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twenty times in the New Testament, translated once 'habitation' and nineteen
times 'tabernacle'. The first occurrences (Matt. 17:4; Mark 9:5 and Luke
9:33) record the wish of Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration, that they
build 'three tabernacles'. We pause to observe that, near the close of
Paul's journeyings, he arrived at a place called 'The Three Taverns' (Acts
28:15), and the reader may be somewhat surprised to know that the word
tavern, which in Acts 28:15 is written tabernon, is the source of the English
word tabernacle, both meaning a hut or a booth, a temporary shelter,
especially for the refreshment of travellers and pilgrims, and not, in the
first case, a solidly built house. Apart from 'the everlasting habitations'
of Luke 16:9, the remaining occurrences of skene refer to:
(1)
The
Tabernacle in the wilderness.
(2)
The
antitypical Tabernacle or heaven itself.
(3)
The
Tabernacle seen in Revelation 15:5.
(4)
The
consequence of the descent of the New Jerusalem
(Rev. 21:3).
(5)
The tents in which Abraham, Isaac and Jacob chose to dwell
(Heb.11:9).
(6)
The Tabernacle of Moloch (Acts 7:43).
Skenos is used in 2 Corinthians 5:1 and 4 of the human body, and skenoma in
the same sense is used by Peter (2 Pet. 1:13,14). The Jewish feast of
Tabernacles is represented by the word skenopegia (John 7:2); and lastly,
Paul joined himself to Aquila and Priscilla because they, like himself,
followed the craft of 'tentmakers' skenopoios (Acts 18:3).
Skenoo the verb is translated 'dwell', occurring four times in the book of
the Revelation, and once in John's Gospel, where speaking of the Saviour he
said, 'And the Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us' (John 1:14).
It is not our purpose to enlarge upon the references in the New
Testament to the Tabernacle erected by Moses, but to those references which
make it clear that a Pilgrim character is implicit in the references, linking
the purpose of the ages, the condescending attitude of God Himself during the
period of battle and enmity, and the very bodies of the believers during this
transient period.
Peter's references are simple and will be recorded first:
'Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you
up by putting you in remembrance; knowing that shortly I must put off
this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me' (2
Pet. 1:13,14).
This is followed by a statement that demands some attention, for in verse 15
Peter uses a strange word:
'Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have
these things always in remembrance'.
The word 'decease' is the Greek word exodus and occurs but three times in the
New Testament, Hebrews 11:22, where Joseph made mention of the exodus of
Israel, Luke 9:31, where Moses and Elijah on the mount of Transfiguration
spake of the Saviour's decease or exodus which He should accomplish at
Jerusalem and 2 Peter 1:15, the passage already cited above. In Luke 9:31,
this view of the Saviour's glory and the use of the word exodus by Moses and