SEV Biblia, Chapter 25:5
y cueros de carneros teidos de rojo, y cueros de tejones, y madera de cedro;
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Exodus 25:5
Verse 5. Rams' skins dyed red] ymdam lya tr[ oroth eylim meoddamim, literally, the skins of red rams. It is a fact attested by many respectable travelers, that in the Levant sheep are often to be met with that have red or violet- coloured fleeces. And almost all ancient writers speak of the same thing. Homer describes the rams of Polyphemus as having a violet-coloured fleece. arsenev oiev hsan eutrefeev dasumalloi, kaloi te, megaloi te, iodnefev eirov econtev.Odyss., lib. ix., ver. 425.
"Strong were the rams, with native purple fair, Well fed, and largest of the fleecy care." POPE.
Pliny, Aristotle, and others mention the same. And from facts of this kind it is very probable that the fable of the golden fleece had its origin. In the Zetland Isles I have seen sheep with variously coloured fleeces, some white, some black, some black and white, some of a very fine chocolate colour. Beholding those animals brought to my recollection those words of Virgil:-Ipse sed in pratis Aries jam suave rubenti Murice, jam croceo mutabit vellera luto.Eclog. iv., ver. 43.
"No wool shall in dissembled colours shine; But the luxurious father of the fold, With native purple or unborrow'd gold, Beneath his pompous fleece shall proudly sweat, And under Tyrian robes the lamb shall bleat." DRYDEN.
Badgers' skins] yjt tr[ oroth techashim. Few terms have afforded greater perplexity to critics and commentators than this. Bochart has exhausted the subject, and seems to have proved that no kind of animal is here intended, but a colour. None of the ancient versions acknowledge an animal of any kind except the Chaldee, which seems to think the badger is intended, and from it we have borrowed our translation of the word. The Septuagint and Vulgate have skins dyed a violet colour; the Syriac, azure; the Arabic, black; the Coptic, violet; the modern Persic, ram-skins, &c.
The colour contended for by Bochart is the hysginus, which is a very deep blue. So Pliny, Coccoque tinctum Tyrio tingere, ut fieret hysginum. "They dip crimson in purple to make the colour called hysginus."-Hist. Nat., lib.
ix., c. 65, edit. Bipont.
Shittim wood] By some supposed to be the finest species of the cedar; by others, the acacia Nilotica, a species of thorn, solid, light, and very beautiful. This acacia is known to have been plentiful in Egypt, and it abounds in Arabia Deserta, the very place in which Moses was when he built the tabernacle; and hence it is reasonable to suppose that he built it of that wood, which was every way proper for his purpose.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-9 - God chose the people of Israel to be a peculiar people to himself above all people, and he himself would be their King. He ordered royal palace to be set up among them for himself, called a sanctuary or holy place, or habitation. There he showed his presence among them And because in the wilderness they dwelt in tents, this royal palac was ordered to be a tabernacle, that it might move with them. The people were to furnish Moses with the materials, by their own fre will. The best use we can make of our worldly wealth, is to honour God with it in works of piety and charity. We should ask, not only, What must we do? but, What may we do for God? Whatever they gave, they mus give it cheerfully, not grudgingly, for God loves a cheerful giver, 2C 9:7. What is laid out in the service of God, we must reckon wel bestowed; and whatsoever is done in God's service, must be done by his direction. (Ex 25:10-22)
Original Hebrew
וערת 5785 אילם 352 מאדמים 119 וערת 5785 תחשׁים 8476 ועצי 6086 שׁטים׃ 7848
