“Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them” (Exod 25:9).
The thought of God actually dwelling in the midst of the people of Israel made the ancient translators uncomfortable. The Greek translators avoid the obvious intent of the original Hebrew with a euphemism: “I will appear among them.” The Aramaic translators also changed the verb, “I will dwell” (shachanti), into a noun, “God’s indwelling divine presence” (Shekhinati from Shekhinah). The concept of the Shekhinah in Judaism is also euphemistic, in that it expresses an extension of God’s presence without speaking of the actual and/or fullness of God’s presence.
Yet not only does the Hebrew Bible state over and over that God desires to dwell with his people (Exod 25:8; 29:45; Num 5:3; 35:34; 1 Kings 6:13; Ezek 43:9; Zech 2:14-15; 8:3, 8), but the Torah actually states that YHWH himself called to Moses from inside the tent of meeting (Lev 1:1). Add to this the fact that the Tabernacle is actually patterned after the Garden of Eden, all this leads us to go so far as to say that God created the world in order to dwell with and walking among his people (Gen 3:8; Lev 26:12; Deut 23:15).
When the NT claims that God took on flesh to tabernacle among us (John 1:1, 14; Col 2:9), it is not expressing a deviant and/or idolatrous form of Judaism that was suddenly birthed among Jesus’ misguided disciples.
Belief that Yeshua is God with us (Matt 1:23) is not in spite of what the Torah teaches but because of it.
All God of God becoming all of man to dwell among us is not only a belief fully consistent with the theology of the Torah and the Prophets, but also a hope which will be fully realized and eternally enjoyed by Israel and the nations when Yeshua finally returns!
“Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads” (Rev 22:1-4).
