(2) The length . . . eight and twenty cubits.--Mr. Fergusson has shown that to cover over a space twenty cubits wide with a roof, the two sides of which should meet at a right angle, a tent-cloth almost exactly twenty-eight cubits long would be required. Verse 2. - Eight and twenty cubits. This is the exact length required for a rectangular tented roof over such a space, which should descend (as tent roofs usually do) within about seven feet of the ground. The comparison made in vers. 12, 13, between the fine linen covering of the mishkan and the goats' hair covering of the "tent," implies that the one was directly under the other, and that both were arranged in the same way. The breadth of four cubits. This gives for the entire length of the curtain (4 by 10), 40 cubits, or ten cubits more than the length of the boarded space. The roof must thus have been advanced some distance in front of the tabernacle proper, or rectangular boarded space. Every one of the curtains shall have one measure. They shall all, i.e., have the same measure.
26:1-6 God manifested his presence among the Israelites in a tabernacle or tent, because of their condition in the wilderness. God suits the tokens of his favour, and the gifts of his grace, to his people's state and wants. The curtains of the tabernacle were to be very rich. They were to be embroidered with cherubim, signifying that the angels of God pitch their tents round about the church, Ps 34:7.The length of one curtain shall be twenty eight cubits,.... Or fourteen yards: and the breadth of one curtain four cubits; or two yards; according to the common notion of a cubit being half a yard; but if, as Dr. Cumberland says, the Jewish and Egyptian cubit was three inches longer, this will make a considerable difference in the length and breadth of those curtains, especially in the former: and everyone of the curtains shall have one measure; be of equal length and breadth. |
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