Commentaria in Exodum
6. THOU SHALT MAKE ALSO FIFTY RINGS,—that is, circular clasps, that these two veils of five curtains each may be joined by them, and again loosed and separated Tropologically, the covering of goats’ hair is penance.
when the march is to be begun; hence our Interpreter in verse 11 calls these rings clasps, and the Hebrew keraes signifies a ring and a circular clasp, from its curvature.
7. THOU SHALT MAKE ALSO ELEVEN COVERINGS OF GOATS’ HAIR.—In Hebrew: Thou shalt make curtains of the hair of goats, eleven: for garments woven from the hair of goats were called haircloth, of which chap. xxv, verse 4. These coverings or veils were joined, and spread over the tabernacle, in the same manner as the 10 curtains, as I said in verse 3.
Tropologically, St. Augustine, sermon 15 on Matthew: Eleven, he says, is the symbol of sin, because it transgresses the ten of the Decalogue, which is here lamented in haircloth, or the covering of goats’ hair: this covering, therefore, was a symbol of penance. “Penance,” says Isidore, book III De Summo Bono, “is the medicine of the wound, the hope of salvation, by which mercy is provoked; it is measured not by time but by the depth of grief and tears, by which all flesh is tormented and mortified.” And Hugh of St. Victor, book III De Myster. Eccles.: “Penance,” he says, “is called as it were punishing (or rather, holding back), because man himself in repenting punishes in himself what he has done amiss. For the three things that are in the striking of the breast, namely the breast, the sound, and the hand, signify that penance is for those things which we have sinned in mind, in word and in deed.”
TO COVER THE ROOF OF THE TABERNACLE.—By roof he means the covering, namely the veil of ten curtains already mentioned, which covered the tabernacle like a roof.
Mystically, these coverings signify holy preachers; hence they have thrice ten, that is 30 cubits, which is a perfect number: yet they are humble, and, like the eleventh number, confess that they sometimes transgress the Decalogue, and therefore embrace haircloth and the mournful state of penance, and even at times its garb, after the manner of St. John the Baptist, that thus they may move the people to penance. So Bede.
12. AND OF THE HALF OF IT THOU SHALT COVER THE BACK PARTS OF THE one curtain to the height of two cubits, that so there may be a double covering, which may cover the back part of the tabernacle to the height of two cubits. So Abulensis.
14. THOU SHALT MAKE ALSO ANOTHER COVERING FOR THE ROOF, OF RAMS’ SKINS DYED RED; AND OVER THIS AGAIN ANOTHER COVERING OF VIOLET SKINS.—Roof here again is the name given to the first covering of the tabernacle, namely the veil of ten curtains, which is called ohel, that is tabernacle, because it was the nearest covering of the whole tabernacle.
Note: There were four coverings of the tabernacle. The first was the veil of ten curtains of fine linen, purple, scarlet and hyacinth, of which verse 1. The second was the covering of eleven goats’ hair or goat-skin cloths, of which verse 7. The third of rams’ skins dyed red. The fourth of violet skins. Whether, however, these last two covered only the roof of the tabernacle, as Bede, Cajetan and Lipomanus will have it, or also the sides of the tabernacle, is uncertain: for what is said in verse 14, that they covered the roof, makes nothing for Bede: for there the roof is the same as the tabernacle: for this was covered on every side, and the reason for covering the roof, properly so called, with these two coverings holds also for the whole tabernacle, namely that it might not be injured by rains, and that the more delicate curtains and the gilded boards might not be soiled or spoiled. Hence Josephus also says that the tabernacle was beautiful outwardly in such colour, appearance and comeliness that beholders marvelled, and thought it to be heaven, which seems to be understood above all of the fourth, violet covering that girded and covered the sides; for the roof of the tabernacle, being flat and high, could not be seen. In like manner the ten many-coloured curtains, being lowest, and covered on every side by the goats’ hair cloth, could be seen in no part of themselves. So Abulensis, Question X.
Tropologically, the covering of rams’ skins signifies the apostolic men, who with their blood covered the Church and established its faith against all the storms of the unbelievers that beat upon it. These are therefore dyed red, because with their blood they purchased the blessed life, both their own and the Church’s. Roman histories tell of Caius Marius, that when he had pitched his camp against the Cimbri and Teutons in a dry place, and the soldiers, thirsty, asked for water, he showed them a stream beside the enemy’s rampart: “From there,” he said, “a drink may be had of you, to be bought with blood”; presently the soldiers begged him to lead them to it. The same Christ said to the Martyrs and to the Church. The violet covering, however, signifies virgins, who, in heavenly colour, dead to the flesh and the world, carry about with them only a mortal skin, their mind fixed in heaven: these are eminent in the Church, and protect it by their merits and prayers. Hence virgins are so called as being distinguished by virtue, and the unmarried as dwellers in heaven, and blessed by heaven, that is, imitating the life of the citizens of heaven on earth, says Bede, St. Ambrose, book I De Offic.: “It is the grace of virginity that deserved to be chosen by Christ, to be the bodily temple of God, in which the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily. A virgin bore the salvation of the world, a virgin brought forth the life of all.”
And St. Gregory: “Virginity is a flower, martyrdom is a flower, a good action is a flower. Virginity is in the garden, martyrdom in the field, good work in the bridal chamber.”
Virginity is the sister of the angels, the victory over lusts, the queen of the virtues, the possession of all goods; it is the flower of the Church’s growth, the glory and ornament of spiritual grace, the more illustrious portion of the flock… but to be a virgin is a matter of virtue, while one strives to obtain by grace what an angel has by nature.”
15. THOU SHALT MAKE ALSO THE STANDING BOARDS OF THE TABERNACLE.—These boards were as the walls of the tabernacle, set upright on its three sides. Secondly, these boards on the south side were 20, and as many on the north side, and these two sides were the sides of the length of the tabernacle; whence it follows that the tabernacle was 30 cubits long: for each board was a cubit and a half wide; 20 boards therefore made 30 cubits; the northern boards were ten cubits distant from the southern, which was the breadth of the tabernacle; they were 10 cubits high. Thirdly, to the west were six whole boards and two half ones, so that all eight together made 10 cubits (which again was the breadth of the tabernacle); for these boards joined the south side and the north side of the tabernacle.
Fourthly, each of these boards had two bases, as it were two tenons, which were received in two sockets of two silver bases, and that to this end, that the boards might rest upon these silver bases and stand more firmly.
Allegorically, these boards signify the spreading of the Gospel through the Apostles and their successors in the whole world; the bases were the oracles of the Prophets, on which the preaching of the Gospel rested. So Bede and Isidore. But Nyssen understands by the boards and bases the multitude of angels, which guards the Saints and the elect.
Truly St. Augustine in the Sermon on the Apostles Peter and Paul: “Peter,” he says, “poor in the world, was made rich in Christ, to whom kings and nations are subject in the world. But Paul, while he pressed the saints with swords, took up the yoke of faith, and became the teacher of the Gentiles, the pattern of Martyrs, the terror of demons, the pardoner of crimes, and the fountain of virtues.” And St. Chrysostom, homily 4 On the Praise of St. Paul: “Paul went round earth and sea alike, Greece and the barbarian land alike, and every region whatever that is under the sun, as though flying; not running over his journeys with simple labour as if in vain, but plucking up likewise the thorns of sins, and everywhere sowing the word of piety, putting errors to flight, bringing back the truth, making angels of men, nay, advancing men themselves as it were from demons into angels.” And again: “Paul, a citizen of heaven, the pillar of the Churches, an angel on earth, a man of heaven. For as iron put into the fire becomes wholly fire, so Paul, kindled with charity, was made wholly charity.” The same again: “Christ sent the Apostles as the sun sends its rays, as the rose its sweetness of odour, as the fire its sparks: for as the sun appears in its rays, as the rose is perceived in its odours, as the fire is seen in its sparks, so in their virtues the power of Christ was recognised.”