Encounter with God—III: from Tabernacle to Temple

Extract

In two previous articles I have tried to explore that special conception of Yahweh's encounter with, and presence to Israel which Old Testament theologians call kabod theology. When the Jerusalem temple was destroyed in 586. B.C. the exiled priests finally committed to writing their own sacred tradition of how Yahweh had first encountered Israel in the desert, made himself present to her, and chosen from among her tribes a priestly race to minister to him in the immediate sphere of his holiness. At the roots of this tradition lies the conception of the kabod (glory), the manifestation of Yahweh's holy presence in the form of a radiant and fiery cloud, numinous and death-dealing to all that is profane. The kabod descends at intervals to meet the people at a sacred place chosen by Yahweh himself.