Tabernacle#Plan

The English word tabernacle derives from the Latin tabernāculum (meaning "tent" or "hut"), which in ancient Roman religion was a ritual structure.{{cite book |first= William Warde |last= Fowler |author-link= William Warde Fowler |title= The Religious Experience of the Roman People |location= London |date= 1922 |page= 209}}{{cite book |first= John |last=Scheid |author-link=John Scheid |title=An Introduction to Roman Religion |url-access= registration |publisher= Indiana University Press |date= 2003|url= https://archive.org/details/introductiontoro00sche/page/113 |pages= 113–114}}{{cite news |last= Linderski |first= Jerzy|title= The Augural Law |work= Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt |volume= II |number= 16 |date= 1986 |pages= 2164–2288}} The Hebrew word mishkan implies "dwell", "rest", or "to live in".{{Catholic Encyclopedia |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14424b.htm |title= Tabernacle |first=Charles Léon |last=Souvay}}{{cite news |url=http://www.eliyah.com/cgi-bin/strongs.cgi?file=hebrewlexicon&isindex=mishkan |title=Mishkan |work=Strong's Concordance |access-date=11 October 2018}} In Greek, including the Septuagint, the Hebrew is translated σκηνή (skēnē), itself a Semitic loanword meaning "tent".

{{Cite OED|term = skene | id = 242211 | access-date= 24 October 2021 | publisher = Oxford University Press}}

Biblical scholar Michael B. Hundley argues that the Priestly source uses the terms "tabernacle" and "tent of meeting" in a complementary way to emphasize the sacred tent’s dual function as a divine dwelling place on earth and a place where the resident deity meets with his people.{{cite book |title=Current Issues in Priestly and Related Literature: The Legacy of Jacob Milgrom and Beyond |last=Hundley |first=Michael B. |publisher=SBL Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-62837-122-2 |page=17 |editor-last=Gane |editor-first=Roy E. |chapter=Tabernacle or Tent of Meeting? The Dual Nature of the Sacred Tent in the Priestly Texts |editor-last2=Taggar-Cohen |editor-first2=Ada |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5rUjCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA17}}

Dr. Hacham Isaac S. D. Sassoon argued that the Priestly source’s focus on the Tabernacle, rather than the Temple, serves as a post-exilic critique of the idea of rebuilding a stationary Temple, presenting the mobile Tabernacle as a divinely-ordained permanent structure for the Israelites.{{cite web|last1=Sassoon|first1=Hacham Isaac S. D. |year=2018|title=The Tabernacle: A Post-Exilic Polemic Against Rebuilding the Temple|website=TheTorah.com|url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-tabernacle-a-post-exilic-polemic-against-rebuilding-the-temple}}

A detailed description of a tabernacle, located in Exodus chapters 25–27 and Exodus chapters 35–40, refers to an inner shrine, the Holy of Holies, housing the ark, and an outer chamber with the six-branch seven-lamp Temple menorah, table for showbread, and an altar of incense.{{cite news |title=Tabernacle |editor-last=Cross |editor-first=F. L. |work=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2005}} An enclosure containing the sacrificial altar and bronze laver for the priests to wash surrounded these chambers.

File:Tabernacle.gif]]

Traditional scholars contend that it describes an actual tabernacle used in the time of Moses and thereafter. This view is based on the existence of significant parallels between the biblical Tabernacle and similar structures from ancient Egypt during the Late Bronze Age.{{Cite book |title=On the Reliability of the Old Testament |last=Kitchen |first=Kenneth A. |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8028-0396-2 |pages=275–283}}{{cite web |last=Homan |first=Michael M. |year=2018 |title=The Tabernacle in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context |website=TheTorah.com |url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-tabernacle-in-its-ancient-near-eastern-context}}

The detailed outlines for the tabernacle and its priests are enumerated in the Book of Exodus:

• {{bibleref2|Exodus|25}}: Materials needed: the Ark, the table for 12 showbread, the menorah.
• {{bibleref2|Exodus|26}}: The tabernacle, the bars, partitions.
• {{bibleref2|Exodus|27}}: The copper altar, the enclosure, oil.
• {{bibleref2|Exodus|28}}: Vestments for the priests, ephod garment, ring settings, the breastplate, robe, head-plate, tunic, turban, sashes, pants.
• {{bibleref2|Exodus|29}}: Consecration of priests and altar.
• {{bibleref2|Exodus|30}}: Incense altar, washstand, anointing oil, incense.

Liane Feldman holds that there are contrasting descriptions of the Meeting Tent in the Pentateuch, where the Priestly source presents a large, ornate tent at the center of the Israelite community, while a non-priestly strand describes a smaller, simpler tent for Moses, which in her view demonstrates the composite nature of the Pentateuch and differing perspectives within it.The Consuming Fire: The Complete Priestly Source, From Creation to the Promised Land. World Literature in Translation. Berkeley; Los Angeles: The University of California Press{{Page needed|date=March 2025}}

Benjamin D. Sommer suggests that while the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle was reserved for God’s presence, the main room featured a metal menorah with six branches on each side, potentially echoing the asherah, which he thinks was used in the cult of Yahweh.Sommer, Benjamin D. The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel. Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 47, 75.

Some interpreters assert the Tent of the Presence was a special meeting place outside the camp, unlike the Tabernacle which was placed in the center of the camp.Clements, Ronald E. (1972). Exodus. New York: Cambridge University Press. Series: The Cambridge Bible Commentary: New English Bible. pp. 212–213.Berlin, Adele and Brettler, Marc Zvi., editors. (2014). The Jewish Study Bible. New York: Oxford University Press. 2nd edition. {{ISBN|9780190263898}}. p. 178. According to [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+33&version=NRSV Exodus 33:7–11], this tent was for communion with Yahweh, to receive oracles and to understand the divine will.{{Cite journal |last=Morgenstern |first=Julian |date=1918 |title=The Tent of Meeting |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/592593 |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=38 |pages=125–139 |doi=10.2307/592593 |jstor=592593 |issn=0003-0279}} The people's elders were the subject of a remarkable prophetic event at the site of this tent in [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=numbers+11&version=NRSV Numbers 11:24–30].Executive Committee of the Editorial Board, Eduard König. (1906). "Tabernacle". in the Kopelman Foundation's [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14184-tabernacle JewishEncyclopedia.com website] Retrieved 18 November 2019.

File:Figures The erection of the Tabernacle and the Sacred vessels.jpg

In Exodus 31, the main builder and maker of the priestly vestments is specified as Bezalel, son of Uri son of Hur of the tribe of Judah, who was assisted by Oholiab and a number of skilled artisans.{{Jewish Encyclopedia |title=Tabernacle |edition=2nd |volume=19 |page=419 |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14184-tabernacle |no-prescript=1}}

During the Exodus, the wandering in the desert and the conquest of Canaan, the Tabernacle was in part a portable tent, and in part a wooden enclosure draped with ten curtains, of blue (tekhelet תְּכֵלֶת), purple (’argāmān אַרְגָּמָן), and scarlet (šānî שָׁנִי) fabric. It had a rectangular, perimeter fence of fabric, poles and staked cords. This rectangle was always erected when the Israelite tribes would camp, oriented to the east as the east side had no frames. In the center of this enclosure was a rectangular sanctuary draped with goat-hair curtains, with the roof coverings made from rams' skins.

Beyond this curtain was the cube-shaped inner room, the Kodesh Hakedashim (Holy of Holies). This area housed the Ark of the Covenant, inside which were the two stone tablets brought down from Mount Sinai by Moses on which were written the Ten Commandments, a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's rod which had budded and borne ripe almonds ({{bibleverse||Exodus|16:33–34|ESV}}, {{bibleverse||Numbers|17:1–11|ESV}}, {{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|10:1–5|ESV}}; {{bibleverse||Hebrews|9:2–5|ESV}}).

Tachash is referred to fifteen times in the Hebrew Bible;{{cite web |title=Parsha in depth: You shall make a covering ... of tachash skins |url=https://www.chabad.org/parshah/in-depth/plainBody_cdo/AID/1315 |website=Chabad}}{{cite web |author=Solomon (Dr. Rabbi) |first=Norman |title=What Was the Tachash Covering in the Tabernacle? |url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/what-was-the-tachash-covering-the-tabernacle |website=TheTorah.com}} 13 of these refer to the roof coverings.

File:Tabernacle Schematic.jpg|Top view, parallel projection of tabernacle.

File:The Desert Tabernacle (Mishkan) - Layout and Dimensions.jpg|Tabernacle Tent dimensions according to the Book of Exodus

File:The Desert Tabernacle (Mishkan) - Layout and Dimensions - Full.jpg|Tabernacle Tent and Courtyard dimensions according to the Book of Exodus

{{Expand section|date=September 2020}}

• Wine forbidden to priests in the tabernacle: [https://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0310.htm#8 Leviticus 10:8–15]
• Individuals with the Tzaraat skin affliction were not permitted entry to the tabernacle: Leviticus 22:4
• Sacrifice only at the tabernacle: [https://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0317.htm Leviticus 17]
• Priests could only enter into the third room of the tent once a year: Leviticus 16

There is a strict set of rules to be followed for transporting the tabernacle laid out in the Hebrew Bible. For example:

{{Blockquote|You must put the Levites in charge of the tabernacle of the Covenant, along with its furnishings and equipment. They must carry the tabernacle and its equipment as you travel, and they must care for it and camp around it. Whenever the Tabernacle is moved, the Levites will take it down and set it up again. Anyone else who goes too near the tabernacle will be executed.|{{bibleref2|Numbers|1:48-51 NLT}}}}

{{See also|Korban|Animal sacrifice#Judaism|Holocaust (sacrifice)}}

Twice a day, a priest would stand in front of the golden prayer altar and burn fragrant incense.[http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0230.htm#7 Exodus 30:7–10]. Other procedures were also carried out in the tabernacle:

• The daily meal offering: [https://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0306.htm#8 Leviticus 6:8–30]
• Guilt offerings and peace offerings: [https://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0307.htm Leviticus 7]
• Ceremony of Ordination: [https://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0308.htm Leviticus 8]
• Octave of Ordination: [https://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0309.htm Leviticus 9]
• Yom Kippur: [https://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0316 Leviticus 16]
• Ordeal of the bitter water for suspected adulteresses: [https://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0405.htm#11 Numbers 5:11–29]
• Dedication of Nazirites: [https://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0406.htm Numbers 6:1–21]
• Preparation of the ashes of a red heifer for the water of purification: [https://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0419.htm Numbers 19]

An Israelite healed of tzaraath would be presented by the priest who had confirmed his healing "at the door of the tabernacle of meeting",{{bibleverse||Leviticus|14:11|NKJV}}. and a woman healed of prolonged menstruation would present her offering (two turtledoves or two young pigeons) to the priest "at the door of the tabernacle of meeting".{{bibleverse||Leviticus|15:29|NKJV}}.

It was at the door of the tabernacle that the community wept in sorrow when all the chiefs of the people were impaled and the men who had joined in worship to the Baal of Peor were killed on God's orders.{{bibleverse||Numbers|25:6}}.

File:Location and remains of the Tabernacle IMG 2982.JPG, 2019]]

{{Religious text primary|section|date=September 2020}}

During the conquest of Canaan, the main Israelite camp was at Gilgal ({{bibleverse ||Joshua|4:19|ESV}}; {{bibleverse-nb||Joshua|5:8–10|ESV}}) and the tabernacle was probably erected within the camp: {{bibleverse||Joshua|10:43ESV}} "…and returned into the camp" (see {{bibleverse ||Numbers|1:52–2:34|ESV}} "…they shall camp facing the tent of meeting on every side").

After the conquest and division of the land among the tribes, the tabernacle was moved to Shiloh in Ephraimite territory (Joshua's tribe) to avoid disputes among the other tribes ({{bibleverse||Joshua|18:1|ESV}}; {{bibleverse-nb||Joshua|19:51|ESV}}; {{bibleverse-nb ||Joshua|22:9|ESV}}; {{bibleverse ||Psalm|78:60|ESV}}). It remained there during most of the rule of the Judges.{{Cite book |title=The New American Bible, Old Testament |publisher=Catholic Book Publishing Company |year=1987 |editor=Confraternity of Christian Doctrine |location=New York, New York |page=236 |language=en-us}}, The Book of Judges, prefatory notes: "…The twelve judges of the present book, however, very probably exercised their authority, sometimes simultaneously, over one or another tribe of Israel, never over the entire nation."{{Cite book |title=Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary |publisher=Holman Bible Publishers |year=2003 |editor=Brand |editor-first=Chad |location=Nashville, Tennessee |pages=961–965 "Judges, Book of" |language=en-us |editor2=Draper |editor-first2=Charles |editor3=England |editor-first3=Archie}} "Because of the theological nature of the narrative and the author's selective use of data, it is difficult to reconstruct the history of Israel during the period of the judges from the accounts in the heart of the book (3:7–16:31)." According to a possible translation of {{bibleverse||Judges|20:26-28|ESV}}, the Ark, and thus the tabernacle, was at Bethel while Phinehas, grandson of Aaron, was alive.

After the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines, the subsequent history of the tabernacle is separate from that of the Ark, even after the latter was returned. Under King Saul, the tabernacle was eventually moved to Nob, near Saul's home town of Gibeah, but after he massacred the priests there ({{bibleverse|1|Samuel|21-22|HE}}), it was moved to Gibeon, a hill-shrine ({{bibleverse|1|Chronicles|16:39|HE}}; {{bibleverse-nb|1|Chronicles|21:29|HE}}; {{bibleverse |2|Chronicles|1:2–6|HE}}, 13).{{Cite book |last=Eichrodt |first=Walther |url=http://archive.org/details/theologyofoldtes01eich |title=Theology of the Old Testament |date=1961 |publisher=Westminster Press |others=Internet Archive |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |page=111 |language=en-us}} Just prior to David's moving the ark to Jerusalem, the ark was located in Kiriath-Jearim ({{bibleverse |1|Chronicles|13:5-6|HE}}).

The Ark was eventually brought to Jerusalem, where it was placed "inside the tent David had pitched for it" ({{bibleverse|2|Samuel|6:17|HE}}; {{bibleverse |1|Chronicles|15:1|HE}}), not in the tabernacle, which remained at Gibeon. The altar of the tabernacle at Gibeon was used for sacrificial worship ({{bibleverse |1|Chronicles|16:39|HE}}; {{bibleverse-nb|1|Chronicles|21:29|HE}}; {{bibleverse |1|Kings|3:2-4|HE}}), until Solomon brought the structure and its furnishings to Jerusalem to furnish and dedicate the Temple ({{bibleverse|1|Kings|8:4|HE}}). Compare Guy Darshan, [https://www.academia.edu/107318854/The_Tent_of_Meeting_in_Samuel_and_Kings “The Tent of Meeting in Samuel and Kings,”] in: The Pentateuch and Its Readers, Tübingen 2023, 123–143

There is no mention of the tabernacle in the Tanakh after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Babylonians in c. 587 BCE.

Some rabbis have commented on the proximity of the narrative of the tabernacle with that of the episode known as the sin of the golden calf recounted in {{bibleref2|Exodus|32:1-6}}. Maimonides asserts that the tabernacle and its accoutrements, such as the golden Ark of the Covenant and the golden Menorah were meant as "alternates" to the human weakness and needs for physical idols as seen in the golden calf episode.Maimonides (Rambam) Rabbi Mosheh ben Maimon (c. 1190) Delalatul Ha'yreen (Arabic), Moreh Nevukhim (Hebrew), Guide for the Perplexed, Part 3:32, Part 11:39, Part 111:46. Other scholars, such as Nachmanides, disagree and maintain that the tabernacle's meaning is not tied in with the golden calf, but instead symbolizes higher mystical lessons that symbolize God's constant closeness to the Children of Israel.Naḥmanides (Ramban) Rabbi Moses ben Naḥman Girondi Bonastruc ça (de) Porta (c. 1242) Bi'ur, or Perush 'al ha-Torah, Commentary on the Torah, Exodus 25:1 and Exodus Rabbah 35a.

Image:Shilo centr synagogue.jpg is a replica of the Jewish Temple]]

Synagogue construction over the last two thousand years has followed the outlines of the original tabernacle.{{Catholic|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14379b.htm |title=Synagogue |author=Walter Drum}}{{Cite web |title=Synagogues, Shuls and Temples – Judaism 101 (JewFAQ) |url=https://www.jewfaq.org/shul.htm |access-date=2024-02-14 |website=www.jewfaq.org}} Every synagogue has at its front an ark, aron kodesh, containing the Torah scrolls, comparable to the Ark of the Covenant which contained the tablets with Ten Commandments. This is the holiest spot in a synagogue, equivalent to the Holy of Holies.

There is also usually a constantly lighted lamp, Ner tamid, or a candelabrum, lighted during services, near a spot similar to the position of the original Menorah. At the center of the synagogue is a large elevated area, known as the bimah, where the Torah is read. This is equivalent to the tabernacle's altars upon which incense and animal sacrifices were offered. On the main holidays the priests gather at the front of the synagogue to bless the congregation as did their priestly ancestors in the tabernacle from Aaron onwards ({{bibleverse||Numbers|6:22-27}}).{{Catholic|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12407b.htm|title=High Priest|prescript=|author= John J. Tierney}}

File:Hannover Kirche Zu den heiligen Engeln.jpg, Hanover, completed 1964]]

Some Christian churches are built like a tent, to symbolize the tent of God with men, including St. Matthew Cathedral, São Mateus, Brazil, Zu den heiligen Engeln (To the Holy Angels), Hanover, Germany and the Cardboard Cathedral, Christchurch, New Zealand.{{cite book

| last = Anders

| first = Johanna

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=94SbBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA102

| title = Neue Kirchen in der Diaspora

| publisher = Kassel University Press

| year = 2014

| isbn = 978-3-86-219682-1

| language = de

| pages = 102–103

}}

{{main|Mandi (Mandaeism)}}

File:Mandaean-Mandi-Nasiriya-Iraq.jpg

A mashkhanna {{lang|myz|ࡌࡀࡔࡊࡍࡀ}} {{transliteration|myz|maškna}} (Hebrew cognate {{lang|he|מִשְׁכַּן}} {{transliteration|he|mishkān}}),Secunda, Shai, and Steven Fine. {{cite book |last1=Secunda |first1=Shai |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QdjGEVo0bVEC&pg=PA1 |title=Shoshannat Yaakov. |last2=Fine |first2=Steven |date=3 September 2012 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-9004235441}} p. 345. Beth Manda {{lang|myz|ࡁࡉࡕ ࡌࡀࡍࡃࡀ}}, Beit Manda, or Mandi ('house of knowledge'),{{cite book|last=Buckley|first=Jorunn Jacobsen|title=The Mandaeans: ancient texts and modern people|publisher=Oxford University Press|publication-place=New York|year=2002|isbn=0-19-515385-5|oclc=65198443}} is a cultic hut and place of worship for followers of Mandaeism. A Mashkhanna must be built beside a river in order to perform maṣbuta (baptism) and other ceremonies because Living Water is an essential element in the Mandaean faith.

{{Portal|Judaism}}

• Church tabernacle
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• Replicas of the Jewish Temple
• Tabernacle (LDS Church)
• Tabernacle (Methodist)

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category|Tabernacle}}

• [http://thedeserttabernacle.blogspot.com/ Precise reconstruction of the Tabernacle]
• [http://gospelhall.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=572&Itemid=65 Full color, 3d, printable model of the tabernacle]
• [http://www.watton.org/studies&stories/tab/ A study of the Tabernacle]
• [http://www.watton.org/studies&stories/feasts/ The offerings of the Tabernacle]
• [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=3&letter=T Jewish Encyclopedia article]
• [http://theholyhouse.org Textual descriptions of the Tabernacle and all internal components.]

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