(TToiv vaog, Ant. iii, 6, 1). (In the discussion of this interesting subject, we use in part the articles found in the dictionaries of Kitto, Smith, and Fairbairn, but with large additions and modifications, especially in the sec- tion on its structure, where we have availed ourselves of MS. contributions from Prof. T. O. Paine, LL.D., au- thor of Solomoti's Temple, etc., in addition to the sug- gestions in the book itself.)
1. Terms and Synonyms. — ■ 1. The first word thus used (Exod. xxv, 9) is "|3wJ"2, mishkun, from "(5'J» to lie down or dwell, and thus itself equivalent to dwelling. It connects itself with the Jewish, though not scriptu- ral, word Shechinah (q. v.), as describing the dwelling- place of the divine glory. It is noticeable, however, that it is not applied in prose to the common dwellings of men, the tents of the patriarchs in Genesis, or those of Israel in the wilderness. It seems to belong rather to the speech of poetry (Psa. Ixxxvii, 2 ; Cant, i, 8). The loftier character of the word may obviously have helped to determine its religious use, and justifies trans- lators who have the choice of synonyms like "taber- nacle" and " tent" in a like preference. In its applica- tion to the sacred building, it denotes (a) the ten tri- colored curtains ; (b) the forty-eight planks supporting them ; (c) the whole building, including the roof. See Dwelling.
2. Another word, however, is also used, more con- nected with the common life of men ; h'T.'ii., ohel, the te7it of the patriarchal age, of AViraham and of Isaac and of Jacob (Gen. ix, 21, etc.). For the most part, as needing something to raise it, it is used, when applied to the sacred tent, with some distinguishing epithet. In one passage only (1 Kings i, 39) does it appear with this meaning by itself. The Sept., not distinguishing between the two words, gives aKijvi] for both. The original difference appears to have been that SflX rep- resented the uppermost covering, the black goats'-hair roof, which was strictly a tent, in distinction from the lower upright house -like part built of boards. The two words are accordingly sometimes joined, as in Exod. xxxix, 32 ; xl, 2, 6, 29 ( A. V. " the tabernacle of the tent"). Even here, however, the Sept. gives cricjjvi^ only, with the exception of the var. led. of i; aKijvi) TrJQ aKiTrijg in Exod. xl, 29. In its application to the tabernacle, the term ohel means («) the tent-roof of goats'-hair; (6) the whole building. See Text.
3. r.^3, bdi/ilh, house (o'iKOt;, domus), is applied to the tabernacle in Exod. xxiii, 19 ; xxxiv, 26 ; Josh, vi, 24 ; ix, 23; Judg. xviii, 31; xx, 18, as it had been, appar- ently, to the tents of the patriarchs (Gen. xxxiii, 17). So far as it differs from the two preceding words, it ex- presses more definitely the idea of a fixed settled hab- itation. It was therefore fitter for the sanctuary of Israel after the people were settled in Canaan than during their wanderings. For us the chief interest of the word lies in its having descended from a yet older order, the first word ever applied in the Old Test, to a local sanctuary, Beth-el, " the house of God" (xxviii, 17, 22), keeping its place, side by side, with other words — tent, tabernacle, palace, temple, synagogue — and at last outliving all of them ; rising, in the Christian Ecclesia, to yet higher uses (1 Tim. iii, 15). See House.
4. TiiTp, kddesh, or TIJTp'G, mikddsh (Jiyia(!p.a, ayta- artjpiov, TO uyiov, to. uyia, sanctuarium'), the holy, consecrated place, and therefore applied, according to the graduated scale of holiness of which the tabernacle bore witness, sometimes to the whole structure (Exod. xxv, 8; Lev. xii, 4), sometimes to the court into which none but the priests might enter (Lev. iv, 6 ; Numb, iii, 38; iv, 12), sometimes to the innermost sanctuary of all, the Holy of Holies (Lev. xvi, 2). Here also the word had an earlier starting-point and a far-reaching his- tory. En-Mishpat, the city of judgment, the seat of some old oracle, had been also Kadesh, the sanctuary (Gen. xiv, 7 ; Ewald, Gesch. Isr. ii, 307). The name
TABERNACLE
128
TABERNACLE
El-Kmh still clings to the walls of Jerusalem. See Saxctuauy.
5. br"n, heyhul, temple (raof, templuni), as meaning the stately building, or palace of Jehovah ( 1 Chron. xxix. 1, ll')i is applied more commonly to the Temple (2 Kings xxiv, 13, etc.), but was used also (probably at the period when the thought of the Temple had att'ect- cd the religious uomouclature of the time) of the tab- ernacle at Shiloh (1 Sam. i, 9; iii, 3) and Jerusalem (Psa. V, 7). In either case the thought which the word embodies is that the " tent," the " house," is royal, the dwelling-place of the great king. See Tk.mple.
The tirst two of the above words receive a new meaning in combination with "I^'ITD (jnoed), and with rsirn (lia-ediith). To understand the full meaning of the distinctive titles thus formed is to possess the key to the significance of the whole tabernacle.
(a.) The primary force of T^'^ is "to meet by ap- pointment," and the phrase "I>'1'2 bnx has therefore the meaning of " a place of or for a fixed meeting." Acting on the belief that the meeting in this case was that of the worshippers, the A. V. has uniformly ren- dered it by "tabernacle of the congregation" (so Seb. Schmidt, "tentorium convcntus:" and Luther, " Stifts- hiitte" in which Stift = PfarrHrche), while the Sept. and Vulg.. confounding it with the other epithet, have rendered both by »'/ (rK)]i>}) tou juaprvpiov, and "taber- naculum testimonii." None of these renderings, how- ever, bring out the real meaning of the word. This is to be found in what may be called the locus classicus, as the interpretation of all words connected with the tabernacle. "This shall be a continual burnt-offering ... at the door of the tabernacle of meeting (^'J''Q) where I will meet you n?;>S, yi'ioaB))(yofiai) to speak there unto thee. And there will I meet (Tinyi, ra?o- fiai) with the children of Israel. And I will sanctify {'^T\^'^^) the tabernacle of meeting . . . and J will dwell C^ni-'IJ) among the children of Israel, and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God" (Exod. xxix, 42-46). The same cen- tral thought occurs in xxv, 22, " There I will meet with thee" (comp. also xxx, 6, 36 ; Numb, xvii, 4). It is clear, therefore, that "congregation" is inadequate. Not the gathering of the worshippers, but the meeting of God with his people, to commime with them, to make himself known to them, was what the name embodied. J2wald has accordingly suggested OJf'enbarungszelt = tei\t of revelation, as the best equivalent (.4 Iter-thiimer, p. 130). This made the place a sanctuary. Thus it was that the tent was the dwelling, the house of God (Biihr, Symh. i,