שְׁכִינָה (Shekinah)

MEANINGThe manifest divine presence. A rabbinic term derived from shakan --- not in the OT itself but describing the visible divine presence that the OT's shakan language points toward: the cloud of glory, the fire by night, the light between the cherubim.

GRAMMARRabbinic Hebrew noun from the shakan root. The term does not appear in biblical Hebrew but is used throughout the Talmud and Midrash for the divine presence. The concept is everywhere in the OT --- the cloud, the fire, the glory (kavod) --- even though this specific word is not there.

SIGNIFICANCEThe Shekinah concept traces Thread 6's central reality: the glory-presence of God seeking to dwell among and within his people. The progression from the Shekinah in the wilderness (cloud over the Mishkan) to the Shekinah in the Temple to the Shekinah departing (Ezekiel 10-11) to the Shekinah returning in flesh (John 1:14 --- 'we beheld his glory') is the OT's most dramatic narrative arc.

KEY VERSE / SCRIPTURESAs a concept: Exodus 13:21-22 (pillar of cloud and fire); Exodus 40:34-38 (cloud fills the Tabernacle); 1 Kings 8:10-11 (cloud fills the Temple); Isaiah 6:3 (the seraphim --- the whole earth is full of his glory).

CROSS-REFERENCESשָׁכַן shakan (root) · Exodus 40:34 · Ezekiel 10:18-19 · John 1:14 · Revelation 21:11