Bible Dictionary
Curtain
Curtains were woven coverings used for the tabernacle, including the veil separating the holy place from the holy of holies. Scripture also compares the heavens to a curtain or awning spread out by God.
Definition
Curtains are woven coverings or hanging screens. In the tabernacle, curtains made of fine linen and goat’s hair formed the covering, while a distinct sacred curtain or veil separated the holy of holies from the sanctuary.
Biblical Usage
The tabernacle curtains and the veil are described in the instructions for worship. Scripture also compares the heavens to a curtain or awning stretched out over the earth.
Historical Background
The sacred veil was made of blue, purple, and scarlet material with fine twined linen and skilled workmanship. The figurative image reflects the awnings or screens spread over oriental courts in summer.
Scripture References
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(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; 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.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>kur'-t'-n, -ten, -tin: The word ordinarily used for curtain is yeri`ah. Thus in Ex 26:1 ff; 36:8 ff of the curtains of the tabernacle (see TABERNACLE); in 2Sa 7:2; Ps 104:2; So 1:5; Isa 54:2; Jer 4:20; 10:20; 49:29; Hab 3:7.</p><p>Figurative: In Isa 40:22 (like Ps 104:2, of the heavens), the word used is doq, literally, "gauze."</p>