We have seen that the second layer of the covering, a tent of goats’ hair, typifies Christ being made sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21).
According to Matthew 25:33 and 41, goats typify sinners. Goats’ hair signifies the sins of sinners.
We have pointed out that eleven is more than ten, the number of human completion, and less than twelve, the number of perfection in the divine administration. We have seen that eleven is composed of five plus six, with five being the number of responsibility and six indicating an excess. The sixth curtain being an excess signifies that Christ was made sin for us. Although He Himself did not have anything excessive, He bore our sins. He was made sin to bear our sins. That was Christ’s excess.
The length of each curtain of goats’ hair was thirty cubits. On the one hand, thirty is composed of five times six, indicating responsibility for sinners. On the other hand, it is composed of three times ten, indicating the Triune God as resurrection life in human completion.
Each curtain was four cubits in width. The number four signifies the creature. Eleven curtains each having a width of four cubits gives us the number forty-four. This number signifies that Christ was tried as a sinner; He was tried as a man with excess.
Exodus 26:9 says, “And you shall join five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves.” The first set of five curtains signifies responsibility, whereas the second set of six curtains signifies sinners. Because Christ bore the responsibility of sinners, He became number eleven.
Verse 10 says, “And you shall make fifty loops upon the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the one set, and fifty loops upon the edge of the curtain which is outermost in the second set.” These fifty loops were the same as the loops of the first layer of the covering except for the fact that they were not blue. As a perfect man, Christ is heavenly. But when He became a sinner for us, He was not heavenly. For this reason, the loops on the second layer are not blue.
Exodus 26:11 says, “And you shall make fifty clasps of bronze, and you shall put the clasps into the loops and join the tent together, and it shall become one.” These clasps signify the joining power. Bronze, or copper, signifies the judgment of God (Exo. 27:2; Num. 16:39; 21:8-9). The altar of burnt offering was covered with bronze. Sinners and all evil things are judged at this altar. The censers of bronze belonging to the two hundred fifty rebels were used to cover this altar. This strengthens the thought that bronze signifies divine judgment and that the altar is a place of judgment. At the altar a sacrifice was judged in place of the person offering it. Furthermore, the bronze serpent on the pole typifies judgment; it is a type of Christ being judged by God for us. As a sign of judgment, the clasps in the second layer are bronze, whereas the clasps in the first layer are gold.
Verse 11 says that the clasps joined the tent together and caused it to become one. This signifies that even when He was under God’s judgment, Christ was still a whole piece. If we were placed under God’s judgment, we would be broken into pieces. However, God’s righteous judgment holds together the judged and tried Christ as a complete person. In other words, after being judged by God according to His righteous law, the Lord Jesus was still whole.
Finally, the number fifty signifies full responsibility. This is the responsibility for joining the tent together and keeping it complete under the judgment of God. Actually, the more the Lord Jesus was tried and judged, the more manifest it became that He was a whole person.