Parasols Tabernacle?

Discussion about the Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, pseudepigrapha, Philo, Josephus, Talmud, Dead Sea Scrolls, archaeology, etc.
Post Reply
Ethan
Posts: 976
Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 1:15 pm
Location: England
Contact:

Parasols Tabernacle?

Post by Ethan »

Herodotus 7.100
Xerxes alighted from his chariot into a Sidonian ship and sat under a golden canopy
ὁ Ξέρξης μετεκβὰς ἐκ τοῦ ἅρματος ἐς νέα Σιδωνίην ἵζετο ὑπὸ σκηνῇ χρυσέῃ

Plutarch, Themistocles 16 (set during reign of Xerxes)
He will no longer sit under a golden parasol
οὐκέτι καθήμενος ὑπὸ σκιάδι χρυσῇ

Leviticus 23:42
(Vulgate) et habitabitis in umbraculis "and you shall dwell in parasols"
(MT) בסכת תשבו
(LXX) ἐν σκηναῗς κατοικήσετε

בסכת תשבוὑπό σκιάσιν καθῆσθε → "You shall sit under parasols."

Image
Last edited by Ethan on Mon Jan 23, 2023 9:28 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Ethan
Posts: 976
Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 1:15 pm
Location: England
Contact:

Re: Leviticus 23:42 Parasols

Post by Ethan »

Josephus - Antiquities of the Jews 3.289 William Whiston (1737)
When they set up the tabernacle, they received it into the midst of their camp, three of the tribes pitching their tents on each side of it; and roads were cut through the midst of these tents. It was like a well-appointed market; and every thing was there ready for sale in due order; and all sorts of artificers were in the shops; and it resembled nothing so much as a city that sometimes was movable, and sometimes fixed.

Πηγνύντες δὲ τὴν σκηνὴν μέσην ἀπελάμβανον τριῶν φυλῶν κατὰ πλευρὰν ἑκάστην παρασκηνουμένων: ὁδοὶ δὲ διὰ μέσων ἐτέτμηντο, καὶ κόσμος ἦν ἀγορᾶς, καὶ τῶν πωλουμένων ἕκαστον ἐν τάξει διέκειτο, καὶ δημιουργοὶ τέχνης ἁπάσης ἐν τοῖς ἐργαστηρίοις ἦσαν, οὐδενί τε ἄλλῳ ἢ πόλει μετανισταμένῃ καὶ καθιδρυμένῃ ἐῴκει.
The translations of Josephus out there are outdated, the initial verb here is πηγνύντες "pitched", so πηγνύντες δὲ τὴν σκηνὴν should read "And they pitched the tent". Also, why is παρασκηνουμένων translated "pitching their tents" when σκηνὴν is earlier read as tabernacle.

Josephus describes this complex as a well-appointed market (ἀγορᾶς) and it was movable, a mobile supermarket. This is described in Ezekiel 48:31.
Ezekiel 48:31 King James
gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel: three gates northward; one gate of Reuben, one gate of Judah, one gate of Levi.
ושערי העיר על־שמות שבטי ישראל שערים שלושה צפונה שער ראובן אחד שער יהודה אחד שער לוי אחד
This should instead read "markets of the city" and "suffetes of Israel" שערי/ἀγοραί markets and שבטי/δικασταί shophets or suffetes.

πηγνύντεςתקעים
σκηνάωחנה
παρασκηνάωהחנה
παρασκηνουμένωνמהחנים
ἀγοραίשערי
δικασταί שבטי שפטי

Ethan
Posts: 976
Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 1:15 pm
Location: England
Contact:

Re: Parasols Tabernacle?

Post by Ethan »

Various words in the Tanakh receive the same translation, אהל משכן סכה are all translated tabernacle, the fault is with the Septuagint, that translates them into σκήνη.
Exodus 27:21
In the tabernacle of the congregation (KJV)
ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ τοῦ μαρτυρίου (LXX)[
באהל מועד (MT)
באהל מועד
ἐν αὐλίδι ἀντιόωντος "In the tent of meeting"
ἐν αὐλῇ ἀντιόωντος "In the meeting hall" (alternative)
Exodus 40:6
the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation (KJV)
θύρας τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου (LXX)
פתח משכן אהל־מועד (MT)
This must be problematic for the Septuagint translators, "tent of tent" makes no sense, thus avoids translating משכן here, the Vulgate avoids the sentence altogether.
Numbers 3:25
in the tabernacle of the congregation shall be the tabernacle (KJV)
ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ τοῦ μαρτυρίου ἡ σκηνὴ (LXX)
באהל מועד המשכן (MT)
Only in the Hebrew are two different words used (משכן & אהל). Both read as tabernacle and σκηνὴ in Septuagint, again, the Vulgate avoids it. Even the English reading makes little sense, a tent inside a tent?
2 Samuel 7:6
but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle (KJV)
ἐν καταλύματι καὶ ἐν σκηνῇ (LXX. lsj.
מתהלך באהל ובמשכן (MT)
Here, אהל is interpreted as a κατάλυμα. lsj. lodging, in pl, provision of quarters. In fact, משכן with the prefixing מ equates with σκήνωμα lsj. soldiers' quarters or σκήνημα lsj. camp, dwelling place

Numbers 3:25
in the tabernacle of the congregation shall be the tabernacle (KJV)
1 Chronicles 17:5
but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another
ἤμην ἐν σκηνῇ καὶ ἐν καταλύματι (LXX)
ואהיה מאהל אל־אהל וממשכן (MT)
The same context as 2 Samuel 7, but καταλύματι for משכן.
Psalm 78:60
So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men (KJV)
καὶ ἀπώσατο τὴν σκηνὴν Σηλωμ σκήνωμα αὐτοῦ οὗ κατεσκήνωσεν ἐν ἀνθρώποις (LXX)
ויטש משכן שלו אהל שכן באדם (MT)
σκηνὴν for משכן
σκήνωμα for אהל
Ethan
Posts: 976
Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 1:15 pm
Location: England
Contact:

Re: Parasols Tabernacle?

Post by Ethan »

The word tent or tents does not appear in the King James translation of the New Testament, but tabernacle does.
Revelation 15:5
the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened
ἠνοίγη ὁ ναὸς τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ
Leviticus 10:7
from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation (KJV)
ומפתח אהל מועד (MT)
ἀπὸ τῆς θύρας τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου (LXX)

"temple of the tabernacle" makes no sense, lit. "temple of the tent" (a temple inside a tent?), what exactly is the author of John envisioning here?
The entrance of a σκηνὴ is called προσκήνιον.
Plutarch, Themistocles 26
Their journeys are carried in tents closely hung round about with curtains and set upon four-wheeled wagons.
ἐν δὲ ταῖς ὁδοιπορίαις ὑπὸ σκηνὰς κύκλῳ περιπεφραγμένας ἐπὶ τῶν ἁρμαμαξῶν ὀχεῖσθαι
Here, tents are mounted on wagons
Herodotus 2.63
[2] The image of the god, in a little gilded wooden shrine, they carry away on the day before this to another sacred building. The few who are left with the image draw a four-wheeled wagon conveying the shrine and the image that is in the shrine; the others stand in the space before the doors and do not let them enter, while the vow-keepers, taking the side of the god, strike them, who defend themselves.

[2] τὸ δὲ ἄγαλμα ἐὸν ἐν νηῷ μικρῷ ξυλίνῳ κατακεχρυσωμένῳ προεκκομίζουσι τῇ προτεραίῃ ἐς ἄλλο οἴκημα ἱρόν. οἱ μὲν δὴ ὀλίγοι οἱ περὶ τὤγαλμα λελειμμένοι ἕλκουσι τετράκυκλον ἅμαξαν ἄγουσαν τὸν νηόν τε καὶ τὸ ἐν τῷ νηῷ ἐνεὸν ἄγαλμα, οἳ δὲ οὐκ ἐῶσι ἐν τοῖσι προπυλαίοισι ἑστεῶτες ἐσιέναι, οἱ δὲ εὐχωλιμαῖοι τιμωρέοντες τῷ θεῷ παίουσι αὐτοὺς ἀλεξομένους.
In Herodotus, the word for shrine is νηός, the Ionic form of ναὸς and this is mounted on a wagon.

Revelation 15:5. Thus ὁ ναὸς τῆς σκηνῆς "The shrine of the tent"
Post Reply