Exodus 26:1-6 comments: instructions for the tabernacle

26:1 ¶  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. 2  The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and every one of the curtains shall have one measure. 3  The five curtains shall be coupled together one to another; and other five curtains shall be coupled one to another. 4  And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling; and likewise shalt thou make in the uttermost edge of another curtain, in the coupling of the second. 5  Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the coupling of the second; that the loops may take hold one of another. 6  And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and couple the curtains together with the taches: and it shall be one tabernacle.

What follows are detailed instructions for putting together the tabernacle. Something interesting here to begin with are the cherubims. There is a description of them in Ezekiel, chapter one, and another in Ezekiel, chapter ten, where a cherub is called a living creature.

Ezekiel 10:20  This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubims.

Note that as cherubims are called living creatures an angel is a presence so they are not the same in that regard either. Cherubims are not angels and angels are never said to have wings. Angels are typically the appearance of God, men, children in heaven, or churches in the context they are written.

Isaiah 63:9  In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

It appears that, from reading Ezekiel, chapter one, and Revelation, chapter four, that they have the appearance of living creatures representing everything from man, to domestic animals, to wild animals, to birds. Does the difference in the number of wings between the four beasts around the throne in Revelation, who, like the seraphims in Isaiah, chapter six, have six wings while the beasts in Ezekiel have four, have any significance?

Whether they are represented as having two wings as in 1Kings 8:7 or four or six wings we must consider the obvious. They appear at different times slightly different. Six wings in Isaiah for seraphims, four in Ezekiel, and then six in Revelation although depicted over the mercy seat, two, means only that they can be depicted differently in different contexts. Ezekiel, Isaiah, and John were three different men of God who saw things that were given to them and recorded them for our learning. Do not make the mistake of reading the Bible like your car-owner’s manual. There is, however, significance in each description and numbers are interesting.

Numbers in the Bible are very significant. There are ten curtains of fine twined linen that make up the tabernacle. Ten is very significant in the Bible. Noah was the tenth generation from Creation. Of course, you’ve seen the Ten Commandments given. There were ten plagues given to Egypt. There are ten days of tribulation for saints in Revelation 2:10. There are ten kingdoms run by the Beast in Revelation with ten kings in Revelation 17:12 as symbolized in Daniel, chapter two, by the toes of the image.

There are so many tens in the Bible that you would find it a very interesting study. The number clearly represents some kind of divine order put in place by God and which man is unable to get away from in his dealings.

The length of a curtain is twenty eight cubits, or four times seven. Twenty eight or eight and twenty has its place in other contexts. Seven is significant as God’s number of completion, of perfecting or finishing a thing as in the six days of creation and the day of rest. Seven is a number that appears like no other number in the Bible. Books have been written about it.

When we think of four we think of the four gospels automatically.

Five can represent the wounds in Christ; the side pierced by a spear, the hands, and the feet. As you can see if you look at numbers there is a huge about of information that can be gleaned from their study. However, you can wind up lost in an occultic numerology that takes you away from the literal words in the text as you become obsessed with the symbolic that is very subjective. When something has to be interpreted for you beware of the interpreter. Satan loves to deceive.

While there are a great many other and, perhaps, more important observations one could make on this passage I want to try to keep the digressions to a minimum to keep the narrative moving.