Tabernacle of David (1)

A popular preaching point in many modern churches is the Tabernacle of David. Some pastors proclaim that the Tabernacle of David is a shadow of type of the freedom that we have to come directly before the presence of God through worship. They claim that Davidic worship emulates heavenly patterns of worship around the throne room and releases victory to the church. Reference is made to a promise in Amos 9:11.

I will restore David’s fallen shelter—
I will repair its broken walls and restore its ruins—
and will rebuild it as it used to be.

James quoted this verse in the church meeting at Jerusalem (Acts 15:16,17) but he was not referring to worship, but explaining the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles.

The main problem with this teaching is that there is no tabernacle of David in the scriptures. There is only one Tabernacle and that is the one established by Moses according to God’s instructions. This Tabernacle provided the Israelites with protection from the spiritual powers of evil.

God did not command David to put the covenant box in a tent in Jerusalem. In contrast to Moses’ tabernacle, he gave no instructions for how it should be built. The tent in Jerusalem was David’s idea, and was mainly for his convenience, because the true tabernacle was still at Gibeon (1 Kings 3:4). Unfortunately, by separating the covenant box from the tabernacle, David undermined its capacity to provide spiritual protection for the people.

The Hebrew word used to describe the tabernacle is mishkan, which means a “residence”. A mishkan can be quite simple, but it is place where someone dwells. God dwelt in the tabernacle created by Moses.

The tent that David put up in Jerusalem was not a tabernacle (mishkan). The Hebrew word that Amos used used to describe it is “sukah”, which is used to describe a hut or lair, booth, cottage, pavilion, or tent. (The other common word for tent in Hebrew is ohel).

• In Job 38:40, sukah is used to desrive a thicket of bush where a lion might be hiding.

• The word sukah is use to describe a shelter for cattle in Genesis 33:17.

• The word is used to describe the temporary booth/shelter that the Israelites stayed in during their harvest festival (Levitcus 23:39-43; Deut 16:13-16). This feast is often referred to as Sukkot. It is misleading to call it the Feast of Tabernacles, because the word mishkan is not used. It is more correctly called the Feast of Shelters.

• The word sukah was used to describe the tent or booth that a king lived in while he was on the battlefield. Sometimes several kings would meet and celebrate there. Ben-hadad of Aram had a booth when he attacked Israel with the support of is an example. He and the kings were drinking in their shelters... Ben-Hadad and the 32 kings allied with him were in their shelters getting drunk (1 Kings 20:12,16). Uriah the Hittite refused David’s permission to go into his house, because Joab and the armies of Israel were living in shelters (2 Sam 11:11).

The so-called Tabernacle of David would more correctly be called the shelter of David. Referring to it as a tabernacle gives it a spiritual significance that it does not have.

The shelter of David was the booth that he stayed in when he went out to battle with his army. Being the king, he would have had a good one. When he got too old to go to war, he moved the covenant-box into this shelter and used it as a place of worship (2 Sam 6:1-18), God had instructed Moses how the Tabernacle should function to provide spiritual protection to the children of Israel, and especially to deal with the spirit called Death.

David prioritised having the covenant box in Jerusalem because he loved to worship God, but by separating it from the Tabernacle, he undermined the spiritual protection God had provided for the people. There is no suggestion in the OT account that God told him to perpetuate this separation. Unfortunately, this allowed Death to keep on attacking Israel and its leaders when he should have been defeated by the giving of the law. When dealing with the spiritual powers of evil, worship cannot compensate for following God’s instructions that provide for spiritual protection.

James explained word given through was Amos was a promise the God would restore David’s kingdom through Jesus.

After this I will return
and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
and I will restore it,
that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
even all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things (Acts 15:16-17).

God had promised David that one of his sons would remain on his throne forever. That promise was fulfilled by Jesus when he initiated the Kingdom of God by dying on the cross and rising and ascending to God’s right hand in heaven. This restoration of David’s kingdom is what Amos meant when he said the Shelter of David would be restored. The promise did not refer to a use mode of worship. Isaiah made a similar promise, but he used the other word for tent (ohel).

In mercy a throne will be established;
and one will sit on it in truth, in the tent of David,
judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness (Isaiah 16:5).

Isaiah is clearer than Amos. He explained that a descendent of David would be established on his throne. He would bring in justice and righteousness. This prophecy was fulfilled by Jesus.

The promise of the restoration of the Shelter of David was not a promise of restored Davidic worship, it was a messianic promise that was fulfilled by Jesus. Jesus has been appointed as King in David’s line, and his Kingdom will grow and fill the earth.

When a king was too frightened to fight, bought off, or defeated, his pavilion would disappear from the battlefield. The return of David’s pavilion indicates that a successor has returned to the battlefield and will be victorious.