![]() The Tabernacle is said to be sanctified by the " Kavod of the Lord" (Ex. The Godhead and its appearance are associated with the term kavod, a term underlying the imagery of the Divine Presence in the Bible and paralleling the term Shekhinah in rabbinic literature. The most common expression for the manifestation of God's presence is Kevod YHWH. When the Ark was brought into the camp, the Israelites shouted with a great shout so that the whole earth stirred (4:5), and the Philistines, hearing the shout, became terrified, saying that "God has come into the camp" (4:7). 10:35–36), a fact which is well exemplified in the story of the critical encounter between the Israelites and the Philistines in Aphek ( I Sam. The Ark also accompanied the people in their battles with their enemies (Num. 10:33–34) and preceded the Israelites in the crossing of the Jordan before entering the Holy Land (Josh. The Ark guided the people in the desert (Num. In the ancient Israelite traditions God's presence is manifested mainly by the Ark and the pillar of cloud (see below). 80:2 99:5, etc.) The shewbread (לחם הפנים) laid out before the Lord by the high priest, the lamp kindled before Him to furnish light, the sweet incense burned mornings and evenings for His pleasure, the offerings consumed by the Divine fire, and the danger that accrues from approaching the Divinity are all alluded to in the early historiographic narratives. The Ark was conceived as the footstool of the Deity and God as sitting enthroned upon the cherubim ( I Sam. This anthropomorphic theology derives from early sacral conceptions. ![]() Drawing near to the Deity here signifies entrance into the actual sphere of the Divine Presence and for this reason is fraught with great physical danger (cf. Only the priest who ministers to the Lord may approach the divine sanctum the "stranger" who draws near must die (Num. Thus in an adjoining chamber, the high priest, the most intimate of God's ministrants, attends to His essential needs. The presence of the Deity in the Sanctuary demands a rigorous observance of all rules concerning holiness and purity any laxity might incur the wrath of the Deity and thus invite disaster. It is performed "before the Lord" (לפני ה׳) that is, in His presence. Within the inner recesses of the Tabernacle, removed and veiled from the human eye sits the Deity ensconced between the two cherubim and the entire conception of the service is anthropomorphic (see below). Indeed the Tabernacle, as depicted in the Priestly tradition, represents a royal house with all its necessary facilities. Similar statements are found in other parts of the Priestly literature, where shakhan, "dwelling," is used instead of hithalekh, "moving about," as in Exodus 25:8: "Let them make me a Sanctuary that I may dwell among them," and at the end of the inauguration of the Tabernacle in Exodus 29:45–46: "And I will dwell among the Israelites and I will be their God." The rabbinic term *Shekhinah is actually an abstraction of this concept of "dwelling," which in the sources just quoted is understood literally. The same concept is given expression in the Priestly source of the Pentateuch: "I will establish My abode in your midst… and I will be moving aboutin your midst: I will be your God and you shall be my people" (Lev. That the Tabernacle was considered an indicator for God's presence in ancient Israel may be learned from the words of Nathan the prophet to David: "… I have been moving about in a Tabernacle and tent … All the time I was moving about among the Israelites…" ( II Sam. ![]() God's presence, according to the ancient view, is confined to the Tabernacle/Sanctuary and to other visible phenomena serving as the vehicles of God, such as the Ark and the *cherubim or the cloud enveloping the Godhead in its movements. The notion of the Divine Presence is expressed in the Bible in two different senses: (1) in the corporeal sense, i.e., the actual dwelling ( shakhan, שָׁכַן) of God in His abode (2) in the abstract sense, i.e., symbolic representation by means of calling or establishing His name ( shikken shem, שִׁכֵּן שֵׁם) upon the Sanctuary or the people.
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