You’re Giving Too Much

We learn more about this curtain from Exodus 26:9 "And you shall couple five curtains by themselves and six curtains by themselves, and you shall double over the sixth curtain at the forefront of the tent."

The entire length of the completed curtain, 44 cubits (66 feet) by 30 cubits (45 feet) was used for making a fold in front above the entrance and also for overlapping the under-curtain around the sides and at the back of the tent. The entire length of the completed curtain, 44 cubits (66 feet) by 30 cubits (45 feet) was used for making a fold in front above the entrance and also for overlapping the under-curtain around the sides and at the back of the tent. It also meant that the two curtains (this one and the one beneath) could be draped in such a way that their attachments did not coincide.

The principle was the same throughout the entire tabernacle. The further you moved from the holy of holies the less valuable were the materials used. And the lesson for us is that in the presence of God there is beauty and purity (gold) and as you move away back out into the world there is only judgment (bronze) and a need of continual cleansing.

19 Then he made a covering for the tent of ram skins dyed red, and a covering of badger skins above that.

The third covering was of ram skins dyed red. It was the first of the two weatherproof coverings

Rams were used for sacrifice, as in the account with Abraham and Isaac, and the red always represents blood for the atonement.

It is interesting that there were no measurements given for this covering.

The fourth covering was made of badgers' skins and again no measurements were given. The Hebrew word for badger skins 'tachash' may refer to a badger or a Sea Cow.

Once again in the tabernacle covering there was a progression from the more beautiful to the less attractive. We see the development from the first covering of the finest white linen woven with blue, purple and scarlet and decorated with cherubim to the unattractive badger skin covering on the outside.

The final cover of badger skins was far from beautiful. You can't help but imagine what a foreigner passing by must have thought to see this unattractive tent as the focal point for the worship of Yahweh. But as with everything in the kingdom of God, the harder we search and the deeper we look for the things of our God Yahweh, the more beauty and splendor we find.

I had stated before that all the items of the Tabernacle point to our Great Master and King Jesus Christ. Each of the items described here with the Tabernacle coverings pointed to our Lord Jesus Christ. The innermost curtain with its four colors and the cherubim woven into the fine white linen, the second covering of goats hair spoke of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice, remember the scapegoat that carried away the sins of the nation in the wilderness, and the third covering of rams skins dyed red also pointed to Jesus as our substitute just as the ram was the substitute for Isaac when his father Abraham was lifting the knife. But the last covering was of the badger skins. It also pointed to Jesus Christ. As the badger skins had that unattractive outward appearance so Jesus was a normal Israelite man with nothing especially attractive about Him that would make us think he was the King of kings. He was humble in character. No one has any idea what Jesus looked like whatsoever except that He had a beard because Isaiah spoke of His beard being plucked. He was a Jew and He had a beard and that is all that can be derived from the Bible and history. But His appearance was just as any common Israelite.