Construction (Exodus 26:31–35)
"And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made: And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold."
Four colors woven together: blue (heavenly origin), purple (royalty), scarlet (sacrifice), and white fine linen (purity). Worked with cherubim — guardian-angels embroidered into the veil itself by skilled craftsmanship. Hung on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold. The Hebrew word is paroket (פָּרֹכֶת) — the separating curtain. It separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies.
The veil was the system's central limit. The High Priest passed through it only once per year, only on the Day of Atonement, only with the blood of the goat-for-the-LORD, only in the cloud of incense. To enter at any other time, in any other way, was death.
The cherubim — guardians of the holy
Cherubim guard holy space throughout Scripture. Eden — "He drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life" (Genesis 3:24). The Ark — two cherubim on the Mercy Seat (Exodus 25:18). The Veil — cherubim woven into the curtain itself. The Temple — Solomon installs two great cherubim of olive wood, fifteen feet tall, in the Holy of Holies (1 Kings 6:23–28). Ezekiel — the prophet sees four living creatures with cherubic features (Ezekiel 1, 10).
Wherever holy space is fenced off, cherubim guard the line. The veil's embroidered cherubim were not decoration. They were sentinels.
The veil torn (Matthew 27:51)
"And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent."
The detail matters. From the top to the bottom. No human could have torn a veil sixty feet high in the Second Temple from the top — and even if a man could have reached, no man could have torn it the right direction at the right moment. The tearing was God's act. The exact synchronization with Christ's death is recorded by all three synoptic evangelists (Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38, Luke 23:45). At the cry "It is finished," the veil split.
Hebrews 10:19–20 — the inspired interpretation
"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh."
The author of Hebrews makes the typological identification explicit. The veil is Christ's flesh. When his body was broken on the cross, the veil tore. The torn flesh = the torn curtain = the opened way. Hebrews 10:21–22 follows immediately: "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." The invitation is the inverse of the warning at Sinai. There, "Set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it" (Exodus 19:12). Here, "draw near."
The Eden parallel completed
The cherubim that guarded the way to the tree of life now stood — embroidered — on a curtain that was just torn. The flaming sword turned both ways at Eden; the veil was torn both ways from top to bottom. The trajectory: access barred at Eden, access mediated at the Tabernacle, access opened at the cross, access perfected in the New Jerusalem where there is no temple at all (Revelation 21:22). The cherubim, having stood guard for the entire interim, stood down at Calvary.
Commentary
John Owen, Exposition of Hebrews (1668–1684, PD): Owen's most extensive treatment is on Hebrews 10:19–20; he argues that the identification of the veil with Christ's flesh is not metaphorical decoration but a structural statement about how access to God is opened — only by the breach of his body. John Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists (PD): the rending of the veil at the moment of Christ's death was God's public testimony that the law's old enclosures were now thrown down.
→ Cross-link: The Mercy Seat (what was beyond the veil) • The Scarlet in the Tabernacle (the veil's scarlet thread) • John 1 — Tabernacled (the Word made flesh, the flesh torn).