Exodus 26:18

Twenty of these boards were to be prepared for the side of the dwelling that was turned towards the south, and forty sockets (אדנים foundations, Job 38:6) or bases for the pegs, i.e., to put the pegs of the boards into, that the boards might stand upright; and the same number of boards and sockets for the north side. תּימנה, "southward," is added to נגבּה לפאת in Exo 26:18, to give a clearer definition of negeb, which primarily means the dry, and then the country to the south; an evident proof that at that time negeb was not established as a geographical term for the south, and therefore that it was not written here by a Palestinian, as Knobel supposes, but by Moses in the desert. The form of the "sockets" is not explained, and even in Exo 38:27, in the summing up of the gifts presented for the work, it is merely stated that a talent of silver (about 93 lb.) was applied to every socket.

Moses here receives instructions, I. Concerning the inner curtains of the tent or tabernacle, and the coupling of those curtains (Exo 26:1-6). II. Concerning the outer curtains which were of goats' hair, to strengthen the former (Exo 26:7-13). III. Concerning the case or cover which was to secure it from the weather (Exo 26:14). IV. Concerning the boards which were to be reared up to support the curtains, with their bars and sockets (v. 15-30). V. The partition between the holy place and the most holy (Exo 26:31-35). VI. The veil for the door (Exo 26:36, Exo 26:37). These particulars, thus largely recorded, seem of little use to us now; yet, having been of great use to Moses and Israel, and God having thought fit to preserve down to us the remembrance of them, we ought not to overlook them. Even the antiquity renders this account venerable.