We are going to look at several issues here in 1 Kings 8.10-11. What does it mean when it says “the priests could not minister” and what is the “cloud” and the “glory” in 1 Kings 8.11? First of all, the priests could not minister because of the cloud, which is the “Shekinah” or “presence of God.” Now, people think the “presence” is a “warm and fuzzy” feeling but it isn’t. Men like Peter (Luke 5.8), Isaiah (Isa 6.5), and John (Rev 1.17) felt “struck” in God’s presence. This isn’t because God forced some uncomfortable feeling upon them, but because they were not comfortable in their sinful state in God’s presence. This “kivod” or “glory” remained at the Temple until Israel totally rejected Yehovah in the time of Ezekiel (Ezek 10.18) prior to the destruction of the city. So, we need to look at the concept of the presence of God (Shekinah), the glory of God (kivod) and the power of God (Ruach/Spirit).
We have seen these concepts mentioned before this point in the Tanak, but we will develop these concepts out here because it will relate to the Temple, and to the future. There has been much misunderstanding about these terms and we will need to go over them to get the right concepts that go behind them.
The Shekinah is the presence of God, the dwelling place of God. The Ruach is the Holy Spirit, the power that was promised to a believer with certain manifestations. These manifestations were seen as prophetic of the Kingdom of God. The Kivod is the radiance and glory of God. We are going to take a look at these concepts and that will give us understanding so that we can understand them in their context.
When Adam sinned, he lost his “kedusha” (holiness, set apart status). The Shekinah comes from the root “sh’kan” which means “to dwell’ and “sh’kin” which means “neighbor.” In Gen 3.8 we have “presence” translated as “pannay” which means “faces” so these terms will be related. In 2 Cor 5.1-3 we see that the Shekinah would return to the people. The Shekinah departed when Adam sinned, along with the Ruach and Kivod, but we are going to deal with one at a time. It returned and manifested at times after that but it did not reside or “dwell” until after Yeshua. In Exo 19.1-11 we have the “cloud” and that was symbolic of the Shekinah (presence). In three days God would reveal himself and that was prophetic of the Messiah (Hos 5.15 to Hos 6.3).
Moses is seen as escorting the bride to meet the Lord at Mount Sinai and this was a “betrothal” (Jer 2.2), and he was one of two witnesses. The other witness will be assigned to the groom, to introduce the groom to the bride, and he was seen as Elijah. So, Moses and Elijah were the two witnesses. They signify the Torah (Mosses) and the Prophets (Elijah) and this is how we are introduced to Yeshua (Psa 40.7; Luke 16.31, 24.27;John 5.39-47). These constitute the two witnesses (Rom 3.21) in regards to the bride and groom. Yochanon ha Matvil (John the Immerser) said he was the “friend of the bridegroom” and we know he came in the spirit (cut out of the same cloth) and power of Elijah (Luke 1.17).
As a result of this meeting with the Lord on Sinai, Moses receives plans for the Mishkan (see the “sh’kan” in the word) and it will be placed in the center of the camp of Israel. But, while this is being built, a tent of meeting (ohel moed) was used outside of the camp. Moses would come and go, and Joshua stayed there and the people were in tents. The tent of meeting was used for legal matters and for judging the people.
Now, in Exo 33.12-23 we have an example of some of the terms being used. In v 12 we have “favor” which is “chessed” (grace) in Hebrew and this will allow Moses to have the “presence” of God go with him. The “face of God” is a synonym for the Shekinah. In v 18 we have the “glory” and this will be our word “kivod.” The Kivod (glory) came upon Moses in Exo 34.29-35 and his face radiated with it.
So, as you can see, you can have the Shekinah and Kivod in the same place, or they can manifest differently. They are not the same thing and are never referred to as the “Shekinah Glory” like in Christianity. The Mishkan was the dwelling place of God in the midst of the camp, and remember it comes from the word “sh’kin” which also means “neighbor.” Yehovah becomes a “neighbor” with his people. God also gives the “avodah” or worship that was to be done in the Mishkan. The Torah is the source for the only religious form of worship ever given to mankind. These were primarily the “Korbanot” (offerings). In Hebrew thought, today’s services are not biblical worship. They are meetings and assemblies, but not worship in the biblical sense.
Praise in the Mishkan/Temple was seen as worship. Praise outside of the Mishkan/Temple was not considered worship (Rom 9.4) The purpose of the Mishkan remained unchanged all the way to Solomon. The Mishkan was repaired several times and the building went from skins to actual stone on the sides. The Beit Ha Mikdash was built and it also went through several changes. Solomon’s Temple went from small to large, with the same furniture. When that was destroyed and Zerubbabel built another Temple, it was smaller than Solomon’s. That one was revised by the Hasmoneans and Herod and eventually called “Herod’s Temple.” This Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.
There are two more Temples coming. The next one will be the Temple used during the time of Jacob’s Trouble (Birth-pains) and then after Yeshua returns a larger Temple will be built called Ezekiel’s Temple (Ezek 40-48). What we have here is a progression from simple to complex. The purpose of the Temple and the “avodah” (services) was the worship of God. God wanted to reveal himself through manifestations there, and teach the people about the concept of “Kedusha.” Our finite minds and bodies could not handle the Lord just coming and saying “Here I am.” He divides his manifestations into different concepts and through thousands of people so we can grasp them.
As revelation increased, the Temple increased. Biblically speaking, for us to understand what God wants us to understand, we must understand the Mishkan and the Temple (all of them) because it was a living, breathing manifestation of Yehovah. Everything a worshiper senses is through experience, and it teaches about the Lord. It reveals the spiritual things in everything you would see, hear, feel, taste and smell in the Temple. What does that show us? It shows us what happens to a believer when they are “born again.” Yehovah will come into your “Mishkan” and you will receive the Shekinah (presence) and that separates you from all else. Adam was the first Mishkan and he had the fullness of the Shekinah, Kivod and the Ruach. He lost them when he sinned, but they are going to be restored to mankind through the Messiah.
The whole earth will be filled with his Kivod (Num 14.21; Psa 72.19; Isa 6.3). In Exo 40.34-38, the tent of meeting was done away with and the Mishkan was used. The cloud (Shekinah) and the glory (Kivod) filled it. In 1 Kings 8.1-3 they will take the Ark of the Covenant to Solomon’s Temple, and the Shekinah and Kivod fill the Temple (v 10-11). He then goes into a prayer and says that the name of Yehovah will dwell there. He would listen to prayers from there (1 Kings 8.29-30, 44, 48), as evidenced by David (Psa 5.7, 28.1-2, 138.2), the Prophet Daniel (Dan 6.10) and Jonah (Jonah 2.4). In Ezekiel 1 we have a vision of the Kivod of God (v 28). In Ezek 9.1-3 we have the Kivod beginning to depart the Temple because of idolatry (Ezek 8.1-18), leaving the Cheruvim on the Ark to the threshold of the Temple. Then in Ezek 10.19 it moves to the east gate of the Temple, then to the midst of city and then to the Mount of Olives east of the city (Ezek 11.23). It stayed there for three years. Eventually that Temple was destroyed. Yeshua departed the Temple the same way (Matt 23.39, 24.1-3) and departed from the Mount of Olives (Acts 1.9-13). Eventually that Temple was destroyed.
The Kivod and Shekinah was manifested in the Mishkan and Solomon’s Temple. Zerubbabel and Ezra rebuilt the Temple after the Babylonian Captivity, but there is no record that the Kivod and Shekinah dwelt in that Temple. The only thing that was left was the foundation stone for the Ark in the Kodesh Ha Kodeshim (Holy of Holies). But when Yeshua came and rose from the dead, the Kivod, Shekinah and Ruach came and dwelt on the people who were gathered in the Temple for the festival of Shavuot in Acts 2.
In Part 8 we will pick up here and begin to discuss how we have assigned our own meanings to many words in the Gospels and Epistles, but we need to remember that they were written by Jews and we need to understand them with the concepts they were trying to get across to the reader, and the concepts of the Kivod, Shekinah, and the Ruach are no exception.
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