Números 3:25

In the tabernacle of the congregation. — Better, in the tent of meeting. It is important to distinguish between the ohel — i.e., the tent — and the mishkan — i.e., the tabernacle — which was the building of shittim wood with its curtains which was within the tent. The word ohel, where it occurs in the second place in this verse, evidently means the outer covering, as in Êxodo 26:7, where the passage may be literally rendered thus : — “And thou shalt make curtains (or hangings) of goats’ (hair) for an ohel upon (or over) the mishkan.”

The covering thereof. — The mikseh (covering) appears to include the two coverings described in Êxodo 26:14 — viz., the covering of rams’ skins and that of badgers’ skins or seals’ skins.

The hanging for the door of the tabernacle of the congregation — i.e., for the entrance or opening of the tent of meeting. This hanging was of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine-twined linen, and was hung at the entrance — i.e., the eastern or open end of the tent (Êxodo 26:36). The word rendered door (pethach, not deleth) means an opening. At a later period, when the Tabernacle was at Shiloh, it had doors (1 Samuel 3:15). Both words occur in 1 Reis 6:31 : “And for the entering (or at the opening) of the oracle he made doors.” &c.