[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.
And he made the court - The walls of the court, were
like the rest, curtains, or hangings. This represented the state of the
Old Testament church, it was a garden enclosed; the worshippers were then
confined to a little compass. But the inclosure being of curtains only,
intimated that that confinement of the church to one particular nation
was not to be perpetual. The dispensation itself was a tabernacle - dispensation,
moveable and mutable, and in due time to be taken down and folded up, when
the place of the tent should be enlarged, and its cords lengthened, to
make room for the Gentile world.
[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.
By the hand of Ithamar - Here we have a breviate of the
account which by Moses's appointment the Levites took and kept of the gold,
silver, and brass, that was brought in for the tabernacle's use, and how
it was employed. Ithamar the son of Aaron was appointed to draw up this
account. All the gold amounted to twenty nine talents, and seven hundred
and thirty shekels over; Which some compute to be about one hundred and
fifty thousand pounds worth of gold, according to the present value of
it. The silver amounted to about thirty - four thousand pounds of our money.
The raising of the gold by voluntary contribution, and of the silver by
way of tribute, shews that either way may be taken for the defraying of
public expences, provided that nothing be done with partiality.
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