Cords and Pins
In an accompanying article, we read how the posts that held up the curtains around the tabernacle were strengthened and stabilized by the “fillets,” or silver curtain-rods, which connected them.
Considering the tremendous weight of a continuous curtain, seven and a half feet high and over 400 feet long, it is no wonder that such an architectural feature was required. However, these rods would only give stability from side to side. There was also a need to provide security for the posts from falling inward or outward. The hefty winds that occur in hot, dry climates, such as the Sinai, also make such additional strengthening necessary. Although few details are given concerning this feature of the Tabernacle, two texts do provide strong hints.
“The pins of the tabernacle, and the pins of the court, and their cords.” (Exod. 35:18)
“The hangings of the court, his pillars and his sockets, and the hanging for the court gate, his cords, and his pins, and all the vessels of the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of the congregation” (Exod. 39:40)
While specific details are not given of how these cords and pins were used, it is generally agreed that two pins, or tent pegs, were driven into the ground opposite each of the court posts – one inside the courtyard and one outside. A cord, or rope, was then drawn taut between these two pins, being wrapped once or twice around the top of the post. Thus the post, with its attached curtains, was held secure from falling either inward or outward from the weight of the curtain and from the various wind conditions.
The importance to the Bible student lies not in the details of tabernacle construction, but in the deeper significance of its symbolic or antitypical meaning. Two other references to cords, or threads, may give us some insight. The first of these is found in the account of the offering of the red heifer.
“And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet [a scarlet string – T109] and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.” (Num. 19:6)
The suggestion on the same page in Tabernacle Shadows that the scarlet string would represent the blood of Christ seems very reasonable. The second text is found in connection with the battle of Jericho and the faith of Rahab.
“Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy other, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee” (Josh. 2:18)
Again, it seems reasonable to accept the suggestion of R4070 concerning this act of Rahab as illustrating “faith in the great sacrifice for sin.”
Thus, scarlet threads (or strings or cords or lines or ropes) were illustrative of the ransom sacrifice. Although the color of the cords in the tabernacle is not given, it seems not unreasonable to interpret them as being similarly associated with the ransom.
The curtain, which formed the wall around the courtyard of the tabernacle, well represents the Christian’s faith in Christ as his covering; while the posts picture the justified believer himself, demonstrating this faith to the world in the camp outside. (See T113, T114.) Is not the great stabilizing factor in our faith the utter simplicity of the ransom concept – a perfect human life for a perfect human life? This accords well with the demands of the law. (Exod. 21:23) The philosophy of this sin-atonement is stated in simple substitutionary terms by the Apostle Paul in Romans 5:19,
“For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous.”
In Exod. 38:20 we read that “all the pins [or tent pegs] of the tabernacle, and of the court round about, were of brass.”
In our interpretation of the Tabernacle symbology, places represent conditions, actors represent classes, and metals represent natures. Brass, it is commonly agreed, pictures perfect human nature. Thus the picture suggests two possessors of perfect human nature, one inside the court and one outside. Further, it may be implied that these two are connected with the common thread of the ransom sacrifice, to stabilize the faith of justified believers.
In the pages of Holy Writ we read of only two possessors of perfect human nature – Adam and Jesus. One of these, Jesus, is certainly within the condition pictured by the court. Almost as certainly the other, Adam, is outside of this condition, as a result of original sin. It is just these two perfect men – Adam and Jesus – whose lives are inexorably linked by the ransom. Paul names the disobedient and obedient men of Romans 5:19 in 1 Cor. 15:21, 22,
“For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
Here, then, is the stability for our faith. We are held firm from wavering by the simplicity of the ransom concept – one perfect life for another perfect life. The basic doctrine of substitutionary atonement, Jesus for Adam, is so simple that faith can firmly rest upon it.
“How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for our faith in his excellent word.”
– Carl Hagensick