Tent
In Leviticus 26:11, God says:
‘I will pitch My tent among you’
Why would God refer to Himself as living in a tent?
The Greek word translated as tent is skene (pronounced skaynay). This word is used throughout the Bible and has been translated in other Bibles as ‘booth’, ‘tent’, and ‘tabernacle’. However, none of these words accurately describe what skene means. It’s a temporary type of dwelling that can be made of cloths, skins, or even of sticks and branches.
For example, God’s Sacred Tent (skene) in the desert was made of cloth and covered with skins, while the structures (_skene_s) that the IsraElites were to live in during what has become known as ‘the Festival of Booths’ was made of sticks and branches.
The Greek word oikos (pronounce oy-koss), on the other hand, refers to a permanent dwelling, and it is usually translated as ‘house’. For example, when the IsraElites were wandering in the desert, the Sacred Tent of Jehovah was to be temporary (a skene). But when Solomon later built His Temple, it was often referred to as a ‘house’ (oikos), since it was a permanent structure. However, ‘house’ in this case didn’t mean a ‘home’, because God didn’t live there.
So, notice how the meanings of the original words sheds light on what it means by God coming to ‘tent’ with mankind (as at Revelation 21:3). The term likely refers a temporary presence or representation, not to His coming to the earth to permanently live among humans.
Interesting correction in Revelation 7:15
Revelation 7:15 says:
‘the One who is sitting on the throne will spread His tent over them’
What’s interesting is that in the Codex Sinaiticus, it originally said something different before being corrected by another scribe:
‘the One who is sitting on the throne knows them’
A later scribe corrected it to:
‘the One who is sitting on the throne knows about them’
And then a third one corrected it to what we’re used to seeing in most Bibles today (literally, ‘tent over them’). And that’s what you’ll see in our translation.
But it’s interesting. Could the reading ‘knows them’ or ‘knows about them’ be an older, more authentic version of the text? Probably not, but you never know! The two words (ΓΙΝΩΣΚΕΙ and ΣΚΗΝΩΣΕΙ) were obviously confused, but by whom?