Badger

Badger is the traditional English rendering of the Hebrew tachash, used to describe the material for the outer covering of the tabernacle and the protective coverings for the ark and sacred vessels during transport (Exodus 25:5; 26:14; Numbers 4:6–25). The identification of tachash with the European badger is almost certainly incorrect for geographical reasons, and modern scholarship has proposed alternatives including dugong (sea cow), dolphin, porpoise, or a type of fine leather. The Septuagint translates the term as hyakinthine (blue or violet colored), suggesting a dyed material.

Ezekiel 16:10 refers to God clothing Jerusalem with badgers' skin (tachash) sandals, using the material as a symbol of fine, luxurious provision. Whatever the precise identification, tachash was evidently a durable, waterproof, and perhaps distinctive material — suitable for protecting the most sacred objects of Israel's worship from the elements during the wilderness journeys.