Exodus 25:5

Skins and wood.

rams" skins dyed red These formed the second covering over the certains (Exodus 26:14).

sealskins Heb. -skins of tĕḥâshim," a word of uncertain meaning. In Arab. tuḥasor duḥasmeans a dolphin, which makes it probable that the dugong (Malay duyong, a sea-cow) is meant, an animal in general appearance not unlike a dolphin, though with a larger and blunter nose (see ill. in Toy's Ezekiel, in SBOT., p. 124), species of which are common in the Red Sea; their thick and hard skins supply the Bedawin of the Sin. Peninsula with material for sandals (NHB.44 f.; EB.i. 450 f.). An alternative view has been propounded lately, which may also be right, that taḥashis a loan-word from the Egypt. tḥs, -leather" (Bondi, Aegyptiaca, 1 ff., with a full discussion of different views). The third or outermost covering over the curtains forming the -Dwelling" (Exodus 26:14, &c.), wrappings for the sacred vessels on transport (Numbers 4:6 ff.), and women's sandals (Ezekiel 16:10), are mentioned as made of taḥashskins. AV. badgers, though some such animal is advocated in the Talm., lacks philological foundation, and has no probability. It is doubtful also whether either sealsor porpoises(RV. and RVm.) are sufficiently common in either the Red Sea or the Medit. to be the animals intended.

acacia Heb. shiṭṭim[for shinṭim, shewn to be acacia, from sanṭ, the Arab. name of that tree. Several species of acacia are found in Palestine, the Sin. Peninsula, and the Arabian desert (EB.s.v. Shittah tree): the Acacia seyâlflourishes in dry wâdys, and grows freely in the Peninsula, and along the W. shore of the Dead Sea: it is a gnarled and thorny tree, some 15 25 feet in height: and its wood is hard, close-grained, and durable (cf. the rend. of LXX. ξύλα ἄσεπτα). According to Doughty (Arab. Des.ii. 678, cited in EB.l.c.), another species is used for shipbuilding on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea. The wood of the tree is mentioned only in the Pent., in connexion with the Tent of Meeting: the tree itself is mentioned also in Isaiah 41:19. See further NHB.390 ff., DB.Shiṭṭah tree, the illustration above, p. 181; and the note on Joel 3:18 in the Camb. Bible.