Shekinah glory

It’s just one of those quasi-scriptural phrases that is bandied about P/C circles. It has a nice ring to it.

It is supposed to be something we strive for, that a tangible cloud of “glory” descend on our meetings as it descended on the dedication of the Temple in Solomon’s day. There are accounts, none of them verified, of this happening in revival meetings from time to time. In fact, it was supposed to have happened in a large meeting I attended in Houston during the 1970’s. It was told that it occurred by hundreds of people--only I was there and never witnessed it. Years later, after talking to friends who were there and who later got caught up in the “reports,” they said that, honestly, they never saw it either but were afraid to say they didn’t because it would somehow mark them as not being spiritual enough and, anyhow, too many reports (mostly from the evangelists conducting the meeting) said it did happen. I understand. But I never admitted to something that never happened no matter how often the evangelists told the story.

Can it happen? Sure. Would it enhance my faith in God to be in a shekinah meeting? No. If it ever happens I will neither be surprised not skeptical. I just want us to be honest about it.

~Jim

Here's more info than you probably actually want.

YEHOVAH's Shekinah Glory

you'll never find the word in your bible as it is not there.

The Shekinah is a Hebrew word (in the sense you are defining it, it is in the female form (grammatically speaking).

It refers usually but not always to the visible manifest presence of God. In some instances, the word takes on similar aspects to our use of the Holy Spirit (but not always).

The word itself is from the root word 'shechan' which means to dwell.

Many are confused because when the bible uses the phrase like 'the glory of the Lord', the word here is usually just 'kavod' which means 'glory' and little other detail is given to it. It is only when you start to look at the word from a traditional Jewish perspective that meat is added to the bones so to speak


however, I will not bore you with my messianic ideas I'll just give a couple of quotes from some of their writings...

When the angels had brought forth Lot and his family and set them without the city, he bade them run for their lives, and not look behind, lest they behold the Shekinah, which had descended to work the destruction of the cities. (legends of the Jews)


When God commanded Israel to set out from Sinai and continue their march, the Israelites were glad, for during their stay in that place they had throughout eleven days received new laws daily, and they hoped that after having departed from the holy mountain they would receive no further laws. Hence, instead of making a day's march from Sinai, as God had commanded them, they marched incessantly for three days, in order to be as far as possible from the holy spot. They behaved like a boy who runs quickly away after dismissal from school, that his teacher might not call him back. Although this antipathy to His laws vexed God, He did not therefore forsake them, but let the Ark move before them as long as they desired to continue the march. For it was by this token that the Israelites knew that the Shekinah was among them, as God had promised them. As often as they broke camp or pitched camp Moses would say to them: "Do what the Shekinah within the Ark bids you do." But they would not believe Moses that the Shekinah dwelt among them unless he spoke the words: "Rise up, Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee," whereupon the Ark would begin to move, and they were convinced of the presence of the Shekinah. The Ark furthermore gave the signal for breaking camp by soaring up high, and then swiftly moving before the camp at a distance of three days' march, until it found a suitable spot upon which Israel might encamp. (legends of the Jews - the ungrateful multitude).


in the Targums, the Aramaic translation of the OT, the phrase 'the word of the Lord' (in the sense of 'the word of the Lord came to him), often uses 'shekhinah instead of word of the Lord. Welcome to the world of circumlocutions.

The Talmud records that the temple was destroyed due to bloodshed in the land resulting in the withdrawal of the shekhinah and hence its destruction (Shabbat 31b).

okay I am bored of finding quotes now... let's just say that the word exists over 180 times in the talmud in many different contexts and settings.

Why not take the time to study some Jewish writings and find out how the sages of Israel defined the Shekhinah.




Steve

p.s. for anyone who does like to read quotes from ancient Jewish writings I am happy to add more (or maybe just the references so you can look them up).

Thanks so much Steve, I always enjoy and am lifted up by what you bring to us about the Jewish ways and beliefs - after all this was the beginning for us all.

On two occasions in 25 years of being a Christian I have seen a misty fog with my physical eyes that manifested in a meeting. In both cases, as you might guess, the anointing was very, very strong.

The first time, it came into the room as someone was singing and traveled across to the other side of the room. As it passed over me, I experienced the power of God personally, both in the presence of the Holy Spirit and in the power of God that set me free from something I was struggling with at the time.

The second time, I entered the meeting in progress and it was already there all through the room. The atmosphere almost felt electrified with the power of God (to me).

The one thing in common both times that I was impressed with was that this was a manifestation of the power of God. I believe this is what Pentecostals might be referring to when they use the term shekinah glory. I've never studied it out in the word of God, I just happened to have had these experiences.

The hebrew word shekinah occurs over one hundred times in the Old Testament. The Greek word for dwelling is said to be derived from the same hebrew word. I am not enough of a Greek scholar to know. But the Hebrew word is translated inhabit, dwell , abide , and remain so it makes sense.
What it means is for God to make His dwelling place on earth. In this verse it is translated abode.

Exo 40:34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
Exo 40:35 And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of meeting, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

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This could be a New Testament example of it. Or maybe just something similar.

Luk 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

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In Christain circles it is common to use ahebrew word and give it a commonly understood meaning. Hallelujah, amen , and Abba are other hebrew words that are used this way. Sometimes the meaning is accurate and sometimes it takes on new connotations over time because of people's experiences and what they associate it with.

Azusa street is one example where there are testimonies of the cloud of glory being there. I have never personally seen it.

I do think though in a theological sense , since we are the temple of The Holy Spirit that one could say that the shekinah glory comes to dwell within us. But that just seems to make sense to me. I am not a theologian. If that is the case, then the shekinah could be present wihtout us seeing a cloud.

heatherfb said:

In the two years or so I have been around the pentecostal/charismatic circle, I have heard the shekinah glory mentioned several times. What is this exactly? I have been a Christian for over 20 years and know my Bible pretty well but as far as I am aware I do not know of anywhere this phrase is used. Please help me out!

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heatherfb,

Good question. JimB is correct about the Shekinah Glory being part of the recent Charismatic Movement, however the Jewish people are the ones who coined the term.

Basically, the Shekinah Glory puts more emphasis on God the Father (Yehovah). The title in Revelation 19:16 expresses YEHOVAH (YHVH) THE FATHER'S rulership over all creation and all the kings and lords therein. It's equivalent to the phrase "King of kings of kings" which the Jewish Siddur (prayer book) applies to YHVH in this song which introduces the Sabbath in many Jewish homes.

The King James version of Revelation 19 uses, "And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."

We Christians unknowingly put more emphases on Jesus, when actually Jesus is the servant of God the Father (Yehovah). Pulling God the Father out of the closet with (Revelation 19), (Zechariah 14:4), ( Exek. 43:1-7) we find the possibility that the Shekinah Glory will probably return before Jesus will?

I believe that the Shekinah Glory will inter the Temple Mount at the Eastern Gate, but there is a possibility that the Shekinah Glory will enter the Millennial Temple at Shiloh (Exe, 43:1-4)?

However this view doesn't agree with the Fundamentalist Movement, and it's up for speculation whether Satan has blinded millions over the centuries to the true identity of the person pictured in Revelation 19?

Here is quote from the Jewish New Testament:

"Then I heard what sounded like the roar of a huge crowd, like the sound of rushing waters, like loud peals of thunder, saying, "Halleluyah! ADONAI [YEHOVAH, YHVH], GOD OF HEAVEN'S ARMIES, HAS BEGUN HIS REIGN!"....Then I saw heaven opened, and there before me was a white horse. Sitting on it was the one called FAITHFUL AND TRUE, and it is in righteousness that he passes judgment and goes to battle. His eyes were like a fiery flame, and on his head were MANY ROYAL CROWNS. And he had a name written which no one knew but himself. He was wearing a robe that had been soaked in blood, and the name by which he is called is, "THE WORD OF GOD." The ARMIES OF HEAVEN, clothed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. And out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down nations -- "He will rule them with a staff of iron." It is he who treads the winepress from which flows the wine of the furious rage of ADONAI [YEHOVAH, YHVH], GOD OF HEAVEN'S ARMIES. And on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written: "KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." -- (Verses 6, 11-16, Jewish New Testament).

Quote from website Azusa Street Stories

Azusa was more than a revival or renewal. Don’t misunderstand. The Church has witnessed many great revivals and renewals each ushering in great reformation. The Church has also witnessed many miraculous healings and miracles throughout her two thousand years on this earth. What the Church has not witnessed is the actual visitation of God manifested in His Shekinah Glory for about three and one-half years. Brother Fox, who was at Azusa around 1909 and then went to India as a missionary saw many great miraculous healings some even greater than those he witnessed at Azusa, but when he retired and moved back to Pisgah, he lamented that although he experienced many wonders of God while in India, he never experienced the Shekinah Glory that was present at Azusa.

What people experienced at Azusa in 1906 was closely related to what Moses experienced in Exodus 24:15-18 when “the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai and the cloud covered it six days; and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount; and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.

That is exactly what was experienced at Azusa. A mist or cloud of varying intensity was present for about 3.5 years. Sometimes the cloud was so dense you felt like you could capture it. Sometimes the cloud went up from the building in the form of fire and linked with a fire coming down from heaven. The glory of God manifested as a cloud became known as Shekinah Glory from a Hebrew word meaning to dwell signifying that within the cloud dwelt the divine Presence of God.

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Here is another example.

Frank Bartleman tells what then happened.

"Then, on May 2nd, I went to Azusa Street and to everyone's surprise found the doors all locked, with chain and padlock. Brother Seymour had hastened back from the east and with his trustees decided to lock Brother Durham out. It was his message they objected to. But they locked God and the saints out also, from the old cradle of power also."
"In a few days Brother Durham rented a large building at the corner of Seventh and Los Angeles Streets. A Thousand people attended the meetings there on Sundays and about four hundred on week nights. Here the 'cloud' rested, and God's glory filled the place. Azusa became deserted."

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it is in layman's terms the manifest presance of God. I have sat in it so many times but it's been a while. OHHHHHH again Lord.

~RENEE~ said:

it is in layman's terms the manifest presance of God. I have sat in it so many times but it's been a while. OHHHHHH again Lord.

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Amen.

just remember it is not limited to a cloud. The shekinah can also appear as fire!!!! And other things as well.


Steve

When the Shekinah is accompanied by the Bat Kol, you know the presence of God has arrived.



Steve

JimB said:

It’s just one of those quasi-scriptural phrases that is bandied about P/C circles. It has a nice ring to it.

It is supposed to be something we strive for, that a tangible cloud of “glory” descend on our meetings as it descended on the dedication of the Temple in Solomon’s day. There are accounts, none of them verified, of this happening in revival meetings from time to time. In fact, it was supposed to have happened in a large meeting I attended in Houston during the 1970’s. It was told that it occurred by hundreds of people--only I was there and never witnessed it. Years later, after talking to friends who were there and who later got caught up in the “reports,” they said that, honestly, they never saw it either but were afraid to say they didn’t because it would somehow mark them as not being spiritual enough and, anyhow, too many reports (mostly from the evangelists conducting the meeting) said it did happen. I understand. But I never admitted to something that never happened no matter how often the evangelists told the story.

Can it happen? Sure. Would it enhance my faith in God to be in a shekinah meeting? No. If it ever happens I will neither be surprised not skeptical. I just want us to be honest about it.

~Jim

Mercy triumphs over judgment. ~James 2.13​

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cyberlizard said:

When the Shekinah is accompanied by the Bat Kol, you know the presence of God has arrived.



Steve

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Bat Kol in hebrew literally means daughter of a voice. It is sometimes translated echo. In this context it means God's voice or to be more clear " voice from heaven ".

Bat-kol is indeed a unique Hebrew expression that has no real equivalent in any other language that I know of. Literally the “daughter of a voice,” it goes back to early rabbinic literature, in which it has two meanings. One is that of an echo. We find this, for example, in an ancient midrash on a verse in Deuteronomy that describes the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai: “These words the Lord spoke unto all your assembly at the mount… with a great voice and He added no more.”

The midrash reads: “What is the meaning of ‘He added no more’? When a man speaks to his friend, his voice has a bat-kol. But the voice that went forth from the Holy One Blessed Be He had no bat-kol.”

God’s voice at Sinai, in other words, had no echo, presumably because, since it filled the whole world, it had nothing to bounce back from.

The second meaning of bat-kol is the unusual one. It is of a voice that may resemble an echo in its mysteriousness, elusiveness or eeriness, but that is not an echo at all. Rather, as the great Hebrew lexicographer Eliezer Ben-Yehuda defined it in his 16-volume dictionary, it is “A voice that is heard as though out of nowhere, so that it is impossible to know whence or from whom it comes… especially a supernatural voice that may reveal God’s will.”

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Eze 1:28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.

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cyberlizard said:

When the Shekinah is accompanied by the Bat Kol, you know the presence of God has arrived.



Steve

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Or the simple definition of bat kol. Hearing God in an audible voice. A very scriptural concept.

cyberlizard said:

p.s. for anyone who does like to read quotes from ancient Jewish writings I am happy to add more (or maybe just the references so you can look them up).

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Steve,

Thanks for the offer. I would like to find the text for the song containing the phrase "King of kings of kings" which is found in the Jewish Siddur (prayer book).

The phrase applies to YHVH in this song which introduces the Sabbath in many Jewish homes.

It's part of my message #8 in this thread, but I lost the full text when I reformated my hard drive. In fact, I have lost a lot of my stuff, because of virus. Who ever is doing it, I wish they would stop. I have formatted this hard drive so many times that I can do it with my eyes shut. It's senseless.

banish'd said:

Steve,

Thanks for the offer. I would like to find the text for the song containing the phrase "King of kings of kings" which is found in the Jewish Siddur (prayer book).

The phrase applies to YHVH in this song which introduces the Sabbath in many Jewish homes.

It's part of my message #8 in this thread, but I lost the full text when I reformated my hard drive. In fact, I have lost a lot of my stuff, because of virus. Who ever is doing it, I wish they would stop. I have formatted this hard drive so many times that I can do it with my eyes shut. It's senseless.

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Is it this one ?

Shalom aleichem
mal'achei hasharet
mal'achei elyon.

Mimelech mal'achei ham'lachim
Hakadosh baruch Hu.

Bo'achem leshalom
mal'achei hashalom
mal'achei elyon

Mimelech mal'achei ham'lachim
Hakadosh baruch Hu.

Bar'chuni leshalom
mal'achei hashalom
mal'achei elyon

Mimelech mal'achei ham'lachim
Hakadosh baruch Hu.

Tzetchem leshalom
mal'achei hashalom
mal'achei elyon

Mimelech mal'achei ham'lachim
Hakadosh baruch Hu.

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