Exodus 38:18

And the hanging for the gate of the court was needlework, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: and twenty cubits was the length, and the height in the breadth was five cubits, answerable to the hangings of the court.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

38:9-20 The walls of the court being of curtains only, intimated that the state of the Jewish church itself was movable and changeable; and in due time to be taken down and folded up, when the place of the tent should be enlarged, and its cords lengthened, to make room for the Gentile world.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the marginal reference. The women who assembled at the entrance of the tent of meeting were most probably devout women who loved the public service of religion. The giving up of their mirrors for the use of the sanctuary was a fit sacrifice for such women to make (compare Exodus 35:22 note).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

18. the height in the breadth—or, "in the measure." The sense is that the hangings of the court gate, which was twenty cubits wide, were of the same height as the hangings all round the court [Wall].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The height relates to its standing or hanging upright, and the

breadth relates to the hanging itself, and the height of the hanging was taken in the breadth.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he made the court,.... The open court of the tabernacle, where the people met, of which, its pillars, sockets, hangings, hooks, and pins, an account is given, to Exodus 38:10 of which See Gill on Exodus 27:9, Exodus 27:10, Exodus 27:11, Exodus 27:12, Exodus 27:13, Exodus 27:14, Exodus 27:15, Exodus 27:16, Exodus 27:17, Exodus 27:18, Exodus 27:19.

Geneva Study Bible

And the hanging for the gate of the court was needlework, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: and twenty cubits was the length, and the height in the breadth was five cubits, answerable to the hangings of the court.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

18, 19. The screen for the gate of the Court. V. 18a=Exodus 27:16 a; v. 18b (‘the height,’ &c.) inferred from Exodus 27:18 (‘answerable to’ = corresponding to; cf. in RV. Ezekiel 40:18; Ezekiel 45:7; Ezekiel 48:13; Ezekiel 48:18; and see DB. s.v. Answer). V. 19a =Exodus 27:16 b; v.19b their hooks of silver inferred from Exodus 27:17 b; the ‘chapiters’ and ‘fillets’ not mentioned in Exodus 27:16 (cf. above, on v. 17), only the silver fillets implied in Exodus 27:17 a.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 18. - The height in the breadth was five cubits. The height of the hangings all round the court was required to be five cubits, or seven and a half feet (Exodus 27:18). It appears by the expression here used - "in the breadth" - that the material was woven of exactly this width. Exodus 38:18

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Preparation of the vessels of the dwelling: viz., the ark of the covenant (Exodus 37:1-9, as in Exodus 25:10-22); the table of shew-bread and its vessels (Exodus 37:10-16, as in Exodus 25:23-30); the candlestick (Exodus 37:17-24, as in Exodus 25:31-40); the altar of incense (Exodus 37:25-28, as in Exodus 30:1-10); the anointing oil and incense (Exodus 37:29), directions for the preparation of which are given in Exodus 30:22-38; the altar of burnt-offering (Exodus 38:1-7, as in Exodus 27:1-8); the laver (Exodus 37:8, as in Exodus 30:17-21); and the court (Exodus 37:9-20, as in Exodus 27:9-19). The order corresponds on the whole to the list of the separate articles in Exodus 35:11-19, and to the construction of the entire sanctuary; but the holy chest (the ark), as being the most holy thing of all, is distinguished above all the rest, by being expressly mentioned as the work of Bezaleel, the chief architect of the whole.