Exodus 26:24, commentary and pictures

Exodus 26:24 belongs to the instructions given for building the wall boards of the tabernacle sanctuary. Those walls were made of upright boards heavily plated with purest gold and set in sockets of silver. At the two corners the boards were coupled together beneath and coupled together above unto one ring, to give strength to the joint.

This manner of joining allowed the whole structure to be taken apart and carried with the Israelites in all their wilderness journeyings, yet it was a building of extraordinary magnificence. The sacred building contained two apartments, separated by a rich and beautiful curtain or veil, while a similar veil closed the entrance of the first apartment. The sanctuary had no windows, and both apartments were lit by the continuously burning golden candlestick.

Its light was reflected from the gold-plated boards, from the sacred furniture, and from the colorful curtains, so that the interior appeared like the colors of a rainbow. The veils, together with the curtain forming the ceiling of the tabernacle, were most beautifully arranged in a variety of colors, and cherubim were inwrought in them with threads of gold and silver. Those cherubim represented the angelic host connected with the work of the heavenly sanctuary and ministering as angels to the saints upon the earth.