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Protecting this tent was a two-fold covering, one of ram's skins dyed read, the other of
badgers' skins. Rams skins alone would have spoken plainly of sacrifice and consecration
(Exod. 29: 27; Lev. v 15 and 19: 21), but the red dye would emphasize sin and its
cleansing (Isa. 1: 18).
Badger's skins are not so easy to interpret. The usual suggestion is that the beauty of
the tabernacle was hidden from view, and the only rough badgers' skins were seen, just
as it is written that Israel saw no beauty in the Lord when He walked the earth in the days
of His flesh. Apart from the tabernacle, badgers' skins are only mentioned once in the
Scriptures, viz., Ezek. 16: 10, where the other references to silver, linen, and
embroidered work are considered by many to be an allusion to the tabernacle itself.
While modern translators consider the Hebrew word tachash to mean a badger or
some such animal, this has not been always the case, for the voice of the ancient versions
of the practically unanimous in stating that the word stands for a colour. Josephus has the
following remark in His Antiquities:
"There were also curtains made of skins above these which afforded covering.....and
great was the surprise of those who viewed these curtains at a distance, for they
seemed not at all to differ from the colour of the sky" (Book 3:, Chap. 6:).
The LXX and Jerome translate the word by hyacinthus, the "jacinth" of Rev. 21: 20,
which is azure or sky-blue. Other ancient versions, together with the Vulgate, translate
the word by ianthinus, violet coloured. That hyacinth was an article of commerce,
and used in the dyeing of dress material, can be seen by consulting the LXX of
Ezek. 27: 24 and Isa. 3: 23. It will be remembered that Moses was instructed to
make the tabernacle according to the pattern shown him in the mount (Exod. 25: 9, 40;
26: 30; 27: 8; Acts 7: 44; and Heb. 8: 5). It is also very plain that the
tabernacle in the wilderness was an example and shadow of "the heavenly things
themselves", that "true tabernacle", which the Lord pitched, and not man (Heb. 8: 2, 5;
9: 23, 24). May we not have in this fact an explanation of the added covering, and the
reason of its azure colour? The true external cover of the tabernacle was the one of rams'
skins dyed red, the superimposed covering of blue representing heaven itself in which the
true tabernacle really existed. This was but an anticipation in type of Solomon's prayer:
"Hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling place." There are many other features of interest in
the details revealed in this wonderful structure that we must leave to the reader to
investigate, while we notice briefly the framework, foundations, and the vail, before
concluding this survey.
Golden boards and silver sockets.
The walls and framework of the tabernacle were made of shittim wood (or as the LXX
renders it "incorruptible wood"), overlaid with gold. Forty-eight boards were used
altogether, twenty on either side, six across the back, and two to form the corners in some
way not revealed. These boards were held in place by a series of bars and rings, and the