Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them.
Thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains. Leading, as the Israelites did, a wandering life in the Sinaitic wilderness, none but a moveable sanctuary would have suited their circumstances; and accordingly the whole account of the tabernacle conveys an impression that, in form as well as in the materials of which it was constructed, it resembled the tents of nomadic people, only it was distinguished by a superior style of sumptuous decoration, such as fitted it to be х hamishkaan (H4908)] the dwelling-place of its august inhabitant.
In describing the framework of this wonderful tabernacle, the sacred historian naturally assigned the foremost place to the hangings or curtains which are the real characteristics of such a kind of habitation; and the first in the series he mentions is the lower or inner curtain, which was a splendid piece of tapestry, embroidered with cherubic figures in various colours of blue, purple, and kermes (scarlet) wool (Hebrews 9:19) upon a white ground of byssus.
Fine twined linen, х sheesh (H8337) maashªzaar (H7806)] - byssus twisted (see the note at Exodus 25:4), two, three, or more threads being twisted together. To make the yarn more suitable for twining, it was customary to beat it with clubs, to boil the thread in water, and then to wring it carefully. This process was considered useful, both rendering the yarn better adapted for twisting and weaving, and in improving the whiteness of the cloth (Hengstenberg, 'Egypt and Books of Moses,' p. 139; Osburn's 'Egypt's Testimony,' p.
190).
Cunning work, х ma`ªseeh (H4639) chosheeb (H2803)] - the work of a damask weaver; because the yarn was coloured before being put into the loom-an art that was practiced at an early period among the Egyptians. This lower or inner covering was composed of ten curtains, each of which was 28 cubits long and 4 cubits broad (i:e., 15 yards in length and a little more than 2 in breadth), forming, when joined together, one continuous curtain of 280 cubits in extent. The different pieces were tacked together in the following manner:-Five were coupled curtain to curtain, by fifty loops at each of the selvedges, fastened to an equal number of taches or hooks of gold, supposed, in shape as well as in use, to be the same as hooks-and-eyes. The other five pieces of curtain were united by similar means.
One to another, х 'ishaah (H802) 'el (H413) 'ªchotaah (H269)] - a woman to her sister [Septuagint, hee hetera ek tees heteras].