And thou shalt make curtains of goats’ hair to be a covering upon the tabernacle: eleven curtains shalt thou make.
Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever thought of the existence of a goat hair curtain. I didn’t know that you can make fabric out of goat’s hair. Why not? Wool is made of sheep’s hair. (Exodus 25:26) And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats’ hair. There you go. Just like sheep! So, I’ll share a few things about the goat hair curtains that are interesting.
It’s thought that a goat hair curtain was used to protect the fine linen curtain of angels that was first placed over the tabernacle. The fine linen would not hold up to the weather; and would not have kept out the weather. So something more rugged and durable was needed to go over that. We don’t know if this is reason behind it, but God did see fit to have Israel make this curtain to go on next over the linen one.
The goat’s hair curtain was fabricated in a similar fashion as the linen one, but it was definitely a little bigger. It consisted of 11 curtains instead of 10, and was 30 cubits long instead of 28. So, its boundaries most definitely exceeded the boundaries of the fine linen curtain, thus completely covering it. And you should not have seen the curtain of angels from the outside. You had to go inside.
I want to say this before I get started. I know we associate goats with the world and sheep with God’s people. The judgement of the nations upholds that typology. (Matthew 25:33) And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. I can still hear Lester Roloff preaching You wordly goat! The lamb is the perfect sacrifice. Sure. But let me take you all the way to Exodus; when God was giving instructions for the Passover. A lamb was a youngling from the flock. And that could be a flock of sheep or goats. (Exodus 12:5) Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: So goats are not all that bad. This giant goat hair curtain split in two may very well be a memorial to the covenant that God made with Abraham (Genesis 15:9,10) Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: And we know that God passed between those pieces and made a covenant with Abraham. So the goat doesn’t always represent something bad or second rate.
Let me say this: Look at yourself. You are the temple of God. But you are covered in hair. You are human, man, flesh and blood… and hair. If the articles of the tabernacle, as we’ve seen in previous things like the ark, the candlestick, shewbread, etc., are representative of the reality of our standing as the temple of God, the tabernacle of God, then the goat hair curtain should also tell us of our reality in Christ; perhaps in some manner. For we are the dwelling place of God (Colossians 1:27) which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
The bride said (Song of Solomon 1:5) I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Those tents of Kedar were goat hair tents, black and rough and rugged. She was embarrassed of her skin, her covering, her condition; for she goes on to explain (1:6) Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me. But the bridegroom doesn’t seem to notice; for he then calls her (1:8) O thou fairest among women!
He judges not by what is on the outside (Psalm 45:13) The king’s daughter is all glorious within… There’s something different on the inside that he sees instead. (1 Peter 3:4) But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. We know that God’s people ought to look different on the outside (from this old world). But we also know that clothes truly don’t make the man. The real difference is the inside.
So other than the clothes, and maybe the hair, God’s people don’t really look much different than lost folk; human and hairy! But God saw fit to make his abode in man. He saw fit to carry out his work here on earth through hairy beasts like us. He saw fit that his people would worship him with these earthly coverings upon us. I know I’ve said this before, but I don’t mind saying it again. That veil of flesh that we wear does not change what God has wrought inside of us. One day, what’s inside, what is covered up to every corner, will soon be revealed. (Romans 8:18) For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
(1 Corinthians 6:20) Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. The spirit is the inside, but the body is the outside. And by God’s word, it is possible to glorify God in these bodies. That’s why we established earlier that the goat was not always to be considered a symbol of something bad. Something temporal? Yes. Something corruptible? Yes. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t glorify our God with it. In fact, God meant that we should.
Quit fretting over your hair! When you are young, you are concerned about what your hair looks like. When you get older you lose hair where you want hair and gain hair where you don’t want it. It’s a life long battle that will never end. Though our bodies at time seem to be a curse to us, they can be a blessing to God. Consider Mary (John 12:3) Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.
And one last thought. Of course, everything of the tabernacle is a picture of Christ, or the work of Christ, or the character of God. Jesus had hair too. Considering the ruggedness and crudeness of a goat hair curtain compared to the fine linen angel strewn curtain, here’s a good view of Christ in the curtains by John Gill:
…these curtains of goats’ hair denote the outward appearance of Christ in human nature, who, attended with all human infirmities, excepting sin, was in the form of a servant, in great meanness and poverty, covered with reproach, and had in the greatest contempt, and especially at the time of his sufferings and death; though all rich and glorious within, full of grace, and of all the blessings of grace, of righteousness and life, of light, joy, peace, and comfort for his people…
Now that being said, when I picture in my mind the tabernacle going up, the fine linen curtain being slipped over the frame, and this goat hair curtain being thrown over and pinned together like a coat, this is the verse that comes to mind: (Romans 13:14) But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ… The world did not see what Peter, James, and John saw on the mount of transfiguration, they saw the man Jesus Christ. (Isaiah 53:2) He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. Yet as he prayed, he said (John 17:1) That thy Son also may glorify thee..
(1 Corinthians 6:19,20) What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.