The last few chapters of the book of Exodus read like a long to-do list. This person did that, another person made that, and on and on it goes til the end of the book. It’s essentially a fulfillment of all the planning that has gone on in the previous several chapters.
For that reason, reading this section is a bit like reading genealogies. It’s easy to miss the minute details that are captured in every verse.
Until you get to Exodus 36:19, that is. If you’re reading in the New American Standard Bible like I am, you may notice an interesting tidbit. On the roof of the Tabernacle was a layer of porpoise skins. That’s right…porpoise. It’s odd to think that the Israelites even had access to these animals while in the desert, much less were able to hunt and skin these animals.
In case you’re wondering if there is a textual difference between my translation and yours—nearly every other version says “rams skins”—you should know that there is a legitimate case to be made for porpoises. The word here is tachash, and it’s somewhat vague to most scholars. Others argue that the word refers to the color, not the material.
If it does refer to literal porpoises, then it stands to reason that the people could find porpoise skins somewhere. Apparently, porpoises are native to the Red Sea, so the people could have hunted them there. Or, most likely, they could have bartered for them along one of many trade routes that crisscrossed the Sinai Peninsula.
Another case to be made for them being different from ram’s skins is that Exodus has already used two different words for these two different animals. Exodus 26:14 tells Israel to “make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red and a covering of porpoise skins above.” If they’re the same, why does Exodus show a distinction?
I’m not sure if we’ll ever know whether God is talking about literal porpoises or something else entirely, but it’s obvious that the Israelites knew what God meant. You never see God chastising these people for their disobedience on porpoise skins, so whatever God wanted for the Tabernacle, Israel was able to supply.
