tabernacle (le as el)

& a. [Fr., from Lat. tabernaculum, a double dim in. from taberna =a hut, a shed; Sp. & Port. tabernaculo; Ital. taberna colo.] [TAVERN.] A. As substantive: I. Ordinary Language: *1. Lit .: A slightly-constructed temporary build ing or habitation; a tent, a pavilion. "The Emperor had caused to be made a certain pavil. ion or tabernacle eight square."-P. Holland: Plutarch, p. 107. 2. Figuratively : (1) A temple; a place of worship; a sacred place; specifically, the sacred tent built by Moses and maintained as the central place of worship for Israel until Solomon built the temple. "Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle ? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?"- Psalm xv. 1. *(2) The human frame as the temporary abode of the soul. "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 Peter i. 13, 14. II. Technically : 1. Jewish Antiq .: Heb. mishkan =a dwelling; ochel =a tent, more fully denominated Tabernacle of the Congregation, and Tabernacle of Witne , a tent constructed by direction of Moses, under divine authority, to be a local habitation for Jehovah while His people moved from place to place in the wilderne -a temple being obviously unsuitable to the period of the wandering. To obtain materials for the construction of this sacred tent free-will offerings were solicited, and the Jews, in response, brought gold, silver, bra " (copper), cloths, rams' skins dyed red, oil, spices, precious stones, . (Exod. xxv. 1-9; xxxvi. 1-5.) Bezaleel and Aholiab, men divinely endowed with genius for the purpose, The a the nacle was 30 cubits ( i . e., 45 feet) long, 10 cubits (15 feet) wide, and 10 cubits (15 feet) high. The material was "shittim" (acacia) wood, 20 boards of which, standing upright, constituted each of the longer (i. e., the north and south) sides, and six the west one, while the east end was open. Each board was fastened below by tenons fitting into two silver sockets; they were held in their places by five bars of acacia wood on each side and five at the end, pa ing horizontally through rings of gold fastened in the upright boards. The interior was divided into an outer room 20 cubits long by 10 broad, called the Holy Place, or Sanctuary, and an inner apartment 10cubits (15 feet) long by 10 broad, named the Most Holy Place, or Holy of Holies. At the east, or open end, were five pillars of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, supporting a vail or curtain of fine linen with needlework of blue, crimson, and scarlet. Each pillar stood on a bra socket and was furnished with golden hooks. Between the Holy Place and the Place Most Holy was another vail or curtain of the same material as the first, but the pillars supporting it rested on silver sockets. Four different kinds of curtains or coverings supplied the place of a roof. The first, or inner one, builders (xxxv. 30-34; xxxvi. 4). sin, as; expect, Xenophon, exist. ph = f. tabernacle-work of the same material as the two vails, was of ten curtains, each 28 cubits (42 feet) long by 20 cubits (30 feet) broad. The covering exterior to this was of fine goats' hair, then there was one of sheep skins dyed red, then one of tachhash , rendered in the text of the Revised Version seal skins, and in the margin porpoise skins. Within the Holy Place, on the north side, was the golden table with the shew-bread on it, and on the south side the golden candlestick, and the golden altar of incense. In the Holy of Holies were the Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat (Exod. xxvi. 1-37; xxxvi. 1-38; Heb. ix. 1-5). Around the tabernacle was the court of the tabernacle, 100 cubits (150 feet) long, by 50 cubits (75 feet) broad, surrounded by sixty pillars, each five cubits (72 feet) high, with silver capitals and hooks, and bra sockets. The four pillars in the eastern side supported a veil or curtain constituting the gate of the court. The brazen altar and the laver were in the courtyard. Around the latter were the tents of the Levites, and beyond these those of the other tribes, three on each side of the tabernacle. Only the priests entered the Holy Place. This they did twice daily, in the morning to extinguish the lights, in the evening to light them anew. None but the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and he only once a year, on the great day of Atonement. The Gershonites, the Merarites, and the Koha sites took charge of the tabernacle and its furni. ture when these were removed from place to place. The tabernacle was first set up by Moses on the first day of the second year after the Israeli tes had left Egypt. After they had reached Canaan it was located at Shiloh (1 Sam. iv. 3-22.) In Saul's time it was at Nob (cf. 1 Sam. xxi. 1 and Mark ii. 26.) When Solomon became king it was at Gibeon (1 Kings iii. 4). Afterward Solomon laid it up in the Temple, of which in all its leading features it had been the model (1 Kings viii. 4., 2 Chron.v.5). [TEMPLE, 8., 1.] 2. Eccles. & Church Hist .: In the Roman Church, a receptacle for the consecrated Host for benediction and the ciborium containing the smaller Hosts which the laity receive. In its present form-a small structure of marble, metal, or wood, placed in the center of the east side of the altar-the tabernacle dates from the sixteenth century. Its original form was that of a dove; about the middle of the fourteenth century it was sometimes placed in an aumbry above the altar. A lamp constantly burns before the tabernacle, which is kept locked, the key never pa ing out of the charge of the clergy. The name tabernacle is also given to (1) a niche for an image, (2) a reliquary, (3) the aumbry near the high altar when used to contain the reserved sacrament, and (4) the abbot's stall in choir. 3. Naut .: An elevated socket for a boat's mast, or a projecting post to which a mast may be hinged when it is fitted for lowering to pa beneath bridges. *B. As adj.: The same as TABERNACULAR (q. v.). Feast of Tabernacles: Jewish Antiq.: Chhag has sukkoth, one of the three leading Jewish feasts, on the recurrence of which all the males were required to present them selves at Jerusalem. During this feast the people dwelt on their housetops or elsewhere in booths made of the branches of trees, in commemoration of their tent life in the wilderne . Called also the Feast of Ingathering, because it was a feast of thanksgiving for the completion of the harvest and the vintage. It lasted for eight days, from the 15th to the 23d of Tisri, corresponding to October. The first and the eighth days were holy convocations (Exod. xxiii. 16; Lev. xxiii. 34; Num. xxix. 12; Deut. xvi. 13). It is believed that the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles was the last great day of the feast at which Jesus preached (John vii. 37). tabernacle-work, s. Tabernacle work. Eccles.: Carved canopy-work over a pulpit, a choir stall, or a niche. The example figured is from the Lady Chapel, Exeter Cathedral. tăb-er-năc-le (le asel), v. i. [TABERNACLE, 8.] To sojourn; to dwell for a time; to house. "He a umed our nature, and tabernacled amongst us in the flesh."-Scott: Works (ed. 1718), ii. 467.