Aggada -- Translations into English; Bible. Old Testament -- Legends; Jewish legends; Midrash -- Translations into English
The separate parts of the Tabernacle had each a symbolical
significance, for to all that is above there is something corresponding
below. There are stars above, but likewise below, where "a star shall
come out of Jacob;" God has His hosts above, and likewise below, His
people Israel, "the hosts of the Lord;" above there are Ofannim, and on
earth likewise there is an Ofan; above, God has Cherubim, and likewise
below in the sanctuary of Israel; God hath His dwelling above, but
likewise below; and, lastly, God hath stretched out the heavens above
like a curtain, and below, in the sanctuary, were curtains of goats'
hair. [346]
The number of curtains, also, corresponds to those in heaven, for just
as there are eleven upper heavens, so also were there eleven curtains
of goats' hair. [347] The size of the Tabernacle was seventy cubits,
corresponding to the seventy holy days celebrated annually by the Jews,
to wit: fifty-two Sabbaths, seven days of Passover, eight of
Tabernacles, and a day each for Pentecost, the Day of Atonement, and
New Year's Day. The number of vessels amounted to seventy also; as
likewise God, Israel, and Jerusalem bear seventy names; and as,
correspondingly, in the time between the building of the first and of
the second Temple, there were seventy consecutive Sanhedrin. [348]
Like the Tabernacle, so the altar, too had its symbolical significance.
Its length and its breadth were five cubits each, corresponding
respectively to the five Commandments on the two tables of the law. Its
height was three cubits, corresponding to the three deliverers God sent
to deliver Israel from Egypt, - Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. It had four
horns in the corners thereof, to atone for the sins of the people that
on Sinai receive four horns, "the horn of the Torah," "the horn of the
Shekinah," "the horn of Priesthood," and "the horn of the Kingdom."
[349]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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