Description and usage
The exact function of these bands overlaid with silver is not clear. In fact, the text does not even state how many there were on each perimeter post nor where exactly they were placed. They may have been simply decorative, or they may also have served to strengthen the wooden posts and keep them from splitting. It has also been suggested that the cloth covers could be attached to them so that they would not billow out in the wind. One commentator suggests that the Hebrew word chashuq refers to a kind of cable wound around a post from top to bottom.
Translation
Where possible, it is advisable to select a general word for “band.”
EXO 27:17: Here the text uses the verb form of the Hebrew noun chashuq in verse 10, and it can mean either “banded” (NRSV, NJPSV) or “connected” (GNT, NJB). The idea of “banded” suggests that each of the posts had its own band that encircled the top of the post. The idea of “connected” suggests that the posts were joined to one another “with silver rods” (GNT). Another way to express this in the first part of this verse is “They are to connect all the posts around the courtyard with silver rods” or “They must use silver rods to connect all the posts around the courtyard.”
If the interpretation of GNT and NJB is followed, this means there were connecting “rods” that gave support to the posts, and the curtains could have been hung from these rods. The veil and the screen of the Tabernacle, however, were evidently hung from the posts, which had their own hooks (see EXO 26:32, EXO 26:37). Most translations therefore follow the other interpretation and consider these to be “bands” (NIV, TOT) at the top of each of the posts.
Tent peg, stake: See Tent peg, stake.