TAB'ERNACLE, noun [Latin tabernaculum, a tent, from taberna, a shop or shed, from tabula, a board; or rather from its root. See Table.]

1. A tent. Numbers 24:5. Matthew 17:4.

2. A temporary habitation.

3. Among the Jews, a movable building, so contrived as to be taken to pieces with ease and reconstructed, for the convenience of being carried during the wanderings of the Israelites in the wilderness. It was of a rectangular figure, thirty cubits long, ten broad, and ten high. The interior was divided into two rooms by a vail or curtain, and it was covered with four different spreads or carpets.

It is also applied to the temple. Psalms 15:1.

4. A place of worship; a sacred place.

5. Our natural body. 2 Corinthians 5:1. 2 Peter 1:13.

6. God's gracious presence, or the tokens of it. Revelation 21:3.

7. An ornamented chest placed on Roman catholic altars as a receptacle of the ciborium and pyxis.

TAB'ERNACLE, verb intransitive To dwell; to reside for a time; to be housed; as we say, Christ tabernacled in the flesh.