What Does Exodus 38:17 Mean?
And the bases for the pillars were of bronze. The hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver, and the sheathing of their heads was of silver, and all the pillars of the enclosure were banded with silver.
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
And the sockets for the pillars were of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver; and the overlaying of their chapiters of silver; and all the pillars of the court were filleted with silver.THE KEY
The word rendered “filleted” comes from a root that also means to cling or set affection upon, so the silver marks the court by what binds its pillars together.
THE MEANING
The court is a boundary held together by the connections among its supports: the posts stand, and silver bands join them into one enclosure. Silver repeats at the hooks, bands, and capitals, making the joining visible throughout.
THE ROOT
מְחֻשָּׁקִים
mechushakim
GROWS FROM
חשק
To attach, bind, or cling; also to desire or set affection upon.
“banded” in this verse is mechushakim. The Hebrew form comes from חשק, a root that can describe both physical attachment and setting desire upon someone. The court’s finish is also its fastening: its boundary is pictured as something made coherent through attachment.
ALSO GROWS
chashuqim: Bands or fillets; things joined around the pillars.
חֲשֻׁקִים
This related form names the physical bands that connect the court’s pillars.
chashaq: To cling to, desire, or set affection upon.
חָשַׁק
Deuteronomy 7:7 uses this verb for the LORD setting love upon Israel, showing the same root’s range from fastening to affection.
THE PATTERN
A dwelling becomes a whole when its separate supports are joined into one structure.
And its pillars shall be twenty, and their bronze bases twenty. The hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be of silver.In whom the whole building, joined at the joints, grows into a set-apart temple in the Lord.You also, as living stones, are built up into a house of breath, a set-apart priesthood, to carry up sacrifices of breath, well received by God through Jesus, the Anointed One.THE THREAD
The LORD did not cling to you, nor choose you, because you outnumbered any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples.“Set his love” translates חָשַׁק (chashaq), the same root found in the court’s fillets. One passage uses it for bands joining pillars; the other for an attachment of love, holding fastening and affection within one word-family.
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