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Exodus 25:4
Verse
Summary
Commentary
- Adam Clarke
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
- John Gill
Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
Blue - תכלת techeleth, generally supposed to mean an azure or sky color; rendered by the Septuagint ὑακινθον, and by the Vulgate hyacinthum, a sky-blue or deep violet. Purple - ארגמן argaman, a very precious color, extracted from the purpura or murex, a species of shell-fish, from which it is supposed the famous Tyrian purple came, so costly, and so much celebrated in antiquity. See this largely described, and the manner of dyeing it, in Pliny, Hist. Nat., lib. ix., c. 60-65, edit. Bipont. Scarlet - תולעת tolaath, signifies a worm, of which this colouring matter was made; and, joined with שני shani, which signifies to repeat or double, implies that to strike this color the wool or cloth was twice dipped: hence the Vulgate renders the original coccum bis tinctum, "scarlet twice dyed;" and to this Horace refers, Odar., lib. ii., od. 16, v. 35: - Te Bis Afro Murice Tinctae Vestiunt Lanae - "Thy robes the twice dyed purple stains." It is the same color which the Arabs call al kermez, whence the French cramoisi, and the English crimson. On this subject much may be seen in Bochart, Calmet, and Scheuchzer. Fine linen - שש shesh; whether this means linen, cotton, or silk, is not agreed on among interpreters. Because שש shesh signifies six, the rabbins suppose that it always signifies the fine linen of Egypt, in which six folds constituted one thread; and that when a single fold was meant, בד bad is the term used. See Clarke's note on Gen 41:42. Goats' hair - עזים izzim, goats, but used here elliptically for goats' hair. In different parts of Asia Minor, Syria, Cilicia, and Phrygia, the goats have long, fine, and beautiful hair, in some cases almost as fine as silk, which they shear at proper times, and manufacture into garments. From Virgil, Georg. iii., v. 305-311, we learn that goats' hair manufactured into cloth was nearly of equal value with that formed from wool. Hae quoque non cura nobis leviore tuendae Nec minor usus erit: quamvis Milesia magno Vellera mutentur, Tyrios incocta rubores. Nec minus interea barbas incanaque menta Cinyphii tondent hirci, setasque comantes, Usum in castrorum, et miseris velamina nautis. "For hairy goats of equal profit are With woolly sheep, and ask an equal care. 'Tis true the fleece when drunk with Tyrian juice Is dearly sold, but not for needful use: Meanwhile the pastor shears their hoary beards And eases of their hair the loaden herds. Their camelots, warm in tents, the soldier hold, And shield the shivering mariner from the cold." Dryden.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
goats' hair--or leather of goats' skin.
John Gill Bible Commentary
And blue, and purple, and scarlet,.... The Jewish doctors are much divided about the sense of the words so rendered by us; some will have one colour, and some another meant; but, according to those learned men, who have taken much pains in searching into the meaning of them, as Bochart and Braunius, it appears that our version of them is most correct: and by these we are not to understand the colours themselves, which could not be brought, nor even the materials for dying them are intended; but wool, or clothes, either silken or linen of those colours: of the former the apostle has taught us to expound them, Heb 9:19 and so Jarchi interprets them of wool thus died, and Josephus (a) also; which was made up into yarn, and wove, and was much used in the garments of the priests, in the curtains of the tabernacle, and in the vail between the holy and the most holy place: and fine linen; the best of which was made in Egypt only, as Aben Ezra says, and much wore there, especially by the priests; and they had such an abundance of it that they traded to other nations with it, see Isa 19:9 and of which the Israelites might bring a considerable quantity with them out of Egypt; and goats' hair; though the word hair is not in the text, it is rightly supplied, as it is by the Septuagint version, and others, for not goats themselves, but their hair must be meant; of this the curtains for the covering of the tabernacle were made; Jarchi interprets it the down of goats, the short, small, fine hair that grows under the other. (a) Antiqu. l. 3. c. 6. sect. 1.
Exodus 25:4
Offerings for the Tabernacle
3This is the offering you are to accept from them: gold, silver, and bronze; 4blue, purple, and scarlet yarn; fine linen and goat hair;
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- Adam Clarke
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
- John Gill
Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
Blue - תכלת techeleth, generally supposed to mean an azure or sky color; rendered by the Septuagint ὑακινθον, and by the Vulgate hyacinthum, a sky-blue or deep violet. Purple - ארגמן argaman, a very precious color, extracted from the purpura or murex, a species of shell-fish, from which it is supposed the famous Tyrian purple came, so costly, and so much celebrated in antiquity. See this largely described, and the manner of dyeing it, in Pliny, Hist. Nat., lib. ix., c. 60-65, edit. Bipont. Scarlet - תולעת tolaath, signifies a worm, of which this colouring matter was made; and, joined with שני shani, which signifies to repeat or double, implies that to strike this color the wool or cloth was twice dipped: hence the Vulgate renders the original coccum bis tinctum, "scarlet twice dyed;" and to this Horace refers, Odar., lib. ii., od. 16, v. 35: - Te Bis Afro Murice Tinctae Vestiunt Lanae - "Thy robes the twice dyed purple stains." It is the same color which the Arabs call al kermez, whence the French cramoisi, and the English crimson. On this subject much may be seen in Bochart, Calmet, and Scheuchzer. Fine linen - שש shesh; whether this means linen, cotton, or silk, is not agreed on among interpreters. Because שש shesh signifies six, the rabbins suppose that it always signifies the fine linen of Egypt, in which six folds constituted one thread; and that when a single fold was meant, בד bad is the term used. See Clarke's note on Gen 41:42. Goats' hair - עזים izzim, goats, but used here elliptically for goats' hair. In different parts of Asia Minor, Syria, Cilicia, and Phrygia, the goats have long, fine, and beautiful hair, in some cases almost as fine as silk, which they shear at proper times, and manufacture into garments. From Virgil, Georg. iii., v. 305-311, we learn that goats' hair manufactured into cloth was nearly of equal value with that formed from wool. Hae quoque non cura nobis leviore tuendae Nec minor usus erit: quamvis Milesia magno Vellera mutentur, Tyrios incocta rubores. Nec minus interea barbas incanaque menta Cinyphii tondent hirci, setasque comantes, Usum in castrorum, et miseris velamina nautis. "For hairy goats of equal profit are With woolly sheep, and ask an equal care. 'Tis true the fleece when drunk with Tyrian juice Is dearly sold, but not for needful use: Meanwhile the pastor shears their hoary beards And eases of their hair the loaden herds. Their camelots, warm in tents, the soldier hold, And shield the shivering mariner from the cold." Dryden.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
goats' hair--or leather of goats' skin.
John Gill Bible Commentary
And blue, and purple, and scarlet,.... The Jewish doctors are much divided about the sense of the words so rendered by us; some will have one colour, and some another meant; but, according to those learned men, who have taken much pains in searching into the meaning of them, as Bochart and Braunius, it appears that our version of them is most correct: and by these we are not to understand the colours themselves, which could not be brought, nor even the materials for dying them are intended; but wool, or clothes, either silken or linen of those colours: of the former the apostle has taught us to expound them, Heb 9:19 and so Jarchi interprets them of wool thus died, and Josephus (a) also; which was made up into yarn, and wove, and was much used in the garments of the priests, in the curtains of the tabernacle, and in the vail between the holy and the most holy place: and fine linen; the best of which was made in Egypt only, as Aben Ezra says, and much wore there, especially by the priests; and they had such an abundance of it that they traded to other nations with it, see Isa 19:9 and of which the Israelites might bring a considerable quantity with them out of Egypt; and goats' hair; though the word hair is not in the text, it is rightly supplied, as it is by the Septuagint version, and others, for not goats themselves, but their hair must be meant; of this the curtains for the covering of the tabernacle were made; Jarchi interprets it the down of goats, the short, small, fine hair that grows under the other. (a) Antiqu. l. 3. c. 6. sect. 1.