* pillars of shittim.
37 36:38 Es 1:6
* their hooks shall be of gold.
The Hebrew {waveyhem,} which we translate their hooks, is
rendered by the LXX. [kephalides,] and by the Vulgate,
{capiata,} capitals. Hence Calmet contends, 1. That if Moses
does not mean the capitals of the pillars by this word, he
mentions them nowhere else; and it would seem strange, that
while he describes them with so much exactness, that he should
not mention the capitals; or that pillars every way so
correctly formed, should have been destitute of this necessary
ornament. 2. As Moses was commanded to make the {wavim} of
the pillars, and their fillets, of silver, (ch. 27:10, 11,)
and the {wavim} of the pillars of the vail of gold, (ch.
36:36,) and that 1,775; shekels were employed in making them,
overlaying their chapiters, {rasheyhem,} their heads, and
filleting them, (ch. 38:28,) it is more reasonable to suppose
that all this is spoken of the capitals of pillars, than of
any kind of hooks, especially as hooks are mentioned under the
word taches or clasps. But as the root {wavah} seems to
signify to connect, (for [wwy,] in Arabic, is to marry a
wife,) and as the letter [ww,] {wav,} if it has not its
name from its hook-like form, is yet used as a connective
particle, it would rather appear to denote hooks, which
connected the curtains or vails to the pillars. The LXX. also
render it [agkulai,] "handles", and [krikoi,] "rings" or "clasps".
|