Adjacent Words

Tabernacle definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

TAB'ERNACLE, n. [L. tabernaculum, a tent, from taberna, a shop or shed, from tabula, a board; or rather from its root. See Table.]
1. A tent. Numbers 24. Matthew 17.
2. A temporary habitation.
3. Among the Jews, a movable building, so contrived as to be taken to pieces with ease and reconstructed, for the convenience of being carried during the wanderings of the Israelites in the wilderness. It was of a rectangular figure, thirty cubits long, ten broad, and ten high. The interior was divided into two rooms by a vail or curtain, and it was covered with four different spreads or carpets.
It is also applied to the temple. Psalms 15.
4. A place of worship; a sacred place.
5. Our natural body. 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Peter 1.
6. God's gracious presence, or the tokens of it. Revelation 21.
7. An ornamented chest placed on Roman catholic altars as a receptacle of the ciborium and pyxis.
TAB'ERNACLE, v.i. To dwell; to reside for a time; to be housed; as we say, Christ tabernacled in the flesh.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the Mormon temple [syn: Tabernacle, Mormon Tabernacle]
2: (Judaism) a portable sanctuary in which the Jews carried the Ark of the Covenant on their exodus
3: (Judaism) the place of worship for a Jewish congregation [syn: synagogue, temple, tabernacle]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin tabernaculum, from Latin, tent, from taberna hut Date: 13th century 1. a. often capitalized a tent sanctuary used by the Israelites during the Exodus b. archaic a dwelling place c. archaic a temporary shelter ; tent 2. a receptacle for the consecrated elements of the Eucharist; especially an ornamental locked box used for reserving the Communion hosts 3. a house of worship; specifically a large building or tent used for evangelistic services • tabernacular adjective II. intransitive verb (tabernacled; tabernacling) Date: 1653 to take up temporary residence; especially to inhabit a physical body

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 hist. a tent used as a sanctuary for the Ark of the Covenant by the Israelites during the Exodus. 2 Eccl. a canopied niche or receptacle esp. for the Eucharistic elements. 3 a place of worship in nonconformist creeds. 4 Bibl. a fixed or movable habitation usu. of light construction. 5 Naut. a socket or double post for a hinged mast that can be lowered to pass under low bridges. Phrases and idioms: feast of Tabernacles = SUCCOTH. Derivatives: tabernacled adj. Etymology: ME f. OF tabernacle or L tabernaculum tent, dimin. of taberna hut

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Tabernacle Tab"er*na*cle, n. [F., fr. L. tabernaculum, dim. of taberna nut. See Tabern.] 1. A slightly built or temporary habitation; especially, a tent. Dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob. --Heb. xi. 9. Orange trees planted in the ground, and secured in winter with a wooden tabernacle and stoves. --Evelyn. 2. (Jewish Antiq.) A portable structure of wooden framework covered with curtains, which was carried through the wilderness in the Israelitish exodus, as a place of sacrifice and worship. --Ex. xxvi. 3. Hence, the Jewish temple; sometimes, any other place for worship. --Acts xv. 16. 4. Figuratively: The human body, as the temporary abode of the soul. Shortly I must put off this my tabernacle. --2 Pet. i. 14. 5. Any small cell, or like place, in which some holy or precious things was deposited or kept. Specifically: (a) The ornamental receptacle for the pyx, or for the consecrated elements, whether a part of a building or movable. (b) A niche for the image of a saint, or for any sacred painting or sculpture. (c) Hence, a work of art of sacred subject, having a partially architectural character, as a solid frame resting on a bracket, or the like. (d) A tryptich for sacred imagery. (e) A seat or stall in a choir, with its canopy. 6. (Naut.) A boxlike step for a mast with the after side open, so that the mast can be lowered to pass under bridges, etc. Feast of Tabernacles (Jewish Antiq.), one of the three principal festivals of the Jews, lasting seven days, during which the people dwelt in booths formed of the boughs of trees, in commemoration of the habitation of their ancestors in similar dwellings during their pilgrimage in the wilderness. Tabernacle work, rich canopy work like that over the head of niches, used over seats or stalls, or over sepulchral monuments. --Oxf. Gloss.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Tabernacle Tab"er*na*cle, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Tabernacled; p. pr. & vb. n. Tabernacling.] To dwell or reside for a time; to be temporary housed. He assumed our nature, and tabernacled among us in the flesh. --Dr. J. Scott.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(tabernacles) 1. A tabernacle is a church used by certain Christian Protestant groups and by Mormons. N-COUNT: oft in names 2. The Tabernacle was a small tent which contained the most holy writings of the ancient Jews and which they took with them when they were travelling. N-PROPER: the N

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(1.) A house or dwelling-place (Job 5:24; 18:6, etc.).

(2.) A portable shrine (comp. Acts 19:24) containing the image of Moloch (Amos 5:26; marg. and R.V., "Siccuth").

(3.) The human body (2 Cor. 5:1, 4); a tent, as opposed to a permanent dwelling.

(4.) The sacred tent (Heb. mishkan, "the dwelling-place"); the movable tent-temple which Moses erected for the service of God, according to the "pattern" which God himself showed to him on the mount (Ex. 25:9; Heb. 8:5). It is called "the tabernacle of the congregation," rather "of meeting", i.e., where God promised to meet with Israel (Ex. 29:42); the "tabernacle of the testimony" (Ex. 38:21; Num. 1:50), which does not, however, designate the whole structure, but only the enclosure which contained the "ark of the testimony" (Ex. 25:16, 22; Num. 9:15); the "tabernacle of witness" (Num. 17:8); the "house of the Lord" (Deut. 23:18); the "temple of the Lord" (Josh. 6:24); a "sanctuary" (Ex. 25:8).

A particular account of the materials which the people provided for the erection and of the building itself is recorded in Ex. 25-40. The execution of the plan mysteriously given to Moses was intrusted to Bezaleel and Aholiab, who were specially endowed with wisdom and artistic skill, probably gained in Egypt, for this purpose (Ex. 35:30-35). The people provided materials for the tabernacle so abundantly that Moses was under the necessity of restraining them (36:6). These stores, from which they so liberally contributed for this purpose, must have consisted in a great part of the gifts which the Egyptians so readily bestowed on them on the eve of the Exodus (12:35, 36).

The tabernacle was a rectangular enclosure, in length about 45 feet (i.e., reckoning a cubit at 18 inches) and in breadth and height about 15. Its two sides and its western end were made of boards of acacia wood, placed on end, resting in sockets of brass, the eastern end being left open (Ex. 26:22). This framework was covered with four coverings, the first of linen, in which figures of the symbolic cherubim were wrought with needlework in blue and purple and scarlet threads, and probably also with threads of gold (Ex. 26:1-6; 36:8-13). Above this was a second covering of twelve curtains of black goats'-hair cloth, reaching down on the outside almost to the ground (Ex. 26:7-11). The third covering was of rams' skins dyed red, and the fourth was of badgers' skins (Heb. tahash, i.e., the dugong, a species of seal), Ex. 25:5; 26:14; 35:7, 23; 36:19; 39:34.

Internally it was divided by a veil into two chambers, the exterior of which was called the holy place, also "the sanctuary" (Heb. 9:2) and the "first tabernacle" (6); and the interior, the holy of holies, "the holy place," "the Holiest," the "second tabernacle" (Ex. 28:29; Heb. 9:3, 7). The veil separating these two chambers was a double curtain of the finest workmanship, which was never passed except by the high priest once a year, on the great Day of Atonement. The holy place was separated from the outer court which enclosed the tabernacle by a curtain, which hung over the six pillars which stood at the east end of the tabernacle, and by which it was entered.

The order as well as the typical character of the services of the tabernacle are recorded in Heb. 9; 10:19-22.

The holy of holies, a cube of 10 cubits, contained the "ark of the testimony", i.e., the oblong chest containing the two tables of stone, the pot of manna, and Aaron's rod that budded.

The holy place was the western and larger chamber of the tabernacle. Here were placed the table for the shewbread, the golden candlestick, and the golden altar of incense.

Round about the tabernacle was a court, enclosed by curtains hung upon sixty pillars (Ex. 27:9-18). This court was 150 feet long and 75 feet broad. Within it were placed the altar of burnt offering, which measured 7 1/2 feet in length and breadth and 4 1/2 feet high, with horns at the four corners, and the laver of brass (Ex. 30:18), which stood between the altar and the tabernacle.

The whole tabernacle was completed in seven months. On the first day of the first month of the second year after the Exodus, it was formally set up, and the cloud of the divine presence descended on it (Ex. 39:22-43; 40:1-38). It cost 29 talents 730 shekels of gold, 100 talents 1,775 shekels of silver, 70 talents 2,400 shekels of brass (Ex. 38:24-31).

The tabernacle was so constructed that it could easily be taken down and conveyed from place to place during the wanderings in the wilderness. The first encampment of the Israelites after crossing the Jordan was at Gilgal, and there the tabernacle remained for seven years (Josh. 4:19). It was afterwards removed to Shiloh (Josh. 18:1), where it remained during the time of the Judges, till the days of Eli, when the ark, having been carried out into the camp when the Israelites were at war with the Philistines, was taken by the enemy (1 Sam. 4), and was never afterwards restored to its place in the tabernacle. The old tabernacle erected by Moses in the wilderness was transferred to Nob (1 Sam. 21:1), and after the destruction of that city by Saul (22:9; 1 Chr. 16:39, 40), to Gibeon. It is mentioned for the last time in 1 Chr. 21:29. A new tabernacle was erected by David at Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6:17; 1 Chr. 16:1), and the ark was brought from Perez-uzzah and deposited in it (2 Sam. 6:8-17; 2 Chr. 1:4).

The word thus rendered ('ohel) in Ex. 33:7 denotes simply a tent, probably Moses' own tent, for the tabernacle was not yet erected.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Tent, pavilion, habitation. 2. The Jewish temple. 3. Temple, church, chapel, cathedral, minster, meeting-house, place of worship, sacred place. 4. Pyx. 5. Reliquary, shrine. 6. Niche. 7. Triptych. 8. Choir-stall. II. v. n. Dwell (temporarily), sojourn, be housed.

Moby Thesaurus

Agnus Dei, Holy Grail, Host, Pieta, Sanctus bell, Sangraal, ark, asperger, asperges, aspergillum, bambino, beadroll, beads, candle, censer, chaplet, ciborium, cross, crucifix, cruet, dewal, eucharistial, fane, girja, holy cross, holy water, holy-water sprinkler, icon, incensory, kiack, masjid, matzo, menorah, mezuzah, mikvah, monstrance, mosque, osculatory, ostensorium, pagoda, pantheon, paschal candle, pax, phylacteries, prayer shawl, prayer wheel, pyx, relics, rood, rosary, sacramental, sacred relics, sacring bell, shofar, shul, sukkah, synagogue, tallith, temple, thurible, urceole, veronica, vigil light, votive candle