Exodus 40

Exodus 40:2

Theodoret of Cyrus: Why did God command Moses to erect the tabernacle on the first day of the first month? Because at that time he created the world. The sprouting of the trees attests to this fact. For Scripture says, “Let the earth sprout forth grass for fodder, and sow seed according to its kind and its likeness, and fruit-bearing trees that produce fruit, with its seed within it in its likeness, according to its kind upon the earth.” When spring begins, the meadows bloom, the fields grow like waves, and the trees germinate their fruit. So too in this very season God set Israel free from slavery under the Egyptians and the archangel Gabriel brought the holy virgin the good news of her mysterious childbearing. In this same season the Lord Christ underwent his saving passion. Most fittingly, the Lord God of all ordered the tabernacle to be erected on the first day of the first month because it was the image of the entire world, and also so that the people would prepare for the feast of Passover, which the law commanded the Jews to celebrate as the first feast. At that time, they were going to celebrate this feast for the first time in the desert, for this was the second year after their deliverance from slavery. — QUESTIONS ON Exodus 72

Exodus 40:9

Augustine of Hippo: A little higher, when God spoke before the anointing of the tabernacle, he said that with the same anointing all those things were sanctified and became “sancta sanctorum.” He had also said that the altar of burnt offerings, sanctified with that anointing, became “the saint’s saint.” And it seemed that he was interested not to call any of those things “holy of the saints”, but only to what was separated from the saint by the veil, that is, where the ark of the covenant and the altar of incense were. But now, in repeating the same things, he says about the anointed tabernacle and the things that were in it that were sanctified with the same anointing and became holy. And the altar of burnt offerings, of which he had said before that he became “saint of the saint,” now says that with that same anointing he becomes “saint of the saints.” From which it follows that it means the same, what had been called “saint of the saint” that what is called “saint of saints”, and, therefore, that all those anointed things, such as the tabernacle and everything that had in it, which had previously been called “sancta sanctorum” they mean the same as what is now called “sancta” and none of these things after that anointing is called only “saint of the saint”, but also “saint of saints” , like the altar of holocausts. From this it follows that there is no difference, as far as this name is concerned, between the things that were inside the veil, where the ark of the covenant was, and the other things that were outside, except for the fact that the things inside were called “sancta sanctorum” or “saint of saints.” And they were called like this even before the anointing. Instead, the other things were sanctified by the anointing so that they could be given that name. And discussing what all this means takes time. — QUESTIONS ON EXODUS, Q. 173 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Exodus 40:19

Augustine of Hippo: The Scripture, after describing how Moses built the tabernacle, adds: And he spread over the tabernacle the tapestry. Naturally, not on the roof, but surrounding the columns, because about the columns he had said that he had built the tabernacle. — QUESTIONS ON EXODUS, Q. 174 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Exodus 40:33

Augustine of Hippo: When the Scripture says: And on the court around the tabernacle and the altar, he discovers that the altar of burnt offerings was outside, by the door of the tabernacle, so that all was encompassed by the court, and the altar was under the court. between the door of the court and the entrance of the tabernacle. — QUESTIONS ON EXODUS, Q. 175 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Exodus 40:34

Augustine of Hippo: It is necessary to point out a truly remarkable thing, namely, that when the cloud came down and filled the tabernacle, a cloud called the glory of the Lord, Moses could not enter the tabernacle, he who entered the cloud where God was (Cf Exodus 20,21), when he received the law for the first time. There is no doubt that he then represented one person and now another. Then he represented those who become partakers of the intimate truth of God. Now, to the Jews, who are opposed, like a cloud, to the glory of the Lord, who is in the tabernacle-which is the grace of Christ-and who does not understand it. And that is why Moses does not enter the tabernacle of the covenant. And we have to think that this happened only once, immediately that the tabernacle was erected, because of this meaning or any other. For the cloud was not always above the tabernacle, so that Moses could not enter there. For the cloud did not disappear, except when the sign was given to the Israelites to depart, to raise the camp from where they were and to approach where the cloud led them during the day, and to call it during the night (Cf Exodus 13,21). And these two things also remained on the tabernacle, wherever they had set up the camp, that is, the cloud during the day and the flame during the night. QUESTION 177 Explanation of the tabernacle 1. Since the book of Exodus ends with the construction of the tabernacle, of which many things are also said in other places preceding the book itself, which present certain difficulties of comprehension, as is usually the case with every narrative on any subject of topography, it is To say, from the description of a place, it seemed to me opportune to speak separately of the whole tabernacle so that it is understood, as far as possible, what it was and what it was exactly, according to the property of the narration, omitting and leaving for another moment its figurative significance. Because we can not think that there was something that by God’s will was done without having the meaning of some great mystery, whose knowledge does not contribute to the building up of faith and the formation of piety. 2. (Exodus 26,1,6). God commanded Moses to make the tabernacle with ten tapestries of fine twisted linen, of hyacinth and purple and scarlet twine, and embroidered cherubs. Latinos translate by aulaea (tapestries, curtains) the Greek word aulaías, which corresponds to what we commonly call curtains. Therefore, God did not command ten courts, as some have inadvertently translated, since the text does not say aulás, but aulaías. He ordered embroidered cherubs to be made on tapestries. He ordered that the length of the tapestries be twenty-eight cubits, and the width four. He ordered the tapestries to be joined and linked together, five on one side and five on the other, so that the space they covered was the space of the tabernacle itself. With the following words he orders how the five tapestries were to be joined to each other: You will make them hyacinth bows on the edge of the tapestry with which the first series ends; and you will do the same on the edge with which the second series ends (Exodus 26,4). This means that the ties will be where one tapestry joins the other, that is, the third with the second, because the second is already united with the first, united and connected with it, since they are each face to face, one in front of the other, because they were ordered to join five by five, facing each other. But it still does not appear if the space they surrounded was square or round. It will appear when you start talking about the columns on which the tapestries are supported. Therefore, the Lord has wanted to speak only of the union of three that is made by two joints, from the second to the first and from the third to the second, so that the others are linked together by this kind of rule. As regards the bonds, the Lord commanded that fifty be made in the first tapestry for the part that would join the second, and another fifty ties in the third tapestry for the part that would join the second tapes (Cf Exodus 26,5.6). Regarding this second, who was in the middle, among the fifty loops of one part and the other, the Lord commanded that he had fifty rings of gold on the one hand, by means of which he would join the fifty loops of the first tapestry. For this reason, it was natural that the other party also had fifty other rings by means of which it would join the ties of the third party. The Scripture describes all this briefly as follows: And you shall make fifty rings of gold, and you shall bind one tapestry with the other by means of the rings. And the tabernacle will be a unique space (Exodus 26,6). Thus, the fifty gold rings of the second tapestry were joined by the hyacinth ties of the first tapestry. And so on, the others were intertwined until the five were completed, and on the other hand the other five were joined in the same way. 3. Then he says: And you shall make veils of hair to cover the tabernacle (Exodus 26,7). These veils were to come over, but not over the part of the roof, but around the tabernacle above. For we also say that something is put on, not as the roof of a house, but as the stucco of a wall. Therefore, as if it were on a cloth band. For the Lord says: You shall make eleven veils. The length of each veil shall be thirty cubits, and the width of each veil shall be four cubits. The eleven veils will have the same measure. And you will join five veils on one side and six on the other (Exodus 26,8.9). As he said earlier that these tapestries should be joined five on one side and five on the other, so now he says that these veils should be five on one side and six on the other, because the veils were eleven, not ten. And then it continues: And you will bend the sixth according to the facade of the tabernacle, so that it does not move, because the veils were presented to each other in odd number, six and five. Then he also says how these veils of hair should be joined together. And it says the same as before, but perhaps more clearly. Well, it continues like this. And thou shalt make fifty rings on the edge of the veil that is opposite to that of the middle one-that is, against the second, because it shall be in the middle between the first and the third-according to the joint, (Exodus 26,10) that is, the union, and you shall make fifty rings in the edge of the veil that is attached to the second, that is, on the edge of the third veil, because it is attached to the second. And you shall make fifty bronze rings and bind the rings in the rings; and you will unite the veils and it will be a unique space (Exodus 26,11). The Lord wanted, then, that the rings be placed in the middle veil, that is, in the second, so that it would be joined to the first and the third by the fifty rings on each side. Here there is no other difference, but now it is commanded that the rings be made of bronze instead of gold. With respect to the rings of the tapestries, they had been ordered to be hyacinth. In the veils of hairs, however, since it is not said what the rings were like, we should think as more likely that they were of hair. 4. What follows next is so difficult to understand, that I fear it will be darker with the explanation. It says: And you shall spread the portion that is over the veils of the tabernacle; the half of the veil that you will spread over it; what about the veils of the tabernacle you will spread out behind the tabernacle; one cubit on the one hand and another cubit on the other part of what is above the veils along the veils of the tabernacle will hang on the sides of the tabernacle on the one hand and on the other so that it covers it. Since he had ordered that the sixth veil should be folded according to the facade of the tabernacle, who could easily understand what it means to have half of the veil on the veils and what it means: one elbow on the one hand and the other on the other hand when the half of the veil is fifteen cubits, since it was commanded that each veil be thirty cubits? Or if there is something left over in the length of the veils precisely because it was ordered that the first tapestry of fine linen and scarlet and purple and hyacinth be twenty-eight cubits long, instead, these veils of hairs had to be thirty cubits, and thus each one of these veils of hairs exceeded in two elbows the length of each of the tapestries. Added all these veils, except the eleventh, which had to bend, give twenty elbows, which is the amount left over from the surface of the veils of hairs in relation to the surface of the tapestries. Because twice ten cubits of the veils that were longer than the tapestries make twenty cubits. Of those twenty cubits, ten on one side and ten on the other could protrude on both sides, not an elbow on one side and another elbow on the other side, as the Scripture says. Therefore it seems to me that we must leave for another moment the exposition of this passage, that is, until the tabernacle is fully explained with all the columns that are in the atrium that surrounds it. Because perhaps something is said in advance about the veils of hair that serve to explain what has not been talked about yet. For we do not know whether the words: And you shall make veils of hair to cover the tabernacle (Exodus 26,12.13), they refer to the fact that these veils must be covered with the entire tabernacle together with the courtyard, of which construction around the tabernacle is to be discussed later or only this tabernacle interior that he ordered to make ten tapestries. For then it is said: You will also make a covering for the tabernacle of rams’ skins dyed red (Exodus 26,7). It is equally uncertain if this coverage should be made for everything that surrounds the tabernacle or only for the inner tabernacle … The following sentence: And on top of that another hyacinth-colored hides cover, it must be understood in the sense that the cover was not around, but from the ceiling, as if it were a room. 5. And continue: And you shall make for the tabernacle pillars of incorruptible wood. Each column shall have ten cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. Each column will have two bays placed facing each other. You will do the same with all the columns of the tabernacle (Exodus 26,15-17). I do not see clearly why these ancones are commanded to do, that I said before what they were. Because if they were made to transport the columns, they would have to be at least four. If they were to be supported by the crossbars, they would have to be several as well, because five columns were assigned to each column. Unless these ancones have no use, and have only one meaning, as in the eleventh veil of hair. Because a column with two ancones, as if they were two arms, hanging on both sides, has the shape of a cross. Let’s see now the number of columns to know by means of them if the shape of the tabernacle was square or round or if it had a rectangular shape with the two longer lateral sides and the two shorter frontal sides, as many basilicas are built. Because this is what is expressed rather here with some evidence. For the Scripture says thus: And you shall make pillars for the tabernacle: twenty pillars for the side facing north; and you shall make forty bases of silver for the twenty pillars: two bases for each pillar on either side. For the second side, to the south, you will make twenty pillars with forty silver bases: two bases for each column on either side (Exodus 26,18.21). The repetition should not pose problems, because it is a phrase by which the same is understood of all others that does not mention. We already said before why each column has two bases. Here capitals are called bases. 6. We see, then, that two sides of the tabernacle, that of the north and that of the south, have twenty pillars each one along. There remain the other two, the east and the west, which, if they had the same number of columns, would undoubtedly form a square. Well, it is said how many columns have the west side, but it is not said how many have the east side. I ignore the reason, if it is because it had no columns and the tapestries were stretched there alone without columns, from the last column on one side to the last column of the other, or if its mention is omitted for some reason, even tacitly understood. . Because later, in the same eastern part, ten columns are mentioned, but they are columns of the atrium, which is discussed below, which the Lord ordered to put around the tabernacle. Mentioned, then, the north and south sides of the tabernacle with its twenty pillars each, the text continues saying: And behind the tabernacle, on the part that looks west, you shall make six pillars; and for the angles of the tabernacle, on its back, you will make two more columns, which will be equal from top to bottom and will be joined together, being equal from the capitals to the first union. You will do so with the two columns for the two angles: they must be the same. They will be, then, eight columns with their sixteen bases of silver: two bases for one column and other two bases for the other column on each of their sides (Exodus 26,22-25). About the bases the same reason is given and the same expression is used. The west side, therefore - this is the side that is said to face the sea - consists of eight columns: six in the central part and two in the angles, which, as the text says, must be the same in the direction of where they come together. I believe that the angle joins two sides and the column of the angle is common to each side, one on the west and north side, and one on the west and south side. With respect to what is said that they must also be the same from top to bottom, it is said, of course, to keep them in balance perpendicularly, so that they were not thicker than down, as are most columns. 7. Then go on: You will also make crossbars of incorruptible wood: five for a pillar on one side of the tabernacle and five crossbars for the pillar on the other side of the tabernacle and five crossbars for the column on the back side of the tabernacle, which faces the sea. It is striking that it can be doubted that the eastern side of this inner tabernacle, around which the atrium then became, had no columns. For it is ordered that each column of the three sides each have five crossbars. The text says: The central crosspiece will pass halfway up the columns from one end to the other (Exodus 26,28). It seems to mean that the crossbar should reach from one column to another and should extend through the middle of the columns from one end to the other end; and for that reason, one of all those columns should not have its own five crossbeams. To this last column came the five, coming from the column next to it. The text says: You shall make the pillars of gold and make gold rings in which you shall put the crossbars, and put the crossbars of gold on them (Exodus 26,29). So that the columns were not filled with holes through which the crossbars were inserted, it is ordered to make rings, in which the ends of the crossbars are held on both sides. Therefore, it is necessary to think that these rings hung from small rings, fixed to the wood, so that they could catch and contain the end of the crosspieces. 8. Then continue: You will set up the tabernacle according to the model that has been shown to you on the mountain. You shall make a veil of hyacinth and purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen. You will do it embroidered with cherubs. You will hang it from four columns of incorruptible wood covered with gold. Its capitals shall be of gold and its four bases of silver. And you shall put the veil over the pillars, and you shall put there, behind the veil, the ark of the covenant. And the veil will serve you to separate the saint from the saint from the saints. And you shall cover with the veil the ark of the covenant in the holy of holies. All this shows that the ark of the covenant was inside, behind the veil placed on four columns. And it is ordered to cover the ark with the veil, but it must not be done so that the veil is placed on the cover of the ark, but must be placed in front. Then it is added: And you shall put the table outside the veil and the candlestick in front of the table in the part of the tabernacle that looks at noon. You will put the table in the part of the tabernacle that looks north (Exodus 26,35). This is also clear. Then it is said: And you shall make a curtain of hyacinth and purple and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen, work of embroiderer. And you shall make five pillars for the veil and overlay them with gold. Its capitals will be gold. And you shall cast for them five bronze bases (Exodus 26,36.37). Later it will appear to what use this veil extended over five columns was destined, because here it is not said. It seems that it is the veil of the entrance to the tabernacle, that is, the inner tabernacle, around which the atrium was located. Then the altar of sacrifices and burnt offerings is commanded, and it is said how it is to be done. But it still does not say where to put it. But this will also appear later. 9. From here until the end, the atrium is already spoken, which is to be placed around the tabernacle on whose construction it was previously spoken. The text says thus: You will also make the atrium (Cf Exodus 27,9ss). In Greek it is called ailén and they did not ailaían. Some of our translators do not distinguish between this court and those tapestries, which the Greeks call ailaias, not ails, and translate that word by “courts,” saying, “You shall also make the tabernacle with ten courtyards,” 29 where they should say with ten tapestries. Others, much more ignorant still, translated by ianuas (doors), not only ails, but also ailaias. Now, as in Latin we have the Aulaea (tapestries), which the Greeks call Ailaias, so our authors also call Aulam (classroom, palace) to what the Greeks call Ailén. But in Latin with this word the atrium is no longer indicated, but the royal palace: in Greek, on the other hand, the atrium is indicated. The text says: You shall make the court for the tabernacle on the side facing the south, and the curtain of the court shall be of fine twine. Its length will be one hundred cubits on one side. Its pillars will be twenty and its bronze bases will be twenty, and its rings and its rings will be of silver. The side facing north will also have a curtain of one hundred cubits long. Its pillars will be twenty and its brass bases will be twenty. Its rings and the rings of the columns and the bases will be covered with silver. The width of the atrium on the side facing the sea will have a curtain of fifty cubits. Its columns will be ten and its bases will be ten. The width of the atrium on the part facing east will be fifty cubits. His pillars will be ten and his bases will be ten (Exodus 27,9-13.). 10. Here we see already that the columns of the eastern part are mentioned, when speaking of the atrium. And that those columns were ten with ten bronze bases, as was also said about those on the west side. From here arises a very difficult question. Because it is easy to understand that on the eastern side there was an order of columns corresponding to the atrium, which surrounds on its four sides the inner tabernacle, because this inner tabernacle had no columns on that part. On the other hand, on the western side, where the eight columns of the inner tabernacle were already located, how are these ten columns to be understood also of the outer court, which is now mentioned, as if on the west side there were two orders of columns, eight on the inside and ten on the outside? And if the reality is like this, then the sides of the outer court would also be longer than those of the inner tabernacle, so that there would be a space from which the other order of columns would go from one end to the other and not to give in the previous order corresponding to the inner tabernacle. And if this is so, it would be logical that those twenty columns of the two sides of the inner tabernacle, on the south side and on the north side, were separated by shorter distances than those of the other twenty that the outer court has by those same sides. And since those outer orders of the twenty columns, as the Scripture says, have one hundred cubits, these inner orders of as many columns as you wish would have fewer elbows. Since the Scripture has not said it, it will be logical to think that those eight columns of the inner tabernacle, located on the west side, would be more separated than the twenty on the south side and the north side of the tabernacle itself, so that space could be encompassed enough to spread around those ten tapestries, with which the Lord had this tabernacle built at first. For each one of these tapestries is twenty-eight cubits, which make a total of two hundred and eighty cubits. Now, if there were a hundred cubits on the south and north sides, where the orders of the twenty columns are, we would evidently have forty cubits on the other two sides, the east and the west, and proportionally there would be at eight columns forty cubits, as in the twenty columns there are one hundred cubits. But the sides of the outer court would not be longer, because they are bounded by a hundred cubits, and, therefore, there would be no way for that order of ten columns, from the south angle to the north angle, to include the order of eight. interior columns. Therefore, for the atrium to surround the inner tabernacle on all sides, it is necessary that it be also shorter. And so it would be necessary that its twenty pillars, by means of which it extends along on both sides, be placed closer to each other than there are the twenty columns of the outer court. And the eight columns of the inner tabernacle on the west side should be more separated than the ten on the same side of the outer court, because the smaller number of elbows that have those tapestries extending along the twenty columns of the two sides, towards the south and towards the north, it is necessary to compensate it with the width of the east and west sides, to complete the measurement of the two hundred and eighty cubits that the tapestries have. Because the Lord did not order that some of these tapestries be folded, as he did with regard to the veils of hairs, among which there is one more. Therefore, if only the length of the inner tabernacle is reduced, which could be included from the outer court, so that the columns of the tapestries would not extend into one hundred columns, but only, for example, a minimum of ninety-six elbows, and thus had four less elbows, these same four elbows, which in total would be eight, would have to be placed naturally on the other two sides, the east side and the west side. And so those eight pillars of the west of the inner tabernacle would not measure forty cubits, but forty-four, and forty-four more on the east side. Accordingly, since among the ten pillars of the outer court they measure a length of fifty cubits, and between the eight pillars of the inner tabernacle they measure a length of forty-four cubits, the intervals of the eight inner pillars are more spaced than those of the ten pillars external, because if they were equal, in the eight columns there would be forty cubits, as there would be fifty cubits in the ten columns, because what are proportionally eight to ten, are also forty to fifty, and five times eight is forty, and five times ten fifty. 11. And we would not have any problem that the intervals of the columns were different, that is, that they were closer together on the sides where there are twenty columns along, and were more separated on the side where there are eight columns as wide, if there were no other reason that forced us to change our mind. For once it has been said that the court had curtains fifty cubits long to the west and ten pillars and ten bases299 and that the width of the court to the east was equally fifty cubits and had ten pillars and ten bases, it would seem that , said these things, it would have finished describing the form of the tabernacle with the atrium that surrounded it everywhere, but it is added another thing that is very difficult to know where it was and how it should be understood. The text reads as follows: The height of the curtain on one side will be fifteen cubits; his columns will be three and his bases will be three. The height of the curtain on the second side will be fifteen cubits; his columns will be three and his bases will be three. The covering of the door of the vestibule will have a height of twenty elbows; it will be of hyacinth and purple color and fine scarlet and twisted linen, work of embroiderer. Its columns will be four and its bases will be four (Exodus 27,14-16). I do not see where these things could be placed once the construction of the tabernacle is finished. But I see clearly that it is the same number of columns, which are ten, distributed in groups of three and three and four, that is, three on the sides and four in the middle. And therefore those curtains of fifty cubits will not be joined, so that there may be an entrance to the court, but the twenty cubits in the middle shall be separated by the fifteen cubits, so that they form the covering of the door of the tabernacle, that is, the veil, hang from an ornament and a cover and occupy the space of four columns, intended for the door of the atrium and which is separate. That is why the Lord established that this same veil, divided by the sides of fifteen cubits and separated, was also distinguished by its beauty, and highlighted by those four colors, work of embroiderer. But those sides of fifteen cubits on the one hand and on the other, which had three pillars each, if they were joined in the straight line from the door of the court, there would be no space between the ten pillars of the outer court and the eight pillars of the tabernacle inside, where would be the square altar of five cubits, which occupies the space that is not only in front of the altar, where the altar would be served, but between the altar itself and the entrance of the interior tabernacle where the brass pile would be. For the Lord commanded that it be placed there for the priests to wash their hands and feet when entering the tabernacle or when approaching to serve the altar. For if this were not outside the tabernacle, in the court, how could they wash their hands and feet before entering the tabernacle? But we can not put the altar outside the court, because it was commanded that the tabernacle and the altar be surrounded by the court. It remains, therefore, that those sides of fifteen cubits on the one hand and on the other and of the triple columns we take them from the sides, so that those sides form an interval of the same number of cubits between the door of the atrium and the entrance of the inner tabernacle: the door opened at the height of twenty cubits in the four columns with a veil embroidered by the work of the embroiderer, twenty cubits; and the entrance of the tabernacle so that the veil spread over the five pillars, which, evidently, we can not believe was placed within that order of eight pillars, but outside, next to the atrium. Then you will find the veil of the entrance. This entrance will open like a two-leaf door. And there the tapestries were not joined together by the rings and rings. Or if it were within that order of eight columns of the inner tabernacle, this veil would be placed in front of the five pillars at the entrance of the tabernacle so that when it was opened, the interior would not be exposed and thus the people would not see it. spectators And that veil, already placed within that order of columns, was already out - something that is not clear - was undoubtedly something away from that order of columns so that the five columns placed closer to the four columns would not close the entrance, but rather hiding it. 12. Thus, according to this model and this form of the tabernacle, there is no longer any need to place those twenty columns closer to the south and north sides of the inner tabernacle or to place those eight that looked west, further apart. Because those ten from the outer court of the western part do not constitute a long order of columns, in which the eight interiors are included, but, placed on one side and on the other three and four close the space on the door where the altar of burnt offerings, inside the door of the court, in front of the entrance of the tabernacle, and the heap, between the entrance of the tabernacle and the altar, and the space necessary for the ministry, between the altar and the door of the court. And so, all that space of the atrium closes with ten columns, three in the north and three in the south and four in the west, as if the Greek letter pi were drawn. And so the longer order of columns of the inner tabernacle added the same space, as if to the letter mentioned, for the part that has nothing, was added the stroke of the letter that is called iota; and thus, the middle part closes on that side and the remaining parts of the iota remain on one side and on the other. In that long row of the western part of the inner tabernacle could be counted, consequently, ten columns, in order to add to those eight the last two of the north and south rows of the sides of the atrium. For those ten that would properly belong to the atrium on the west side, through which the tabernacle was entered, had three columns on the sides and four on the facade, where the door was, and thus understood the space necessary to make the sacrifices inside. from the courtyard, in front of the tabernacle. And in the three pillars that were on the sides, there were linen awnings of fifteen cubits. In the four columns, where the door was, there was a veil of twenty cubits embroidered by a work of embroidery. 13. The Scripture should not pose a problem: The height of the curtains on one side will be fifteen cubits: their columns will be three and their bases will be three. The height of the curtains on the second side will be fifteen cubits: their columns will be three and their bases will be three. The tapestry of the door of the vestibule will have a height of twenty elbows (Exodus 27,14-16.). Because the text says that the height is the same as the length of the curtains. In effect, the height, when they are woven, is the same as the length, when they are extended. And so that it does not seem that we suspect it, the Scripture remembers this same thing in another place, when it says: They also made the vestibule that watches towards the south: the curtains of the vestibule were of twisted linen, of one hundred elbows by one hundred elbows (Exodus 38,9 (37, 7)), that is to say, one hundred cubits of the curtains for the hundred cubits of space that supported the twenty columns. And then he continues: And his pillars were twenty, and his bases, of brass, were twenty. The side facing north was one hundred cubits by a hundred cubits: and its pillars were twenty, and its bases were twenty bronze. And the side facing the sea had a tapestry of fifty cubits: its pillars were ten, and its bases were ten (Exodus 38,8-10 (37, 10-12)). - Here it is called a tapestry to what was previously called curtains. And the side facing east had curtains of fifty cubits (Exodus 38,11 (37,13)). After these data, the back of the tabernacle is again spoken of to show how those ten columns covered the space of the aforementioned atrium. The text reads as follows: Fifteen cubits from the back (Exodus 38,12 (37,14)). It is called back, because it was the back of the tabernacle, the western part. And he continues: And his pillars were three and his bases were three. And on the second side of the back, on either side of the door of the court, there was a tapestry of fifteen cubits: its pillars were three and its sockets were three (Exodus 38,13 (37, 13)). It is totally clear that what is here called back parts, when describing the way in which all things are made, corresponds to what were called sides, when the Lord gave the order to make them. They are sides, because united on either side they closed the space of the vestibule of the western door, or they are parts of behind, because they were for the back of the tabernacle, on the western part, this part of the atrium. Then the text continues: All the tapestries of the atrium were of twined linen. The bases of the pillars were of bronze, and the rings of silver, and their capitals clad in silver, and all the pillars of the court were lined with silver. And then he adds what had not yet been mentioned in this place: And the veil of the door of the porch, work of embroiderer, was of hyacinth and purple, and pure scarlet and twisted linen, and had a length and a height of twenty cubits. . This is where it appears that the height mentioned above is the same as the length of the extended tapestries. Finally he adds: And the width of five cubits. Indeed, the curtains of the outer court were as many cubits wide as the four cubits of the inner court. For it had been said thus: the length of the court shall be one hundred cubits, a hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty cubits, fifty cubits, and the height five cubits. It will be linen torzal (Exodus 27,18). Now what is called width is called height, because what is width for those who are extended is height for those who are standing. Well, as I just said, what is height when they are woven is length when they are extended. 14. Let us now see what I had left aside, that is, how to resolve the difficulty of the veils of hair, once I have explained, as I could, the shape of the tabernacle, putting it before the eyes. This question was perhaps more abstruse, because the author said in advance something that would be useful for the work of which he was going to speak later, when describing the atrium that had to be built around the tabernacle. Let us now see, then, the very words of the text: You will spread what is above the veils of the tabernacle; the half that you will spread over the veil; you will spread it over the tabernacle veils behind the tabernacle (Exodus 26,12). All that is said has only one meaning: “the half that is above the veil”, that is, “what is above the veils of the tabernacle that must be extended behind the tabernacle”. Now it is necessary to investigate how it remains, how it exceeds and half of the veil of that series of veils is united, since the Lord commanded to join five to each other and another six to each other, as he had said before that the sixth veil had to be folded in front of the veil. tabernacle, that is, on the east side. And as the Lord said that they were the same ones in the back of the tabernacle, on the west side, which is the sea side, what is the front of the tabernacle, but the side facing east? Therefore, that part by which the five veils are joined is one hundred and fifty cubits, that is, five times thirty-for each veil was thirty cubits, as God had commanded them to be made. But that part in which there were not five, but six veils, joined together in the same way, was one hundred and eighty cubits, this, six times thirty. And so, when they folded one of these veils, as it was commanded, they lost with the fold fifteen cubits before the tabernacle. And removing these fifteen cubits, there remained one hundred and sixty-five. Consequently, from those one hundred and fifty cubits, by means of which this part of the six veils was also equal to that part of the five veils, there remained and there were still fifteen cubits left. For on the side of the part of the five veils there were one hundred and fifty cubits. And on the side of the part of the six veils, folding one in front of the tabernacle, there were one hundred and sixty-five cubits. This side, therefore, had fifteen cubits more than the other. This is what the author calls the half of the veil, which he orders to extend behind the tabernacle. Therefore, since that is bent before, this half veil left over from the back of the tabernacle did not bend, but extended. That is to say, all those fifteen cubits placed underneath extended, and for that reason they were subtracted to that length. And they also subtracted, by the fold of one of the veils, those fifteen cubits before the tabernacle. Thus, at the one hundred and fifty cubits of the five veils were opposed by the other party the one hundred and fifty cubits of the six veils, that is, the thirty cubits subtracted from the one hundred and eighty that were before the tabernacle, with the veil bent, and from the back parts of the tabernacle, with half the veil spread below. 15. What follows is something else and raises another problem, because of which, above all, I thought that we had to delay the explanation of this passage, so that we could first see the shape of the tabernacle that was going to be built and what was written about the atrium that had to be built around. Then the text follows: What is left over from the veils of the length of the tabernacle veils-one cubit on the one hand and the other on the other-will be spread on both sides of the tabernacle, from one side to the other, to cover it. It is one thing that one part of the six veils will overcome the other part of the five veils because of the greater number of veils, of which we have already spoken, and another thing is that there is something left over from the length of the veils, that has now been spoken. According to this, one does not compare one part with another nor is it discovered that one is greater than the other, that is, that which has six veils is greater than that which has five veils. For the two sides were equal to each other, a veil was folded in front of the tabernacle, and the length of half a veil was extended from behind. But the veils of hairs, compared with the tapestries, of which the Lord commanded to make ten for the inner tabernacle, woven with four colors, are two elbows longer, because each tapestry was twenty-eight cubits, and the veils were thirty cubits. Therefore, here it is not said: what is left over from the veils, but what is left over from the veils of the length of the veils. And the phrase: An elbow on one side and another elbow on the other will extend on both sides of the tabernacle, it means that the length in which the veils of hair exceed in two elbows each of the tapestries -each one of them, not all-, it has to be collected towards a part, that is to say, what remains must be collected towards the back of the tabernacle, but distributing it equally and giving the same amount to the anterior part of the tabernacle as to the back. This means that, as the two elbows in each of the veils have the same length that they have left, one part must remove one elbow and the other part, another elbow. Thus, this part will have ten cubits from each of its veils and the other part another ten cubits from each of its own, because the ten veils, each with two more elbows, have a length of twenty cubits, by which they seem to exceed in their series the series of tapestries. 16. Now we must see what space they serve to close these twenty cubits that are left over from the length of the veils. Because if the inner tabernacle is covered around by the veils of hair, there is absolutely nothing left so that it can be covered with them. From where it turns out that they themselves have to be covered underneath, and by covering them underneath, something must be taken from them, something that the Scripture does not say. In fact, the ten tapestries, each one of which has twenty-eight cubits, with which the inner tabernacle is covered, cover a space of dimensions that can cover two hundred and eighty cubits. Therefore, the longer sides, which are the south and the north, each having twenty columns, lose one cubit each of those elbows. Eighty remain to distribute, forty on each of the other two shorter sides, the eastern side, which lacks the row of columns, and the western side, where there were eight columns. Therefore, the veils of hair would have twenty cubits left over, which would have nothing to cover, if with the three hundred cubits of the veils of hair the two hundred and eighty cubits of the tapestries were covered, since when removing the veils from them thirty cubits, they would still have three hundred. Therefore, those two elbows that have more each one of the veils of hairs, and whose sum of twenty elbows, it is necessary to distribute them thus: an elbow on the one hand and another elbow on the other. This means that you do not have to collect all of them in a single part so that they cover the sides of the tabernacle, but they must cover the sides of the outer court. Thus, those three hundred cubits of veils of hair must surround the tabernacle on the outside. Then the sides of the outer court of a hundred cubits, which are the south and north sides, are over fifty cubits on the east and west sides, all of which together make three hundred cubits, to cover which are three hundred cubits the veils of hairs. This is what it means: one elbow on the one hand and another elbow on the other. It is about the distribution of the two elbows that have more each of the hair veils, that is, what is left over from the veils of the length of the veils will extend to both sides of the tabernacle, the sides, obviously, external, belonging to the atrium, to cover on both sides, and not the sides of the atrium itself, which extend along one hundred cubits each and twenty columns each. These sides, in fact, have not become longer than those of the inner tabernacle, which extend throughout the ten tapestries, and they themselves have also twenty pillars each. For as the two sides of the inner tabernacle, on the north and on the south, have one hundred cubits each, so do those of the outer court. Therefore, the length with which they exceed the length of the carpets does not serve to cover the own outer sides of as many columns of the hair veils. Because toward the outer sides they measure the same as they would measure toward the interior, that is, one hundred cubits each, which make two hundred. But, as on the east and west sides, forty-cubits-long sides would suffice if only the inner tabernacle were surrounded with the veils of hairs, so the width of the tabernacle increased once the sides of the court were added, so that no longer forty cubits are needed to cover the east and west sides, but fifty cubits. To cover them, the length of the hairs of hairs could be greater than that of the tapestries, so that the two elbows that were left over to each of them were not used on the one hand, but an elbow was used on the one hand and elbow on the other. on the other; and so the eastern side had as much as ten cubits left, and the western side ten more. Because twenty corresponds to twice ten, since the thirty cubits of the eleventh veil are subtracted from this length, by folding it and extending it below. 17. But as the Latin translation says: One cubit on the one hand and another cubit on the other of what is left over the veils of the length of the veils of the tabernacle shall extend on both sides of the tabernacle, (Exodus 26,13) where the Greek has plágia, a term that some Latin translators translate not by “sides” (side), but by “obliques” (obliqua), the question arises of knowing why they can not be called “plagia” those sides, of which one is before and one behind, that they are the sides of the east and the west, but they can be called piazza on the right and on the left, which are the north and south sides, although nothing oblique appears here, since all the angles of the four sides are straight . Therefore, not being those pages that have fifty cubits each, to cover which we said could have served the length of the veils of hair that was left over, how can it be true that one elbow on one side and another elbow on the other? What is left of the veils of the length of the veils of the tabernacle shall extend on both sides of the tabernacle? It is evident that the author speaks of covering those sides -which he also calls parts of the back-, of fifteen cubits each and of three columns each, which, together with the door of the vestibule, which has twenty elbows and four columns, make fifty cubits and ten columns. These sides leave the atrium door in the middle from these own limits of their own, and leave the entrance of the tabernacle from those limits. Between the door of the court and the entrance of the tabernacle there is a space that those twenty cubits close from the door and fifteen cubits each from the right and from the left. In that space is the altar of burnt offerings inside the door of the atrium in front of the entrance of the tabernacle. Between the altar and the entrance of the tabernacle is the bronze basin, where the priests washed their hands and feet. Examined, however, with care, perhaps even some obliquity is found on these sides of three columns each, which in Greek is called plagia, so that with good reason some of our translators have translated by obliqua (oblique) the word plágia that they found in Greek. Indeed, the veils of hairs, with their fifteen cubits each, can not cover the fifteen cubits of each one of the awnings of those sides, unless in the later parts of the tabernacle no more than ten cubits are used in each one, before they bend to those sides. Therefore, from the straight line of the back of the tabernacle, which is the part of the west-as this line had eight columns, corresponding to the inner tabernacle, it began to have ten when the sides of the outer court were added to it, and as it had Forty cubits, corresponding to the eight columns, began to have fifty cubits in the ten columns - from this line, then, as the ten cubits that came from the two angles were covered with the veils of hair, there will be thirty cubits in the middle not covered with the veils of hairs, but only in those tapestries in whose half, which was thirty cubits and extending by as many elbows, was the entrance of the tabernacle. Therefore, those sides that had three columns and fifteen cubits, if considered from their terminations, by which the doors of the atrium were joined, were opened face to face at a distance of twenty cubits, because there was only one door that I separated those sides. But from the terminations, by which they were attached to that later line of the tabernacle, of which we have spoken, there were thirty cubits between them, no doubt oblique, because they opened more than others, on this side, where they had thirty cubits, up to the middle, that by that one for which they had twenty cubits, up to the middle. Thus, those ten cubits of the veils of hairs -which was half the length that remained-, which served for the back of the tabernacle, the western part, as the other ten served for the previous part, the eastern part with five cubits filled the cover of those sides, which in Greek are called piagia, five on the one hand and five on the other. And if they had missed those elbows, on those same sides ten cubits would be covered and five cubits would be uncovered. Therefore, it seems to me that it is better understood that it has been said: One elbow on the one hand and another elbow on the other of what is left over to the veils of the length of the veils of the tabernacle, not because they were there, five times one part and the other, but because they exceeded that length, according to which the veils of hair exceeded in two elbows the tapestries. And of those two elbows, the elbow of each of the veils served for the eastern part. And there was certainly another elbow for the western part, so that one elbow on the one hand and another elbow on the other covered the pages of the tabernacle. That is why it is said: so that it may spread on one side and on the other; since it did not cover everything, if they had missed the five mentioned elbows. 18. Now, as we have already discussed a lot about how to understand all those things that seemed obscure in the construction of the tabernacle, we will try to show briefly, as far as possible, what we have got out of this discussion. The entrance was from the west and there was a first entrance door to the court, which was twenty cubits wide and four columns, from which hung a veil, twenty cubits wide and five cubits high, of cloth embroidered and colored with those four colors mentioned so many times. Entering through this door, one went to the atrium, which had on the right side and on the left fifteen cubits long and three columns on each side. In the middle was the entrance of the inner tabernacle in that part where it was reached. In the same way, in the middle the door of the atrium was located in that part where it was starting to go. This atrium was wider than long. Its length, from the door of it to the entrance of the inner tabernacle, was about fifteen cubits. Its width, on the other hand, near the door was twenty cubits, and thirty cubits near the entrance. Thus it is understood that those sides were oblique. And they had, on the right and on the left, three columns each and fifteen cubits each. In this court was the sacrificial altar, square in shape, five cubits long and five cubits wide. Between the door and the altar there was a space, where those who put the sacrifices on the altar moved. On the inside, between the altar and the entrance to the tabernacle, was the place of the ashes before the altar and then the bronze pile, where the priests washed their hands and feet, or because they were going to serve the altar in the atrium, or because they were going to enter the inner tabernacle. The awnings of this court on the sides of the three pillars were of linen fifteen cubits wide and five cubits high. 19. From this vestibule one went to the entrance of the tabernacle, once left behind the altar and the bronze pile. It happened with the tapestries open, ten of which, five on the one hand and five on the other, surrounded the entire inner tabernacle, placed facing each other. Upon entering through the door was the veil that was in front of the entrance, hanging on five columns, and adorned with those four colors. When the Lord commanded to make this veil he called it adductorium (Exodus 26,36) (curtain), I think because it was running in both directions, covering and opening the entrance. After this veil came the middle part of the tabernacle, located between this veil and that other inner veil, which hung from four columns, made with those four colors and that separated the saint, who was on the outside, and the saint of the saints, located inside. In this middle space, between these two veils, there was a table of gold, in the northern part, which had the loaves of the proposal, and in front of it the seven-armed golden candelabra, in the southern part. Up to here the priests of the second rank could enter. 20. In the inner part, in the saint of the saints, beyond the veil that hung from the four pillars, was the ark of the golden covenant, on which were the tablets of the law and the rod of Aaron, and the golden urn with the manna, and above the golden mercy seat, where the two cherubim were, covering with their wings the mercy seat, facing each other. In front of the ark, between the ark and the veil, was placed the altar of incense, that the Scripture says many times that it was of gold, and other times, that it was golden, calling clearly of gold to a thing that was golden. To this place, the saint of saints, only the high priest could enter, every day to put the incense, and once a year with the blood to purify the altar, and if perhaps the need to offer a sacrifice for the sin of the priest or of the whole community, as it is written in Leviticus (Cf Leviticus 16). The tabernacle was entered by the west gate, that is, by the door of the court to the east side, by the inside, where the ark of the covenant was. 21. This inner tabernacle, which began, not from the door of the court, but from the entrance which was called the entrance of the tabernacle, and which ended along the eastern side, where the ark of the covenant was, ended at the ten tapestries which each had twenty-eight cubits, five on one side and five on the other, joined together by rings and rings, and which were placed opposite each other, and in the twenty columns on the longer sides, north and south. south, and in the eight columns, on the west side, and that on the east side had no columns, but ended in tapestries. These ten tapestries were four cubits high and two hundred and eighty cubits long all around. Of these, one hundred cubits corresponded to the longer sides, south and north, along the twenty columns. And forty cubits corresponded to the other two shorter sides, one to the west, along eight columns, and another to the east, where there were no pillars, for the tapestries hung alone from the only two columns that were in the corners, there being no columns in between. These tapestries were ten fabrics with fabrics of those four colors. This inner tabernacle was, therefore, surrounded by the atrium of twenty columns, on the south, and of twenty others, on the north. These two sides of the court were equal in length to the sides of the inner tabernacle, since they had twenty pillars and the same number of cubits, which were one hundred. On the east side, however, the atrium ended in ten columns and was fifty cubits. This line of columns was straight and ended in those two angular columns of the inner tabernacle, which were the only ones on the east side. With them, therefore, the number of ten was completed. On the west side, however, the atrium certainly had ten columns, but not in a straight line, but, as we have already shown, in the form of a triple portico, with four columns from the door and three from the sides. 22. All the court that surrounded the tabernacle was surrounded by awnings of fine linen, five cubits high. On them fell the eleven veils of goat’s hair, five on one side joined together, and six on the other. The five veils bound together on one side measured one hundred and fifty cubits. The six joined veils of the other side measured one hundred and eighty cubits, because each veil measured thirty cubits. But for one part to be equal to the other, a veil was folded in front of the tabernacle, that is, on the east side, and half of the veil was tucked under the back, that is, on the west side, and thus they removed thirty cubits, which was the length of a veil, and there remained one hundred and fifty cubits, the same as there was also on the other side. The circumference, then, of the goats’ hair, which surrounded the court of the tabernacle, was three hundred cubits, as the circumference of the ten tabernacles of the inner tabernacle measured two hundred and eighty cubits, since each tapestry was twenty-eight cubits long, and, instead, the veils of hairs were thirty cubits long. Therefore, from the circumference of the tapestries of the inner tabernacle, which measured two hundred and eighty cubits, the elbows were on the longer sides, south and north, and forty cubits on the shorter sides, east and west. On the other hand, of the circumference of the hairs, which covered the outer court and whose circumference measured three hundred cubits, one hundred cubits were on the longer sides, of the south and north, because they were equal to the sides of the inner tabernacle, and fifty cubits were on the remaining sides, east and west. And therefore, those two elbows in which the veil of hair was longer than the tapestry served for the east and west sides and not for the south and north sides, which were equal to those of the outer court and the outer court. inner tabernacle. And the reason is that on those two sides the width of the tabernacle had increased in relation to the atrium placed around the outside. But the fifty cubits of the veils of hairs extended from the eastern part by the straight line formed by the ten columns and took advantage of one elbow of those two in which the length of the veils of hairs was greater. On the other hand, the other fifty cubits that corresponded to the west side, to which the other elbow of those two took advantage, did not extend by the straight line of the columns. Because there was that kind of triple portico, which closed the space of the atrium, where the altar of sacrifices should be, formed by four columns from the door and three from the sides. And therefore those fifty cubits could not also close the door, but extended to cover those oblique sides, formed by three columns and fifteen cubits. The veils of hairs measured four cubits high and with them covered the linen awnings of the atrium, whose height was five cubits. 23. The skins dyed red came to fall on the veils of goat hair. But above, on the part of the roof, forming a kind of vault, the tabernacle was covered with hyacinth-colored skins. It is not clear if that space was also that interior with the atrium. But it is more plausible that the spaces of the atrium, which were between the outer and inner columns, were flat ceilings, especially the western space, where the altar of sacrifices was located. <div — QUESTIONS ON EXODUS, Q. 176 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)