Did G'd live truly in a tent?

Question

Shabbat Shalom, I've heard a rabbi, and he said that G'd lives inside human beings since always, but I found this verse from II Samuel 7:6:

From the day that I brought the people of Israel out of Egypt to this day I have not dwelt in a house, but have moved about in Tent and Tabernacle.

It means that he didn't live inside a home according to the same chapter, verse 5:

“Go and say to My servant David: Thus said the LORD: Are you the one to build a house for Me to dwell in?

I want to understant what's the difference for G'd to live in a tent and not inhabit a home, and if this is true, this is, that G'd would live inside a tent.

Observe that the expression used is בְּאֹ֖הֶל (in a tent).

According to Exodus 25:8, we have the following:

And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.

וְעָ֥שׂוּ לִ֖י מִקְדָּ֑שׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּ֖י בְּתוֹכָֽם׃

Also, is it that G'd inhabited among them or inside them?

Answer 1

Solomon's dedication of the temple is a good answer to your question:

כִּ֚י הַֽאֻמְנָ֔ם יֵשֵׁ֧ב אֱלֹהִ֛ים ‬אֶת־הָאָדָ֖ם‬ עַל־הָאָ֑רֶץ הִ֠נֵּה שָׁמַ֜יִם וּשְׁמֵ֤י הַשָּׁמַ֨יִם֙ לֹ֣א יְכַלְכְּל֔וּךָ אַ֕ף כִּֽי־הַבַּ֥יִת הַזֶּ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר בָּנִֽיתִי׃ (דברי הימים ב 6:18)

Does God really dwell with man on earth? Even the heavens to their uttermost reaches cannot contain You; how much less this House that I have built! 19Yet turn, O LORD my God, to the prayer and supplication of Your servant, and hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant offers to You. 20May Your eyes be open day and night toward this House, toward the place where You have resolved to make Your name abide; may You heed the prayers that Your servant offers toward this place. 21And when You hear the supplications that Your servant and Your people Israel offer toward this place, give heed in Your heavenly abode—give heed and pardon. (2 Chon. 6:18–21, JPS Tanakh)

Important is לֹ֣א יְכַלְכְּל֔וּךָ (negative + Pi'el imperfect 3rd masculine singular with 2nd person masculine singular of כול "cannot contain You"). It does not say God does not live in you, in the Tabernacle, or in the Temple, but God is not limited to such.

Figure 1. The senses of כול in the MT (generated with Logos Bible Software).

Also remember the passage:

  6 It is beyond my knowledge; 
     it is a mystery; I cannot fathom it. 
  7 Where can I escape from Your spirit? 
  Where can I flee from Your presence? 
  8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; 
     if I descend to Sheol, You are there too. 
  9 If I take wing with the dawn 
     to come to rest on the western horizon, 
     10 even there Your hand will be guiding me, 
     Your right hand will be holding me fast. 
  11 If I say, “Surely darkness will conceal me, 
     night will provide me with cover,” 
     12 darkness is not dark for You; 
     night is as light as day; 
     darkness and light are the same. 
           (Psalm 139:6–12, JPS Tanakh) 

As far as Exodus 25:8 look at the context of בְּתֹוכָֽם, essentially a physical sanctuary among them.

And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them [בְּתֹוכָֽם]. (Exodus 25:8, JPS Tanakh)

Plus, I would expect inside a person to be expressed with לֵבָב (1 Samuel 16:7).

However, Paul, educated as a rabbi, wrote:

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? (1 Cor. 3:16, ESV)

Assuming the rabbi is not a Jewish Christian, he wouldn't have the same theology as Paul, but might reason similar to Paul. If the rabbi viewed a person as a temple of God, he would come up with the same conclusion.

See also In John 1:14 what does ἐσκήνωσεν mean?

Answer 2

2 Sam 7:4-16 is the formal establishment of the Davidic Royal covenant with David and his descendants which ultimately results in Jesus as Messiah becoming the king od Israel. Matt 1:1, 20, 9:27, 12:23, 15:22, 20:30, 15, 21:9, 15, Mark 10:35, Luke 1:32, 33, 18:38, 39, John 1:49, Acts 13:32-37, Heb 1:8.

This covenant with David was God's response to David's stated intention to build the temple on Mt Zion:

2 Sam 7:2 - [David] said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”

This "tent" was the tent that Moses had specified in Ex 25-40. Indeed, at was a tent and designed to be moved easily and thus follow the Israelites in their desert wanderings for almost 40 years. Later the tent (= tabernacle) was moved to Shiloh (1 Sam 1-3) but then David moved it to Jerusalem (2 Sam 6).

Evidently David believed it inappropriate that he should live in a beautiful cedar building while the ark of the covenant, symbolizing the presence of God with the Shekinah glory, was housed in a little tent! Thus David purposed to build a magnificent temple of grand design.

However as 2 Sam 7:5 records, David was forbidden to build the temple - that task was left to Solomon. It is significant that in Solomon's prayer of dedication, once the new temple was complete that he said this:

1 Kings 8:27 - But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.

Thus, Solomon recognized the infinite omnipresence of God and that a temple could not contain God; see Ps 139:7-12, Isa 66:1, Jer 23:23, 24, Heb 4:13, Matt 18:20, etc. Thus, the temple and its predecessor, the tabernacle/tent was merely a symbol of the presence of God at the center of Israel's economy, polity, ethics and morality.

Answer 3

The tabernacle is a prophetic picture of God coming to live in the human flesh among the people as one of them. Unlike a temple made of brick and stone, the tent describes the best vulnerability and pilgrimage of our human existence.

John 1: 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt [tabernacled] among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

2 Peter 1: 13 Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; 14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.

God never asked David for a temple. All the surrounding nations had them. Just like earthly kings. He never wanted either. God was contended with His tabernacle. Stephen uses building of the temple as a proof of people's disobedience.

Acts 7: 44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. 45 Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David; 46 Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built him an house. 48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, 49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? 50 Hath not my hand made all these things? 51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

Answer 4

Isaiah records the LORD's words:

... The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
_{Isaiah 66:1 (KJV)}

So, according to the LORD, heaven is where He dwells, and the earth is where He sets his feet.

David explains what God means by "my rest":

... Hear me, my brethren, and my people: As for me, I had in mine heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building:
_{1 Chronicles 28:2 (KJV)}

So, it's not God, Himself, who is resting in the Tabernacle or Temple, but the ark of His covenant.

Regarding the "footstool of our God", David is making reference to authority and rule. For example:

The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
_{Psalms 110:1 (KJV)}

In the NT James reinforces this notion of a footstool when he speaks of the unrighteous practice of respect based on wealth and influence that was happening in the church:

And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:
_{James 2:3 (KJV)}

So the Tabernacle and Temple were to be a resting place for the ark of the covenant (one mobile, for Israel only, and one fixed, for the nations of the OT world), and a place from which God would make His authority and rule known upon the earth (first to Israel and then to all the nations of the OT world).

The ark of the covenant of the LORD was a holy object and the central item within the Tabernacle and Temple, and the design of the holy place in which it stood has great significance.

Remember this: when the LORD put Adam out of Paradise he installed Cherubims to guard the way of return:

So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
_{Genesis 3:24 (KJV)}

Well, Moses records God's words in regard to the Tabernacle of meeting:

¹⁸And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. ¹⁹And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. ²⁰And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.
²¹And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. ²²And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
_{Exodus 25:18-22 (KJV)}

And 1 Kings records, concerning Solomon's Temple:

²³And within the oracle he made two cherubims of olive tree, each ten cubits high. ²⁴And five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub: from the uttermost part of the one wing unto the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits. ²⁵And the other cherub was ten cubits: both the cherubims were of one measure and one size. The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was it of the other cherub.
²⁷And he set the cherubims within the inner house: and they stretched forth the wings of the cherubims, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house.
_{1 Kings 6:23-27 (KJV)}

When Moses writes, quoting the LORD, "... I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims ...", the picture forms of God standing within Paradise speaking "between the cheribims" to man on the outside of Paradise. The ark of the covenant is thus the portal through which a holy God was to commune with His enemies in order to teach them His ways and draw them to Himself:

⁷Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God. ⁸And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you.
_{Leviticus 20:7-8 (KJV)}

So, all the many statutes surrounding the elaborate rites and practices in regard to the people and objects associated with the Tabernacle and Temple were specifically to facilitate this communion between Him who is holy and man, by virtue of his long history of separation, who is unholy.

By way of conclusion, then, the LORD never lived in a tent. His place of residence has always been heaven. The means by which He communed with man, however, needed to have a house, a resting place for the ark of His covenant.