Exodus 38:12
And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets ten; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver. And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets ten; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.
Exodus 38:12 describes the west end of the courtyard enclosing the wilderness tabernacle, fifty cubits of fine linen hangings carried on ten pillars set in ten sockets with silver hooks and bands. It records that what God had directed for His dwelling-place among Israel, delivered from Egypt, was faithfully made and completed exactly according to the pattern shown to Moses in the mount. The courtyard with its linen enclosure belonged to the center of Israel's ordered worship, a manifold object-lesson of the great plan of salvation and a pattern of the heavenly sanctuary and Christ's priestly work of forgiveness and transformation. The fine linen itself signifies the righteousness of the saints, which is obtained only through Christ as their righteousness.
Sanctuary Context and Purpose
Exodus 38:12 belongs to the very minute description of preparing, fitting, building, and setting up the worldly sanctuary in Exodus 25 to 40, made exactly according to the pattern shown in the mount. The building and setting up recorded in Exodus 33 to 40 immediately followed the instruction concerning the sanctuary in Exodus 25 to 31 given by God to Moses in the mount, continuing in chronological order the events from Exodus 19 to Exodus 32. The preparing and fitting reached its completion when the Tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month of the second year after the Exodus.
The tabernacle itself was a magnificent structure of upright boards overlaid with gold, thirty cubits long and about ten cubits wide and high. Its entrance was at the east, and four coverings were laid over it. It was a marvelously beautiful, movable structure.
The sanctuary was commanded after God with a mighty hand redeemed Israel from Egyptian bondage and brought them out from under Pharaoh. Their hundreds of years of slavery had unfitted them to comprehend God's great salvation and the character He required, so God gave a great, multiple object-lesson which by various forms and rites would comprehend the great plan of salvation in its teaching. God instructed Moses to ask free-will offerings of all that would be used in building, that they make Him a sanctuary that He might dwell among them. That sanctuary was God's dwelling place among Israel, first in the wilderness and later in the temple built on the same pattern. God specially endowed the workmen to build it exactly according to the divine pattern and directions given to Moses in the mount in its dimensions, material, and furnishings.
The verse stands in the worship part of Exodus, chapters 25 onward, within the laws given through Moses. Those laws include more than the Ten Commandments, for they also include ceremonial laws and instructions about offerings and sacrifices. In this setting it helps show how Israel, after deliverance from bondage in Egypt, received an established form of worship as they became a nation with thorough organization, efficient leadership, and a complete code of laws. The sanctuary Israel erected in the wilderness at God's command was the center of earthly worship, which revolved around the most holy place, where God's law rested beneath the mercy seat. These laws preserve the old dispensation's types, through which the substance of the new dispensation can be traced.
The record of the sanctuary's construction is part of Scripture written for learning and instruction in righteousness. The sanctuary and its service were a pattern and object-lesson of the heavenly sanctuary and Christ's priestly work, though earthly things could not represent heavenly things perfectly. The ancient sanctuary so described answered every purpose for which it was constructed, yet was always typical of and foreshadowed a better temple, the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. All its rites and ceremonies pointed to the coming Messiah and His power to forgive sin, transform the character, and deliver from burdens, until with the death of Christ and the rending of the veil it passed away entirely and forever.
Exodus 38 records the carrying out and completion of the Lord's directions for the sanctuary, stating that its furnishings and equipment were made as directed and those directions were explicitly carried out. It belongs to the account of building and inaugurating the sanctuary and its services. When the work of building and inaugurating was complete, God's blessing and glory came upon the congregation and the building, showing that He accepted the people's repentance.
Court's Western Side Details
Exodus 38:12 belongs to the account in Exodus 38:8-20 of the court of the tabernacle and its furnishings, including the laver and the hangings that enclosed the court. Within that account it specifies the west side as hangings of fifty cubits in length, supported by ten pillars set in ten sockets, with hooks of the pillars and their connecting bands of silver. That west side was a length of fine linen hangings, forming part of the enclosure of the court whose linen curtains hung from brass pillars adorned with silver. The fine linen represents the righteousness of the saints, which can be obtained only through Christ, who is their righteousness.