Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

SHEKINAH

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 826 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

SHEKINAH , a See also:

Hebrew word meaning " that which dwells " or " the dwelling." It is one of the expressions used in the Targums in See also:place of " See also:God." In the Targums.—The word "Shekinah " is of See also:constant occurrence in the See also:Tar gums or Aramaic paraphrases of the Biblical lections that were read in the See also:synagogue-service to the See also:people. See also:Great care was taken by the See also:scribes in these renderings to mitigate the anthropomorphic expressions applied to God in the Scriptures, and by See also:paraphrase, the use of abstract terms and indirect phraseology, to prevent such expressions from giving rise to erroneous views as to God's See also:personal manifestation in the popular mind. Whenever, e.g. any indication of See also:local See also:limitation or See also:action was implied or expressed, in the Hebrew See also:text, of God the Targumists were careful to substitute some expression involving the use of " Shekinah." In these connexions " Shekinah " thus becomes the See also:equivalent of God " or its synonyms. One or two examples will make the See also:Targum-usage clear. Thus Ex. See also:xxix. 45 (" and I will dwell among the See also:children of See also:Israel and will be their God ") is rendered in the Targum (Onkelos) : " And I will cause my Shekinah to dwell in the midst of the children of Israel, and I will be their God." All expressions implying God's local presence are similarly rendered: thus e.g. Habak. ii. 20 (" See also:Jehovah is in His See also:holy See also:temple ") is rendered " Jehovah was pleased to cause His Shekinah to dwell," &c. "To see " God is similarly paraphrased. Thus Is. xxxiii. 17 (" thine eyes shall see the See also:King in His beauty ") is rendered (Targum of See also:Jonathan) : " Thine eyes shall see the Shekinah of the king of the worlds in His beauty." So too " hiding the See also:face " when used of God is regularly paraphrased " remove His Shekinah " (Is. lvii. 17, viii.

17, lix. 2; Jers xxxiii. 5; cf. Is. i. 15, &c.). Closely connected with the See also:

idea of the Shekinah, but distinct from it, is that of " the See also:glory of the See also:Lord." " Glory," indeed, in this connexion was conceived of as a See also:property of the Shekinah (as, in fact, it is of God for whom " Shekinah " is the equivalent). For the divine " glory " as a property of the Shekinah, cf. e.g. Is. vi. 5 (" mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts "), which is rendered in the Targum: " mine eyes have seen the glory of the Shekinah of the King of the worlds the Lord of hosts." In the New Testament.—In the New Testament both the See also:term and the idea are referred to in various ways. The See also:close association of the divine " glory " with the visible Shekinah has already been referred to. This Shekinah-glory is several times denoted in the' New Testament by b6 a. The most notable passage is Rom. ix.

4 where St See also:

Paul, enumerating the See also:list of Israel's privileges, says: " whose is the See also:adoption, and the glory " (i.e. the Shekinah-glory, the visible presence of God among His people), &c. cf. See also:Luke ii. 9. There is also an obvious allusion to the Shekinah in the description of the theophanic See also:cloud of the transfiguration-narrative (St. Matt. xvii. 5: " a See also:bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold a See also:voice out of the cloud, saying &c.; cf. St See also:Mark ix. 7; St Luke ix. 34), the same verb being used as in the LXX. of Exod. xl. 34, 35, of the cloud which rested on the See also:tabernacle when it was filled with " the glory of the Lord." There can be no doubt, too, that the word rendered " tabernacle" (o-Krlvr)) with the corresponding verb " to tabernacle " (o-Kflvouv) has been chosen for use in St See also:John i. 14 and Rev. xii. 3, from its likeness both in See also:sound and meaning to the term " Shekinah." The passage in See also:Revelation runs: " Behold the tabernacle (o,c z'i1) of God is with men, and He will tabernacle (aerpe.e ra) with them." In St John i.

14 there is an allusion to the Word (= memra of the Targums), the Shekinah, and the Shekinah-glory, all of which the writer declares became incarnate in Jesus. Cf. also Heb. i. 3 (" effulgence of the [Shekinah] glory "). In See also:

Talmud and See also:Midrash.—It is remarkable that the memra (= See also:Logos or " Word ") of the Targums almost entirely' disappears in the Midrashic literature and the Talmud, its place being taken by Shekinah. The Rabbis apparently dreaded the possibility of such terms becoming hypostasized into personal entities distinct from God. Against this they emphasized the Shekinah-idea: It is safe to say that wherever Shekinah is mentioned in Rabbinic literature it is God's See also:direct action or activity that is thought of. See also:Independent See also:personality is never imputed to it.' It is probable that the use of the term was often in Rabbinic writings polemical (against Jewish Christians or gnostic sects). See under " Shekinah " in See also:Hastings' Dict. of the See also:Bible, and Dict. of See also:Christ and the Gospels, and in the Jewish Encyclopedia; also See also:Weber, Jiidische Theologie, 2nd ed., especially pp. 185-19o. For the Targums in See also:English, cf. See also:Etheridge, The Targums on the See also:Pentateuch (2 vols., 1862 and 1865) ; and See also:Pauli, The See also:Chaldee Paraphrase of the See also:Prophet See also:Isaiah (See also:London, 1871). (G.

H.

End of Article: SHEKINAH

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
SHEKEL (from Heb. shakal, to weigh) 		[next]
SHELBY, ISAAC (1750-1826)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries