were held together by tenon-joints having sockets of silver, two to each board; the boards themselves were overlaid with gold and were provided with rings of the same metal to receive the bars, which also were overlaid with gold.
It will be seen that the Tabernacle was but a small structure, entirely unsuited to the accommodation of large assemblies, but it is to be remembered that for such it was never intended. Within the Tabernacle, only the appointed bearers of the Priesthood officiated; and of these none but the few actually engaged in the service of the day could be admitted.
The Tabernacle was divided by a curtain, specifically called the Veil, into two compartments, the outer of which was known as the Holy Place, and the inner as the Most Holy Place or Holy of Holies. Josephus and some others state that the Tabernacle comprised three parts; the third division, however, was really outside the main tent and appeared as a porch at the east end, five cubits deep, and extending across the entire front. The Veil, which separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, was of fine workmanship, "of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work," and was embroidered with cherubim. It was hung upon four pillars of wood overlaid with gold; the hooks were of gold and the sockets of silver. The wood used for these pillars, as indeed that used in other parts of the structure, was the rare, costly, and durable shittim or acacia, sometimes known as thorn-wood. Beyond the Veil the enclosure was most holy, and therein was placed the Ark of the Covenant with its Mercy Seat bearing the sacred cherubim, the description of which appears in the record as follows:
