What Does Exodus 36:9 Mean?
The length of one curtain was twenty and eight forearms, and the breadth of one curtain four forearms; the curtains were all of one size.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
The length of one curtain was twenty and eight cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: the curtains were all of one size.THE KEY
The dwelling’s unity is built into its dimensions: every separate curtain carries the same measure.
THE MEANING
You see sacred space take physical form: each curtain has the same length and breadth, so the covering holds one repeated measure throughout. Its coherence is present in every piece before the whole is assembled.
THE ROOT
מִדָּה
middah
GROWS FROM
מדד
To measure or measure out; the consonants מ־ד־ד (m-d-d) name measured extent.
Here, measure is not a loose comparison: the repeated dimensions make every curtain answer to the same extent. English can flatten this into a construction detail, while מִדָּה (middah, measure) keeps a common, bounded proportion in view.
ALSO GROWS
mādad: to measure, measure out
מָדַד
This verb names the act behind מִדָּה (middah, measure): setting a defined extent.
middah: measure, size, dimension
מִדָּה
This noun appears in the verse; one defined dimension belongs to every curtain.
THE PATTERN
A whole dwelling takes shape as its separate parts are fitted into a shared order.
And the house, when it was in building, was built of whole stone, made ready before it was brought there, so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was in building.In whom the whole building, joined at the joints, grows into a set-apart temple in the Lord.But now God has set the limbs, each one of them, in the body, as he willed.THE THREAD
And behold, there was a wall outside the house all around, and in the man's hand a measuring reed of six forearms long, by the forearm and a handbreadth. He measured the breadth of the building, one reed, and its rising, one reed.The Hebrew verb translated “measured” shares the root מ־ד־ד (m-d-d) behind מִדָּה (middah, measure) here. Ezekiel uses that same root to mark the breadth and height of a building, making its form visible through measured dimensions.
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