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor 
 meat offering : neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon. 
 And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it 
 once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atone- 
 ments ; once in the year shall he make atonement upon it 
 throughout your generations : it is most holy unto the Lord. 
 (ExoD. XXX. I -10.) 
 
 Though not spoken of till after the table and 
 lamp-stand, and the garments of Aaron and his 
 sons, with directions for their installation into 
 their priestly ofhce, the position of the golden 
 altar of incense in the room makes it proper to 
 treat of it here. The form and size are so mi- 
 nutely described that nothing need be said of 
 them. 
 
 It is commonly placed nearer the door screen 
 or curtain than either the table or the lamp-stand ; 
 but this seems to us wrong. We think it was, 
 as shown in the ground plan and section of the 
 tabernacle, immediately before the veil and near 
 
52 
 
 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 the projecting staves of the ark. This is an in- 
 ference here, but in the temj^le we know it was 
 so placed and the reasons governing there apply 
 here, or rather, it was so situated there because 
 it was so here. 
 
 THE TABLE. 
 
 Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood"; two cubits 
 shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, 
 and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt 
 overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold 
 round about. And thou shalt make unto it a border of 
 a handbreadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden 
 crown to the border thereof round about. And thou shalt 
 make for it four rings of gold and put the rings in the four 
 corners that are on the four feet thereof. Over against the 
 border shall the rings be for places of the staves to bear the 
 table. And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and 
 overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with 
 them. And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons 
 thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover 
 withal : of pure gold shalt thou make them. And thou shalt 
 set upon the table shew-bread before me always. (Exod. 
 XXV. 23-30.) 
 
THE TABLE 
 
 53 
 
 The dimensions of the table and other partic- 
 ulars are given, but nothing is said of ornamen- 
 tation. It is therefore unwise to draw forms with 
 carving on sides or legs or feet as is often done. 
 The vessels upon the table were of at least four 
 kinds. This is imperfectly expressed in our 
 translation, but Dr. Paine in his *' Holy Houses " 
 shows them to have been Oil jars, Incense cups, 
 Libation tankards, and Libation cups. These 
 were all of pure gold. In the same work it is 
 also proved from many sources that the bread — 
 "face bread" — was disposed on the table in 
 two rows of six each, rather than in two piles 
 of six as frequently represented. 
 
 THE LAMP-STAND OR CANDLESTICK. 
 
 And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold : of 
 
54 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 beaten work shall the candlestick be made : his shaft and 
 his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be 
 of the same. And six branches shall come out of the sides 
 of it, three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, 
 and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side. 
 Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a 
 flower in one branch : and three bowls made like almonds 
 in the other branch with a knop and a flower : so in the six 
 branches that come out of the candlestick. And in the 
 candlestick sliall be four bowls made like unto almonds 
 with their knops and their flowers. And there shall be a 
 knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under 
 two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches 
 of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out 
 of the candlestick. Their knops and their branches shall be 
 of the same : all of it shall be one beaten work of pure gold. 
 And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof; and they 
 shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over 
 against it. And the tongs thereof, and the snuff-dishes 
 thereof, shall be of pure gold. Of a talent of pure gold 
 shall he make it, with all these vessels. (Exod. xxv. 31-39.) 
 
 Not one of the many items in the above de- 
 scription is so clearly stated that, with our present 
 knowledge, it can be surely delineated, and there 
 are other points not touched on at all. We do 
 not know its size, though we may approximate to 
 it by knowing that, including the "snuffers " and 
 ''snuff-dishes " belonging to it, it weighed a talent 
 of pure gold, about ninety-six pounds^ which in 
 
THE LAMP-STAND 
 
 55 
 
 bulk is equal to about thirty-eight pounds of iron. 
 It was not, therefore, very large — not over three 
 cubits (four and a half feet), perhaps not more 
 than two and a half, in height, with a spread 
 of the longest branches of possibly two cubits. 
 
 In the R. V. " its base " is mentioned, but 
 nothing is said of this in the A. V. We have 
 no illustration of such a lamp-stand in any of 
 the Egyptian pictures or sculpture, indeed there 
 is nothing in early Egyptian remains which can 
 certainly be identified with lamp uses of any 
 kind, so that whatever illustration we make is 
 purely conjectural. 
 
 The shaft, the branches, and other parts are 
 called "beaten work" and in the margin "turned 
 work," the Hebrew term being that applied to 
 the making of the cherubim, trumpets, and sim- 
 ilar articles. This implies that it was not solid 
 or cast, and that in form its parts were round 
 and not angular. The base may have been in 
 the form of feet, as are nearly all the ancient 
 high lampstands of w^hich we have examples, but 
 it seems more probable that it was circular as' 
 delineated above. 
 
56 
 
 THE SANCTUARY OR TEXT OF MEETING 
 
 The usual illustrations are copied from the 
 carving on Titus's triumphal arch in Rome, but 
 this, if true to the article represented, does not 
 bear on the one we are considering. Dr. Paine, 
 from a close study of the terms used, thinks the 
 arms were straight, reed-like, and at right angles 
 to the shaft, as shown in the illustration. On 
 the central member, under each projecting arm, 
 there was a knop or ball. The lamp holders are 
 called ** flowers" — possibly calyx would be a 
 
 more accurate translation — 
 and the knop under this 
 would correspond to a seed- 
 vessel, or capsule. For the 
 lamps we have no model. 
 They are spoken of as seven 
 in number, and yet there 
 were three almond-shaped 
 bowls or cups, either united 
 or separate, in the flowers 
 above the knops. A form 
 which seems to fulfil the re- 
 quirements is a triple lamp — 
 
 TRIPLE LAMP 
 
 FLOWER 
 
 THREE BOWLS 
 
 OR CUPS 
 
 ONE LAMP 
 
LOCATION OF THE FURNITURE 
 
 57 
 
 a single oil receptacle formed of three united al- 
 mond-shaped vessels, each with a wick. The 
 six arms were thus furnished, but the central 
 shaft supported a similar lamp with four lights. 
 It was placed on the south side of the outer 
 room, opposite the table. Josephus says it was 
 not in a line parallel with the side wall, but fac- 
 ing the east and south, or diagonally, but we see 
 serious objections to the adoption of this view. 
 
 In the Ground Plan of the Tabernacle on the 
 following page, the position occupied by the sev- 
 eral articles just described is plainly seen. The 
 front half of the Holy Place is empty, the rear 
 half contains the table, the lamp-stand, and the 
 altar of incense, the latter placed directly in 
 front of the veil and near the projecting bars of 
 the ark of the testimony. The ark is in the 
 centre of the Holy of Holies and is placed in 
 the axis of the building, as are also the table 
 and the lamp-stand, instead of across the rooms 
 as is commonly shown, and this for reasons stated 
 elsewhere. This diagram also shows the arrange- 
 ment of the planks and of their tenons and socket 
 blocks. 
 

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THE ALTAR OF BURNT OFFER IN 6 59 
 
 THE ALTAR OF BURNT OFFERING. 
 
 And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits 
 long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be four square, 
 and the height thereof shall be three cubits. And thou 
 shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof; 
 his horns shall be of the same : and thou shalt overlay it 
 with brass. And thou shalt make his pans to receive his 
 ashes, and his shovels, and his basins, and his flesh-hooks, 
 and his fire-pans ; all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of 
 brass. And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of 
 brass ; and upon the net shalt thou make four brazen rings 
 in the four corners thereof. And thou shalt put it under 
 the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even 
 to the midst of the altar. And thou shalt make staves for 
 the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with 
 brass. And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the 
 staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it. 
 Hollow with boards shalt thou make it : as it was shewed 
 thee in the mount, so shall they make it. (Exod. xxvii. 
 1-8.) 
 
6o THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 This, the largest of all the articles connected 
 with the ritual, was placed in the court east of 
 the tabernacle, and between that building and 
 the court gate. It stood upon a mound of earth 
 so that the officiating priest was visible to those 
 at a distance outside the court curtain wall. It 
 was a box frame without top or bottom, and was 
 covered with brass (copper). At each of its four 
 upper corners there was a projection called a 
 horn, though this was not necessarily the form, 
 which may have been more like those of the 
 temple, a cube. Probably the lower corners were 
 raised a little above the ground, so that a current 
 of air might pass through the grate and create 
 a draft facilitating combustion. Midway of its 
 height there was a grating, seen in the picture 
 partly withdrawn, or not wholly in its place. 
 
 When in transit the utensils connected with 
 the sacrifices were packed in the space above the 
 grating, wrapped in a cloth of crimson (purple) 
 and the whole was protected by a covering of 
 so-called " badgers' " skins. 
 
 The altar did not retain its first appearance 
 
THE LA VER 6 1 
 
 for many years. After the rebellion of Korah 
 and his associates, their two hundred and fifty 
 copper censers were flattened out and nailed on 
 the outer surface of the altar, thus testifying to 
 the sacredness of the priestly office and of the 
 articles used in the service, and the sin of pro- 
 faning either. (Num. xvi. 38-40.) 
 
 THE LAYER. 
 
 No specifications are given of the size or form 
 of the laver. It was to be of brass (copper) and 
 it was to be placed between the altar and the 
 tabernacle, the instruction being, " And thou shalt 
 set the laver between the tent of the confrreo:a- 
 tion and the altar," without specifying the exact 
 relation, which may have been immediately be- 
 
(j2 the sanctuary or tent of meeting 
 
 hind the altar as shown in the ground plan of 
 the court, p. 66, or somewhat to the southward, as 
 with the laver of the temple, (i Kings vii. 39.) 
 
 The material of which it was made was con- 
 tributed by the women, who gave their bronze 
 looking-glasses for that purpose. 
 
 The shape delineated here is purely imaginary, 
 though based on an ancient form which seemed 
 appropriate and possible. It contained water for 
 washing hands and feet during the ceremonials 
 of the service. 
 
 For purposes of comparison all the illustra- 
 tions of tabernacle furniture are drawn upon the 
 same scale. 
 
V. 
 
 THE COURT AND ITS WALLS. 
 
 And thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle ; for the 
 south side southward there shall be hangings for the court 
 of fine-twined linen of a hundred cubits long for one side. 
 And the twenty pillars thereof and their twenty sockets shall 
 be of brass ; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall 
 be of silver. And likewise for the north side in length 
 there shall be hangings of a hundred cubits long, and his 
 twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of brass ; the hooks 
 of the pillars and their fillets of silver. 
 
 And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall 
 be hangings of fifty cubits ; their pillars ten, and their sockets 
 ten. And the breadth of the court on the east side east- 
 ward shall be fifty cubits. The hangings of one side of the 
 gate shall be fifteen cubits : their pillars three and their 
 sockets three. And on the other side shall be hangings 
 fifteen cubits : their pillars three, and their sockets three. 
 
 And for the gate of the court shall be a hanging of twenty 
 cubits of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine-twined linen, 
 wrought with needle work ; and their pillars shall be four, 
 and their sockets four. All the pillars round about the 
 court shall be filleted with silver ; their hooks shall be of 
 silver, and their sockets of brass. 
 
 03 
 
64 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 The length of the court shall be a hundred cubits, and 
 the breadth fifty everywhere, and the height five cubits of 
 fine-twined linen, and their sockets of brass. All the vessels 
 of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and all the pins 
 thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass. 
 (ExoD. xxvii. 9-19.) 
 
 Every feature of the tabernacle description has 
 its own peculiar difficulties to be solved. Here 
 the one of spacing the pillars so that they will 
 give even distances is presented — such regularity 
 of proportion as is present everywhere in and 
 about the structure. To put twenty pillars on 
 the side, one in each corner and eighteen be- 
 tween, gives us but nineteen spaces of 5 ^ 
 cubits each — an odd number which appears at 
 once to be unlikely ; and, the corners being al- 
 ready occupied, to put ten between them on the 
 west end makes eleven spaces of the fifty cubits, 
 or 4 XT cubits each, which also seems objec- 
 tionable. 
 
 Difficulties appear in the eastern end of the 
 enclosure also, but by a study of the problem 
 and a little ingenuity we think all these may be 
 made to disappear, and the absolute accuracy of 
 the description brought into view. 
 
THE COURT PILLARS 
 
 65 
 
 As with some other things in the description, 
 we can best approach this subject in an order 
 different from that given in the record, namely, 
 by taking the east end first, and adding the 
 others to it. 
 
 In the east end we have three divisions : two 
 curtains each of fifteen cubits and three pillars, 
 and one gate opening between these, closed by 
 twenty cubits of hangings similar to the door 
 screen — of linen, blue, purple, and scarlet. Tak- 
 ing the first as our initials, and putting a post 
 in each of the eastern corners, proceed toward 
 the centre, north and south with the three pil- 
 lars, placing them five cubits apart. Then add 
 to each series one of the gate posts, also five 
 cubits from the adjoining pillar, and we have 
 support for the two wings — three spaces of five 
 cubits each = fifteen cubits. The gate must now 
 be put in. This is twenty cubits, with four pil- 
 lars, two of which we have already used. Four 
 pillars give but three spaces, and 20 -^ 3 pro- 
 duces just the kind of fractional result we dep- 
 recate. But just here we note that Josephus 
 

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THE COURT GATE 
 
 67 
 
 says these were arranged *' after the resemblance 
 of open gates," and there is nothing in the sacred 
 description which contradicts this. Indeed when 
 we remember the timidity of cattle and the very 
 great difificulty of driving them into a strange 
 enclosure under an overhanging entrance way, 
 especially one so low as five cubits, we can re- 
 cognize the probability at least, of some arrange- 
 ment which would remove this as much as pos- 
 sible. The very term "gate," rather than ''door," 
 suggests a plan such as here proposed, namely, 
 placing the two remaining posts each five cubits 
 from one of those already set, thus leaving a 
 central space of ten cubits for the main gate. 
 The hanging for this gateway is apparently a 
 single curtain of twenty cubits covering the en- 
 tire space, and if we follow the specifications 
 literally, as we now understand them, we must 
 open the gate for the larger animals by folding 
 fifteen cubits back over a corresponding length 
 on one side : p - ^ ^^ o^ » ^ • ,q u^ «^ u^ ^ ^ i^ ; but if 
 there were two curtains of ten cubits each, the 
 gateway could have been opened by folding them 
 
68 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 back thus : p — □ — o — ^^ f=v — o — o — q , or on oc- 
 
 (5 5 & 5 to 5 5 5;5V 
 
 casion the whole twenty cubits could have been 
 uncovered. When closed at night, or at other 
 times, a bar of double length — ten cubits — would 
 be required between the posts of the central 
 opening and the curtain hung therefrom. 
 
 Having the east end fixed as a base, we can 
 add our twenty pillars on each side, with their 
 twenty spaces of five cubits each, and thus com- 
 plete the sides harmoniously and without diffi- 
 culty. 
 
 The western end, if the ten pillars are equally 
 spaced between the two corner posts already 
 planted, shows eleven spaces of 4 j\ cubits 
 each. But we have in the tabernacle walls a sug- 
 gestion of another possible plan which, adopted 
 here, removes all difficulty. It is to make the 
 two end-spaces two and a half cubits each, and 
 the others five ; or in other words to put the 
 pillars in the middle of each five-cubit space. 
 
 Thus we accomplish the equal division of 
 spaces, and secure a regularity desirable in it- 
 self and in harmony with details everywhere 
 present in tabernacle measurements. 
 
COURT PILLARS AND CURTAINS 
 
 69 
 
 From the standpoint of spiritual interpretation 
 no change in the order of statement can be thought 
 of ; but here, as in other places, it is allowable to 
 treat the natural side of the narrative in a way 
 that will bring out clearly the features which con- 
 tain the spiritual, and with the true arrangement 
 of these court pillars in mind we can return to 
 the order in which they are given us in the Word 
 and find that they come into place naturally. 
 There we have as the first and essential thing 
 the hanging or curtain of one hundred cubits 
 belonging to the south side. The east end being 
 understood as in position though not yet spoken 
 of, we place the first of the twenty pillars belong- 
 ing to this south side five cubits west from the 
 south-eastern corner, and the others at equal dis- 
 tances of five cubits, thus making twenty equal 
 spaces. The north side we must treat in exactly 
 the same manner and thus complete the two sides. 
 The west end follows as before described, and 
 lastly we put in the eastern end with its gate 
 spaces and wings. 
 
 We must remember that these pillars were in 
 
JO THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 charge of a different family of Levites from that 
 having the curtains, and that they must have been 
 all placed in position before any of the curtains 
 could be hung ; therefore the eastern corners were 
 up and ready to receive the side hangings when 
 they were brought forward. 
 
 The pillars about the court, following the width 
 of the curtains, are necessarily five cubits in 
 height. They and the bars connecting them were 
 of shittim wood, probably covered with silver, 
 though this is an inference rather than a clear 
 statement, for there are some indications that they 
 were covered with copper. The heading, pins, and 
 rings on the top were of silver, but the bases or 
 sockets and the cord pins were of brass. 
 
VI. 
 
 REMOVAL AND RE-ERECTION OF THli 
 TABERNACLE. 
 
 We have thus traversed the features presented 
 by a general study of the descriptions given in 
 the Word. Many other things, arguments for 
 the plans proposed or enlargement of views pre- 
 sented, could have been given, but these seemed 
 beyond the purpose of this little work, and con- 
 fusing rather than helpful. Before leaving the 
 subject, however, it w^ill be well to look at the 
 method or sequence of events in taking down and 
 re-erecting the tabernacle. This work was per- 
 formed by the three families of the Levites ; 
 amongst whom the whole was apportioned. When 
 about to remove, Aaron and his sons entered the 
 tabernacle, as only they and Moses could do while 
 the articles were exposed, and covered the ark 
 
 71 
 
72 
 
 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 with the veil and other wrappings, pushing the 
 bars into their normal places. The other articles 
 and their vessels were then packed and covered, 
 as fully described in Num. iv., and the whole, 
 under the care and supervision of Eleazer were 
 then delivered to the sons of Kohath, not one of 
 whom, however, was permitted to touch or even 
 to look upon the holy things themselves. This 
 family also had charge of the Great Altar of Burnt 
 Offerings and of the Laver. All these things 
 were to be borne upon the shoulders by means 
 of the staves belonging to each. 
 
 It is interesting to note the arrangement of the 
 coverings on the holy articles of the tabernacle, 
 remembering that the things themselves, and both 
 the materials and colors of the coverings, are rep- 
 resentative of things in man — things internal and 
 external. 
 
 UNDER. INTERMEDIATE. OUTER. 
 
 The Ark. The Veil of 3 Colors and Gold. Blue Skins. Blue Cloth. 
 
 The Table. Blue Cloth. Flame (scarlet) Cloth. Blue Skins. 
 
 The Lamp-stand. Blue Cloth. Blue Skins. 
 
 Altar of Incense. Blue Cloth. Blue Skins. 
 
 Altar of Burnt Offerings. Crimson (purple) Cloth. Blue Skins. 
 
 When all these articles had been removed, the 
 
RE-ERECTING THE TABERNACLE 
 
 73 
 
 sons of Gershon, under the direction of Ithamar, 
 took down the tabernacle curtains and the cover- 
 ings from the tent and then the tent itself, and 
 packed them in the wagon prepared for them 
 (Num. vii. 7). Also the gate and the curtains of 
 the court wall with their cords, pins, etc., and 
 finally, the sons of Merari, also under the super- 
 vision of Ithamar, took down the remaining stand- 
 ing portions — the tabernacle walls, the veil and 
 door pillars, the pillars of the gate and court, with 
 their socket-blocks, their cords, and pins — and 
 thus completed the dismantlement of the taber- 
 nacle and its court. 
 
 When a permanent camping place was reached, 
 we can imagine all this succession as reversed. 
 The ground surveyed and accurately laid out, a 
 trench for the socket-blocks leveled and the blocks 
 placed in position, and the walls of the tabernacle 
 erected. At the same time the pillars of the 
 court were being planted and braced. Then the 
 curtains were spread both within and without the 
 building and about the court ; and finally the holy 
 articles of the interior of the tabernacle were 
 
74 THF- SAXCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 brought in and deposited exactly where they were 
 to remain. No after removal or handling to 
 change position was necessary nor, consequently, 
 permissable. 
 
 In speaking of the arrangement of the curtains 
 forming the dark interior room of the tabernacle, 
 the Holy of Holies, it was pointed out that while 
 the front part with the taches was supported on 
 the bar above the veil pillars, the two western 
 corners must necessarily have been held up by 
 poles. Nothing is said anywhere in the descrip- 
 tion of such poles having been made, and it is a 
 cardinal point with us that we should add nothing 
 to the record. Certainly a tent pole is implied, 
 for it is a necessary adjunct of a tent ; and if our 
 arrangement of the inner curtain is an approach 
 to the truth the corners must be supported. They 
 will not stand alone. In this dilemma the thought 
 is presented that possibly the staves of the several 
 articles may have been used for both these pur- 
 poses. They were gold-covered and so would 
 harmonize with the golden plank walls. They 
 could have been made of suitable lenefth for the 
 
POLES SUPPORTING THE CURTAINS 
 
 75 
 
 ends proposed, without unfitting them for the office 
 which is mentioned, and we see equal dignity and 
 sacredness in their supporting the essential cur- 
 tains and roof of the tabernacle, with that of sup- 
 porting the several articles when borne upon the 
 shoulders of their bearers. So used they would' 
 be alive and active, and not for the time dead tim- 
 ber. They seem to represent faculties or powers 
 which may not be laid aside dormant because 
 supposed to be fitted only to some purpose not 
 then present — some talent which may be safely 
 laid aside in a napkin till called for — if any such 
 there be. So this appears to us and we offer it 
 for consideration. 
 
VII. 
 THE PRIESTLY GARMENTS. 
 
 The clothing of Aaron and his sons is so mi- 
 nutely described, and so evidently contains spirit- 
 ual truth of importance, that it is well to get as 
 clear a picture as possible of all the items men- 
 tioned. In the tabernacle the articles of highest 
 significance were within the building, and these 
 v/ere covered by curtains of four graded values. 
 I, Those of rich colors and gold embroidery. 2. 
 The goats'-hair tent. 3. Red rams' skins. 4. Hya- 
 cinth or blue goats' skins. Here the rich articles 
 both in color and in intrinsic value are outside, 
 and the plainer ones in form and material are 
 covered. Taking these in the order in which they 
 were worn, the first is the short garment covering 
 the middle part of the body. 
 
 96 
 
THE LINEN BREECHES AND CO A T 
 
 77 
 
 And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their 
 nakedness ; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall 
 reach ; and they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, 
 when they come in unto the tabernacle of the congregation, 
 or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the 
 holy place ; that they bear not iniquity and die ; it shall be 
 a statute forever unto him and his seed after him. (Exod. 
 xxviii. 42, 43.) 
 
 This article of dress can be best described as 
 a loose bag with an opening at each of the lower 
 corners for the feet and lower limbs to pass 
 through. The upper part was gathered and tied 
 about the waist. 
 
 The coat, the second garment, has but a few 
 words of description or reference. Like the for- 
 mer, this seems to have been an adaptation of the 
 common dress of the country, and, in the light 
 of a knowledge of these, may be pretty well under- 
 stood and pictured. It was of fine linen, embroid- 
 ered in colors, perhaps with the forms of flowers. 
 It was like a shirt, rather spare in width, but long 
 and reaching nearly to the feet. The sleeves 
 may have been tied about the wrists or lower 
 part of the arms, and at the waist it was confined 
 by a girdle of fine colored and embroidered ma- 
 
78 
 
 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 terial, which was wound about the body and tied 
 in front, the ends reaching nearly to the feet when 
 the priest was not engaged in sacrificial duty, at 
 which times it was thrown over the shoulder. 
 
 And thou slialt make the robe of the ephod all of blue. 
 And there shall be a hole in the top of it, in the midst there- 
 of ; it shall have a binding of woven work round about the 
 hole of it, as it were the hole of an habergeon [coat of mail, 
 R. v.] that it be not rent. And beneath the hem of it thou 
 shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of 
 scarlet, round about the hem thereof : and bells of gold be- 
 tween them round about ; a golden bell and a pomegranate, 
 a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe 
 round about. And it shall be upon Aaron to minister ; and 
 his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy 
 place before the Lord, and when he cometh out, that he die 
 not. (ExoD. xxviii. 31-35.) 
 
 The before mentioned garments were worn by 
 all the priests ; but this one was especially pre- 
 pared for the high priest. It was probably a 
 woolen fabric. From the description of the open- 
 ing for the neck it seems to have been a long 
 single piece of material without seam, but with 
 an aperature left in the weaving for the passage 
 of the head. This opening was bound with a 
 strip of similar material to prevent tearing. The 
 
THE ROBE OF BLUE 
 
 79 
 
 garment was bound to the body at the waist by 
 the curious gir- 
 dle attached to 
 the ephod. On 
 the lower edges 
 or hem of the 
 robe there was a 
 fringe in the 
 
 form of balls or pomegranates of 
 blue, purple, and scarlet, between 
 each two of which there was a 
 golden bell. 
 It may be noted that in the 
 Cesnola Collection in the Met- 
 ropolitan Museum of Art in 
 New York, there are several bells 
 of bronze of very ancient make, 
 closely resembling the forms now 
 in use and size fitted for this pur- 
 pose. With the knowledge that such forms were 
 then in use, it is reasonable to suppose that these 
 may have been similar rather than of the less 
 agreeable shape sometimes shown. 
 
8o THE SANCTUARY OK TENT OF MEETING 
 
 This is also a form of ornament found on Egyp- 
 tian statues. Not only is the ball or sun, alter- 
 nating with a bell, seen repeated in a long series, 
 but the crescent, luna, and bell are also found. 
 This, then, like so many other things connected 
 with this inquiry, seems to indicate Egyptian in- 
 fluence. 
 
 And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of 
 purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work. 
 It shall have the two shoulder pieces thereof joined at the 
 two edges thereof, and so it shall be joined together. And 
 the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of 
 the same, according to the work thereof ; even of gold, of 
 blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. (ExoD. 
 xxviii. 6-8.) 
 
 The ephod thus described was of rich colored 
 and embroidered material. It consisted of " two 
 shoulder pieces " or strips of cloth passing over 
 the shoulders from the girdle in front to a bind- 
 ing at the waist behind. The fabric was woven 
 narrow, probably of two handbreadths in width, 
 the stripes, if such was the arrangement of the 
 
THE EPHOD 3 J 
 
 colors, consequently running across the goods, or 
 horizontally, when worn. 
 
 In front the two pieces were 
 attached to the girdle, a long 
 sash of similar material, not 
 close together but apart, so as 
 to leave an opening a span wide 
 which was filled by the breast- 
 plate. The other permanent at- 
 tachments of the ephod are the 
 two rings of gold in front, just 
 above the girdle to which the 
 
 breastplate was attached by means of a lacing of 
 
 blue, and the two shoulder " stones of memorial " 
 
 which are thus described. 
 
 And thou shalt take two onyx stones and grave on them 
 the names of the children of Israel ; six of their names on 
 one stone and the other six names of the rest on the other 
 stone, according to their birth. With the work of an en- 
 graver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou 
 engrave the two stones with the names of the children of 
 Israel; thou shalt make them to be set in ouches of gold. 
 And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the 
 ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel. 
 And Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his 
 two shoulders for a memorial. (Exod. xxviii. 9-12.) 
 
82 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 No words of explanation are required to make 
 more clear the mental picture of these two stones, 
 with their settings and attachments, than may be 
 formed from the words of the sacred text. 
 
 And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with 
 cunning work; after the work of the ephod thou shalt make 
 it ; of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine 
 twined linen, shalt thou make it. Foursquare it shall be 
 being doubled ; a span shall be the length thereof, and a 
 span shall be the breadth thereof. And thou shalt set in it 
 settings of stones, even four rows of stones : the first row 
 shall be a sardius \a 7-itby'\^ a topaz, and a carbuncle : this 
 shall be the first row. And the second row shall be an em- 
 erald \a cJirysopyas2is'\, a sapphire, and a diamond. And the 
 third row a ligure \a cyam2is'\, an agate, and an amethyst. 
 And the fourth row a beryl [^ci tarshis/i'\, and an onyx, and a 
 jasper; they shall be set in gold in their inclosings. And 
 the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, 
 twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a 
 signet ; every one with his name shall they be according to 
 the twelve tribes. (Exod. xxviii. 15-21.) 
 
 The breastplate has generally been represented 
 as of metal, and the stones as set in three per- 
 pendicular rows of four each ; whereas a closer 
 reading of the description would have shown the 
 body to have been of a fabric woven, like the 
 ephod, of colored threads, and square in shape 
 
THE BREASTPLA TE 
 
 83 
 
 after being doubled. It was a span square, — 
 three hand-breadths, or about nine inches. 
 
 Thus thought of, it will be seen that the four 
 rows of stones, of three each are naturally divided 
 into two equal divisions, six on the right and six 
 on the left of the central line ; and these are 
 again to be divided into two groups of three each. 
 There is much doubt about the names given to 
 these stones in our version, but we may be sure 
 that the order and grouping refer to interior 
 spiritual qualities. It is beyond the scope of this 
 little work to treat of these more than to suofsrest 
 the appearance and form of this beautiful and 
 representative symbol. 
 
 Each of the twelve stones had a name of one 
 of the tribes of Israel engraved upon it, but in 
 what order these were arranged is not known. In 
 the Word these are given in many ways, accord- 
 ing to the spiritual phase of the relation, and not 
 being mentioned here, it is better not to speculate 
 thereon. 
 
 As to the colors themselves it can be stated 
 with reason that those on the right breast of the 
 
84 THE SAXCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 
 
 high priest were of various shades of red, graded 
 from the deepest and purest to one largely tinged 
 with blue ; and that those on his left were graded 
 from deep blue to tones approaching a bluish 
 white. This has been treated of by many writers, 
 but the most satisfactory study of the subject 
 with which we are acquainted is that by Rev. 
 Edward Madeley in his work on *' The Science 
 of Correspondences Elucidated." 
 
 Of Aaron's head-dress we know too little to 
 warrant us in drawing other than the conventional 
 turban. It was something different from this, un- 
 doubtedly, but we have preferred to show it thus 
 rather than make a form which would be purely 
 imaginary. The j^late bearing the sacred motto, 
 "Holiness to the Lord," is drawn in this illustra- 
 tion in the simplest form p()ssii;)le, though there 
 is reason for thinking that it may have been in 
 the shape of a lotus or papyrus or some other 
 kind of flower. Here, as in many other places, 
 wc ha\e thought it better to leave things unsaid 
 or undone, rather than ap})ear to speak with an 
 unwarranted degree of certainty. This i)late. 
 
CONCLUSIOX 85 
 
 whatever its form, was bound about the head by 
 a ribbon of blue. 
 
 And now, in conclusion, the author would re- 
 mind the reader that aside from the direct words 
 of the record, which are Divine and infallible, 
 everything said or thought on this subject must 
 partake, more or less, of the human and fallible 
 element, and this in proportion and grade with 
 the varying thought, perception, or reception of 
 the investigator. The views presented here are, 
 therefore, necessarily imperfect, and it has been 
 his intention to state them without dogmatism or 
 too positive assertion. They seem true to him 
 today, but another stage may show forms in fuller 
 accord with the truth, and when that time comes 
 he hopes to be ready to change any or all of the 
 views here expressed as new light may demand. 
 

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