The Making of the Bars To Hold The Frames Together (Exodus 26:26-29).
This may be analysed as follows:
a Five bars were to be made of acacia wood for the frames for each of the south, north and west sides (Exodus 26:26-27).
b The middle bar was to pass from end to end right along the frames (Exodus 26:28).
c The frames were to be overlaid with gold, they were to attach rings of gold to hold the bars, and the bars were to be overlaid with gold (Exodus 26:29).
In ‘a' we have the description of the making of the five bars for the frames and in the parallel what the bars are to be overlaid with, and how connected to the frames. The middle bar is central.
“And you shall make bars of acacia wood, five for the frames of the one side of the Dwelling-place, and five bars for the frames on the other side of the Dwelling-place, and five bars for the frames of the side of the Dwelling-place for the rear part westward. And the middle bar in the middle of the frames will pass through from end to end.”
The bars would hold the frames together and be connected to them by rings of gold as then described. The middle bar went all the way along. Possibly each of the two above and below went half way along, one from the rear and one from the front, the shorter bars giving added strength.
“And you shall overlay the frames with gold, and make their rings of gold for places for the bars, and you shall overlay the bars with gold.”
Moses did not have to guess or work it out from the instructions, for he had already been shown, while in the Mount, how it was all to be fitted together. The instructions were merely there to remind him of the main plan. No instruction is given as to how the roof is to be supported. It may have been unsupported, in which case it would have sagged in the middle, especially when it rained, but this is very unlikely. It would hardly have remained stable. Or it may have been supported by a kind of lattice work or by bars going across, a method probably already connected in their minds with the kerashim framework and therefore not needing to be explained. Its measurements would be determined by the other measurements.
To sum up. The framework was thirty cubits long by nine to ten wide by ten high. The curtains of forty cubits by twenty eight and forty four cubits by thirty would cover the top and both sides plus the rear, with the overhangs mentioned for the goats' hair. The inner curtains would not quite reach the floor, for this would have been seen as defiling the Dwellingplace. The front was seemingly open. Thus a screen will be made to cover this opening (Exodus 26:36) although the outer coverings of rams' skins dyed red and dolphin skin may also have been long enough to provide covering.