3. The Eleven Coverings [Of Haircloth]
BOOK TWO
that one can be fitted to another when the righteous are allied with one another in the harmonious and equal disposition of their virtues.
26:6 You shall make also fifty rings of gold with which the veils of the curtains are to be joined, so that the tabernacle may be made one whole. This passage is explained more fully later on, when it is said: And he c a s t j f l rings ofgold, that they might grip the loops of the curtains, and the tabernacle might be made one whole. Since the number fifty designates true rest in the Holy Spirit, and a ring seems to have neither beginning nor end, and gold is the most precious of metals, excelling all others in its brightness, what is expressed in the fify golden rings except the perpetual brightness and bright perpetuity of the hghest repose? And the rings grip
(51/ the loops of the curtains in such a way that one tabernacle might be made out of them all when the glory of the heavenly kingdom graciously pours itself into the pure minds of the faithful, so that with the glue of such healing inspiration the Church is made perfect out of the two peoples, or perhaps we should say out of all Christ's elect.
THE ELEVEN COVERINGS [OF HAIRCLOTH]
26:7 You shall also make eleven coverings of haircloth to cover the roof of the tabernacle, This passage recurs later on in this way: He also made eleven coverings ofgoats' hair to cover the roof of the tabernacle.2
Accordingly, the coverings with which the tabernacle is covered are the rulers of the Holy Church, by whose industriousness and labour the dignity of the same Church is protected and defended with unceasing care, lest the life and faith of the elect should be liable to be corrupted by the seduction of heretics, or defiled by the depravity of false Catholics, or contaminated by the filth of tempting vices, or brought down into despondency by a lack of material resources. The more carefully they prepare themselves to endure and repel the savageries of attacking temptations, the greater freedom to serve the Lord do they give to those who arc subject to them. It is as if they provide the curtains with an abundance of splendour on the inside, while
1 Exod. 36:13
2 Exod. 36:14
BEDE: ON THE TABERNACLE
on the outside they themselves bear the tempests of affliction, after the fashion of coverings.'
Now it is rightly said that those same coverings were made of haircloth or from goats' hair, and werc eleven [in number], doubtless because the holy preachers who are higher in merit ought to be that much the more humble in spirit, in accordance with that saying of the wise man: Thegreater you are, the more you must humble yourselfin all thingx2 Surely [the number] eleven, which goes beyond ten but does not come to the apostolic number twelve, signifies the transgression of the Decalogue of the law.3
For this same reason, in the eleventh psalm the prophet complains that holy people are in short supply and that human beings have exchanged truths for vanities and deceits, saying, 'Save me, Lord, for there is no one who is holy, implicitly indicating by this number [eleven] that people of this sort, who are duplicitous in tongue and heart, neither keep the legal precepts of the Decalogue nor understand the apostolic grace of the gospel.
Haircloth is also the clotlung of penitents, as the psalmist bears witness, saying, 'But asfor me, when they were troublesome to me, I clothed myself with haircloth, that is, 'I put on the clothing of penitence and humility, with which I endured the rage of persecutors with calm equanimity, oreven mitigated it.' For if goats and the hair or skins of goats always sipfied the foulness of sinners and never the humility of penitents, that animal would by no means have been reckoned among the clean [animals], nor would it have been said in praise of the bride: 'Your hair is like aflock of goats.
Therefore the coverings that represent the holy preachers are made of haircloth and are eleven [in number] because the more zealously they purify their hearts in faith, the more things do they find in them for which to reproach themselves. Hence they also humbly confess that we all ofend in many thinp7 and u w e say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and
1 Gregory the Greaf Moral. 25, 16, 39 (CCSL 143B: 1263, 137 - 1264, 167). A similar interpretation appears in Isidore, Quuest. h&d. 54 (PL 83: 314C-315A). but Bede shows no direct dependence on him. As\sistner wrote in Thompson (1935), 237: 'Mere similarity in thought between Bede and Isidore is therefore not enough to prove borrowing of the one from the other, seeing that many of Lkde's ideas will have been formed or influenced by direct study of the same Fathers whom Isidore followed.'
2 Sir. 3:20
3 Augustine, De CIV. Der 15, 20 (CSEL 40, 2: 104, 21-7) 4Ps. 12:l (11:2) 5 Ps. 35:13 (34:13) 6 S. of S. 4:1
I Jas. 3:2
BOOK TWO
the truth is not in us. Nevertheless, the degree to which their hearts are perfect is mystically declared in the words that follow, in which it is said:
26:8 The length of one covering shall be thirty cubits, and the width four. Behold, here you have a length that is not a number containing eleven, but one containing ten, and that [number is] multiplied by three. By this is openly suggested the virtue of those who fulfill the Decalogue of the law in the faith of the Holy Trinity that works by love;2 there can be nothing higher than h s perfection, at least in this life. You also have a width of four cubits, by whch (as we have said before) is signified the expansiveness of genuine charity, that is, of that charity which is both commended and given to us in the gospel through Jcsus Christ. Therefore there are eleven coverings covering the roof ofthe tabernacle, and these are made of the hair of goats but are thirty cubits long and four cubits wide. For surely those most eminent preachers who protect the life of the faithful with their exhortations, intercessions, constant solicitude, vigils, fasts, and nakedness3 humbly acknowledge themselves to be sinners when they contemplate the excellence of heavenly purity; nevertheless, among humans and those who are above they appear to be pure, within the limits of human perfection.
26%-9 All of the coverings shaIl be equal in measure. Five of them you shall join by themselves, and the six others you shall connect to one another, so as to double the sixth covering at the front of the roof. There was one measure for all the coverings, doubtless because there is one faith in which the whole Church is saved, and ore eternal life to which it hastens.
For the same reason, those who entered into the vineyard of the Lord to work at different times are all rewarded with one denari~s.~
Surely the division of the coverings into [groups of] five and six can be understood in accordance with what we explained previously concerning the curtains divided into [groups of] five and five, because they evidently designate the teachers of both testaments.' The five coverings are aptly compared to the ancient teachers of the people of God, either because they preached only the sacraments of the Mosaic law (however much they preached the secrets of evangelical truth also), or because they lived in the [first] five ages of (531 1 1 John 1.8
2 Gal. 5:6
3 2 Cor. 11:27-8 4 Malt. 20:8-10 5 Bede, De tab. 2,2 (CCSL 119A: 48,234-43)
BEDE: ON THE TABERNACLE
this world. And it is not inappropriate to take the six curtains as the teachers of the New Testament, because they accepted all the things that Divine
Scripture reports to have been done or said in the six ages of the world as things to be understood spiritually, for aids and examples in their preaching.
For they openly proclaim to their hearers that they should believe and confess the Lord's passion, through which the world was redeemed on the sixth day before the sabbath, and they are called to bear witness [to them] that they can only be saved through the sacrament of this passion.
For this reason the sixth covering is rightly commanded to be doubled at the front of the roof, evidently on account ofthe confessionand the imitation of the same passion of the Lord. For it is not enough for believers if they are only baptized and consecrated in the confession of the Lord's death and resurrection, if once baptized they are not also eager to be conformed to the likeness of the Lord's death as far as they are able, by living continently and by suffering for his sake, so that they may also merit to become partakers in his resurrection. According to the letter it speaks of 'the front of the roof', which is the entrance of the tabernacle where there were no boards but rather (as we said just above2) it was commanded that columns and a rod should be stretched from [one] comer of the boards to [another] comer, and therefore as far as the design of the handiwork itself is concerned, the handiwork was to be greater in that place in which the protection of the coverings was doubled, where the solid firmness of the wall was lacking. But mystically the sixth curtain is doubled at the front of the roof when all those who enter the Holy Church are initiated in the faith and 1 "lie doctrine of the six ages of the world is found in Augustine, De CIV. Der 22,30 (CSEL
40, 2: 669, 17 - 670, 16) and Isidore, Etymol. 5,38-9 (ed. Lindsay, vol. I). It appears in many of Bede's works, especially De tempor. 16-22 (CCSL 123C: 600-11), De temp. rat. 66-71
(CCSL 1238: 463544), Ep. Pleg. (CCSL 123C: 617-26), and the hymn P r i m Deus caeli globum (CCSL 122: 4071 I); the later works include discussions ofthe transhistorical seventh and eighth ages. For detailed treatments of this theme in Bede's writings, see Jones (1969-70),
191-8, Siniscalco (1978), and IlunterBlair( 1970), 265-8. For its laterdevelopment inmedieval literature, see Burrows (1588). A concise explanation is given by Plummer (1896), 1: xlii-xlii:
'The first age is from the Creation to the Flood; the second from the Flood to Abraham; the third from Abraham to David; the fourth from David to the Captivity of Judah, the fiflh from theCaptivitytothebirthofChrist;thesixlhagelastsuntilthedayofJudgemenfanditsduration is known to God alone. These six ages, during which the faithful labour for God in this world, correspond with the six days of God's labour in the works of Creation. The seventh age, answering to His sabbath rest, is that in which the souls of the faithful, separated from their bodies, rest from their labours in the unseen world, and is therefore contemporary with all the other six, beginning when God's first martyr Abel was slain, and lasting till the general resurrection, when the souls ofthe faithful being united to their glorious bodies, the eighth age begins, which lasts for ever.'
2 Bede, De. tab. 2, 1 (CCSL 119A: 44, 77-9)
BOOK TWO
sacraments of the Lord's passion in such a way that they understand that they must always live in imitation of it as well. For it is as if the sixth covering is doubled for us at the entrance of the sanctuary when we are both consecrated by the sacraments of the Lord's passion and instructed by examples of it. Concerning the reception of the sacraments, surely Peter says: According to hisgreat mercy he hasgiven us a new birth into a lively hope, through the resurrection ofJesus ChristJi.om the dead; concerning the imitation of the passion, he says: Christ therefore having suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same thought.
26:lO-11 You shall make also fifty hooks on the border of one covering, so that it can be joined with another, and fifty loops on the border of the other covering, so that it can be joined with the other.
[And you shall make] fifty clasps of bronze with which the hooks can be joined, so that from all there may be made one tent. These things here can also be understood in the same way as we explained above in the case of the curtains: because it is evident that the recollection of heavenly rest
(which is accustomed to be expressed by the number fifty) unites the hearts of the saints in the bond of peace.4 Or, if it pleases you to hear something new, let the coverings designate the humility of those sublime persons who desire to remember their own transgressions rather than to proclaim their own virtues, and are more eager to feel compunction about those virtues that they are not yet able to acquire than they are to boast about those that they have already acquired, inasmuch as the humility of their compunction can be designated by fity, which is the number of the hooks and of the clasps. For the fiftieth is a psalm of pcnitencc, and rightly so, because the gift of penitence is not granted unless the Holy Spirit imparts it, and the gift of pardon is not bestowed upon penitents unless it is administered by the grace of the same Holy Spirit.'
(541 The coverings are properly connected to one another with fifty hooks or clasps, because there is no virtue that binds the faithful together in one bond of charity more than humility. For the weaker they consider themselves to be, the more eagerly they seek to be strengthened by their neighbour's aid.
And the clasps are properly made of bronze, which is well known as a metal [that makes] a loud sound, doubtless because the humble conscience of the 1 1 Pet. 1:3
2 1 Pet. 4:l 3 Bede, De tab. 2,2 (CCSL 119A: 50,344-9) 4 Eph. 4:3
5 Ps. 51 (50). The number fifty symbolizes the Holy Spirit which descended upon the disciples on Pentecost, the fiftieth day of the Easter season; cf. Bede's comment above on Exod. 26:5 at De tab. 2,2 (CCSL 119A: 49,305 - 50,308)
BEDE: ON THE TABERNACLE
righteous speaks before God with a reat voice. For this same reason, when that poor man in the Psalms of David was anxious, he did not cry out before human ears but poured out his prayer in the presence of the Lord, saying,
'Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
26: 12-13 And with what remains of the coverings that are prepared for the roof, that is, with half of the one covering that is longer, you shall cover the back of the tabernacle. The cubit that remains on one side, and the other [cubit] on the other side, which are over and above in the length of the coverings, shall hang down, covering both sides of the tabernacle. Inorder that these things might be understood more clearly, it is necessary for us to conduct a somewhat more extensive investigation of the position of the tabernacle itself as a whole. We have said that the walls of the tabernacle, which were composed of boards and columns, were thirty cubits long, tencubits wide, andalso tencubits high. [Let us imagine], then, that someone wanted to encircle the breadth of the building with a little cord, say from the base of one board on the south side unto the base of the board that was directly opposite on the north side. Surely it is evident that the same little cord would have to be thirty cubits long, that is, ten cubits going up on the south wall, ten more again running horizontally between the walls, and a third ten going down on the north side. Likewise, if you wanted to stretch the little cord through the length of the building (that is, from the bases of the columns and up through the length of the whole building all the way to the west wall and then all the way down to its bases), that little cord would be fiity cubits long. There would be ten going up beside the columns, thirty running horizontally along the length of the building, and ten more going down beside the boards on the west wall.
[55/ Bearing these things in mind, then, consider also how the measurements of the curtains with which the building was covered might be consistent with the aforementioned measurements. There were ten curtains, each being twentyeight cubits long and four wide, which when joined together and constructed into one tabernacle made up a breadth of forty cubits. Therefore, if you hang the curtains, which are each twentyeight cubits long, and set them up in the building which measures thirty cubits across, you will see that the curtains will be ten cubits horizontally between the walls, and nine cubits up and down beside the walls. Thus, they are made in such a way that the lowest part of the curtains is unable to touch the ground but is left above the ground by the measure of one cubit. Likewise, you will see that the curtains are thirty cubits horizontally through the length of the building,
1 literally, 'that Davidic poor man'
2Ps. 102:l (101:2)
BOOK TWO
and five cubits going up and down (that is, on the east side of the building and onthe west). Once again, therefore, the lowest part ofthecurtains which are on the side cannot possibly reach all the way to the ground, but is left five cubits higher than the ground. Thus it becomes necessary that those five cubits of the curtains remaining above the bare walls should be spread over one another on the east side and on the west as well, and joined to one another. And it should be done in such a manner that the curtains cover the buildlng all over, except for one cubit next to the ground. So much for the curtains.
The coverings, however, are thrty cubits long and four wide, and because eleven [of them] were joined to one another at the sides they amounted to forty-four cubits. Therefore, if you set these [coverings] up in the building also, because the length of the coverings is the same as that of the little cord with which you measured the building crosswise, it happens that their lowest part extends all the way to the ground. For they will be ten cubits horizontally between the walls, and ten up and down on each side as well.
That explains why Scripture says that a cubit hangs down on the one side, and another on the other side, which was over and above in the length of the coverings, covering both sides of the tabernacle. For what it calls the 'tabernacle' in the proper sense is the actual conjunction of the curtains.
The coverings certainly ex$ended beyond the curtains by one cubit on the south side of the buildlng and by another [cubit] on the north and for this reason they reached to the ground, because the coverings are thirty cubits in length, the curtains two less. Likewise, the measure of the coverings extended through the length of the building for forty-four cubits, being thirty cubits horizontally from the front of the building all the way to the highest point of the boards on the west side, seven cubits hanging down at the front of the building, and seven more hanging down on the west side.
Thus, it was made in such a manner that the measure of the coverings on the west side exceeded the measure of the curtains by two cubits. Th~s is evident, since the curtains that came down from above (as we have also related previously') covered five cubits of the wall and left the other five bare, but the coverings covered seven cubits of the same western wall and left three bare.
(561 And that is what is said now: And with what remains of the coverings that are prepared for the roof, that is, with half of the one covering that is longer, you shall cover the back of the tabernacle. Surely the half of the covering was two cubits in width, and this half completely covered the back of the tabernacle (that is, the curtains which were the tabernacle
1 Bede, De tab. 2 , 3 (CCSL 119A: 55, 523-8)
BEDE: ON THE TABERNACLE
properly so called), for the last covering extended beyond the curtains by two cubits, stretchng to the bottom, as we have said. And so the coverings coming down from above completely covered only seven cubits of the western wall, while the other three [cubits], which were left bare all the way to the ground, were exposed to the rigours of the weather. However, when the seven cubits of coverings that extended beyond the limits of the walls on both sides were added together, they protected the back parts of the building quite securely, all the way to the ground. Now these [coverings] were not only able to reach one another and, after the fasluon of the curtains, to meet each other in the middle of the wall, but because they were seven cubits [long] they extended beyond the middle of the wall by two cubits on both sides and overlapped one another when they were joined together. We believe this should also be understood in the same way in every respect with reference to the eastern side of the building; it was for this reason that the sixth covering in the front of the roof was previously enjoined to be doubled.' In so far as we have been able to understand them, we have taken care briefly to explain these ttungs concerning this most difficult subject, but we are ready to learn more accurate information about these matters if anyone wishes to instruct us.
Regardless, in all of these things the meaning of the allegory is openly transparent. For surely the coverings protected the curtains up above and below and on every side, and in order that the comely appearance of those on the inside might shine freely, those on the outside rendered them immune from every rigour of storms, rains, and heats.2 Doubtless this was because the perfect ones who preside over the Holy Church are in a similar manner accustomed with expert care to look out for the lives of the faithlid who are entrusted to them, so that they lack neither assistance in the carnal life or aid in the spiritual life. [The faithful] must be kept safe from both the teachings of heretics and the examples of false catholics; they must be aided by the salutary doctrine which will strengthen them so that they will be able both wisely to refute the words of those who teach erroneously, and patiently to endure the actions of those who inflict evil upon them; they
1 Bede is referring back to Exod. 26:9, where Moses is commanded to double the sixth covering at the front of the roof. By explaining that doubling as an overlapping similar to that of the coverings at the back of the tabernacle in 26:12, Bede is here silently differing with Josephus, who in the Cassiodorian translation of Ant. Jud. 3, 6, 4 (ed. Blatf 235, 5-9) had explained the doubling at the front as creating something like a gable for the sanctuary within.
2 Gregory the Great, Moral. 25, 16.39 (CCSL 143B: 1263, 137 - 1264, 167). As noted in reference to Bede's comment on Exod. 26:7, the fact that a similar interpretation is found in Isidore, Quaest. in Ex&, 54 (PL 83: 314C-315A) does not necessarily imply that Bede is dependent upon him here.