'and behind the tabernacle, on the part which is toward the sea, you shall make six columns. And two columns you shall make at the corners of the tabernacle at the rear. And they shall be equal downward and coming together into themselves, equal at the heads into one joining. So shall you make for both the two corners; let them be equal. And there shall be eight columns and their silver bases sixteen: two bases for one column and two bases for one column on both its parts.' Concerning the bases the reasoning is similar and the manner of speech is similar. The western side, then — for this is toward the sea — is extended by eight columns: six in the middle and two at the corners, which he says ought to be equal, up to one joining;
I believe, because the corner joins two sides to itself, and the corner column is common to both sides — this one to the western and northern, that one to the western and southern. But what he says, 'equal also downward,' this he certainly says so that they should be leveled to the plumb-line, lest they be stouter below than above, as most columns are. Then he says: 'and you shall make bars of incorruptible woods, five for one column on the one side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the column on the second side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the column on the rear side of the tabernacle which is toward the sea.' It would be strange if it could be doubted that the eastern side had no columns in this inner tabernacle, around which the court is afterwards placed.
He orders, then, each and every single column of all three sides to have five bars each. 'And the bar,' he says, 'in the middle between the middle columns shall pass through from one side to the other side.' This he seems to say so that the bar should reach from column to column and be extended through the interval of the columns from the side of one to the side of another. And through this, one column out of all these was not going to have its own five bars; to which as the outermost the five came, coming from the column nearest to it. 'And the columns,' he says, 'you shall overlay with gold, and you shall make bronze rings into which you shall insert the bars, and you shall overlay the bars with gold.'
Lest the columns should be hollowed out with holes into which the bars might enter, he ordered rings to be made by which the ends of the bars might be held on either side. Accordingly these rings are understood to have hung from little handles fixed in the wood, so that they could take and hold the outermost parts of the bars. 'And you shall erect,' he says, 'the tabernacle according to the pattern which was shown to you on the mountain. And you shall make a veil of hyacinth and purple and twisted scarlet and spun fine linen; a woven work you shall make it, of cherubim. And you shall place it over four incorruptible columns overlaid with gold; and their capitals of gold, and their four bases of silver. And you shall set the veil over the columns, and you shall bring in thither, more inward than the veil is, the ark of the testimony:
and the veil shall divide for you between the midst of the holy place and the midst of the holy of holies. And you shall cover with the veil the ark of the testimony in the holy of holies.' All these things make it manifest that within, inside this veil placed upon the four columns, was the ark of the testimony; which he did not order to be so covered with the veil that the veil should lie over the covering of the ark, but that it should be set over against it. Then he says: 'and you shall place the table outside, beyond the veil, and the lampstand over against the table on the part of the tabernacle which looks toward the south; and you shall place the table on the part of the tabernacle which looks toward the north.' This too is plain. But what follows: 'and you shall make a screen of hyacinth and purple and twisted scarlet and twisted fine linen, the work of an embroiderer.'
'And you shall make for the screen five columns and shall overlay them with gold; and their capitals of gold. And you shall cast for them five bronze bases.' For what use this screen is made, extended on five columns, will appear afterwards; for here it does not appear. For he wishes it to be the screen of the door of the tabernacle — of this inner one, that is, around which the court is placed. Then he orders the altar of sacrifices and burnt offerings to be made, and says in what manner it is to be made, but does not yet say where it is to be placed; but this too will appear afterwards. Hence now he speaks of the court right up to the end, which is to be placed around that tabernacle of which he earlier spoke as to be constructed. 'And you shall make,' he says, 'a court' — which in Greek he calls chorton, not aulaian:
which some of our translators, not distinguishing both this and those curtains — which the Greeks call aulaias, not chortos — interpreted as 'courts,' saying: 'and you shall make a tabernacle of ten courts,' where they ought to have said 'of ten curtains.' And some, much more unskilled, interpreted both aulaea and aulaia as 'doors.' But just as in the Latin tongue we find aulaea, which the Greeks call aulaias, so what they call aulen, our people called aula. But now it is not a court that is signified by this name in the Latin tongue, but a royal house; among the Greeks, however, a court. Therefore: 'and you shall make,' he says, 'a court for the tabernacle on the side which looks toward the south, and hangings of the court of twisted fine linen:
let the length be a hundred cubits for one side. Their columns twenty, and their bronze bases twenty, and their rings and their arches of silver. So also for the side which is toward the north, hangings of a hundred cubits in length; and their columns twenty and their bronze bases twenty, and their rings and the arches of the columns and the bases overlaid with silver. But the breadth of the court which is toward the sea, its hangings of fifty cubits; their columns ten and their bases ten. And the breadth of the court which is toward the east, fifty cubits; its columns ten and their bases ten.'
Here now we see columns mentioned on the east, when he speaks of the court, and those ten and ten with bronze bases, just as he also said concerning the western ones. Whereupon a most difficult question arises. For it is indeed easy for us to take on the east one row of columns pertaining to the court, by which the inner tabernacle is girded on all four sides, because on that part the inner tabernacle had no columns; but on the west, where there were already the eight columns of the inner tabernacle, how are we to take also these ten which he mentions as belonging to the outer court — as though on the west there were two rows of columns, eight of the inner and ten of the outer?
But if this is so, the sides of the outer court will also be longer than those of the inner tabernacle, so that there may be room whence, from end to end, another row of columns may be run and not run into the earlier row pertaining to the inner tabernacle. And if this is so, it will follow that those twenty columns of the two sides of the inner tabernacle, the south and the north, are separated by shorter intervals than those twenty which the outer court has on the same sides. And because those outer rows of twenty columns,
as Scripture says, take up a hundred cubits, these inner rows of just as many columns take up however many cubits less — since Scripture did not express this — it will follow that those eight columns of the inner tabernacle on the western side are more sparsely set than those twenty of the same tabernacle on the south and north, so that there may be comprehended a space sufficient for stretching around those ten curtains, of which he first said this tabernacle was to be made. For they have twenty-eight cubits each, which together make two hundred and eighty:
of which, if a hundred each were on the two sides of the south and north, where the rows of twenty columns are, then forty cubits each would be stretched along the other two sides of the east and west, and in proportion forty cubits would fall on eight columns, just as a hundred cubits on twenty columns; but then the sides of the outer court would not be longer, since they are defined by a hundred cubits each, and therefore there would be no way in which that row of ten columns could enclose, from the southern corner to the northern corner, the row of the inner eight columns. Accordingly, in order that the inner tabernacle may be surrounded on every side by the court, it is necessary that it be also of a shorter length. And thus it must needs be that its twenty columns on the two sides,
along which it is extended lengthwise, be set more densely than even those twenty columns of the outer court themselves, and the eight columns of the inner tabernacle on the western part more sparsely than the ten of the outer court on the same part; since whatever fewer cubits of those curtains are stretched out on the twenty columns of the two sides toward the south and north must be compensated for by the breadth of the eastern and western sides, so that the two hundred and eighty cubits of the curtains may be completed. For it is not, as with the hair veils, where there is one more, that he thus ordered anything to be doubled of these curtains. Wherefore, if the length of the inner tabernacle is only so far shortened as could be enclosed by the outer court,
so that on its twenty columns not a hundred cubits of curtains are stretched, but, for example, at least ninety-six, so that they are shorter by four cubits, these very four cubits — that is, eight cubits on the two other sides — must certainly be stretched on the eastern and western sides; and so on those eight western columns of the inner tabernacle not forty cubits are extended, but forty-four, and another forty-four on the east.
When, therefore, along the ten columns of the outer court fifty cubits are stretched, but along the eight columns of the inner tabernacle forty-four cubits are stretched, the intervals of the eight inner columns are found to be more sparse than those of the ten outer ones; for if they were equal, then along the eight columns forty cubits would be stretched, just as fifty were stretched along the ten, since what eight is in proportion to ten, that same is forty to fifty. For the number forty contains the number five eight times, while fifty contains it ten times. Nor need the unequal intervals of the columns trouble us, in that they were set more densely along the sides of the length, where there are twenty apiece, but more sparsely along the side of the breadth.
where there are eight columns—unless some other consideration arose which compelled a change of view. For when Scripture had recorded that the length of the court toward the sea has hangings of fifty cubits, and ten columns, and their ten bases; and likewise the breadth of the court toward the east of fifty cubits, and ten columns, and ten bases; and after these words the form of the tabernacle with its court surrounding it on every side seemed complete, it introduced something else, where and in what manner it is to be understood is most difficult to discover. 'And of fifteen cubits,' it says, 'is the height of the hangings for the one side; their columns three and their bases three. And the second side of fifteen cubits, the height of the hangings; their columns three and their bases three.'
'And the covering of the court gate, twenty cubits in height, of blue and purple and spun scarlet and twined linen, embroidered with the needle in varied work: their columns four and their bases four.' Where these are to be set up, with that form of the tabernacle already complete, I do not see; but I do clearly see that the number of columns is the same, namely ten, made up of three and three and four—three, that is, on each side and four in the middle. And by this those hangings of fifty cubits will not be continuous, lest there be no entrance into the court, but two spaces of fifteen cubits each will leave a middle space of twenty cubits separate, so that they may form the covering of the tabernacle gates, that is, the veil.
which hangs down as adornment and covering, and occupies the space of the four columns which are assigned and set apart for the court gate. Therefore he willed that this very veiling, divided and set apart from the sides of fifteen cubits each, should also be distinguished in appearance, so that by needlework it might be varied with those four colors. But if those sides of fifteen cubits each, having three columns on either hand, be joined in the same straight line with the court gate, there will be no space between the ten columns of the outer court and the eight of the inner tabernacle where the altar might stand—a square of five cubits occupying its space—and in front of the altar itself where service might be done to the altar, and between it and the door of the inner tabernacle where the bronze laver might stand.
For thus it was commanded to be placed, that from it the priests might wash their hands and feet when they enter the tabernacle or when they draw near to serve the altar. But unless we understand this to be outside the tabernacle, in the court, how can they first wash their hands and feet and thus enter the tabernacle? Yet outside the court we cannot set the altar, since he commanded that both the tabernacle and the altar be surrounded by the court. It remains, therefore, that we take those sides of fifteen cubits each on either hand, with their three columns each, in such a way from the sides that they themselves make an interval of the same number of cubits between the court gate and the door of the inner tabernacle:
the gate indeed lying open twenty cubits wide upon four columns and having a veil varied with needlework of twenty cubits, but the door of the inner tabernacle where that veiling should be placed, stretched upon five columns—which we ought certainly to understand as set not within that row of eight columns, but outside, toward the court. For then it will be the veil of the tabernacle door, which door was opened as if by folding-leaves, where the curtains were not joined to one another by rings and loops; or else, if perchance within that row of the eight columns of the inner tabernacle, this veiling upon five columns was set opposite the tabernacle door, so that when it was opened the inner parts might not be laid bare, lest they be seen by those looking in.
This veiling, however—whether it was placed within that row of columns or without, which is not sufficiently clear—was without doubt distant by a moderate interval from that same row of columns, lest the five columns, being too densely crowded against the four columns, should rather block the entrance than veil it. According to this manner, therefore, and according to this form of the tabernacle, there is now no need to set up those twenty columns of the sides of the inner tabernacle toward the south and the north more densely, and to make those eight, which had been on the west, more sparse.
因為外院西邊那十根柱子，並不構成一長排柱子把內側八根圍住，而是每邊各設三根、門上四根，圍出一塊空間，好使燔祭的祭壇得在院子門內、帳幕門前，又使銅盆在帳幕門與祭壇之間，並使祭壇與院子門之間有事奉所必需的間隔。如此，院子的整塊空間便由十根柱子圍住——北邊三根、南邊三根、西邊四根——彷彿你畫出希臘字母 N 一般。
For those ten columns of the outer court on the same western side do not make a long row of columns by which the eight inner ones might be enclosed, but with three set on either side and four in the gate they close off a space where both the altar of burnt offerings may be within the court gate before the tabernacle door, and the laver between the tabernacle door and the altar, and the interval necessary for the ministry between the altar and the court gate. And thus that whole space of the court is enclosed by ten columns—three on the north and three on the south and four on the west—as if you were to make the Greek letter N.
And thus that same space was joined to the longer row of columns of the inner tabernacle, as if to the aforementioned letter, on the side where it does not have one, you were to add that prolongation of the letter which is called iota, so that by its middle part it might be closed off from that side, and the remaining parts of the iota itself should be left on either hand. Ten columns, therefore, could be counted in that long row of the western part of the inner tabernacle, since to those eight were added two, which had been the last in the rows of the court's sides toward the north and the south.
For those ten also which properly belonged to the court on the west, whence entrance was made to the tabernacle, had three columns on the sides and four in front where the gate was, and thus embraced within the court, before the tabernacle, the space necessary for the use of the sacrifices. On the three columns which were on the sides there were hangings of linen of fifteen cubits each; but on the four, where the gate was, there was a veil of twenty cubits varied with needlework. Nor let it disturb us that Scripture says: 'Of fifteen cubits is the height of the hangings for the one side; their columns three and their bases three. And the second side of fifteen cubits, the height of the hangings; their columns three and their bases three.'
'And the covering of the court gate, twenty cubits in height.' For it calls 'height' that same measure which had been the 'length' of the hangings. For the same measure is the height when they are woven that is the length when they are stretched out. And lest we should seem merely to suspect this, Scripture, recording this very thing in another place, says: 'And they made the court which is toward the south; the hangings of the court of twined linen, a hundred by a hundred'—that is, a hundred cubits of hangings by a hundred cubits of space which the twenty columns occupied. Then it follows: 'And their columns twenty and their bases twenty of bronze. And the side which is toward the north, a hundred by a hundred; and their columns twenty and their bases twenty of bronze. And the side which is toward the sea, curtains of fifty cubits;'
'their columns ten and their bases ten': it calls 'curtains' the same things it calls 'hangings.' 'The side which is toward the east, hangings of fifty cubits.' After these things it returns to the rear parts of the tabernacle, to show in what manner those ten columns embraced the space of the court of which it was speaking. 'Of fifteen cubits,' it says, 'which is at the back.' It calls it 'back' because these were the rear parts of the tabernacle, that is, on the west side. 'And their columns,' it says, 'three, and their bases three. And at the second back, on this side and on that, alongside the court gate, curtains of fifteen cubits: their columns three and their bases three.' It is certainly manifest that two backs are here spoken of.
For when it is recorded in what manner all things were made which had been called 'sides' when it was commanded that they be made—'sides,' namely, because being joined on this side and on that they closed off the space of the western gate of the court, but 'backs' because this part of the court was at the rear of the tabernacle, that is, on the western side. Then it follows and says: 'All the hangings of the court of twined linen. And the bases of the columns of bronze, and their loops of silver, and their capitals overlaid with silver, and the columns overlaid with silver, all the columns of the court.' Then it adds what it had not yet recorded in that place: 'And the covering of the court gate, the work of the embroiderer, of blue and purple and spun scarlet and twined linen, twenty cubits in length and in height.'
Behold where it appears that the 'height' mentioned above was the length of the stretched curtains. Finally it adds: 'And the breadth of five cubits.' For the hangings of the outer court were raised up to so many cubits of breadth, just as those of the inner one to four cubits. And thus too it had said above: 'The length of the court a hundred by a hundred, and the breadth fifty by fifty, and the height five cubits, of twined linen'—calling that 'height' which afterward it called 'breadth,' since the breadth of things lying flat is the same as the height of things set upright, just as (which I mentioned a little before) the height when they are woven is the same as the length when they are stretched. Now let us look at what I had deferred.
How, from this form of the whole tabernacle, which I have set before your eyes as best I could, that difficulty concerning the goats'-hair veils may be resolved. This difficulty was perhaps the more obscure because by anticipation something was said which would be of use for the work of which he was to speak afterward, when he was describing the court to be set around the tabernacle. Now therefore let us look at the very words. 'And you shall place underneath,' it says, 'that which shall be over in the veils of the tabernacle: the half of the veil which shall be over you shall spread beneath, that which abounds in the veils of the tabernacle you shall spread beneath, behind the tabernacle.' All this that is said has one meaning, since 'the half of the veil which shall be over'—that is, that which shall abound of the veils of the tabernacle—
'is to be spread beneath, behind the tabernacle.' In what way, then, it may be over—that is, abound—and there remain a half of the veil, we must inquire from that series of connected veils, since he willed five to be connected together among themselves and six among themselves, as he had said above when speaking, that the sixth veil should be doubled from the face of the tabernacle, that is, from the east. For so often he signified that the rear parts of the tabernacle are on the west side, that is, toward the sea. What, then, is the 'face' of the tabernacle, unless that part is to be understood which is toward the east?
That part, therefore, in which five veils are connected, has a hundred and fifty cubits, that is, five times thirty—for each was of thirty cubits, as God had commanded them to be made—but that part in which there were not five but six veils likewise linked to one another had a hundred and eighty cubits, that is, six times thirty; and by this, one veil of them being doubled, as was commanded, according to the face of the tabernacle, fifteen cubits were diminished in that doubling; and these being subtracted, a hundred and sixty-five remained. And therefore, after the hundred and fifty cubits by which this part of six veils was made equal to that part of five veils, fifteen cubits were over and did abound.
For on the side of the five veils there were a hundred and fifty cubits; but on the side of the six veils, one veil being doubled according to the face of the tabernacle, there were a hundred and sixty-five cubits. This part, therefore, had fifteen cubits more. This is what he calls the 'half of the veil' which he commands to be spread beneath, behind the tabernacle.
so that, since that veil was doubled at the face, this half which is redundant at the rear part of the tabernacle might not be doubled, but be spread beneath—that is, all those fifteen cubits might be let down beneath and covered—and thus these too might be subtracted from that length, just as those fifteen at the face of the tabernacle were subtracted by the doubling of one veil, and in that way the hundred and fifty cubits of the six veels from the other part might meet the hundred and fifty cubits of the five veils: thirty cubits, namely, being subtracted from the hundred and eighty—by the veil doubled at the face of the tabernacle, and by the half-veil spread beneath at the rear of the tabernacle.
Now that which follows is something else, and introduces another question, on account of which especially I thought the exposition of this passage should be deferred, so that first we might see both the form of setting up the tabernacle and what is written concerning the court to be placed around it. It follows, then: 'A cubit on this side and a cubit on that, of that which is over in the veils, of the length of the veils of the tabernacle, shall be covering over the sides of the tabernacle, on this side and on that, that it may cover.' It is one thing that the one part of six veils shall exceed the other part of five veils on account of the greater number of veils, of which we have already spoken; it is another that it shall exceed in the length of the veils, of which now it is said. For thus it is not part compared with part, and the one found to exceed the other:
that part, namely, which has six veils exceeding that which has five veils. For that both these might be made equal to each other, at the face of the tabernacle the doubling of one veil was made, at the back the spreading-beneath of a half; but the goats'-hair veils themselves, compared with the curtains, of which he commanded ten to be made for the inner tabernacle woven of four colors, are found to be longer by two cubits each. For those curtains were each of twenty-eight cubits, these of thirty. Therefore here he does not say 'of that which is over of the veils,' but 'of that which is over in the veils, of the length of the veils.' What, then, is:
'a cubit on this side and a cubit on that shall be covering over the sides of the tabernacle,' except that that length by which the goats'-hair veils are longer than the curtains by two cubits each, each of them, is not all to be gathered onto one part—that is, so that whatever is over should be collected toward the rear of the tabernacle—but should be distributed equally, and as much of it be assigned toward the front of the tabernacle as toward the rear; that is, since two cubits in each of the veils make that length which is over, this part should take a cubit from thence and that part a cubit;
so from each of its own cubits this part will have ten cubits and that part ten from its own single cubits, since ten veils, longer by two cubits each, make a length of twenty cubits, by which they are seen to exceed with their own series the series of the curtains. Next it must be considered to what space, to be encircled, these twenty cubits which are over of the length of the veils may be of use. For if the inner tabernacle is covered round about with the goats'-hair veils, they are over in such a way that there is nothing at all of them to be covered by them. Whence it remains that these too be spread beneath, and by being spread beneath be subtracted—which Scripture does not say.
For the ten curtains, which have twenty-eight cubits each, by which the inner tabernacle is stretched, encircle as great a space as they can encircle—two hundred and eighty cubits; whence those longer sides, the southern and the northern, having twenty columns each, take away from these a hundred cubits; there remain eighty, which are to be distributed forty apiece to the two remaining shorter sides, the eastern (which has no row of columns) and the western (where there were eight columns). Accordingly, in the goats'-hair veils, since thirty cubits being subtracted three hundred remained, if with three hundred cubits of the goats'-hair veils I cover the two hundred and eighty of the curtains, twenty will be over in such a way that there is nothing of them to be covered.
Accordingly those two cubits which each goats'-hair veil has in excess, from which the total of twenty cubits was collected, are to be distributed thus: 'a cubit on this side and a cubit on that'; that is, lest they all be gathered onto one part, that they may be of use for covering the sides—not of the tabernacle, but of the outer court; that is, that all those three hundred cubits of goats'-hair veils may gird the tabernacle on the outside. For when the sides of the outer court of a hundred cubits each are added, that is, the south and the north, fifty cubits each of the east and west are over, all of which make three hundred, for the covering of which the three hundred of the goats'-hair veils suffice. This is what he says, 'a cubit on this side and a cubit on that,' that is: