Badger

The animal listed under BADGER appears in the UPDV as the source of "sealskin," the durable outer covering used to protect the tabernacle and its sacred furnishings. Across Exodus, Numbers, and a single image in Ezekiel, the material shows up in two settings: as part of the wilderness sanctuary's construction and transport, and once as a token of fine clothing.

A Material for the Sanctuary

When Yahweh names the offerings to be received for the tabernacle, sealskins stand alongside the other tent materials: "rams' skins dyed red, and sealskins, and acacia wood" (Ex 25:5). The same list reappears when Moses summons the people to bring their freewill offerings (Ex 35:7), and the response is recorded in turn — "every man, with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' [hair], and rams' skins dyed red, and sealskins, brought them" (Ex 35:23).

The completed structure is then described from the outside inward. Above the tent's inner curtains a double covering is laid: "you will make a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of sealskins above" (Ex 26:14), and the workmen carry that instruction out exactly: "he made a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of sealskins above" (Ex 36:19). When the finished work is finally inventoried for Moses, the same outermost layer is named again — "the covering of rams' skins dyed red, and the covering of sealskins, and the veil of the screen" (Ex 39:34). Sealskin is consistently the topmost shell, the layer that meets the weather.

Wrapping the Holy Things for the March

In Numbers 4 the sealskin covering takes on a second function. As the Kohathites prepare to carry the sanctuary furnishings, each piece is wrapped first in colored cloth and then sheathed in sealskin so it can travel. Over the ark: "a covering of sealskin, and will spread over it a cloth of all blue, and will put in its poles" (Nu 4:6). Over the table: "they will spread on them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of sealskin, and will put in its poles" (Nu 4:8). Over the lampstand and its vessels: "they will put it and all its vessels inside a covering of sealskin, and will put it on the frame" (Nu 4:10). Over the golden altar: "they will spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of sealskin, and will put in its poles" (Nu 4:11). Over the sanctuary's ministering vessels: "put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of sealskin, and will put them on the frame" (Nu 4:12). And over the altar of burnt offering with its firepans, flesh-hooks, shovels, and basins: "they will spread on it a covering of sealskin, and put in its poles" (Nu 4:14).

The Gershonites' assignment confirms the same pattern at the level of the structure itself: "they will bear the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tent of meeting, its covering, and the covering of sealskin that is above on it, and the screen for the door of the tent of meeting" (Nu 4:25). Whether the camp is at rest or on the move, the holy things meet the outside world through a layer of sealskin.

Sealskin as a Sign of Care

The only occurrence outside the tabernacle texts is figurative. In Yahweh's account of how he found Jerusalem and clothed her, sealskin appears among items of fine attire: "I clothed you also with embroidered work, and put sandals on you with sealskin, and I girded you about with fine linen, and covered you with silk" (Eze 16:10). The same material that shielded the ark and the altar here adorns the foundling, and the language of careful covering carries over from the wilderness sanctuary to the bride.