Exo. 26:32

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pillars of shittim.

Exod 26:37; Exod 36:38; Esth 1:6

their hooks shall be of gold.The Hebrew {waveyhem,} which we translate their hooks, is rendered by the LXX. [kephalides,] and by the Vulgate, {capiata,} capitals. Hence Calmet contends,

1. That if Moses does not mean the capitals of the pillars by this word, he mentions them nowhere else; and it would seem strange, that while he describes them with so much exactness, that he should not mention the capitals; or that pillars every way so correctly formed, should have been destitute of this necessary ornament.

2. As Moses was commanded to make the {wavim} of the pillars, and their fillets, of silver, (Exo 27:10, 11,) and the {wavim} of the pillars of the vail of gold, (Exo 36:36,) and that 1,775 shekels were employed in making them, overlaying their chapiters, {rasheyhem,} their heads, and filleting them, (Exo 38:28,) it is more reasonable to suppose that all this is spoken of the capitals of pillars, than of any kind of hooks, especially as hooks are mentioned under the word taches or clasps.

But as the root {wavah} seems to signify to connect, (for [wwy,] in Arabic, is to marry a wife,) and as the letter [ww,] {wav,} if it has not its name from its hook-like form, is yet used as a connective particle, it would rather appear to denote hooks, which connected the curtains or vails to the pillars. The LXX. also render it [agkulai,] "handles", and [krikoi,] "rings" or "clasps".