Exodus 26:12

And the remnant that remaineth of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remaineth, shall hang over the backside of the tabernacle.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) The remnant that remaineth.—Even after the doubling back, the goats’-hair covering would be half a breadth wider than the linen one. This half-breadth was to be allowed to hang down at the back of the tent.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

26:7-14 The curtains of meaner materials, being made both longer and broader, covered the others, and were defended by coverings of skins. The whole represents the person and doctrine of Christ, and the church of true Christians, and all heavenly things, which outwardly are mean, but inwardly, and in the sight of God, are glorious and precious.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

In the tent, clasps of bronze were used to unite the loops of the two curtains; in the tabernacle, clasps of gold, compare Exodus 26:6, Exodus 26:37.

Couple the tent together - Not "covering," as in the margin. By "the tent" is here meant the tent-cloth alone.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7-13. curtains of goats' hair—These coarse curtains were to be one more in number than the others, and to extend a yard lower on each side, the use of them being to protect and conceal the richer curtains.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the remnant that remaineth of the curtains of the tent,.... Of the goat hair curtains, which were one more than the linen curtains:

the half curtain that remaineth; for the other half extended to the east end of it, at the entrance of the tabernacle, and hung down and was doubled there, and the other that remained is here disposed of:

shall hang over the backside of the tabernacle; the west end of it, where was the holy of holies; or rather, as Dr. Lightfoot (n) describes it, thus, it was when those curtains (of goats' hair) were laid upon the other over the tabernacle; they were not laid as these brazen loops (clasps it should be) did light just upon the golden ones over the vail, but three quarters of a yard more westward, so that the five curtains that went west did reach to the ground and half a curtain to spare, Exodus 26:12 the other six that lay east reached to the end, covered the pillars whereon that vail hung, and they hung half a curtain's breadth or a yard over the entrance.

(n) Works, vol. 1. p. 719.

Geneva Study Bible

And the {f} remnant that remaineth of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remaineth, shall hang over the backside of the tabernacle.

(f) For these curtains were two cubits longer than the curtain of the tabernacle so that they were wider by a cubit of both sides.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. overhanging] The Heb. means loose or free, not necessarily ‘overhanging.’

the half curtain that remaineth] The breadth in front is laid double (v. 9): it is consequently halved in width; and the entire length of the curtain is thus 42 cubits. As the Dwelling Isaiah 30 cubits long and 10 cubits high, it follows that, according to the usual view of v. 9b, 12 cubits will hang down behind, according to Kennedy’s view, 10 cubits will hang down behind. The ‘half-curtain’ (= 2 cubits) overhanging a the back can thus, upon the usual view, be only the 2 cubits in excess of the 10 (so Di.), the whole 12, we may suppose, being stretched out, and pegged to the ground in the manner of a tent: it is not, however, very natural to speak of only the 2 cubits as hanging down loosely behind: we should rather expect the whole 12 to be so spoken of. The difficulty would be removed, if we might suppose the words, ‘the half-curtain that remaineth,’ in v. 12 to be a mistaken gloss, arising out of a hasty reading of v. 9b: if these words are omitted, the length of the part hanging down behind is not specified, and it might, of course, be either the 12 cubits required by the ordinary view of v. 9b, or the 10 cubits required by Kennedy’s view. The latter view does better justice to v. 9b, and also has the advantage of making the goats’ hair curtain hang down symmetrically on the two sides and the back, viz. so a exactly to touch the ground in each case.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - The remnant which remaineth, etc. Both this and the next verse presume a very close connection between the fine linen covering of the mishkan and the goats hair tent-cloth which protected it. "The remnant that remaineth" is the half-breadth by which the tent-cloth would overlap the linen covering at the back of the tent, when at the front half of the eleventh breadth had been turned back upon the other half (see comment on ver. 9). This "remnant" was to be 'allowed to hang down over the back part of the tabernacle. Exodus 26:12

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

This tent-cloth was two cubits longer than the inner one, as each piece was 30 cubits long instead of 28; it was also two cubits broader, as it was composed of 11 pieces, the eleventh only reckoning as two cubits, as it was to be laid double. Consequently there was an excess (העדף that which is over) of two cubits each way; and according to Exodus 26:12 and Exodus 26:13 this was to be disposed of in the following manner: "As for the spreading out of the excess in the tent-cloths, the half of the cloth in excess shall spread out over the back of the dwelling; and the cubit from here and from there in the excess in the length of the tent-cloths (i.e., the cubit over in the length in each of the cloths) shall be spread out on the sides of the dwelling from here and from there to cover it." Now since, according to this, one half of the two cubits of the sixth piece which was laid double was to hang down the back of the tabernacle, there only remained one cubit for the gable of the front. It follows, therefore, that the joining of the two halves with loops and clasps would come a cubit farther back, than the place where the curtain of the holy of holies divided the dwelling. But in consequence of the cloth being a cubit longer in every direction, it nearly reached the ground on all three sides, the thickness of the wooden framework alone preventing it from reaching it altogether.