Curtain
(1.) Ten curtains, each twenty-eight cubits long and four wide, made of fine linen, also eleven made of goat’s hair, covered the tabernacle (Ex 26:1–13; Ex 36:8–17).
(2.) The sacred curtain, separating the holy of holies from the sanctuary, is designated by a different Hebrew word (peroketh). It is described as a “veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work” (Ex 26:31; Lev 16:2; Num 18:7).
(3.) “Stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain” (Isa 40:22), is an expression used with reference to the veil or awning which Orientals spread for a screen over their courts in summer. According to the prophet, the heavens are spread over our heads as such an awning. Similar expressions are found in Ps 104:2l; comp. Isa 44:24; Job 9:8.
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.
