Exodus 40:17-33
From OpenWordBase
“17) And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up. 18) And Moses reared up the tabernacle, and fastened his sockets, and set up the boards thereof, and put in the bars thereof, and reared up his pillars. 33) And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the hanging of the court gate. So Moses finished the work.”
Architecture
Structures, Upholstery, Construction (270)
The erection of the dwelling commenced with the fixing of the sockets, into which the boards were placed and fastened with their bolts, and the setting up of the pillars for the curtains (Exodus 40:18). “He (Moses) then spread the tent over the dwelling, and laid the covering of the tent upon the top” (Exodus 40:19). By the “covering of the tent” we are to understand the two coverings, made of red rams’ skins and the skins of the sea-cow (Exodus 26:14). In analogy, this denotes not only the roofing with the goats’ hair, but the spreading out of the inner cloth of mixed colours upon the wooden frame-work. This was definitely built as a structure that would not only be very stable once erected, but one that could easily be taken down and carried away, if the need arised, and be erected on another spot. This design was the earliest of its kind and inspired in Moses by God. Moses and his help fastened the sockets, and set up the boards thereof; fixed the silver sockets all around, which were the foundation of the building, and placed and established the shittim boards in them: and put in the bars thereof; to keep the boards close and tight: and reared up his pillars; the pillars that supported the veil between the holy and holy of holies, and those on which the hanging for the door of the tabernacle was put, as well as the several pillars all around the court of the tabernacle for the hangings of that. How did they “draw up” this monstrocity? They probably had learned about making pulleys, while in Egypt.
