Exodus 26:32

Verse 32. Their hooks shall be of gold] וויהם vaveyhem, which we translate their hooks, is rendered κεφαλιδες, capitals, by the Septuagint, and capita by the Vulgate. As the word וו vav or vau, plural ווים vavim, occurs only in this book, Ex 26:32, Ex 26:37; Ex 27:10-11, Ex 27:17; Ex 36:36, Ex 36:38; Ex 38:10-12, Ex 38:17, Ex 38:19, Ex 38:28; and is used in these places in reference to the same subject, it is very difficult to ascertain its precise meaning. Most commentators and lexicographers think that the ideal meaning of the word is to connect, attach, join to, hook; and that the letter vau has its name from its hooklike form, and its use as a particle in the Hebrew language, because it serves to connect the words and members of a sentence, and the sentences of a discourse together, and that therefore hook must be the obvious meaning of the word in all the above texts. Calmet thinks this reason of no weight, because the vau of the present Hebrew alphabet is widely dissimilar from the vau of the primitive Hebrew alphabet, as may be seen on the ancient shekels; on these the characters appear as in the word JEHOVAH, Ex 28:36. This form bears no resemblance to a hook; nor does the Samaritan [Samaritan] vau, which appears to have been copied from this ancient character.

Calmet therefore contends, 1. That if Moses does not mean the capitals of the pillars by the ווים vavim of the text, he mentions them nowhere; and it would be strange that while he describes the pillars, their sockets, bases, fillets, c., c., with so much exactness, as will appear on consulting the preceding places, that he should make no mention of the capitals or that pillars, every way so correctly formed, should have been destitute of this very necessary ornament.

2. As Moses was commanded to make the hooks, ווים vavim, of the pillars and their fillets of silver, Ex 27:10-11, and the hooks, vavim, of the pillars of the veil of gold, Ex 36:36; and as one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels were employed in making these hooks, vavim, overlaying their chapiters, rasheyhem, their heads, and filleting them, Ex 38:28; it is more reasonable to suppose that all this is spoken of the capitals of the pillars than of any kind of hooks, especially as hooks are mentioned under the word taches or clasps in other places. On the whole it appears much more reasonable to translate the original by capitals than by hooks.

After this verse the Samaritan Pentateuch introduces the ten first verses of chap. xxx., and this appears to be their proper place. Those ten verses are not repeated in the thirtieth chapter in the Samaritan, the chapter beginning with the 11th verse.

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

Some read, heads of the pillars.

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

(32) Four pillars.—These seem to have been true pillars or columns, and not tent-poles. They were probably of equal height, and equally spaced, and were perhaps connected at the top by a cornice or beam. Together with the vail they formed a screen, which shut off the “Holy of Holies” from the outer chamber. They were, doubtless, of the same height as the boards, i.e., fifteen feet (Exo_26:16).

Their hooks.—Each pillar was to have a hook near the top, whereto the vail was to be attached.

Upon the four sockets.—Heb., upon four sockets.—Each pillar was to have its “socket,” into which it was to be inserted, and which was itself probably to be sunk into the ground.

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

32. four bases of silver] such as the frames rested upon, v. 19 ff.

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 put the mercy seat upon ark of the testimony,.... With the cherubim of glory overshadowing it; all which were a representation of the way of man's salvation flowing from the mercy and grace of God, through the propitiation by Christ, and his perfect righteousness, by which the law is fulfilled; and all this is published in the Gospel by the ministers of it, signified by the cherubim: and these are all the things that were "in the most holy place"; and they were placed at the west end of it.

And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon ark of the testimony,.... With the cherubim of glory overshadowing it; all which were a representation of the way of man's salvation flowing from the mercy and grace of God, through the propitiation by Christ, and his perfect righteousness, by which the law is fulfilled; and all this is published in the Gospel by the ministers of it, signified by the cherubim: and these are all the things that were "in the most holy place"; and they were placed at the west end of it.

Exodus 26:35

exo 26:35

exo 26:35

exo 26:35And thou shalt set the table without the vail,.... The table of shewbread, of which see Exo 25:23, this was not to be within the vail, but without it, in the holy place: and the candlestick opposite the table, of which see Exo 25:31, &c. signifying, that in the church of God, in the present state of things, which the holy place was an emblem of, there are both food and light: the candlestick was placed

on the side of the tabernacle, toward the south; according to Jarchi, two cubits and a half from the side of it:

and thou shalt put the table on the north side; of the tabernacle, directly opposite the candlestick, two cubits and a half from the south side, as the same writer says;

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

Heads. Chaptrels of setim-wood, overlaid with gold, --- (Vovim), not little hooks for curtains. (Calmet)

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).

The hooks were fastened to the tops of the pillars, as the veil was fastened to them.

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

Four pillars. The contrast between these four pillars of the interior, and the five pillars" at "the door of the tent" (vers. 36, 37), is striking, and justifies the supposition that the veil in the tabernacle did not completely divide the holy of holies from the holy place, but formed a screen, above which the space was open. If the veil had been hung from the top of the tented roof, so as completely to separate the two places, there must have been fire pillars, or at any rate an odd number, m the interior. Their hooks shall be of gold. These are hooks attached to the pillars, for the purpose of their having the curtains hung upon them. Upon the four sockets. The word "sockets" has no article. Translate shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold, with their hooks of gold, and standing upon four sockets of silver. The pillars probably had "tenons," like the boards (ver. 17), which were inserted into silver sockets, let into the ground.

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

shittim

i.e. acacia.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ארבעה עמודי FOUR COLUMNS inserted into four sockets. Hooks were fixed upon them, bent upward, upon each of which to hang a pole round which the top of the partition veil was wrappped. The hooks are the ווים mentioned in the text, for they were made in the form of the letter וי"ו. The partition veil was ten cubits long corresponding to the breadth of the Tabernacle and ten cubits wide as was the height of the boards. It was hung at one-third of the length of the Tabernacle from the western side so that from it there should be inward (i. e. to that side) ten cubits and from it outward (to the entrance) twenty cubits. It follows therefore that the Holy of Holies was ten by ten cubits, and this agrees with what is said, (v. 33) “and thou shalt hang up the partition veil under the catches” that coupled the two sections of the curtaining of the Tabernacle together. For the breadth of one section was twenty cubits and when it was laid over the top of the Tabernacle from the entrance to the west, its end with the catches came at two-thirds of the length of the Tabernacle (20 cubits), exactly where we have stated that the veil was hanging. The second section covered the other third of the length of the Tabornacle (10 cubits) and what was left over (10 cubits) hung behind to cover the boards (which were 10 cubits in height; cf. Rashi on v. 5).

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.