Five of the curtains shall be coupled one to another, and [the other] five curtains coupled one to another.
God's plan for His dwelling begins with fabric, not furniture. He calls for ten woven curtains, joined in two sets of five. Why split them at all, only to fasten them back into one?
These first ten curtains are not just one covering among several. They are the dwelling itself, and the rest protect them.
This first covering of ten curtains was the tabernacle proper, or "dwelling-place," as the word literally means. The other coverings appear to have been for a special use alongside this main one: protection. The "tabernacle," with its varied colours, cherubic figures and embroidery, was far more elaborate than any of the others. It spoke of our Lord in a very complete way. This first covering, the tabernacle proper, pictured Him in a way that made the other coverings secondary.
The numbers carry meaning. Ten curtains are split five and five, and each number stands for a different responsibility.
Five curtains were "coupled to one another," so that the ten made two sets of five. Ten is the number of responsibility towards God — the ten commandments, for example. Five is responsibility towards man. So we are taught that Christ as Man met the whole of His responsibility both towards God and towards man. He loved God with all His heart, and His neighbour as Himself — and in this, we know, He went even infinitely beyond. And He was the only One who ever met these responsibilities fully and perfectly.
The word for "coupled" has a history. It shares its root with a place name.
The word for coupling together is a suggestive one. It comes from the same root as "Hebron," which means friendship, companionship. This, too, shows the absolute unity of character in our Lord. The psalmist's longing, "Unite my heart to fear your name," came perfectly true in Him. The word for "curtains" is closely tied to the word "to fear," and so pictures the unity in the fear of God seen in our Lord.
The layout of the curtains says something about time.
Notice too that the curtains were joined side by side, and not end to end. So they ran parallel to each other, and they ran the same length. His life never passed through stages where the will of God laid new claims on Him that He had not known before. The path opened up before Him, and He met new experiences in this wilderness world. But the full responsibility of perfect love to God and man was with Him from the beginning to the end.
The two duties the curtains picture are the two people keep apart. A lawyer who came to Jesus shows how.
The lawyer had rightly answered that the law demanded perfect love to God and to one's neighbour. Sadly, even knowing this, he thought he could inherit eternal life by doing what he had never done and never could do. Instead of owning his sin and casting himself on the mercy of God, he wanted to justify himself. Notice that he leaves out all reference to God, the claims of the first table of the law. God is so far away, unseen and unknown — can he not take it for granted that he loves and serves Him? And if he can reduce his neighbours to a few friends he likes, may he not hope to deserve eternal life by doing his duty to them? So in the lawyer's mind there was apparently little connection between the two sets of curtains.
Loops of blue and clasps of gold hold the two sets together as one dwelling.
Looking at the tabernacle as a picture of Christ, as we surely may, we can easily trace the beauty and meaning of those "loops of blue and clasps of gold." They pictured the perfect unity and consistency in the character and ways of "the man Christ Jesus," which came from His heavenly grace and divine energy. In the life of the blessed Lord Jesus, and in every scene and circumstance of that life, we see each distinct phase and feature perfect in itself. We also see all those phases and features perfectly combined, by the power of what was heavenly and divine in Him.
- Dwelling. The ten curtains are the tabernacle itself. The word means dwelling-place. Every other covering serves them.
- Divided. They are split five and five. Five stands for responsibility toward man, ten for responsibility toward God. Christ alone met both in full.
- Coupled. The word for joining shares its root with Hebron, which means friendship. In Him the two sides were never strangers.
- Parallel. The curtains ran side by side, not end to end. Love to God and love to neighbour ran the full length of His life, from start to finish.
- One. The lawyer pulled the two apart. Loops of blue and clasps of gold hold them together — many perfections, one dwelling, joined by what was heavenly in Him.
And thou shalt make loops of blue on the edge of the one curtain at the end of the coupling; and likewise shalt thou make [them] in the edge of the outermost curtain in the other coupling.
Exodus 26 gives the pattern for God's dwelling among His people, and it starts with ten linen curtains. Verse 4 stops at a small detail — blue loops along one edge of each set — in which commentators see a picture of how everything in Christ holds together.
The ten curtains were not made as one sheet. They were joined in two groups, and only then fastened to each other by what verse 4 describes.
Five of the curtains were to be joined together, and the other five in the same way (possibly sewn). Then 50 loops of blue material, attached to the edge of each set (v. 4), joined the two sets of five, with golden clasps to hold the loops together. This formed a covering that reached from near the ground on either side, right over the frame of the tabernacle. The loops and clasps would be in the middle. In this way the ten curtains were divided into five times two. The number five points to the reality of the Lord's responsibility to God, and the number two to the witness of this in the world.
One writer traces the Hebrew word behind the loops:
"Looloth" (loops) comes from a root meaning to roll. There can be no question about their meaning and purpose. The word may suggest the idea of roundness, matching the "eye" through which the hook passed without entering the material of the curtains themselves. The curtains were whole, and each one was perfect. The loop put on them was an addition, in the sense that the means of uniting one set to the other did not interfere with the pattern of the curtain.
The colour is not decoration. Among the materials of the tabernacle, blue carries a fixed meaning:
Blue is always a symbol of what is heavenly. The colour itself points clearly to this meaning.
That colour marks the whole life the curtains picture — the life of Christ:
The loops were blue, as we have seen — the colour of heaven. So His whole life of obedience was marked by this: He came from heaven, He lived in heaven, and He was to return to heaven. The mark of heaven was upon it all.
Two sets of curtains, two sides of a life. The joining is where duty toward God and duty toward man are held together:
In the loops of blue and the clasps of gold we see the heavenly grace and divine energy in Christ. They enabled Him to combine and perfectly adjust the claims of God and the claims of man. In answering both, He never for a moment marred the unity of His character. Crafty and hypocritical men tempted Him with the question, "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" His wise reply was, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."
Another writer looks at the same life from the side of His love for people:
He loved His Father perfectly, but that was the pledge of His perfect love to man. On the other hand, no hands or heart were ever so full of love and labour for people; but there was nothing sentimental or merely humanitarian about it. The loops of blue were upon all, linking all with His Father's will.
Loops and clasps are easy to overlook:
These loops and clasps might look very small and unimportant, but without them there could have been no unity. The curtains, however beautiful in themselves, would have hung apart from each other, and so one grand feature of what the tabernacle showed would have been lost.
The gold used with the blue adds a second note:
The loops of blue and the clasps of gold bring out the thought that everything for God, and for us, stands secure on the ground of divine righteousness (gold) and heavenly grace (blue).
The same joining shapes how Christians are told to live:
In 1 Corinthians 16 we have a lovely and practical illustration of our subject. Verse 13 says, "Act like men, be strong." Here we have one fine feature of the Christian character — that manly strength which is so desirable. But taken by itself, this could easily turn into a rough, rude, high-handed way of dealing with others — the opposite of the example Christ gives us. So the Spirit in the apostle forms a loop of blue, and with a golden clasp links to this manly strength another feature that is so needed — love. "Let all that you do be done in love." Most precious combination!
- Loops — small additions at the edge that left the woven pattern untouched. Each curtain stayed whole, yet none stayed alone.
- Blue — the colour of heaven, stamped on the joining. What held the two sides together came from above.
- Both sides — set joined to set: a life in which the claims of God and the claims of man were met together, never played against each other.
- Gold — the clasps through the loops speak of divine righteousness. What grace links, righteousness makes secure.
- One — take out the loops and the curtains hang apart. The unity of the whole rested on the smallest parts, and the same joining still links strength to love in us.
Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make at the end of the curtain in the other coupling the loops shall be opposite to one another.
The order is exact: fifty loops on one curtain's edge, fifty on the edge of the set facing it, each loop meeting its partner. Commentators read these inner curtains as a picture of Christ. So why did God describe the fastenings as carefully as the fabric?
The loops only matter because of what they join. Commentators read the materials named at the start of the chapter as portraits of Christ, each adding a different feature.
In the tabernacle we have more than this. The curtains show us Christ in various ways — Christ in His human purity and righteousness — Christ in what was heavenly — Christ in His glory, whether toward the Jews or reaching over the nations too, with His right to judge declared.
Fifty loops on each edge, ten curtains in two sets of five — one writer reads those numbers as two directions of duty, both met in full.
Ten is the number of responsibility towards God, as in the ten commandments (see also Exodus 30:13). Five is responsibility towards man (see Gen. 47:24; Num. 5:7). So we are taught that Christ as Man met the whole of His responsibility both towards God and towards man. He loved God with all His heart, and His neighbour as Himself — and in this, we know, He went even infinitely beyond. He was the only One who fully and perfectly met these responsibilities.
Another writer sets a limit on how far the figure can be pressed:
The number 50, which is 5 x 10, raises the thought of responsibility both towards God and among men. But to say more than this would be only guesswork.
The Hebrew word points to something round — an eye for a hook. And notice where the loop sits: on the edge, clear of the curtain's pattern.
"Looloth" (loops) comes from a root meaning to roll. The word may suggest roundness, matching the "eye" through which the hook passed without going into the material of the curtains themselves. These were whole, and each was perfect. The loop put on them was an addition, in the sense that the thing joining one set to the other did not interfere with the pattern of the curtain.
The loops had one colour: blue. Blue is the colour of heaven, and its place on the joining edge says something about the life the curtains picture.
The loops were blue — the colour of heaven. He was from heaven, lived in heaven, and was to return to heaven, and this marked His whole life of obedience. The mark of heaven was upon it all. On the curtains that spoke of His perfect love and obedience to God were the blue loops. They show that such love and obedience were to be joined to a life on earth, where its responsibilities were made one with His service to God. So the blue loops on the second set of curtains show that all was one with His devotion to God.
The loops exist so the two halves can grip each other. In Christ's life, love for God and love for people never came apart.
His love for man was as complete as if that were the whole of His life. Even unbelief has had to admit the beauty of His human character... In the same way, His love to God was as absolute as if there were not a man in existence... But on the "outermost edge" of each set God put the blue loops, to remind us that He would show a God-made link between our responsibilities to Him and to man, His creature. We cannot imagine our Lord thinking of man and leaving out God, or the other way round. He was neither a recluse nor a mere philanthropist.
One writer finds the same loop in a New Testament letter, where two commands stand side by side.
In 1 Corinthians 16 we have a lovely and practical illustration of our subject. Verse 13 says, "Act like men, be strong." Here is one fine feature of Christian character — that manly strength which is so desirable. But by itself, this could easily sink into a rough, rude, high-handed way of dealing with others... So the Spirit in the apostle forms a loop of blue, and with a golden clasp links another much-needed feature on to this strength — love. "Let all that you do be done in love." A most precious combination! Untie this heavenly loop, and you will get either a high, haughty, thoughtless manner, or a soft, weak way of acting that gives up everything for peace and quiet.
- Curtains — the inner curtains picture Christ: His purity, what was heavenly in Him, His glory reaching beyond Israel.
- Numbers — ten curtains in two fives: duty to God and duty to man, met in full by one Man alone.
- Loops — fifty on each edge, set on the border, so the joining never spoils the pattern it joins.
- Blue — heaven's colour at the point of union: obedience lived on earth by One who came from above.
- Union — each loop faces its partner and takes hold. Love for God and love for people hold together, as strength holds with love.
And thou shalt make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains together with the clasps, that the tabernacle may be one [whole].
Fifty gold clasps join the two sets of five curtains, and the many separate pieces become one dwelling. Why must ten separate curtains become one? And what do the small gold clasps that hold them stand for?
One writer explains what the word "tabernacle" means, and what these inner curtains picture.
The tabernacle had four coverings, in two pairs. Two formed the tabernacle itself; the other two were simply coverings. The inner one of the first pair was made of ten curtains of fine twined linen, with blue, purple, scarlet, and cherubim worked into them. This is called in our translation (26:1) "the tabernacle," but the Hebrew word means "the dwelling-place" or "habitation." It is a related word to "the shekinah," the name given to the cloud in which the LORD dwelt. These linen curtains pictured above all the dwelling-place of God. They represent to us the perfect humanity of the Lord Jesus... No one outside could see these curtains. It was the privilege of the priestly family to go inside and behold these glories.
Notice where these instructions begin.
As in the previous chapter so here the instructions start with the innermost curtain. God works from the inside to the outside — from what only the priests inside could see, to what met the eyes of the people outside.
One writer argues that the unity of the whole depended on these small parts.
The loops of blue and the clasps of gold joined the curtains together and kept the visible unity of the whole structure. These loops and clasps might seem very slight and unimportant, but without them there could have been no unity. The curtains, however beautiful in themselves, would have hung apart from each other. One grand feature of the display would then be missing.
The same writer reads these small links as a picture of Christ's own character.
The loops of blue and clasps of gold pictured that perfect unity and consistency in the character and ways of "the Man Christ Jesus" which were the result of His heavenly grace and divine energy. In the life of the blessed Lord Jesus, and in all the scenes and circumstances of that life, we see each distinct phase and feature perfect in itself. We also see a perfect combination of all those phases and features, by the power of that which was heavenly and divine in Him.
Each of the two materials carries its own meaning.
The loops of blue and clasps of gold bring out the thought that everything for God, and for us, is secured on the ground of divine righteousness (gold) and heavenly grace (blue).
The clasps sat above the place where the veil hung, and the metal chosen there matters.
Above the place where the veil hung, clasps set into loops of heavenly blue joined the two sets of five curtains into "one tabernacle." These clasps were not of brass (the metal of the altar) but of gold (the metal of the throne). So they bring before us yet again the glory of the Son of God our Risen Saviour.
One writer finds meaning in the numbers themselves.
Ten is the number of responsibility towards God, as, for example, in the ten commandments... and five is responsibility towards man. So we are taught that Christ as Man met the whole of His responsibility both towards God and towards man. He loved God with all His heart, and His neighbour as Himself — and in this, we know, He went infinitely beyond even that. And He was the only One who ever met these responsibilities fully and perfectly.
Commentators differ on how far such readings should be pressed.
Most writers see Christ in these curtains. One reads the united whole as a picture of His people.
Admire the beauty of these many-coloured curtains, where the golden clasp of divine glory embraces the blue loop of heaven's love stooping down to us! So they are joined into one, and their folds hang down over the boards, which are overlaid with gold again. This is the Church, as we have already seen in the beauty put upon her — the glory of Christ her Lord.
- Dwelling — the word rendered "tabernacle" means habitation, the place where God lives among His people.
- Hidden — this innermost covering faced inward; only the priests who went inside ever saw its beauty.
- Joined — the small loops and clasps carried the unity of the whole; without them the curtains hang apart.
- Gold — the metal of the throne, not the altar, marks the joint: divine righteousness holding heavenly grace.
- One — ten curtains, two sets, fifty clasps, and a single result; perfection in many parts, never divided.