What Does Numbers 4:25 Mean in the King James?
And they shall bear the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tabernacle of the congregation, his covering, and the covering of the badgers’ skins that is above upon it, and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of the congregation,
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 tabernacle’s name means “dwelling,” yet here the dwelling itself is carried, its presence moves with its coverings and threshold.
THE MEANING
Here, a dwelling is something you carry: curtains, outer tent, protective hide, and doorway hanging all travel together. The meeting place moves with its layers; even the threshold belongs to what is borne.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a dwelling for God must be immovable dissolves here: its coverings and doorway are carried along with it.
THE ROOT
מִשְׁכָּן
mishkan
GROWS FROM
שכן
To dwell, settle, or reside.
“Tabernacle” names a structure; מִשְׁכָּן (mishkan) carries the sense of a dwelling, from שכן (shakan), “to dwell.” The verse’s surprise is that this dwelling can be carried: its nearness travels with its coverings.
ALSO GROWS
shakan: To dwell, settle, or reside.
שָׁכַן
This verb is the action held inside the tabernacle’s name: the carried structure is defined by dwelling.
shakhen: Neighbor; one who dwells nearby.
שָׁכֵן
The same root connects dwelling with nearness to others, fitting a tent of meeting among the congregation.
וְנָשְׂאוּ
wenase’u
GROWS FROM
נשא
To lift, carry, or bear.
The verb for carrying the tabernacle’s layers also describes lifting and bearing burdens. The dwelling’s movement is not incidental: the verse makes its coverings part of what people bear.
ALSO GROWS
nasi: Leader or prince; one raised up.
נָשִׂיא
The shared root links being raised to bearing, giving leadership a sense of carrying responsibility.
nasa avon: To bear crookedness or guilt.
נָשָׂא עָוֹן
The same verb can describe carrying a burden of wrongdoing, showing how “bear” holds more than the physical movement of these coverings.
THE PATTERN
A dwelling is made near through a presence that travels among people.
And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents.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.THE THREAD
And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.The verb שָׁכַן (shakan, “to dwell”) is the same root as מִשְׁכָּן (mishkan, “dwelling place”) in this verse. Numbers shows the dwelling being carried; Exodus names its purpose: to dwell among the people.
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