Exodus 26 (KJV) - Bible Truth Library

rams' skins dyed red.{Oroth ailim meoddamim,} literally, the skins of red rams. It is a fact, attested by many respectable travellers, that in the Levant, sheep are often met with having red or violet coloured fleeces.

Almost all ancient writers speak of the same thing.

Ex. 25:5• ⁵And rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and shittim wood, (Ex. 25:5)

;

Ex. 35:7,23• ⁷And rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and shittim wood,
²³And every man, with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, and red skins of rams, and badgers' skins, brought them. (Ex. 35:7,23)

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Ex. 39:34• ³⁴And the covering of rams' skins dyed red, and the covering of badgers' skins, and the vail of the covering, (Ex. 39:34)

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Num. 4:10• ¹⁰And they shall put it and all the vessels thereof within a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put it upon a bar. (Num. 4:10)

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Ezek. 16:10• ¹⁰I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. (Ezek. 16:10)

badgers' skins.{Oroth techashim,} which nearly all the ancient versions have taken to be the name of a colour, though they differ very much with regard to the particular colour intended: the LXX., Vulgate, and Coptic, have skins dyed of a violet colour; the Syriac, azure; and the Arabic, black; and Bochart contends for the hysginus, a very deep blue.

It may, however, denote an animal; for Dr. Geddes remarks, had the sacred writer meant to express only a variety of colour, he would hardly have repeated {óroth,} skins, after {meoddamim,} red, in ch. 25:5.

• The ram skins dyed red points to His perfect devotedness to God. (This is drawn from the occasions on which the ram was used in the sacrifices.) (“Exodus 26” by J.N. Darby)

• That of the badger skin to the vigilant holiness, both of walk and in external relationship, which preserved Him, and perfectly so, from the evil that surrounded Him. (“Exodus 26” by J.N. Darby)

• The ram was chosen as the consecration offering in connection with the setting apart of the priests to their office. It is called “the ram of the consecration” (Ex. 29:27). Dyed red will point very evidently to death. The meaning therefore is entire consecration, devotedness unto death; and where was that ever seen in its perfection except in the One who humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross? (“The Curtains of the Tabernacle: Exodus 26:1-14” by E. Dennett)

• The badgers’ skins are an emblem of that holy vigilance exhibited in His walk and ways, which preserved Him from all evil. Jerusalem is said to have been “shod with badgers’ skins,” the provision the Lord had made to protect her from evil in her walk. The vigilance so symbolized is often expressed in the Psalms: “By the word of Thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer;” (Psa. 17:4) and again, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee” (Psa. 119:11). (“The Curtains of the Tabernacle: Exodus 26:1-14” by E. Dennett)

• If for a moment the Tabernacle is supposed to be complete, it will be seen that the badgers’ skins only met the outward gaze. But the priest who enjoyed the privilege of entering the holy place, saw the full beauty of the fine twined linen, the blue, the purple, and the scarlet, and of the embroidered cherubim. It was Christ without and it was Christ within; but it was Christ without as seen by the natural eye—discovering no beauty that man should desire Him; and it was Christ within as seen by the eye opened by the Spirit of God; Christ, therefore as the chiefest among ten thousand. (“The Curtains of the Tabernacle: Exodus 26:1-14” by E. Dennett)

J. N. Darby Translation

And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering of badgers’ skins over that.

W. Kelly Translation

And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering of badgers’ skins over that.

WK Verse Note

(Note: Words in italics have been inserted from the J. N. Darby translation where the W. Kelly translation doesn’t exist.)