He also made fifty bronze clasps to couple the tent together, that it might be one.
Parallel translations
- WEB He made fifty clasps of brass to couple the tent together, that it might be a unit.
- KJV And he made fifty taches of brass to couple the tent together, that it might be one.
- BSB He also made fifty bronze clasps to join the tent together as a unit.
- NASB He also made fifty clasps of bronze to join the tent together so that it would be a unit.
- NLT He also made fifty bronze clasps to fasten the long curtains together. In this way, the tent covering was made of one continuous piece.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Fifty bronze clasps held the two curtain sets together so the tabernacle formed a single, unified whole. The tent's unity pictures the oneness of God's dwelling among His people.
Overview
The clasps fastened the curtains so that the tabernacle 'might be a unit,' a recurring theme in the sanctuary's design. This unity foreshadows the church as one body in which God dwells by His Spirit (Ephesians 2:21-22). The exact correspondence to the pattern in Exodus 26:11 underscores the workers' faithful obedience.
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 36:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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