Exodus 26:8

The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and the eleven curtains shall be all of one measure.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) Thirty cubits.—The additional cubit on either side (comp. Exodus 26:2) would hang down and form a “valance” along the sides of the tent. (See Exodus 26:13.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

26:7-14 The curtains of meaner materials, being made both longer and broader, covered the others, and were defended by coverings of skins. The whole represents the person and doctrine of Christ, and the church of true Christians, and all heavenly things, which outwardly are mean, but inwardly, and in the sight of God, are glorious and precious.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A covering upon the tabernacle - A tent over the tabernacle. The Hebrew word here used, is the regular one for a tent of skins or cloth of any sort.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7-13. curtains of goats' hair—These coarse curtains were to be one more in number than the others, and to extend a yard lower on each side, the use of them being to protect and conceal the richer curtains.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits,.... The breadth of them is the same with the linen curtains, but the length of them two cubits more; the reason of which was, that they might hang down lower on either side, and the better preserve them from any injury:

and the eleven curtains shall be all of one measure; as to length and breadth.

Geneva Study Bible

The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and the eleven curtains shall be all of one measure.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8. The dimensions of the ‘curtains,’ or, as we should here say, ‘breadths.’ On the late Heb. for ‘eleven,’ see LOT. 156 n.

9a. The curtains, or ‘breadths,’ are to be coupled together, so as to form two sets, of five and six breadths respectively.

9b. double over] i.e., as commonly understood, lay double on the top

Model of P’s Tent of Meeting, as reconstructed by Prof. Kennedy.

The two outermost coverings (Exodus 26:14) are removed, shewing the framework covered by the tapestry curtains a a with the figures of cherubim, the goats’ hair curtains of the ‘tent’ (Exodus 26:7) b b, one of the corner frames c, the bars d d d, the veil e, and the screen f.

From Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible, iv. 661.

of the Dwelling in front, so as to form a kind of portal above the entrance. But this is not the natural meaning of the Heb., which is that the curtain is to be doubled in front of the Dwelling, so as to hang down there for 2 cubits, forming a kind of valance over the top of the screen (v. 36), and securing that the Dwelling is in perfect darkness (so Kennedy, p. 662a). Render then double (without ‘over’); and see further on v. 12.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - The length... shall be thirty cubits. A tent with a rectangular roof, over such a chamber as the mishkan, brought down, as tents usually are, within six or seven feet of the ground, would have required a covering of this length. If the slope of the roof had been greater, the covering must have been longer. The breadth... four cubits. This gives for the entire covering, when made up, a width of forty-four cubits, or sixty-six feet. As the entire length of the mishkan was only thirty cubits, or forty-five feet, it is evident that the tent projected considerably beyond the tabernacle, either at both ends, or, at any rate, at one end. Probably the projection was at one end only - viz., in front; where it constituted a porch, eighteen or twenty feet deep. The temple, which was modelled after the tabernacle, had a porch fifteen feet deep. Exodus 26:8

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The outer tent-cloth, "for the tent over the dwelling," was to consist of eleven lengths of goats' hair, i.e., of cloth made of goats' hair;

(Note: The coverings of the tents of the Bedouin Arabs are still made of cloth woven from black goats' hair, which the women spin and weave (see Lynch's Expedition of the United States to the Jordan and Dead Sea).)

each piece being thirty cubits long and four broad.