Cord

Cords and ropes in the ancient world were made from a variety of materials depending on the required strength: linen fibers, rushes, palm fibers, animal sinew, and leather strips were all employed. The tabernacle employed cords of fine twisted linen for securing curtains to their posts and tent pegs (Exodus 35:18; Exodus 39:40), and these cord-sets were part of the official equipment of the Levites' portable sanctuary. The specific materials and manufacture of tabernacle cords reflected the same careful specifications applied to all its furnishings.

Cords appear throughout Scripture as instruments of restraint, binding, and connection. The Philistines bound Samson with new ropes that he snapped as threads (Judges 15:13; 16:11–12). The psalmist describes the wicked as bound in cords of their own sins (Psalm 5:22), while Psalm 2:3 records the rebellion of nations who say let us burst their bonds and cast away their cords — the authority of God and his anointed. Isaiah uses the image of drawing sin with cords of vanity and iniquity as with cart ropes (Isaiah 5:18) to describe the deliberate persistence of Judah's rebellion.