‘The True Tabernacle’ of Hebrews 8:2: Future Dwelling with People or Heavenly Dwelling Place?

Moore, Nicholas J.

Abstract

Many scholars hold that the Letter to the Hebrews portrays heaven as God’s true tabernacle, the original from which the Mosaic tabernacle was derived. Recently Philip Church, building on work by Lincoln Hurst, has argued that the heavenly tabernacle instead represents God’s eschatological dwelling with his people, and that the Mosaic tabernacle (and the temple that followed it) was a prior sketch and foreshadowing of this yet-future reality. They advance a number of important arguments which have not been systematically addressed by those who read the true tabernacle as primarily heavenly in a spatial and ‘vertical’ sense. This article examines and rebuts the arguments of Hurst and Church. First, the case for the ‘eschatological dwelling’ position is outlined; then I make two wider points regarding the cosmological presuppositions that underlie this view; next, the meaning of the key terminology in Hebrews 8–9, especially ὑπόδειγμα, is examined; finally, Hebrews’ perspective on the heavenly tabernacle is articulated with an eye to both cosmology and eschatology. Only by integrating spatial and temporal categories can a satisfactory account of God’s heavenly dwelling be offered.

Citation

Moore, N. J. (2021). ‘The True Tabernacle’ of Hebrews 8:2: Future Dwelling with People or Heavenly Dwelling Place?. Tyndale bulletin, 72, 49-71. https://doi.org/10.53751/001c.32272

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Jan 31, 2022
• Publication Date: 2021
• Deposit Date: Jan 31, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 1, 2022
• Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
• Print ISSN: 0082-7118
• Electronic ISSN: 2752-7042
• Publisher: Tyndale House
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 72
• Pages: 49-71
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.53751/001c.32272
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1215848