Exodus 38:9-21 - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

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And he made the court: on the south side southward the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, an hundred cubits:

The court. It occupied a space of 150 feet by 75, and it was enclosed by curtains of fine linen, about 8 feet high, suspended on brasen or copper pillars. Those curtains were secured by rods fastened to the top, and kept extended by being fastened to pins stuck in the ground.

Verse 10. Hooks. The hooks of the pillars in the court were for hanging up the carcasses of the sacrificial beasts-those on the pillars at the entry of the tabernacle were for hanging the sacerdotal robes and other things used in the service.

Verse 11. Sockets - mortices or holes, in which the end of the pillar stood.

Verse 17. Chapiters - or capitals of the pillars, were wooden posts, which ran along the top, to which were attached the hooks for the hangings.

Verse 18. The height in the breadth - or in the measure. The sense is, that the hangings of the court gate, which was twenty cubits wide, were of the same height as the hangings all round the court.

Verse 21. This is the sum. Having completed his description of the component parts of the tabernacle the inspired historian digresses into a statement respecting the gold and silver employed in it, the computation being made according to an order of Moses-by the Levites, under the direction of Ithamar, Aaron's youngest son.

Related Commentaries of Exodus 38:9

Exodus 38:9-21

9 And he made the court: on the south side southward the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, an hundred cubits:

10 Their pillars were twenty, and their brasen sockets twenty; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver.

11 And for the north side the hangings were an hundred cubits, their pillars were twenty, and their sockets of brass twenty; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.

12 And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets ten; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.

13 And for the east side eastward fifty cubits.

14 The hangings of the one side of the gate were fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three.

15 And for the other side of the court gate, on this hand and that hand, were hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three.

16 All the hangings of the court round about were of fine twined linen.

17 And the sockets for the pillars were of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver; and the overlaying of their chapiters of silver; and all the pillars of the court were filleted with silver.

18 And the hanging for the gate of the court was needlework, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: and twenty cubits was the length, and the height in the breadth was five cubits, answerable to the hangings of the court.

19 And their pillars were four, and their sockets of brass four; their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their chapiters and their fillets of silver.

20 And all the pins of the tabernacle, and of the court round about, were of brass.

21 This is the sum of the tabernacle, even of the tabernacle of testimony, as it was counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, son to Aaron the priest.