Reference: Tent
American
Dwelling in tents was very general in ancient times among Eastern nations, Ge 4:20; their way of life being pastoral, locomotion became necessary for pasturage, and dwellings adapted for such a life became indispensable, Isa 38:12. The patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob dwelt in tents, Ge 18:1; Heb 11:9; and on the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, throughout their peregrinations until they obtained the promised land, and to some extent afterwards, they adopted the same kind of habitation. See BOOTHS. Hence the expression. "Every man to his tents, O Israel," etc.,
Jg 7:8; 2Sa 20:1; 2Ki 8:21. Indeed, the people of the East, men, women, and children, lived very much in the open air, as is obvious from the New Testament narratives. And the same is true of them at the present day. The Midianites, the Philistines, the Syrains, the descendants of Ham, the Hagarites, and the Cushanites are mentioned in Scripture as living in tents. But the people most remarkable for this unsettled and wandering mode of life are the Arabs, who from the time of Ishmael to the present have continued the custom of dwelling in tents. Amid the revolutions which have transferred kingdoms from one possessor to another , these wandering tribes still dwell in tents, unsubdued and wild as was their progenitor. This kind of dwelling is not, however, confined to the Arabs, but is used throughout the continent of Asia. The word tent is formed from the Latin, "to stretch;" tents being usually made of canvas stretched out, and sustained by poles with cords secured to pegs driven into the ground. The "nail of the tent" with which Jael pierced the head of Sisera was such a tent-pin, Jg 4:21. See also Isa 33:20; 40:22; 54:2. The house of God, and heaven, are spoken of in Scripture as the tent or tabernacle of Jehovah, Ps 15:1; 61:4; 84:1; Heb 8:2; 9:11; and the body as the tabernacle of the soul, taken down by death, 2Co 5:1; 2Pe 1:13. Says Lord Lindsay, "There is something very melancholy in our morning flitting. The tent-pins are plucked up, and in a few minutes a dozen holes, a heap or two of ashes, and the marks of the camels' knees in the sand, soon to be obliterated, are the only traces left of what has been for a while our home." "Often," says M'Cheyne, "we found ourselves shelterless before being fully dressed. What a type of the tent of our body! Ah, how often is it taken down before the soul is made meet for the inheritance of he saints in light." A tent is also put for its inmates, Hab 3:7; Zec 12:7.
Tents are of various colors; black, as tents of Kedar, Ps 120:5; Song 1:5; red, as of scarlet cloth; yellow, as of gold shining brilliantly; white, as of canvas. They are also of various shapes; some circular, others of an oblong figure, not unlike the bottom of a ship turned upside down. In Syria, the tents are generally made of cloth of goats' hair, woven by women, Ex 35:26. Those of the Arabs are of black goats' hair. Some other nations adopt the same kind, but it is not common. The Egyptian and Moorish inhabitants of Askalon are said to use white tents; and D'Arvieux mentions that the tent of an Arab emir he visited was distinguished from the rest by its being of white cloth. An Arab sheikh will have a number of tents, of himself, his family, servants, and visitors; as in patriarchal times Jacob had separate tents for himself, for Leah, Rachel, and their maids, Ge 31:33; Jg 4:17. Usually, however, one tent suffices for a family; being divided, if large, into several apartments by curtains.
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And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents and have cattle.
And Jehovah appeared unto him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;
And Laban went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into the tent of the two maid-servants; but he found them not. And he went out of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent.
Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
Then Jael Heber's wife took a tent-pin, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground; for he was in a deep sleep; so he swooned and died.
So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets; and he sent all the men of Israel every man unto his tent, but retained the three hundred men: and the camp of Midian was beneath him in the valley.
Jehovah, who shall sojourn in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
I will dwell in thy tabernacle for ever: I will take refuge in the covert of thy wings. Selah
I am black, but comely, Oh ye daughters of Jerusalem, As the tents of Kedar, As the curtains of Solomon.
Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tent that shall not be removed, the stakes whereof shall never be plucked up, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.
My dwelling is removed, and is carried away from me as a shepherd's tent: I have rolled up, like a weaver, my life; he will cut me off from the loom: From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.
It is he that sitteth above the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in;
Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations; spare not: lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.
I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; The curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.
Jehovah also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem be not magnified above Judah.
For we know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.
But Christ having come a high priest of the good things to come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation,
By faith he became a sojourner in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
Easton
(1.) Heb 'ohel (Ge 9:21,27). This word is used also of a dwelling or habitation (1Ki 8:66; Isa 16:5; Jer 4:20), and of the temple (Eze 41:1). When used of the tabernacle, as in 1Ki 1:39, it denotes the covering of goat's hair which was placed over the mishcan.
(2.) Heb mishcan (Song 1:8), used also of a dwelling (Job 18:21; Ps 87:2), the grave (Isa 22:16; comp. Isa 14:18), the temple (Ps 46:4; 84:2; 132:5), and of the tabernacle (Ex 25:9; 26:1; 40:9; Nu 1:50,53; 10:11). When distinguished from 'ohel, it denotes the twelve interior curtains which lay upon the framework of the tabernacle (q.v.).
(3.) Heb kubbah (Nu 25:8), a dome-like tent devoted to the impure worship of Baal-peor.
(4.) Heb succah (2Sa 11:11), a tent or booth made of green boughs or branches (see Ge 33:17; Le 23:34,42; Ps 18:11; Jon 4:5; Isa 4:6; Ne 8:15-17, where the word is variously rendered).
Jubal was "the father of such as dwell in tents" (Ge 4:20). The patriarchs were "dwellers in tents" (Ge 9:21,27; 12:8; 13:12; 26:17); and during their wilderness wanderings all Israel dwelt in tents (Ex 16:16; De 33:18; Jos 7:24). Tents have always occupied a prominent place in Eastern life (1Sa 17:54; 2Ki 7:7; Ps 120:5; Song 1:5). Paul the apostle's occupation was that of a tent-maker (Ac 18:3); i.e., perhaps a maker of tent cloth.
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And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents and have cattle.
and he drank of the wine, and was drunken. And he was uncovered within his tent.
and he drank of the wine, and was drunken. And he was uncovered within his tent.
God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.
God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.
And he removed from thence unto the mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Ai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto Jehovah, and called upon the name of Jehovah.
Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the Plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom.
And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him a house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.
This is the thing which Jehovah hath commanded, Gather ye of it every man according to his eating; an omer a head, according to the number of your persons, shall ye take it, every man for them that are in his tent.
According to all that I show thee, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the furniture thereof, even so shall ye make it.
Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains; of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with cherubim the work of the skilful workman shalt thou make them.
And thou shalt take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is therein, and shalt hallow it, and all the furniture thereof: and it shall be holy.
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto Jehovah.
Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are home-born in Israel shall dwell in booths;
but appoint thou the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all the furniture thereof, and over all that belongeth to it: they shall bear the tabernacle, and all the furniture thereof; and they shall minister unto it, and shall encamp round about the tabernacle.
But the Levites shall encamp round about the tabernacle of the testimony, that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel: and the Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of the testimony.
And it came to pass in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, that the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle of the testimony.
and he went after the man of Israel into the pavilion, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.
And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out; And, Issachar, in thy tents.
And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the mantle, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them up unto the valley of Achor.
And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armor in his tent.
And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in booths; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open field; shall I then go into my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.
And Zadok the priest took the horn of oil out of the Tent, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, Long live king Solomon.
On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that Jehovah had showed unto David his servant, and to Israel his people.
and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and branches of wild olive, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written. So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the broad place of the water gate, and in the broad place of the gate of Ephraim. read more. And all the assembly of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and dwelt in the booths; for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness.
Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous, And this is the place of him that knoweth not God.
He made darkness his hiding-place, his pavilion round about him, Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.
My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of Jehovah; My heart and my flesh cry out unto the living God.
I am black, but comely, Oh ye daughters of Jerusalem, As the tents of Kedar, As the curtains of Solomon.
If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, And feed thy kids beside the shepherds tents.
And there shall be a pavilion for a shade in the day-time from the heat, and for a refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain.
All the kings of the nations, all of them, sleep in glory, every one in his own house.
And a throne shall be established in lovingkindness; and one shall sit thereon in truth, in the tent of David, judging, and seeking justice, and swift to do righteousness.
What doest thou here? and whom has thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out here a sepulchre? hewing him out a sepulchre on high, graving a habitation for himself in the rock!
Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my tents destroyed, and my curtains in a moment.
And he brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the tabernacle.
Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city.
and because he was of the same trade, he abode with them, and they wrought, for by their trade they were tentmakers.
Fausets
ohel, "tabernacle "; mishkan, "dwelling"; sukkak, "booth"; qubbah, "recess" (Nu 25:8). The characteristic dwelling of the keepers of cattle, the nomadic races, of whom Jabal was the father (Ge 4:20). The stay of Israel in Egypt weaned them from tent life and trained them for their fixed home in Canaan. The pastoral tribes Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh, still in part retained the tent life E. of Jordan (Jos 22:8). The phrase "to your tents, O Israel," remained as a trace of the former nomadic state, when the nation was no longer so (1Ki 12:16). Agriculture was sometimes associated with tent life, as in Isaac's case (Ge 26:12), and probably in Heber's case (Jg 4:11-22). Hazerim (De 2:23) is not a proper name, but means nomadic "villages" or "enclosures," a piece of ground surrounded with a rude fence, in which tents were pitched and cattle tethered at night for safety from marauders; or as the Yezidee tent in Syria, a stone wall five feet high, roofed with goats' hair cloth raised on long poles.
So Hazar-adder in the S. and Hazar-erran in the N. (Nu 34:4,9.) Some tents are circular, resting on one central pole; others square on several poles. The better kind are oblong, and divided by a curtain into an outer apartment for the males and an inner one for the females. Hooks are fixed in the poles to hang articles on (Isa 22:23-24). To the rain-proof goats' hair covering a cloth is sewn or twisted round a stick, to the ends of which are tied leather loops.
To these loops one end of the tent ropes is fastened, the other being tied to a hooked sharp pin of wood which they drive into the ground with a mallet; such a nail and mallet Jael used (Jg 4:21). The patriarchs' wives had separate tents (Ge 24:67; 31:33). The beauty of Israel's orderly and wide encampment by the four parallel brooks running westward into Jordan is compared to trees in rows in beautiful gardens, such as Balaam had seen along his own river Euphrates (Nu 24:5-6). The quickness and ease with which tents can be struck, leaving their tenants without covering in the lonely desert, is Paul's image for the speedy dissolution of our mortal body, preparatory to our abiding resurrection home (2Co 5:1).
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And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents and have cattle.
And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife. And he loved her. And Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
And Isaac sowed in that land, and found in the same year a hundredfold. And Jehovah blessed him.
And Laban went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into the tent of the two maid-servants; but he found them not. And he went out of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent.
How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, Thy tabernacles, O Israel! As valleys are they spread forth, As gardens by the river-side, As lign-aloes which Jehovah hath planted, As cedar-trees beside the waters.
and he went after the man of Israel into the pavilion, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.
and your border shall turn about southward of the ascent of Akrabbim, and pass along to Zin; and the goings out thereof shall be southward of Kadesh-barnea; and it shall go forth to Hazar-addar, and pass along to Azmon;
and the border shall go forth to Ziphron, and the goings out thereof shall be at Hazar-enan: this shall be your north border.
and the Avvim, that dwelt in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, that came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.)
and spake unto them, saying, Return with much wealth unto your tents, and with very much cattle, with silver, and with gold, and with brass, and with iron, and with very much raiment: divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.
Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, even from the children of Hobab the brother-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh. And they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to mount Tabor. read more. And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles, unto the river Kishon. And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which Jehovah hath delivered Sisera into thy hand; is not Jehovah gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him. And Jehovah discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot, and fled away on his feet. But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; there was not a man left. Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And he turned in unto her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him. And he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and inquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No. Then Jael Heber's wife took a tent-pin, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground; for he was in a deep sleep; so he swooned and died.
Then Jael Heber's wife took a tent-pin, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground; for he was in a deep sleep; so he swooned and died. And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will show thee the man whom thou seekest. And he came unto her; and, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the tent-pin was in his temples.
And when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents.
And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a throne of glory to his father's house. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, every small vessel, from the cups even to all the flagons.
For we know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
Hastings
Apart from the traditions of the patriarchs as 'quiet' men, 'dwelling in tents' (Ge 25:27 Revised Version margin), the settled Hebrews preserved a reminder of their nomad ancestry in such phrases as 'going to one's tent' for to 'go home' (Jg 19:9), and in the recurring call, 'to thy tents (i.e. to your homes), O Israel' (1Ki 12:16 etc.). For an interesting case of adherence to the 'nomadic Ideal' on religious grounds, see Rechabites.
The Hebrew tent, even in later days, cannot have differed much from the simple Bedouin tent of to-day, made by sewing together strips of the native goats' hair cloth (cf. Song 1:5 'I am black as the tents of Kedar'). These 'curtains' (Jer 4:20; Ex 26:2 and oft.) are held up by poles, generally 9 in number, arranged in three rows of three, and 6
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And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.
And the boys grew. And Esau was a skilful hunter, a man of the field. And Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents.
The length of each curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits: all the curtains shall have one measure.
Then Jael Heber's wife took a tent-pin, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground; for he was in a deep sleep; so he swooned and died.
But it came to pass after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in.
And when the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father-in-law, the damsel's father, said unto him, Behold, now the day draweth toward evening, I pray you tarry all night: behold, the day groweth to an end, lodge here, that thy heart may be merry; and to-morrow get you early on your way, that thou mayest go home.
And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in booths; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open field; shall I then go into my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.
So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house; and Absalom went in unto his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel.
And when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents.
And it came to pass, when Ben-hadad heard this message, as he was drinking, he and the kings, in the pavilions, that he said unto his servants, Set yourselves in array . And they set themselves in array against the city.
And they went out at noon. But Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him.
Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.
Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them? They die, and that without wisdom.
His going forth is from the end of the heavens, And his circuit unto the ends of it; And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
I am black, but comely, Oh ye daughters of Jerusalem, As the tents of Kedar, As the curtains of Solomon.
It was but a little that I passed from them, When I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, Until I had brought him into my mother's house, And into the chamber of her that conceived me.
Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations; spare not: lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.
Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my tents destroyed, and my curtains in a moment.
For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yea would they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.
And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome: and he came unto them;
Morish
1. The word commonly translated 'tent' is ohel, but it is often translated in the A.V. 'tabernacle,' and is used also for 'dwelling' or 'habitation,' as in Job 8:22; Ps 91:10; etc. This word also shows that the goats' hair curtains formed 'the tent' of the tabernacle. See TABERNACLE. It was also 'a tent' that Moses pitched outside the camp, in Ex 33:7. See CAMP.
2. mishkan, rightly translated 'tabernacle' but is 'tent' in Cant. 1:8.
3. sukkah also translated 'tabernacle,' 'pavilion,' 'booth;' and only once 'tent.' 2Sa 11:11.
4. qubbah, occurring only in Nu 25:8. With the patriarchs their 'tent' was their dwelling place as far as they had any, easily moved from place to place as the cattle needed fresh pasture. On Israel entering the land the tents gave way to houses in the cities: as the Christian's 'tabernacle' will give place to the 'house' above. 2Co 5:1.
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Now Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it without the camp, afar off from the camp; and he called it, The tent of meeting. And it came to pass, that every one that sought Jehovah went out unto the tent of meeting, which was without the camp.
and he went after the man of Israel into the pavilion, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.
And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in booths; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open field; shall I then go into my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.
They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; And the tent of the wicked shall be no more.
For we know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
Smith
Tent.
Among the leading characteristics of the nomad races, those two have always been numbered whose origin has been ascribed to Jabal the son of Lameth,
viz., to be tent-dwellers and keepers of cattle. The same may be said of the forefathers of the Hebrew race; nor was it until the return into Canaan from Egypt that the Hebrews became inhabitants of cities. An Arab tent is called beit, "house;" its covering consists of stuff, about three quarters of a yard broad, made of black goat's-hair,
laid parallel with the tent's length. This is sufficient to resist the heaviest rain. The tent-poles or columns are usually nine in number, placed in three groups; but many tents have only one pole, others two or three. The ropes which hold the tent in its place are fastened, not to the tent-cover itself, but to loops consisting of a leathern thong tied to the ends of a stick, round which is twisted a piece of old cloth, which is itself sewed to the tent-cover. The ends of the tent-ropes are fastened to short sticks or pins, which are driven into the ground with a mallet.
Round the back and sides of the tent runs a piece of stuff removable at pleasure to admit air. The tent is divided into two apartments, separated by a carpet partition drawn across the middle of the tent and fastened to the three middle posts. When the pasture near an encampment is exhausted, the tents are taken down, packed on camels and removed.
In choosing places for encampment, Arabs prefer the neighborhood of trees, for the sake of the shade and coolness which they afford.
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And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents and have cattle.
let now a little water be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:
And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.
And he removed from thence, and digged another well. And for that they strove not. And he called the name of it Rehoboth. And he said, For now Jehovah hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.
And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of Jehovah, and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac's servants digged a well.
Then Jael Heber's wife took a tent-pin, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground; for he was in a deep sleep; so he swooned and died.
I am black, but comely, Oh ye daughters of Jerusalem, As the tents of Kedar, As the curtains of Solomon.
My dwelling is removed, and is carried away from me as a shepherd's tent: I have rolled up, like a weaver, my life; he will cut me off from the loom: From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.