And thou shalt make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons.
Boards without grace in the heart are like curtains without boards: shaken by every wind and soon falling. God's tabernacle was strong as well as fine, and so must our profession be. The new Jerusalem needs no gilded boards; its glory far exceeds the old, for wisdom outweighs all the gold and silver that ever adorned a tent.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 26:15-30
The tabernacle ran east to west, with the entrance in the east and the holy of holies in the west. The two long sides ran north and south, and each side received exactly twenty boards, the same number the law of building required.
AI summary
The sockets, or bases, hold the tenons of the boards so they stand upright. The word 'southward' here shows the text was written in the desert, not Palestine; a man in Canaan would have no need to clarify what negeb means.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 26:18-21