Dwell (Dwelt, Spread Tabernacle) (4637) (skenoo from skenos = tent, abode) means to dwell literally in a tent, to reside, to take up one's residence, to pitch one's tent, encamp, to live in a tent (as God did in the Tabernacle of old, a symbol of protection and communion). In Revelation skenoo describes God tabernacling with men and in Jn 1:14 skenoo describes Jesus the Eternal Logos tabernacling, a fulfillment in a sense of God's OT Shekinah glory (cp Ex 40:34-35, cp "cloud" in Lk 9:34) now among men in the person of Jesus, Who is fully (100%) God and fully (100%) Man (Mysterious? Yes. Truth? Absolutely! John explains how vital for one's salvation (Read Jn 1:11, 12, 13) is it that one believe this mysterious truth "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God." (1Jn 4:2) MacArthur has some interesting thoughts on the root word skenos (tent) - A tent is an apt metaphor for the human body, which is a temporary home for the eternal souls of those whose real home is in heaven (Php 3:20) and who are aliens and strangers in this world (Ge 47:9; 1Chr 29:15; Ps 119:19; Heb 11:13; 1Pe 1:1, 17; 2:11). Just as the tabernacle of Israel's wanderings in the wilderness was replaced with a permanent building when Israel entered the Promised Land, so the temporary tent in which believers now dwell will be replaced one day in heaven with an eternal, imperishable body (1 Cor. 15:42, 53-54). (2 Corinthians Commentary) Köstenberger notes that skenoo "suggests that in Jesus, God has come to take up residence among his people once again, in a way even more intimate than when he dwelt in the midst of wilderness Israel in the tabernacle (Ex 40:34-35).?? Moses met God and heard his word in the "tent of meeting" (Ex 33:9); now, people may meet God and hear him in the flesh of Jesus (Mowvley 1984: 136). Jesus' "pitching his tent among us" is here related to the incarnation, that is, his being made human flesh; according to John, Jesus took the place of the temple (Schlatter 1948: 23; cf. Hoskins 2002: 170-74; Kerr 2002: 122-23). The aorist tense of ?????? could be viewed as ingressive ("began to dwell") or complexive ("dwelt" in its totality); perhaps both are in view: the Word took up residence, and then stayed (Ridderbos 1997: 51; Morris 1995: 91).??(John. Baker exegetical commentary on the New Testament). Skenoo - 5x in 4v - NAS Usage: dwell(3), dwelt(1), spread His tabernacle(1). John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. Revelation 7:15 "For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. Revelation 12:12 "For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time." Revelation 13:6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Revelation 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, Skenoo - 3x in Lxx - Ge 13:12, Jdg 5:17, 8:11 Genesis 13:12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled (yashab; Lxx - katoikeo) in the cities of the valley, and moved his tents (Heb = ahal = move or pitch a tent; skenoo = pitched his tent) as far as Sodom Judges 8:11 Gideon went up by the way of those who lived (Heb = shakan = settle down; Lxx = skenoo) in tents (skenos - tabernacles) on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and attacked the camp when the camp was unsuspecting. In Ex 33:7-11 we see the OT parallel , where the Tent of Meeting (Tabernacle) was the OT picture which was fulfilled when Jesus tabernacled among men... Ex 33:7 Now Moses used to take the TENT and pitch it outside the camp, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the TENT (Hebrew = ohel; Lxx = skenos) OF MEETING (Lxx = Marturion [verb = martureo] literally the "testimony tent" - the Tent gave "witness" to the reality of God, even as the incarnation of Jesus, the "Tabernacling" of Jesus among men gave witness to the unseen God - see Jn 1:18) . And it came about, that everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the TENT OF MEETING (Tabernacle) which was outside the camp. 8 And it came about, whenever Moses went out to the tent, that all the people would arise and stand, each at the entrance of his tent, and gaze after Moses until he entered the tent. 9 And it came about, whenever Moses entered the tent, the PILLAR OF CLOUD (Visible manifestation indicative of the presence of God, the Shekinah Glory) of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent; and the LORD would speak with Moses. 10 When all the people saw the PILLAR OF CLOUD standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would arise and worship, each at the entrance of his tent. 11 Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. Marvin Vincent's note on "dwelt" - Literally, tabernacled, fixed, or had His tabernacle: from skene, a tent or tabernacle. The verb is used only by John: in the Gospel only here, and in Rev 7:15; 12:12; 13:6; 21:3. It occurs in classical writings, as in Xenophon, "he pitched his tent in the plain" ("Anabasis," vii. 4, 11). So Plato, arguing against the proposition that the unjust die by the inherent destructive power of evil, says that "injustice which murders others keeps the murderer alive - aye, and unsleeping too; "literally, so far has her tent been spread from being a house of death" ("Republic," 610). The figure here is from the Old Testament (Lev 27:11; 2Sa 7:6; Ps 78:67 sqq.; Ezek 37:27-note). The tabernacle was the dwelling-place of Jehovah; the meeting-place of God and Israel. So the Word came to men in the person of Jesus. As Jehovah adopted for His habitation a dwelling like that of the people in the wilderness, so the Word assumed a community of nature with mankind, an embodiment like that of humanity at large, and became flesh. "That which was from the beginning, we heard, we saw, we beheld, we handled. Our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ" (1Jn 1:1-3. Cf Php. 2:7, 8-note). Some find in the word tabernacle, a temporary structure (see the contrast between skenos = tabernacle, and oikodome = building, in 2Cor 5:1-note), a suggestion of the transitoriness of our Lord's stay upon earth; which may well be, although the word does not necessarily imply this; for in Rev 21:3-note, it is said of the heavenly Jerusalem "the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will set up his tabernacle (skenosei) with them." Dante alludes to the incarnation in the seventh canto of the "Paradise:" -- "the human species down below Lay sick for many centuries in great error, Till to descend it pleased the Word of God To where the nature, which from its own Maker Estranged itself, He joined to Him in person By the sole act of His eternal love." Spurgeon - Now, Christ's human flesh was God's tabernacle, and it is in Christ that God meets with man, and in Christ that man hath dealings with God....we, having been washed in the precious blood of Christ, have access with boldness unto God, even the Father through Christ, who is our tabernacle and the tabernacle of God among men....Over the mercy-seat stood the cherubim, whose wings met each other, and beneath the wings of the cherubim there was a bright light, known to the Hebrew believer by the name of the Shekinan. That light represented the presence of God. Immediately above that light there might be seen at night a pillar of fire, and by day a spiral column of cloud rose from it, which no doubt expanded itself into one vast cloud, which covered all the camp, and shielded all the Israelites from the blaze of the broiling sun. The glory of the tabernacles, I say, was the Shekinah. What does our text say? Jesus Christ was God's tabernacle, and "we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father." Jesus is not the tabernacle without the glory; he is not as the temple when the voice was heard with the rushing of winds before the siege of Jerusalem, crying, "Arise, let us go hence," but it was a temple in which God himself dwelt after a special manner; "for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." (Col 2:9-note) (John 1:14 The Glory Of Christ - Beheld) Arrowsmith - Three sorts of men are described in the Bible as living in tents: shepherds, sojourners, and soldiers. The phrase here used has reference to the calling of all these three, and that it points to Christ's life on earth being that of a shepherd, a traveler, and a soldier. (The Biblical Illustrator) G. J. Brown - The Jews in the wilderness had a tabernacle or tent, wherein they worshipped God, and there the glory of God was seen. Over the mercy seat hovered the Shechinah. A glorious light, the symbol of the Divine presence, shone ever in the sanctuary. In like manner Christ, who is "the brightness of the Father's glory," the true Shechinah, tabernacled among us. His flesh, that is, His body of human nature, was as a tabernacle, in which resided that Divine nature of which the glory in the Jewish tabernacle was the symbol. Thus the Tabernacle of God was with men, and He dwelt among us. (The Biblical Illustrator) Steven Cole - John could have said, "The Word lived among us," but instead he used the unusual word, translated dwelt, which means "to pitch a tent" or "to tabernacle." It is used of the tabernacle in the Old Testament, where God dwelt with His people in the wilderness. John does not mean by this term that Jesus' humanity was temporary, but rather, His stay on earth was temporary. By using the word that was used of the tabernacle, coupled with seeing Jesus' glory, John wants us to make some connections. Just as the tabernacle was the place where God dwelt with His people and manifested His glory, so Jesus is Immanuel, God with Us. Just as the tabernacle was at the center of Israel's camp, so Christ is to be at the center of the church. Just as sacrifices and worship were offered at the tabernacle, so Jesus is our complete and final sacrifice, and we have access to God through Him. Every aspect of the tabernacle speaks of Christ (See Christ in the Tabernacle by Louis T. Talbot). The bronze altar for sacrifice and the bronze laver for cleansing point to Christ. The table of showbread in the holy place speaks of Christ, the living bread. The golden lampstand points to Christ, the light, who illumines the things of God. The altar of incense reminds us of Christ's making intercession for us. In the holy of holies, the ark of the covenant, made of wood covered with gold, points to the two natures of Christ. On top of the ark was the mercy seat, where the blood of atonement was sprinkled. Inside were the tablets of the law, pointing to Christ, the fulfillment of God's law for us; the jar of manna, pointing to Christ as our sustenance; and Aaron's rod that budded, pointing to Jesus as "the branch," who was raised from the dead and gives new life to those who were dead in their sins. Jesus, our tabernacle, "dwelt among us"! (The Word Became Flesh John 1:14) Ray Pritchard - In the Bible three kinds of people lived in tents-shepherds, sojourners, and soldiers. They lived in tents because they never stayed in one place very long. Jesus lived in the "tent" of his humanity for 33 years on the earth because he too was a shepherd, a sojourner, and a soldier. He came to be the Good Shepherd, he came as a visitor from heaven, and he came as the Captain of our Salvation to defeat the devil once and for all. Jesus was God's rescue mission to the human race. He came on a mission from God. When his mission was over, he went back to heaven. While he was here, he pitched his tent among us. When his time was up, he took his tent of human flesh and rejoined his Father in heaven. (Sermon) Ray Stedman - The key to John 1:14 is the word "dwelt": "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." That is an interesting word. It declares that Jesus "tented," he "tabernacled," among us. He came and lived in a tent in our midst. John saw that human tent. 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