Description
See the description of the linen cloth strips in Linen cloth strips. On top of the linen cover was laid another cover, constructed in the same manner, made of goat hair. Like the linen cloth, the goat hair cloth was also made of individual strips sewn together. It was formed of a total of eleven such strips, as compared to the ten in the linen cloth.
Translation
EXO 26:7 calls the whole second layer a “tent.” Some translations have the literal phrase “tent over the tabernacle” (RSV, NIV, REB). This might give the impression that there was a tent standing on the roof of the Tabernacle. It is better to follow GNT for the whole verse: “Make a cover for the Tent out of eleven pieces of cloth made of goats’ hair.” Also good is NCV “Then make another tent that will cover the Holy Tent, using eleven curtains made from goat hair.”
Cloth made of goat hair is commonly used by nomadic groups in the Middle East for making tents (see Tent). As soon as it gets wet, the hairs swell and seal the cloth tight so that no water drips through. Where goats are unknown, it may be necessary to say “cloth made of hair from an animal called goat” or “cloth made from domestic animal hair.”
The word “curtain,” which appears in many translations in the passages listed above, is somewhat misleading, since these goat hair cloth strips covered both the top and the sides of the Tabernacle.