And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering above of badgers’ skins.
Trying to get through the entire tabernacle, I’ve grown impatient having to cover half of verse in one week. However, we covered the first half last week and that I feel went well.
Now, there’s seems to be a universal doubt and skepticism regarding term badger which the King James translators rendered from the word tachash. Most commentaries and dictionaries and things like that don’t think that it was an actual badger that was referred. What exactly is a badger?
This little cute guy is a badger. It looks like a cross between a skunk and a chupacabra. Badgers apparently are not commonly thought to be found in bible lands so consequently people have found other meanings for the word tachash. Some think that it comes from the Arab word duchash or tufchash which was likely a dolphin or a seal of some sort. Some think it is the Dugong which is the modern day sea cow. Most of those that disagree that tachash was an actual badger seem to all agree that it was some sort of sea animal.
One dictionary said that it was a color that was denoted and not an animal; and that it was most likely black or (get this!) sky-blue. Are you kidding me? How do you get sky-blue out of the same color as black? One dictionary even admits that, yes, badgers are found in Southern Palestine, but no, the King James must have mistranslated it.
Now I have to admit, when these professors start trying to tear apart the King James Bible, my flags start going off and my alarms start sounding. Do you really think that the bible scholars back in early 1600’s didn’t have to deal with this back then?
Interestingly, the hare that the bible speaks about in Leviticus 11:6 was also known as a coney and they were commonly known as rock badgers. I’m not saying that they decked the tabernacle with rabbit skins. I’m just saying that it is possible that the King James translators knew quite a bit about manners and customs and the Jewish language back then that they saw fit to use the word badger instead of one that denoted a sea animal. I doubt seriously they haphazardly put that word in there.
Something more uncommonly known is the term badger game or badger baiting. This is a method of blackmailing by decoying a person into a compromising situation and extorting money by threats of exposure. Where did that come from? Why badger? Well, nobody really knows now. But somebody knew at some point in time. There may be a behavior associated with this type of animal that was used to characterize this type of blackmailing. Even the verb to badger means something that most likely came from an animal behavior. Badgering is also defined as the practice of buying food in one place and selling them in another for a profit. Go figure.
This is much like the gospel’s description of how the Holy Ghost descended upon Jesus. All four gospels say the descent of the Spirit was like a dove. And they used the word peristeran. There was something about the manner in which the Spirit descended that caused the writers to say PERISTERAN! If you study it out, you’ll find that birds associated with that name peristeran were well known as diving birds. So why would a rabbit be called a rock badger? I don’t know. But I do have a hunch that the King James translators knew what they were doing when they chose the phrase badgers’ skins.
So what is the significance in regard to our studies, being that we are the temple of God, the dwelling place of God. So far all the other items of the tabernacle have helped us to understand the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. How about these badgers’ skins? Not sure. But I will leave you with just a few thoughts.
(Ezekiel 16:10) I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. These are words describing the mercy of God upon Jerusalem. He speaks of how she was forsaken and found polluted in her own blood. But then he washed her from the blood and anointed her with oil. He clothed her and covered her. And the bible says that God shod thee with badgers’ skin. He put shoes on her feet; and apparently good shoes. This brings to mind the prodigal son. When that son came back in humility, the father said (Luke 15:22) Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. Paul said we should have (Ephesians 6:15) Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Maybe it speaks of the honor and duty to preach the gospel. (Romans 10:15) And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Badgers’ skins were also used as covering for many of the items of the tabernacle as they were travelling. Maybe this all says one thing to us and that is to go! There is something that the centurion (in Luke 7 that Jesus commended) said that has stuck with me. He was explaining to Jesus that he understood what it meant to be set under authority. He said (Luke 7:8) I say unto one, Go, and he goeth. Jesus said (Matthew 28:19) Go! Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem, a home and a resting place for the ark of the covenant and the vessels of the sanctuary. But it didn’t start like that. It was a tabernacle; a tent, a mobile unit. It was made to move; made to go. They took their worship with them. I think badgers’ skins made that possible. It was tough, like leather.
Elijah was a rough man on the move girt in leather! (2 Kings 1:8) And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite. John the Baptist was also a rough man on the move girt in leather. (Matthew 3:4) And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. I’ve got five boys. Unless you get some good leather shoes, they won’t last six months on young rough men on the move. Only leather endures. So here’s the lesson for today: (Matthew 10:22) He that endureth to the end shall be saved. This tabernacle is not of our making. It is made of God. And God has made it to endure to the end of this journey, until it is set up permanently in the New Jerusalem.