Description
The individual frames were set into heavy metal bases (see Base, stand, socket, mortise). Each frame was made of two wooden uprights that were each 5 meters (16.5 feet) long. These uprights were joined at the top, middle, and near the bottom by wooden rungs. Part of each upright extended below the last rung, forming a kind of leg. The two legs (technically known as tenons) were placed into corresponding holes in the metal bases.
Translation
Traditionally the Hebrew word yadoth, which is literally “hands,” has been understood in the passages listed above to refer to small projections on the side of the frame that fit into holes in the neighboring frame to hold the wall together and stabilize it. However, there are a number of difficulties with this interpretation. It is more consistent to see the yadoth as referring to the long, vertical side boards from which the frame was constructed. These were connected by crosspieces, or “rungs,” as described above. These crosspieces are referred to by the Hebrew word mshulavoth. A Handbook on Exodus suggests the following rendering for EXO 26:15; EXO 26:16; EXO 26:17: “15 Build upright frames for the sacred tent out of acacia wood. 16 Each frame is to be fifteen feet high and twenty-seven inches wide, 17 with two matching arms that are joined together by cross-pieces. All the frames have these cross-pieces” (page 620).