VEIL (פָּרֹ֫כֶת, H7267, cf. Akkad. parâku, to bar or shut off and parakku, apartment or shrine in a temple; καταπέτασμα, G2925, to spread over, to cover [LXX for פָּרֹ֫כֶת, H7267], tr. “curtain,” RSV). The inner curtain which divided the Holy Place from the holiest of all in the Tabernacle; a technical term not applied to any other curtain. It was a symbol of God’s unapproach-ability.

The veil was made of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen embroidered with figures of cherubim (Exod 26:31-37; 36:35). Josephus said that the mixtures of colors of the veil had a mystical interpretation (War V. v. 2). It was hung with golden hooks upon four pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold which were set in sockets or bases of silver. It is likely that the curtain was quite thick to correspond with its great size. Behind the veil was placed the Ark of the testimony with the mercy seat resting on it. In front of it were the table of shewbread, altar of incense, and seven-armed lampstand. It was sometimes called “the veil of the screen” (Exod 39:34) to distinguish it from the screen for the door of the Tabernacle, a curtain hung at the entrance to the Tabernacle. Only the high priest was permitted to enter behind the veil, and that only one day each year—the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:2ff.; Num 18:7; Heb 9:7). Instructions were given for taking down the veil when the Tabernacle was to be moved (Num 4:5). Mention is made only once of the veil in Solomon’s Temple (2 Chron 3:14). The veil of the second Temple is referred to in 1 Maccabees 1:22 as part of Antiochus’ desecration of the Temple.

Josephus records that when Pompey conquered Jerusalem and entered the Temple (63 b.c.), the place was empty and the secret shrine contained nothing (War I. vii. 4; Antiq. XIV. iv. 4).

During the crucifixion of Jesus (Luke 23:45), or at the moment of His death (Matt 27:51; Mark 15:38) and at the time the priests were busy with the evening sacrifice, the veil of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom, exposing the Holy of Holies, symbolizing that Jesus, as the High Priest who could enter the Most Holy Place (Heb 6:19, 20; 9:11, 12), had opened the way for all believers to enter into the presence of God through His flesh, symbolized by the veil (10:19, 20).

Bibliography A. Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East (1927), 102, 103; R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel (1943), 1126-1128; D. W. Gooding, The Account of the Tabernacle (1959).