overhanging The Heb. means looseor free, not necessarily -overhanging."

the half curtain that remaineth The breadth in front is laid double (v.9): it is consequently halved in width; and the entire length of the curtain is thus 42 cubits. As the Dwelling Isaiah 30 cubits long and 10 cubits high, it follows that, according to the usual view of v.9b, 12 cubits will hang down behind, according to Kennedy's view, 10 cubits will hang down behind. The -half-curtain" (2 cubits) overhanging a the back can thus, upon the usual view, be only the 2 cubits in excess of the 10 (so Di.), the whole 12, we may suppose, being stretched out, and pegged to the ground in the manner of a tent: it is not, however, very natural to speak of only the 2 cubits as hanging down loosely behind: we should rather expect the whole 12 to be so spoken of. The difficulty would be removed, if we might suppose the words, -the half-curtain that remaineth," in v.12 to be a mistaken gloss, arising out of a hasty reading of v.9b: if these words are omitted, the length of the part hanging down behind is not specified, and it might, of course, be either the 12 cubits required by the ordinary view of v.9b, or the 10 cubits required by Kennedy's view. The latter view does better justice to v.9b, and also has the advantage of making the goats" hair curtain hang down symmetrically on the two sides and the back, viz. so a exactly to touch the ground in each case.

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