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Exodus 26 · a question people ask

What were "sea cow hides"?

In the text

The outer covering is "a covering of sea cow hides" (26:14). The Hebrew word is tachash, and the Bible never describes the animal. The WEB itself translates it three ways: "sea cow hides" in Exodus (26:14), "sealskin" in Numbers (Numbers 4:6), and "leather sandals" in Ezekiel (Ezekiel 16:10). The lexicons are unsure too. Brown-Driver-Briggs: "a kind of leather or skin, and perh. the animal yielding it". Strong's: "probably a species of antelope". What the text makes plain is where it went: over the rams' skins dyed red, the covering "above" (26:14).

The verses

“You shall make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering of sea cow hides above.”
Exodus 26:14 · World English Bible
“put a covering of sealskin on it, spread a blue cloth over it, and put in its poles.”
Numbers 4:6 · World English Bible
“I clothed you also with embroidered work and put leather sandals on you. I dressed you with fine linen and covered you with silk.”
Ezekiel 16:10 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Exodus 26

Exodus 26: The veil

The verb for what the veil does, "separate" (26:33), comes only this once in Exodus; Genesis 1 uses it five times, for dividing light from darkness, waters from waters, and day from night. And Hebrews says Jesus opened "a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh" (Hebrews 10:20).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions