What Does Exodus 40:35 Mean in the King James?
And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The tent is called a dwelling because the cloud dwells there, and the LORD’s weight fills it so fully that even Moses, the “drawn-out” one, cannot enter.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s presence occupies the tent so fully that Moses cannot enter: the cloud’s dwelling and the tabernacle’s fullness make nearness tangible, but not accessible on demand. Moses, מֹשֶׁה (Moshe), whose name carries “drawn out”, stands at the threshold of a dwelling filled with the LORD’s presence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the assumption that God’s nearness always feels like access: the LORD’s dwelling is full, yet Moses cannot enter.
THE ROOT
שָׁכַן
shākan
GROWS FROM
שכן
sh-k-n
to dwell, settle, or remain
The verb translated “abode” and the noun “tabernacle” share the same root: the cloud dwells on the dwelling. The verse describes presence taking up residence, even as that nearness leaves Moses outside.
ALSO GROWS
mishkan: dwelling place, tabernacle
מִשְׁכָּן
The tent’s name grows from the same root as the cloud’s act of dwelling.
shakhen: neighbor, one who dwells nearby
שָׁכֵן
The root links dwelling with the one who makes a place nearby through their presence.
כָּבוֹד
kavod
GROWS FROM
כבד
k-b-d
to be heavy, weighty, or substantial
The root holds glory together with weight: the LORD’s kavod is presence with substance, not only brightness. The verse’s fullness carries this sense of weightiness as the tabernacle is filled.
ALSO GROWS
kaved: heavy, weighty
כָּבֵד
This preserves the root’s concrete sense of weight beneath “glory.”
kabbed: to honor, treat as weighty
כַּבֵּד
The same root connects weight with honor: what is weighty is treated as significant.
THE PATTERN
God’s presence defines a dwelling by inhabiting it, and its fullness changes how people meet that space.
So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.THE THREAD
So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.The temple is filled with the same cloud and glory, and its priests likewise cannot stand to serve. The Hebrew כָּבוֹד (kavod, “glory/weight”) carries the same root sense of weight here, letting the parallel bring out the substance behind the word.
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