Exodus 27:14

The hangings of one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) The hangings of one side.—Rather, at one side. On three sides of the court—the south, the west, and the north—there was to be no interruption in the hangings—no entrance or gateway. But it was otherwise on the fourth side, towards the east. Here was to be the entrance to the court, and here consequently the line of hangings was to be broken in the middle. A curtain, similar to that at the east end of the tabernacle (Exodus 26:36), but hung on four pillars instead of five, and capable of being drawn up of down, was to give admission to the court on this side, and was to occupy twenty cubits out of the fifty which formed the entire width of the court. On either side would remain a space of fifteen cubits, which was to be occupied by “hangings,” similar to those on the other three sides of the court. Each of these lengths of fifteen cubits required three pillars for its support. Thus the pillars on the east side were ten, as on the west.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

27:9-19 The tabernacle was enclosed in a court, about sixty yards long and thirty broad, formed by curtains hung upon brazen pillars, fixed in brazen sockets. Within this enclosure the priests and Levites offered the sacrifices, and thither the Jewish people were admitted. These distinctions represented the difference between the visible nominal church, and the true spiritual church, which alone has access to God, and communion with him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The east side eastward - On the front side eastward.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9-19. the court of the tabernacle—The enclosure in which the edifice stood was a rectangular court, extending rather more than fifty yards in length and half that space in breadth, and the enclosing parapet was about three yards or half the height of the tabernacle. That parapet consisted of a connected series of curtains, made of fine twined linen yarn, woven into a kind of network, so that the people could see through; but that large curtain which overhung the entrance was of a different texture, being embroidered and dyed with variegated colors, and it was furnished with cords for pulling it up or drawing it aside when the priests had occasion to enter. The curtains of this enclosure were supported on sixty brazen pillars which stood on pedestals of the same metal, but their capitals and fillets were of silver, and the hooks on which they were suspended were of silver also.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

These fifteen cubits, with the fifteen cubits Exodus 27:15, and the twenty cubits Exodus 27:16, make up the fifty cubits mentioned.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The hangings of one side of the gate,.... Or entrance into the court:

shall be fifteen cubits; or seven yards and a half:

their pillars three, and their sockets three; and so stood at the same distance from one another as the rest of the pillars did, the distance of five cubits.

Geneva Study Bible

The hangings of one {f} side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three.

(f) Of the door of the court.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14.- The hangings of one side. Literally, "of one shoulder." The two extreme parts of the east side, between the entrance (ver. 16) and the corners are thus named. They were to extend on either sideExodus 27:14

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"As for the breadth of the court on the west side, (there shall be) curtains fifty cubits; their pillars twenty; and the breadth of the court towards the front, on the east side, fifty cubits." The front is divided in Exodus 27:14-16 into two כּתף, lit., shoulders, i.e., sides or side-pieces, each consisting of 15 cubits of hangings and three pillars with their sockets, and a doorway (שׁער), naturally in the middle, which was covered by a curtain (מסך) formed of the same material as the covering at the entrance to the dwelling, of 20 cubits in length, with four pillars and the same number of sockets. The pillars were therefore equidistant from one another, viz., 5 cubits apart. Their total number was 60 (not 56), which was the number required, at the distance mentioned, to surround a quadrangular space of 100 cubits long and 50 cubits broad.

(Note: Although any one may easily convince himself of the correctness of these numbers by drawing a figure, Knobel has revived Philo's erroneous statement about 56 pillars and the double reckoning of the pillars in the corner. And the statement in Exodus 27:14-16, that three pillars were to be made in front to carry the hangings on either side of the door, and four to carry the curtain which covered the entrance, may be easily shown to be correct, notwithstanding the fact that, as every drawing shows, four pillars would be required, and not three only, to carry 15 cubits of hangings, and five (not four) to carry a curtain 20 cubits broad, if the pillars were to be placed 5 cubits apart; for the corner pillars, as belonging to both sides, and the pillars which stood between the hangings and the curtain on either side, could only be reckoned as halves in connection with each side or each post; and in reckoning the number of pillars according to the method adopted in every other case, the pillar from which you start would not be reckoned at all. Now, if you count the pillars of the eastern side upon this principle (starting from a corner pillar, which is not reckoned, because it is the starting-point and is the last pillar of the side wall), you have 1, 2, 3, then 1, 2, 3, 4, and then again 1, 2, 3; that is to say, 3 pillars for each wing and 4 for the curtain, although the hangings of each wing would really be supported by 4 pillars, and the curtain in the middle by 5.)