mškn (Dwelling Place) in the Deuteronomistic History
The noun mškn is an m-prefix formation from the root škn (dwell).1 This word indicates the space where the action expressed by the root škn occurs, that is to say “dwelling” or “habitation.”2 Sarna explains the Hebrew lexeme for dwell (škn) in detail with regard to the text of Exodus 25:
Careful analysis of the language used here is essential for a proper understanding of the underlying concept and role of the sanctuary. First, the text speaks of God dwelling not “in it,” that is in the sanctuary, but “among them,” that is, among the people of Israel (v. 2). Then, the verb “to dwell” is not the common Hebrew stem y-sh-v but the rarer sh-k-n, which has a different connotation. This verb conveys the idea of temporary lodging in a tent and characterizes the nomadic style of life. That is why the structure is called a mishkan (e.g., v. 9) and why the verbal form is frequently used together with ’ohel, the common word for “a tent,” and in connection with nomads. The noun mishkan is often employed in synonymous parallelism with ’ohel, and the other designations of the wilderness tabernacle are the “Tent of the Pact” and the “Tent of Meeting.”
Thus, the sanctuary is not meant to be understood literally as God’s abode, as are other such institutions in the pagan world. Rather, it functions to make perceptible and tangible the conception of God’s immanence or the indwelling of the Divine Presence in the camp of Israel to which the people may orient their hearts and minds. A postbiblical extension of this usage of the verb šh-k-n is the Hebrew term, shekhinah for the Divine Presence.3
Analogous formations appear in several Semitic languages. For example, the Akkadian word mashkanu means a threshing floor, a storage place, or a house.4
The noun mškn appears 139 times in the Old Testament.5 It is found three times in the Deuteronomistic History (Josh. 22:19, 29; 2 Sam 7:6). In other parts of the Old Testament, the lexeme appears 103 times in the Priestly source, 11 times in Psalms, 8 times in 1–2 Chronicles, 3 times in Job, 3 times in Isaiah, 3 times in Jeremiah, 2 times in Ezekiel, and once in Habakkuk, the Song of Songs and Ezra. The mškn is more often employed to indicate a divine dwelling rather than a human dwelling.6 Most frequently the term refers to the Israelite tent sanctuary called tabernacle in the Old Testament. As Sarna properly indicates, in such cases the word is often used as a synonym for ’hl (tent).7
The Israelites always transported the tabernacle (mškn) as they wandered along the way from Mt. Sinai to the land of Canaan. Many significant events occurred around the tent sanctuary or in its proximity. The ordination of priests (Leviticus 8–9), the deaths of Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10), the punitive justice administered to Korah and his followers (Numbers 16), the miracle of water from the rock at Meribah (Num. 20:2–13), and the succession of leadership from Moses to Joshua (Deut 31:14–23) can be mentioned among others.
Of course, I am unable to address all the aspects of mškn (dwelling place) which emerge in the Old Testament in this article. Thus, I would like to focus on a few characteristic features of the mškn and its circumstances in the Deuteronomistic History.
After the conquest under Joshua’s leadership, the mškn is located at Shiloh (cf. Josh 18:1; 19:51; Ps 78:60).8 It is considered as the exclusive permitted space for sacrifice (cf. Josh 22:19, 29). The language and concepts of Josh 22:9–34 seem to rely on the Priestly source.9 In the reprimand to the eastern tribes, Josh 22:19 indicates that the dwelling place of YHWH already dwells (škn) in God’s land, and that it would therefore be erroneous to build other altars.10 The combination of the lexeme mškn YHWH in Josh. 22:19 perhaps signifies the sanctuary at Shiloh.11 The text of Ps. 78:60 also alludes to the mškn in Shiloh. The mškn in Shiloh seems to have obtained the position of ancient Israelite pivot for Yahwism before the monarchy (cf. 1 Sam 2:22–26). After the destruction of Shiloh (cf. Jer 7:12, 14; 26:6, 9), the whereabouts of the mškn is temporarily unknown.12
According to one passage in the Deuteronomistic History (2 Sam 6:17)13 David is the first to bring the ark to Jerusalem and combine the tent (’hl) and the ark (’rwn). Since then the tent (’hl) and the ark (’rwn) became inseparable. Another Deuteronomistic passage is also engaging.
Now when the king was settled in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.” Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the LORD is with you.” But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent (b’hl) and a tabernacle (bmškn). Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” (2 Sam 7:1–7)14
The above-mentioned quotation clearly shows that the mškn has been regarded in the Deuteronomistic History not as a “cover” of the ark, but literally as a kind of “hut” of YHWH. The text of 2 Sam 7:6 reveals a text-critical problem. The phrase b’hl wbmškn cannot be understood as a hendiadys for “tent dwelling.”15 Neither can waw be translated as a waw explicativum in the meaning of “with a tent for a dwelling.”16 The parallel text, 1 Chr 17:5 reads b’hl ’l-’hl wmškn. Following the Targumic text, many scholars further add ’l-mškn to the above-mentioned phrase in 1 Chr 17:5, so that the phrase could mean that God moved “from tent to tent and from dwelling place to dwelling place.”17 This emendation cannot be justified since it estimates the text-critical value of the text of 1 Chr 17:5 too highly. The phrase b’hl wbmškn should stay as lectio difficilior potior. According to Hartmann, in 2 Sam. 7:6 the presence of God is more closely associated with the tent sanctuary than with the ark.18 Perhaps the unusual construction of b’hl wbmškn can be understood as a tautology for theological emphasis.
The tent and the ark derive originally from different historical backgrounds.19 According to the oldest strata in the Pentateuch, the tent and the ark existed independently. Thus in 1 Samuel 1–6, the ark is located not in a tent, but in a temple of Shiloh.20 On the other hand, Exod 33:7–11 refers to a tent, but does not mention anything about an ark. It seems probable that the portable dwelling place derives from the southern tribes whose religiosity was deeply rooted in a nomadic ideal, while the ark comes from the northern tribes whose spiritual ethos shifted quite quickly to an agricultural setting and order.21
After King Solomon had constructed the temple in Jerusalem, he had the tent of meeting (’hl mw‘d), the ark (’rwn), and the holy vessels (kl-kly hqdš) placed in the temple together so that the temple in Jerusalem became the legitimate inheritor of the Davidic tradition in which the tent sanctuary and the ark were combined (cf. 1 Kgs 8:4 = 2 Chr 5:5). In the Deuteronomistic History, the mškn or the ’hl mw‘d is never alluded to again after 1 Kgs 8:4. At this point, we can say that neither mškn nor ’hl mw‘d appear frequently in the Deuteronomistic History. However, the few relevant references indicate the theological significance of the concept “divine dwelling in the midst of the people.” The concept of YHWH’s dwelling emerging through the lexeme mškn in the Deuteronomistic History seems to focus on His immanent and communicating presence among His people. The authors and editors of the Deuteronomistic History seem to show a yearning desire for God “dwelling among us” just as we do in the 21st century.
Notes
1. Cf. D. Kellermann, “mškn” in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, vol. 9, ed. J. Botterweck et al., trans. D. Green (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1998), 58.
2. Ibid.
3. N. Sarna, Exodus. The JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia, PA: Jewish Publication Society, 1991), 158.
4. Cf. Kellermann, “mškn,” 58.
5. Cf. Kellermann, “mškn,” 59.
6. Cf. Kellermann, “mškn,” 60.
7. Cf. Num 24:5; Job 21:28; Isa. 54:2; Jer 30:18.
8. In sharp contrast, according to the texts at later stages the mškn was also located at Gibeon for a while (cf. 1 Chr 16:39; 21:29; 2 Chr 1:3–6, 13). Cf. R. Friedman, “Tabernacle,” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 6, ed. D. Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 293.
9. Cf. Kellermann, “mškn,” 62.
10. Cf. Kellermann, “mškn,” 62.
11. Cf. Kellermann, “mškn,” 62.
12. Cf. Friedman, “Tabernacle,” 293.
13. “They brought in the ark of the LORD, and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and offerings of well-being before the LORD” (NRSV).
14. NRSV.
15. Cf. Kellermann, “mškn,” 63.
16. Cf. Kellermann, “mškn,” 63.
17. Cf. Kellermann, “mškn,” 63.
18. Cf. R. Hartmann, “Zelt und Lade,” Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 37 (1917): 215.
19. Cf. Hartmann, “Zelt und Lade,”239–41.
20. Cf. Hartmann, “Zelt und Lade,”210f.
21. Cf. Hartmann, “Zelt und Lade,”239–41.
