Covered for Judgment: The Outer Tent Text: Exodus 26:7-14
Introduction: God's Architectural Precision
We live in an age that despises particulars. Our culture champions a vague, sentimental spirituality where what matters is that you are sincere, not that you are right. The god of our age is a god of broad strokes, a deity who wouldn't be caught dead fussing over cubits, loops of bronze, or the specific thread count of a curtain. But the God of the Bible, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is a God of glorious, meticulous, and meaningful detail. He is not a sloppy God. He is an architect, and He has given us the blueprints.
When we come to a passage like this in Exodus, our modern sensibilities can tempt us to skim. We read about eleven curtains of goats' hair, fifty bronze clasps, and skins dyed red, and our eyes glaze over. We think it's just ancient tent-making trivia. But to do so is to miss the point entirely. Every detail here is dripping with theological significance. God is teaching His people, and us, about the nature of sin, the necessity of judgment, the reality of atonement, and the person of His Son. This is not just about building a tent; it is about revealing the Savior.
The tabernacle is a scale model of the cosmos and a preview of Jesus Christ. From the outside in, we move from the common to the holy, from judgment to glory. In the previous verses, we saw the beautiful inner curtains, the fine-twined linen with its blue, purple, and scarlet, woven with cherubim, visible only to the priests inside. That was a picture of the unapproachable glory of God, the beauty of Christ's perfect righteousness. But now we move outward, to the coverings that face the world, the layers that bear the brunt of the wilderness sun and rain. And what we find is not less important, but in fact, crucial for understanding the gospel. For here, in these rougher, tougher materials, we see how a holy God makes it possible to dwell with sinful men.
The Text
Then you shall make curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the tabernacle; you shall make eleven curtains in all. The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; the eleven curtains shall have the same measurements. And you shall join five curtains by themselves and the other six curtains by themselves, and you shall double over the sixth curtain at the front of the tent. You shall make fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the one set, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the second set. You shall make fifty clasps of bronze, and you shall put the clasps into the loops and join the tent together so that it will be one unit. The overlapping part that is left over in the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that is left over, shall lap over the back of the tabernacle. The cubit on one side and the cubit on the other, of what is left over in the length of the curtains of the tent, shall lap over the sides of the tabernacle on one side and on the other to cover it. You shall make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red and a covering of porpoise skins above.
(Exodus 26:7-14 LSB)
The Tent of Goats' Hair (vv. 7-11)
First, we have the layer immediately covering the glorious inner sanctuary.
"Then you shall make curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the tabernacle; you shall make eleven curtains in all... And you shall join the tent together so that it will be one unit." (Exodus 26:7-11)
Right away, we should notice the material: goats' hair. In the Scriptures, the goat is consistently associated with the sin offering (Leviticus 9:3, 16:9-10). On the Day of Atonement, two goats were chosen. One was sacrificed as a sin offering, and the other, the scapegoat, had the sins of the people confessed over it and was driven out into the wilderness. The goat represents our sin, borne and taken away. So what does it mean that the glorious dwelling place of God is covered by a tent that signifies sin?
It means that the beauty of Christ's perfect righteousness, represented by the inner curtains, was veiled during His earthly ministry by His identification with us. He was "made to be sin who knew no sin" (2 Corinthians 5:21). This outer tent of goats' hair is a picture of Christ taking our sin upon Himself. From the outside, to the world, He did not appear in His transcendent glory. Isaiah tells us He had "no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him" (Isaiah 53:2). He was cloaked in the stuff of our rebellion. This tent of goats' hair is what the world saw: Jesus of Nazareth, the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, bearing our sin.
Notice the details. There are eleven curtains, not ten like the inner set. This eleventh curtain is doubled over at the front, providing a prominent overhang. This structure is larger, more robust. It completely covers the inner sanctuary. This is a picture of the completeness of Christ's work. Our sin is not partially covered; it is entirely covered. The extra measure, hanging over the front and back, speaks of an abundant, overflowing provision for our sin.
And how is this tent held together? With fifty clasps of bronze. This is crucial. In the inner sanctuary, the clasps were gold, symbolizing divinity and glory. Here, they are bronze. Throughout the tabernacle, bronze is the metal of judgment. The great altar of burnt offering, where the sacrifices were consumed, was made of bronze (Exodus 27:2). Bronze could withstand the fire. These bronze clasps, holding together the tent of the sin offering, represent the divine judgment that Christ endured on our behalf. He was held together, He completed His mission, precisely by enduring the fire of God's wrath against our sin. The unity of His work was forged in the fires of judgment.
The Overlap of Grace (vv. 12-13)
The text then specifies what to do with the extra material.
"The overlapping part that is left over... the half curtain that is left over, shall lap over the back of the tabernacle. The cubit on one side and the cubit on the other... shall lap over the sides of the tabernacle on one side and on the other to cover it." (Exodus 26:12-13 LSB)
God is not wasteful, but He is lavish. This is not a sloppy, ill-fitting tent. The extra dimensions are deliberate. The covering of sin is not just barely enough; it is more than enough. It hangs over the back and drapes down the sides, ensuring that the holy place is entirely shielded. This is a beautiful picture of the super-abounding nature of God's grace in Christ.
Where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more (Romans 5:20). Our sin is great, but Christ's covering is greater still. There are no gaps. There is no part of the sanctuary left exposed. When God looks at His people, clothed in Christ, He does not see a corner of their old sin peeking out from under the covering. He sees them as completely, totally, and lavishly covered by the one who became a sin offering for them. This is the doctrine of imputation, rendered in architecture.
The Outer Coverings of Sacrifice and Humility (v. 14)
Finally, we come to the outermost layers, the ones that face the sky.
"You shall make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red and a covering of porpoise skins above." (Exodus 26:14 LSB)
On top of the goats' hair tent, there is a layer of rams' skins dyed red. The ram was the sacrifice of consecration for the priesthood (Exodus 29:1) and a substitute sacrifice, most famously in the case of Isaac (Genesis 22:13). The ram speaks of substitutionary atonement. And these skins are dyed red, the color of blood. This covering screams of sacrifice. It is a constant, visible reminder that the only way to approach a holy God, the only thing that protects His dwelling from the judgment it would otherwise attract, is the shed blood of a substitute.
This is the gospel in leather. Christ is our ram, caught in the thicket of our sin, offered up in our place. His blood is the ultimate protection. It is this blood-red covering that truly makes the meeting between God and man possible.
And then, the final, outermost layer: a covering of "porpoise skins." The Hebrew here is uncertain; it could be badger skins, or skins from a sea creature like a dolphin or dugong. What is certain is that this was a tough, durable, weather-proof material. Its appearance would have been plain, utilitarian, and rugged. It was not beautiful, but it was strong. It took the full force of the desert sun, the driving rain, and the abrasive sand. This is the ultimate picture of Christ's humility and endurance. This is the Christ who was beaten, spit upon, and crucified. He bore the hostility of the world, the full storm of God's wrath and man's rebellion, so that the glory within could be protected and preserved.
From the outside, all an Israelite would see was this drab, tough outer skin. To see the glory, you had to go inside. And so it is with Christ. The world looks at the cross and sees foolishness and weakness. They see a beaten man, a failed messiah. They see only the tough, unattractive outer covering. But for those who enter in by faith, they pass through the layers of His suffering and sacrifice to find the indescribable glory of God dwelling with man.
Conclusion: Our Tabernacle
These layers of fabric and skin are not just a history lesson. They are a pattern for us. The Church is now the tabernacle of God, the place where His Spirit dwells (1 Corinthians 3:16). And we are being built up according to this same pattern.
In Christ, we are clothed with His perfect righteousness, that inner curtain of glory. But as we live in this world, we are called to present ourselves as living sacrifices. We are covered with the blood of the Lamb, the rams' skins dyed red. We are identified with Christ in His humiliation, bearing our cross, which is our tent of goats' hair. And we are called to endure the harsh weather of this fallen world, to be tough and resilient for the sake of the gospel, like that outer covering of badger skins.
The world is not supposed to look at the Church and see a slick, polished, entertaining corporation. They are supposed to see a rugged, blood-bought people who are identified with a crucified Savior. They should see people who are not ashamed of the one who became sin for them. They should see people who are held together by the reality of judgment met and satisfied.
God's blueprints matter because they show us Christ. And they show us who we are to be in Him. We are the dwelling place of God, covered completely by the sacrifice of His Son. Let us therefore live, not as those who are ashamed of these outer coverings of sacrifice and humility, but as those who know that they are the only things that make the glory within possible.