fire or glory were placed from the Fall: and which surely continued in

the believing line of Seth'.

Solomon is reported to have said:

'Thou hast commanded me to build a temple upon Thy holy mount, and an

altar in the city wherein Thou dwellest, a resemblance of the holy

tabernacle, which Thou hast prepared from the beginning' (Wisdom 9:8).

Whether Solomon ever said this or not, the record indicates that it was

held in those early days, that there had been a tabernacle at the beginning,

and that the tabernacle of Moses, and the temple of Solomon were

continuations of the symbol which this tabernacling set forth.  The

transitory character of such a dwelling is expressed by Job, when he said:

'How much less in them that dwell (shaken) in houses of clay, whose

foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?' (Job

'Frail as a moth' (Moffatt), with which we may compare 'flimsy as a

watchman's shelter' which we have already quoted.

Here we anticipate 2 Corinthians 5:1:

'For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were

dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands,

eternal in the heavens',

which must be given closer scrutiny presently.  When we read Isaiah 57:15, it

is pardonable that at first sight we think of God's infinity and travel back

in thought before the world was.

'For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, Whose

name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is

of a contrite and humble spirit'.

The words 'dwell' and 'inhabit' are translations of shaken, the word that

means to dwell in a tent.  The word translated 'eternity' is the Hebrew ad,

which is derived from the root adah, to pass over, to go on, hence progress

(in space) and duration (in time).  As a participle, preposition or adverb ad

is translated 'till' (Gen. 3:19); 'as yet' (2 Kings 13:23).  Isaiah 57:15

speaks of Jehovah, Who revealed Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and

Jacob, Whose name was 'for ever' or 'unto the age', and was a memorial 'unto

all generations' (Exod. 3:15).  The Lord Who commanded Moses to erect for Him

a 'tent', reveals to Isaiah that He still retains that character, sharing

with His people their transient dwelling until the consummation is reached.

At the consecration of the temple, Solomon said:

'But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven

of heavens cannot contain Thee' (1 Kings 8:27),

which leads us back to Genesis 1 via Isaiah 40.

Isaiah 40:22 speaks of the

'That stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out

as a tent to dwell in'.