“Moreover, you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns; you shall make them with cherubim skillfully worked into them.
1. What exactly is this tabernacle?
tabernacle. Its basic structure was to be 15 feet wide by 45 feet long by 15 feet high. Over an inner lining of embroidered linen (vv. 1–6), it was to have a covering woven of goat hair (vv. 7–13) and two additional coverings of leather, one made from ram skins dyed red and one from the hides of sea cows (v. 14). Internally, the ceiling was probably flat, but whether the leather coverings had a ridge line with sloping sides (like a tent) is not known. The tabernacle represented God’s royal tent. Its form and adornment (like those of the later temples that replaced it) marked it as a symbolic representation of the created cosmos over which God is sovereign as Creator and Lord. As such, it stood for the center of the cosmos from which the Creator reigns, the place where the heavenly and earthly realms converge. There God “lived” among his people (Immanuel, “God with us”), and his people could come near to him. At 
2 The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits; all the curtains shall be the same size. 3 Five curtains shall be coupled to one another, and the other five curtains shall be coupled to one another. 4 And you shall make loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set. Likewise you shall make loops on the edge of the outermost curtain in the second set. 5 Fifty loops you shall make on the one curtain, and fifty loops you shall make on the edge of the curtain that is in the second set; the loops shall be opposite one another. 6 And you shall make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains one to the other with the clasps, so that the tabernacle may be a single whole.
2. What does the gold represent?
Gold, a metal of royalty or deity In corruptible, does not tarnish. Furnishings close to the place of God’s dwelling were made of, or overlaid with, gold. Maybe the gold of these clasps is saying that God hold things together? There was something like 2,030 pounds (920 kilos) of gold used in the tabernacle.
7 “You shall also make curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the tabernacle; eleven curtains shall you make. 8 The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. The eleven curtains shall be the same size. 9 You shall couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and the sixth curtain you shall double over at the front of the tent. 10 You shall make fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in one set, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the second set. 11 “You shall make fifty clasps of bronze, and put the clasps into the loops, and couple the tent together that it may be a single whole.
3. Why all the 50’s?
The number fifty is the number of jubilee or deliverance. It is the issue of 7 x 7 (72), and points to deliverance and rest following on as the result of the perfect consummation of time.
Fifty Clasps. Fifty clasps were used to join each group of panels directly over the separation between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. They represent the 49 Sabbaths plus the Jubilee Sabbath that occurs in the fiftieth year.
12 And the part that remains of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remains, shall hang over the back of the tabernacle. 13 And the extra that remains in the length of the curtains, the cubit on the one side, and the cubit on the other side, shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle, on this side and that side, to cover it. 14 And you shall make for the tent a covering of tanned rams’ skins and a covering of goatskins on top.
4. Why four different coverings for the tabernacle?
A. Now each of these coverings had symbolic meaning. The first covering was fine-twined, Egyptian linen with cherubim woven in the material. It did not touch the ground, and its beauty could only be seen on the inside of the tabernacle. This covering could not be seen from the outside at all and, frankly, the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ cannot be seen by the world. He can only satisfy His own people.
B. The second curtain was made of goats’ hair and it touched the ground. This curtain
speaks of Christ’s worth for sinners. It is symbolic of the death of Christ, and this is the message that is to be given to the world. We read in Hebrews 9:26, “For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” The word world in this verse is better translated “age.” He has appeared, and this is the message that should go forth. This is the story which the goats’ hair curtain tells.
C. The third covering was made of rams’ skin dyed red. This curtain speaks of the strength and vigor of Christ and His offering on the cross. This curtain shows the outward aspect of His offering as our substitute, and it was sufficient.
D. The fourth curtain was made of badgers’ skins (sealskins). After forty years in the wilderness this curtain was marred by time and
weather, but it always protected that which was within. This covering speaks of Christ’s walk before men. Just as the linen covering was inside to show His beauty to the believer, so the sealskin covering had no beauty to reveal. Isaiah 53:2 tells us this about Christ: “…he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.” There is no beauty on the outside that we should desire Him; we have to go inside to behold His beauty. The world does not see in Him what we see in Him.
5. What does silver represent?
The bases that supported the frames of the tabernacle and the four posts holding the dividing curtain were of silver. silver associated with commerce and therefore a metal of redemption . Never associated with diety (God)
20 and for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side twenty frames, 21 and their forty bases of silver, two bases under one frame, and two bases under the next frame. 22 And for the rear of the tabernacle westward you shall make six frames. 23 And you shall make two frames for corners of the tabernacle in the rear; 24 they shall be separate beneath, but joined at the top, at the first ring. Thus shall it be with both of them; they shall form the two corners. 25 And there shall be eight frames, with their bases of silver, sixteen bases; two bases under one frame, and two bases under another frame. 26 “You shall make bars of acacia wood, five for the frames of the one side of the tabernacle, 27 and five bars for the frames of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the side of the tabernacle at the rear westward. 28 The middle bar, halfway up the frames, shall run from end to end. 29 You shall overlay the frames with gold and shall make their rings of gold for holders for the bars, and you shall overlay the bars with gold. 30 Then you shall erect the tabernacle according to the plan for it that you were shown on the mountain. 31 “And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it.
6. What was this curtain for and where do we see it mentioned in the New Testament?
To separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place (see v. 33). It was called the “shielding curtain” (39:34; 40:21; Nu 4:5) because it shielded the ark (see 27:21; see also notes on 16:34; 25:22). At the moment when Christ died, the curtain of Herod’s temple was torn, thereby giving the believer direct access to the presence of God (see Mk 15:38 and note; Heb 6:19–20; 10:19–22 and note on 10:20). cherubim. See v. 1 and note. The curtain at the entrance to the Holy Place did not have cherubim (see v. 36).
32 And you shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold, on four bases of silver. 33 And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy. 34 You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the Most Holy Place. 35 And you shall set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand on the south side of the tabernacle opposite the table, and you shall put the table on the north side.
7. What do the colors represent?
Blue indicates heavenly and godly: “Behold your God” (Isaiah 40:9), pointing to John’s gospel, where doubting Thomas eventually says to Jesus “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28).
Purple signifies kingship: “Behold your King” (Zechariah 9:9), pointing to Matthew’s gospel, where Jesus, the descendant of King David (Matthew 1:1), declares after rising from the dead: “All authority in heaven and on earth is given to Me” (Matthew 28:18).
Red signifies blood: “Behold My servant” (Isaiah 52:13 & 53:5), pointing to Mark’s gospel, where Jesus says He “came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).
White signifies purity and a right humanity: “Behold the man” (Zechariah 6:12), pointing to Luke’s gospel, where Pilate says of Jesus “Behold, I
have found not one fault in this man” (Luke 23:4,14).
8. This area behind the curtain, what was it called and what was it for?
A curtain was to divide the tabernacle into two rooms, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place, with the former twice as large as the latter. The Most Holy Place formed a perfect cube, 15 feet by 15 feet by 15 feet. Enclosed with linen curtains embroidered with cherubim and containing only the ark of the Testimony, it represented God’s throne room (see note on v. 1). The Holy Place represented his royal guest chamber where his people symbolically came before him in the bread of the Presence (see note on 25:30), the light from the lampstand (see note on 25:37) and the incense from the altar of incense (see note on 30:1).
36 “You shall make a screen for the entrance of the tent, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, embroidered with needlework. 37 And you shall make for the screen five pillars of acacia, and overlay them with gold. Their hooks shall be of gold, and you shall cast five bases of bronze for them.
9. What does bronze represent?
bronze. Inside the tabernacle, gold was the metal of choice; outside—beginning with the bases of the outer curtain (see v. 36)—the metal of choice was bronze. The furnishings close to the place of God’s dwelling were made of, or overlaid with, gold; those farther away (see 27:2–6; 30:18) were made of, or overlaid with, bronze. The bases that supported the frames of the tabernacle and the four posts holding the dividing curtain were of silver (see vv. 19, 21, 25, 32).- ESVN………….ESV Study Bible Notes
- JFB…………..Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary
- VWS……………..Vincent Word Studies Notes
- MSBN…….MacArthur NASB Study Notes
- CMM………….Commentary on Matthew and Mark
- NIVSN…..NIV Study Notes
- BDB………….. Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)
- JVM ….J Vernon McGee,
- Darby………..John Darby’s Synopsis of the OT and NT
- ACC …. Adam Clarke’s Commentary
- Johnson………Johnson’s Notes on the New Testament.
- BN …..Barnes Notes
- NTCMM…………..The New Testament Commentary: Matthew and Mark.
- CN …… Constables Notes
- IC……….Ironside Commentary
- NET………Net Bible Study Notes.
- JFB…………..Jamieson Fausset Brown Commenta
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