The pins: These, as Dr. Wall observes, were not particularly mentioned. Josephus says, that to every board of the tabernacle, and to every pillar of the hangings of the court, there were ropes or cords, fastened at the top of the board or pillar, and that the other end of the rope was fastened to a πασσαλος:, a nail, or pin, which, at a good distance off, was driven into the ground up to the head, a cubit deep.
This was to keep the tabernacle from being blown down by the wind. Dr. Shaw, describing the tents of the Bedouins, says, "These tents are kept firm and steady by bracing or stretching down their eaves with cords tied to wooden hooked pins, well pointed, which they drive into the ground with a mallet; one of these pins answering to the nail, as the mallet does to the hammer, which Jael used in fastening to the ground the temples of Sisera" (Judges 4:21).