THEFIXEDSTARS 153And somemensaw occasion forstumbling inthe
useoftheword"tabernacle." "Inthemhath Heset
atabernacleforthesun." Theythoughtofataber-
nacleasatent,andthattheideaoftheversewasto
suggestaclosedplace inwhichthesunresidedasin
atent. Thistent,ofcourse,wasthedomeofthesky.
Theysaidthereisnocrystaldomeaboveus,asthought
theancients. Inthispassagewehave evidence, said
they, thattheignoranceofmen wrotewhatnowwe
knowisnotthetruth. Butitisloosereasoningindeed
thatcangatherthisfromthetext.
Thewordtranslated"tabernacle"camefromaroot
wordmeaning to shine. Tents whiteand shiningin
thesunlightwerethought ofinconnectionwiththis
word;andanewword,"tabernacle,"wasthusderived
fromtherootword"shine." Thereforetherootidea
oftheword"tabernacle"is notessentiallyatent, or
covering,butratherathingthatisconspicuousfrom
adistance. Asatentwasconspicuous,itwasdesig-
natedbyawordderivedfromtheword"shine." But
there were other words in Hebrew which meant a
tent,ortabernacle;andifthiswastheessentialidea
inthemind ofinspiration, itis strangethat sucha
wordwasnot employed. Butthe wordthatishere
usedhasapecuHarfitness. Ourscienceonlyhelpsus
togetthefullsignificanceofthetermwhichinspira-
tion saw fit to employ. Follow this carefully: At
onetime,therewasnotthisword"tabernacle"inthe
Hebrew,buttherewasawordmeaningtoshine. In
Biblelands,thedwellingplacesweretoalargeextent
tabernacles,ortents. Asmensawtheirtentsfroma