Hanging

1. As a punishment—a mark of infamy inflicted on the dead bodies of criminals (Deut. 21:23) rather than our modern mode of punishment

   Criminals were first strangled and then hanged (Numbers 25:4; Deut. 21:22). (See 2 Sam. 21:6 for the practice of the Gibeonites.)

2. Hanging (as a curtain)—Hebrew: masak

   1. before the entrance to the court of the tabernacle (Ex. 35:17)
   2. before the door of the tabernacle (26:36-37)
   3. before the entrance to the most holy place, called "the veil of the covering" (35:12; 39:34), as the word properly means.

3. Hebrew: kelaim, tapestry covering the walls of the tabernacle (Ex. 27:9; 35:17; Num. 3:26) to the half of the height of the wall (Ex. 27:18; compare 26:16). These hangings were fastened to pillars.

4. Hebrew: bottim (2 Kings 23:7), "hangings for the grove" (R.V., "for the Asherah"); marg., instead of "hangings," has "tents" or "houses." Such curtained structures for idolatrous worship are also alluded to in Ezek. 16:16.

ALSO SEE:

• Death
• Punishment