Exodus 26:14

Exo 26:14 And thou shalt make a covering for the tent [of] rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering above [of] badgers’ skins.

Ver. 14. A covering for the tent.] Shadowing out God’s protecting his people, {Isa 4:6; Isa 25:4 Psa 27:5} as these rams’ skins covered the ark from the violence of wind and weather.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exo 26:14. Badgers’ skins — So we translate it: but it seems rather to have been some strong sort of leather, but very fine, for we read of the best sort of shoes made of it, Eze 16:10. This was the fourth covering of the tabernacle. The first was of linen, the second of goats’ hair, and the third of rams’ skins.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To be put upon the covering that was made of goats’ hair.

This was the third covering of the Tabernacle.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

a covering . . . of rams' skins dyed red--that is, of Turkey red leather. [See on Exo 39:34.]

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 14. Rams' skins dyed red] See Clarke on Ex 25:5. This was the third covering; and what is called the badgers' skins was the fourth. See Clarke on Ex 25:5. Why there should have been four coverings does not appear. They might have been designed partly for respect; and partly to keep off dust and dirt, and the extremely fine sand which in that desert rises as it were on every breeze; and partly to keep off the intense heat of the sun, which would otherwise have destroyed the poles, bars, boards, and the whole of the wood work. As to the conjecture of some that "the four coverings were intended the better to keep off the rain," it must appear unfounded to those who know that in that desert rain was rarely ever seen.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. THE TWO OUTER COVERINGS.

(14) As the object of the two outer coverings must have been to keep out rain, we must suppose them to have protected not only the ridge of the roof, but, at any rate, the whole of the mishkân. Their length must, therefore, have been at least thirty cubits, and their breadth fourteen.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. (cf. Exo_36:19). Two outer coverings of stronger and stouter materials, to be laid over the Tent, for protection against rain. Kn. reminds us that on military expeditions the Romans used in winter to cover their tents with skins (sub pellibus hiemare).

rams’ skins dyed red] i.e. leather, dyed, not with the costly Phoenician ‘scarlet’ (Exo_25:4), but probably (Kennedy), as LXX. ἠρυθροδανωμένα suggests, with madder (ἐρυθρόδανον).

sealskins] dugong skins (Exo_25:5). The Dwelling, with the coverings above it, was kept in its place by cords connecting it with pins driven into the ground, in the manner of a tent: see Exo_27:19, Exo_35:18, Exo_38:20; Exo_38:31.

15–30 (cf. Exo_36:20-34). The ‘boards,’ or, perhaps, frames, for the Dwelling. There is great difficulty in some of the details: but the general sense is clear. The ‘boards’ were to be of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, each 10 cubits (15 ft.) long, and 1½ cubits (2 ft. 3 in.) broad: they were to be placed upright, so as to form the sides and back of the Dwelling, each resting in two sockets of silver: there were to be twenty forming each side, six to form the back, and two, of special construction, at the corners, where the back and sides met: five bars, attached to the boards by rings, were to run horizontally along the two sides and the back, respectively, to hold them firmly in their place.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And thou shalt make the boards for the tabernacle,.... Which were the pillars and supports, and properly the walls of it, which gave it its firmness and security, or otherwise the curtains would have been blown about by every wind: they were to be made

of shittim wood standing up; just as they grew, as a Jewish writer observes (p); these planks or boards were not to be laid along the lengthways of them, but to be set upright; and may denote such who are pillars in the house of God, and are to be upright both in heart and conversation, both ministers and private members; and indeed the church itself is the pillar and ground of truth, Gal 2:9.

(p) Bartenora in Misn. Succa, c. 3. sect. 14.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Skins. These two were probably as large as the last, to keep out rain; (Menochius) though the text only specifies the roof.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

To preserve the rest from the injury of the weather.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. A covering — To be placed still above the goats’ hair tent-cloth, as an additional protection.

Rams’ skins… badgers’ skins — See note on Exo_25:5. Whether these extra coverings of skins were coextensive with the entire roof, we are nowhere told, but in the absence of specific information we are hardly justified in the conclusion that one or both of them served only for a coping. No doubt the common customs of adjusting tent cloths among a nomadic people were presupposed, and definite information on some matters of detail was considered unnecessary.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The outer protection (ver. 14).

And thou shalt make a covering for the tent. Nothing is said of the size of this covering; but, as its object was clearly to protect the roof of the tent from penetration by wet, it seems reasonable to suppose that it extended at least as far as the boards of the tabernacle. To do this, it must have been thirty cubits long, and fourteen broad.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Badger skins - So we translate it, but it should rather seem to have been some strong sort of leather, (but very fine) for we read of the best sort of shoes made of it. Ezek. xvi, 10.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

"The other coverings were placed on the top of this tent: one made of rams' skins dyed red, "as a covering for the tent," and another upon the top of this, made of the skins of the sea-cow (תּחשׁים, see at Exo 25:5).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

מכסה לאהל [AND THOU SHALT MAKE] A COVERING FOR THE אהל — For that roofing of goats’ hair (which is termed אהל in this section) make still another covering of rams’ skins dyed red, and above this also a covering of Tachash skins. These uppermost covers however covered the roof only (were not hanging over the sides), their length being 30 cubits and their width 10. This is the opinion of R. Nehemia (that the goats’ skins and the layer of rams’ and Tachash skins formed two different covers one above the other); according to R. Jehudah, however, there was only one cover, half of it being of rams’ skins dyed red and half of it of Tachash skins (cf. Shabbat 28a).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.