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the edge of each curtain by means of fifty taches of brass put through the loops. The curtain hung over the three sides of the tabernacle. This curtain of goats' hair was protected by a covering of rams' skins dyed red, and this again by a covering of tahash skins. Talaash probably denotes the sea-cow which frequents the Red Sea, the skin of which furnishes a strong leather.

The interior was divided into the holy place and the most holy place by means of a " veil " (Ex. xxvi. 31 sqq., xxxvi. 35 sqq.) The veil was of the same material as the byssus curtain and hung on four gilded pillars of acacia wood with

3. The silver sockets. It was adorned with Interior patterns of cherubim and was fastened

and its on the pillars with golden nails. Furnishing. Behind the veil was the most holy place, a cube of ten cubits, containing only the ark (see ARK OF THE COVENANT). On the side of the veil toward the entrance was the holy place, ten cubits wide and high and twenty cubits long. It contained the table of showbread, the candlestick, and the altar of incense. On the north side of the holy place stood the table of showbread (Ex. xxv. 23 sqq.), made of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, two cubits long, one broad, and one and a half high. Round about the table was an ornament in the form of a wreath, likewise a border extending around the table connecting its four feet; this also was adorned with a wreath. The account does not show how these were fastened. - The enclosing border had rings of gold through which staves were thrust to carry the table. On the table were dishes, spoons, and bowls of gold. On the opposite side of the holy place, opposite the table, stood the candlestick (Ex. xxv. 31 sqq., xxxvii. 17 sqq.). It was beaten work, of pure gold throughout. From the stem or central stock proceeded six branches, three on each side, each one of which ended in a bowl made like an almond, each bowl having a knob and a flower; the stem had four such bowls. Each of the three lower knobs of the stem was under a pair of side branches. While the Biblical description does not assert that the branches and stem were in one plane, Jewish tradition makes that to be the case. According to Ex. xxvii. 20 sqq; Lev. xxiv. 1 sqq., the lamps were to burn the whole night. This is presupposed also by the story of Samuel, I Sam. iii. 3. But according to Josephus (Ant., III., viii. 3) three of the lamps burned also in the daytime. From I Sam. iii. 3 it is not improbable that in the law the older idea and custom are reflected; but as in private houses lights were burned day and night, it may be assumed that in the course of time the custom of private houses was transferred to the sanctuary. Various symbolical meanings were attached to the candlestick. The ancients recognized in it a symbolical representation of the seven planets (Josephus, War, V., v. 5; Ant., III., vi. 7, vii. 7). Philo interpreted the middle lamp, also the central stem, as representing the sun. Its resemblance to a conventionalized tree is evident, while the connection with light is, of course, on the surface (cf. Ps. xxxvi. 10).

Around the tabernacle extended a spacious court (Ex. xxvii. 9 sqq., xxxviii. 10 sqq.), exactly as in

temples the shrine proper is surrounded by a courtyard for the congregation as it sacrificed and celebrated. The court was a hundred cubits

and its sisting of sixty pillars, placed at Furnishing. intervals of five cubits, on which were hung byssus curtains. The most important piece of furnishing in the court was the altar, generally known as the altar of burnt offering, a portable object, thus in accordance with the design of the whole sanctuary. It was five cubits long, five broad, and three high, and had horns on its four corners; it was of wood covered with brass. The utensils which went with it, such as pans, shovels, etc., were of brass. For half its height the altar was surrounded with a network of brass, undoubtedly to protect it from desecration. On the four corners of the network there were fastened rings by the aid of which the altar could be transported on staves. Beside the altar there is mentioned in Ex. xxx. 17 sqq. also a laver of brass in which the priests used to cleanse themselves when they entered the sanctuary.

There is no reason to doubt the authenticity, in its essential points, of the tradition respecting the tabernacle as it is recorded in Ex. xxxiii. 7 sqq. According to this account, Moses pitched the tabernacle without the camp and called it

icity of the Whenever one desired a revelation Account. from Yahweh he went out to the tabernacle; for there " the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend." It would naturally be expected here that mention would be made of the ark, since the tent was merely a covering or protection for some object within (cf. II Sam. vi. 17). While there is no reason to doubt the existence of a Mosaic tabernacle, it is another question whether it is identical with the tabernacle described 'in Ex. xxv. sqq. In the first place it is to be mentioned that the account (by E) in Ex. xxxiii. 7 sqq. regards the tent as outside of the camp, not, as is the case with the tabernacle of Ex. xxv. sqq., in the midst. The older tradition of E evidently gives an idea of the Mosaic tent other than that afforded by the later tradition of P; the historical Mosaic tent, therefore, was of another kind than that of the narrative of P. After this fact is made evident, the account of P will appear in a different light. The great amount of precious materials and metals in possession of a migrating people in the desert, the artistic execution of all these objects there, the difficulties of transportation, and the like, have been cited to show the historical improbability of the account in Ex. xxv. sqq. Many of these objections may be answered as not pertinent, but even were all difficulties of this kind solved, there would still remain the fact mentioned that the Mosaic tabernacle of the older tradition is quite different from that of Ex. xxv. sqq. How then did the account of Ex. xxv. sqq. originate or how did it pass into tradition if according to genuine Biblical tradition it does not assume to be the historical Mosaic tabernacle? In the first place it may be said that, if this tabernacle is