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Selected Verse: Exodus 25:5 - King James

Verse	Translation	Text
Ex 25:5	King James	And rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and shittim wood,

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
badgers' skins--The badger was an unclean animal, and is not a native of the East--rather some kind of fish, of the leather of which sandals are made in the East. [See on Exo 39:34 and Eze 16:10.] shittim wood--or Shittah (Isa 41:19), the acacia, a shrub which grows plentifully in the deserts of Arabia, yielding a light, strong, and beautiful wood, in long planks.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

badgers' skins--The badger was an unclean animal, and is not a native of the East--rather some kind of fish, of the leather of which sandals are made in the East. [See on Exo 39:34 and Eze 16:10.]

shittim wood--or Shittah (Isa 41:19), the acacia, a shrub which grows plentifully in the deserts of Arabia, yielding a light, strong, and beautiful wood, in long planks.

The Scofield Bible Commentary, by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, [1917]
shittim wood That is, acacia.

The Scofield Bible Commentary, by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, [1917]

shittim wood

That is, acacia.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Shittim - wood - A kind of wood growing in Egypt and the deserts of Arabia, very durable and precious.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]

Shittim - wood - A kind of wood growing in Egypt and the deserts of Arabia, very durable and precious.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
Rams' skins dyed red - ערת אילם מאדמים oroth eylim meoddamim, literally, the skins of red rams. It is a fact attested by many respectable travelers, that in the Levant sheep are often to be met with that have red or violet-coloured fleeces. And almost all ancient writers speak of the same thing. Homer describes the rams of Polyphemus as having a violet-coloured fleece. Αρσενες οΐες ησαν εΰτρεφεες, δασυμαλλοι, Καλοι τε, μεγαλοι τε, ιοδνεφες ειρος εχοντες. Odyss., lib. ix., ver. 425. "Strong were the rams, with native purple fair, Well fed, and largest of the fleecy care." Pope. Pliny, Aristotle, and others mention the same. And from facts of this kind it is very probable that the fable of the golden fleece had its origin. In the Zetland Isles I have seen sheep with variously coloured fleeces, some white, some black, some black and white, some of a very fine chocolate color. Beholding those animals brought to my recollection those words of Virgil: - Ipse sed in pratis Aries jam suave rubenti Murice, jam croceo mutabit vellera luto. Eclog. iv., ver. 43. "No wool shall in dissembled colors shine; But the luxurious father of the fold, With native purple or unborrow'd gold, Beneath his pompous fleece shall proudly sweat, And under Tyrian robes the lamb shall bleat." Dryden. Badgers' skins - ערת תחשים oroth techashim. Few terms have afforded greater perplexity to critics and commentators than this. Bochart has exhausted the subject, and seems to have proved that no kind of animal is here intended, but a color. None of the ancient versions acknowledge an animal of any kind except the Chaldee, which seems to think the badger is intended, and from it we have borrowed our translation of the word. The Septuagint and Vulgate have skins dyed a violet color; the Syriac, azure; the Arabic, black; the Coptic, violet; the modern Persic, ram-skins, etc. The color contended for by Bochart is the hysginus, which is a very deep blue. So Pliny, Coccoque tinctum Tyrio tingere, ut fieret hysginum. "They dip crimson in purple to make the color called hysginus." - Hist. Nat., lib. ix., c. 65, edit. Bipont. Shittim wood - By some supposed to be the finest species of the cedar; by others, the acacia Nilotica, a species of thorn, solid, light, and very beautiful. This acacia is known to have been plentiful in Egypt, and it abounds in Arabia Deserta, the very place in which Moses was when he built the tabernacle; and hence it is reasonable to suppose that he built it of that wood, which was every way proper for his purpose.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826

Rams' skins dyed red - ערת אילם מאדמים oroth eylim meoddamim, literally, the skins of red rams. It is a fact attested by many respectable travelers, that in the Levant sheep are often to be met with that have red or violet-coloured fleeces. And almost all ancient writers speak of the same thing. Homer describes the rams of Polyphemus as having a violet-coloured fleece.

Αρσενες οΐες ησαν εΰτρεφεες, δασυμαλλοι,

Καλοι τε, μεγαλοι τε, ιοδνεφες ειρος εχοντες.

Odyss., lib. ix., ver. 425.

"Strong were the rams, with native purple fair,

Well fed, and largest of the fleecy care."

Pope.

Pliny, Aristotle, and others mention the same. And from facts of this kind it is very probable that the fable of the golden fleece had its origin. In the Zetland Isles I have seen sheep with variously coloured fleeces, some white, some black, some black and white, some of a very fine chocolate color. Beholding those animals brought to my recollection those words of Virgil:

- Ipse sed in pratis Aries jam suave rubenti

Murice, jam croceo mutabit vellera luto.

Eclog. iv., ver. 43.

"No wool shall in dissembled colors shine;

But the luxurious father of the fold,

With native purple or unborrow'd gold,

Beneath his pompous fleece shall proudly sweat,

And under Tyrian robes the lamb shall bleat."

Dryden.

Badgers' skins - ערת תחשים oroth techashim. Few terms have afforded greater perplexity to critics and commentators than this. Bochart has exhausted the subject, and seems to have proved that no kind of animal is here intended, but a color. None of the ancient versions acknowledge an animal of any kind except the Chaldee, which seems to think the badger is intended, and from it we have borrowed our translation of the word. The Septuagint and Vulgate have skins dyed a violet color; the Syriac, azure; the Arabic, black; the Coptic, violet; the modern Persic, ram-skins, etc. The color contended for by Bochart is the hysginus, which is a very deep blue. So Pliny, Coccoque tinctum Tyrio tingere, ut fieret hysginum. "They dip crimson in purple to make the color called hysginus." - Hist. Nat., lib. ix., c. 65, edit. Bipont.

Shittim wood - By some supposed to be the finest species of the cedar; by others, the acacia Nilotica, a species of thorn, solid, light, and very beautiful. This acacia is known to have been plentiful in Egypt, and it abounds in Arabia Deserta, the very place in which Moses was when he built the tabernacle; and hence it is reasonable to suppose that he built it of that wood, which was every way proper for his purpose.

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