The Tabernacle was divided by a curtain, specifically called the Veil, into two compartments, the outer of which was known as the Holy Place, and the inner as the Most Holy Place or Holy of Holies. Josephus and some others state that the Tabernacle comprised three parts; the third division, however, was really outside the main tent and appeared as a porch at the east end, five cubits deep, and extending across the entire front. The Veil, which separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, was of fine workmanship, "of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work," and was embroidered with cherubim. It was hung upon four pillars of wood overlaid with gold; the hooks were of gold and the sockets of silver. The wood used for these pillars, as indeed that used in other parts of the structure, was the rare, costly, and durable shittim or acacia, sometimes known as thorn-wood. Beyond the Veil the enclosure was most holy, and therein was placed the Ark of the Covenant with its Mercy Seat bearing the sacred cherubim, the description of which appears in the record as follows: {25} "And Bezaleel made the ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half was the length of it, and a cubit and a half the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it: "And he overlaid it with pure gold within and without, and made a crown of gold to it round about. "And he cast for it four rings of gold, to be set by the four corners of it; even two rings upon the one side of it, and two rings upon the other side of it. "And he made staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold. "And he put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, to bear the ark. "And he made the mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half was the length thereof, and one cubit and half the breadth thereof. "And he made two cherubims of gold, beaten out of one piece made he them, on the two ends of the mercy seat: "One cherub on the end on this side, and another cherub on the other end on that side: out of the mercy seat made he the cherubims on the two ends thereof. "And the cherubims spread out their wings on high, and covered with their wings over the mercy seat, with their faces one to another; even to the mercy seatward were the faces of the cherubims."[10] Outside the Veil, yet within the Tabernacle, was the Holy Place; in this were placed the table of shewbread, the altar of incense, and the golden seven-branched candlestick.[11]