1556. All the way to the place where his tent had been before means to the holy traits that existed before he became steeped in knowledge. This can be seen from the symbolism of a tent as holy attributes of faith (dealt with previously at §§414, 1452) and from the remarks just above.

Consequently, it means that the Lord returned to the heavenly qualities he possessed before he had absorbed factual and religious knowledge, as can be seen from the words of the last chapter: "And Abram moved from there onto a mountain to the east of Bethel and spread his tent" (verse 8 [§§1450-1455]). This was before he set out for Egypt, that is, before the Lord became steeped in factual and religious knowledge.

414. The fact that dwelling in a tent means holy love is established by the symbolism of tents in the Word, as, for instance, in David:

Jehovah, who will stay in your tent? Who will live on your holy mountain? Those walking unblemished and doing justice and speaking truth in their heart. (Psalms 15:1-2)

This passage tells what it means to live in a tent or on a holy mountain, which it equates with the holy ways of love, that is, with walking unblemished and doing justice. In the same author:

Their line has gone out into all the earth and their discourse to the end of the world. He placed a tent for the sun among them. (Psalms 19:4)

The sun here stands for love. In the same author:

I will stay in your tent forever; I will feel safe in the hiding place of your wings. (Psalms 61:4)

The tent stands for something heavenly, the hiding place of the wings for something spiritual that grows out of it. In Isaiah:

The throne has been strengthened by mercy, and he sits on it in truth in David's tent, judging and seeking judgment and hastening justice. (Isaiah 16:5)

Again the tent stands for holy love, exercised through the rendering of judgment and the hastening of justice. In the same author:

Look at Zion, the city of our appointed feast; may your eyes see Jerusalem, a tranquil dwelling, a tent that does not move. (Isaiah 33:20)

This speaks of the heavenly Jerusalem.

[2] In Jeremiah:

This is what Jehovah has said: "Watch! I am bringing back Jacob's captured tents, and I will have mercy on his dwellings. And the city will be rebuilt on its own [ruin] mound." (Jeremiah 30:18)

The capture of the tents stands for being stripped of heavenly qualities, or holy love. In Amos:

On that day I will raise up David's fallen pavilion, and wall up their breaches, and its ruins I will raise up, and I will rebuild it as in the days of old. (Amos 9:11)

The pavilion (or tabernacle) here likewise stands for heavenly attributes and their holiness. In Jeremiah:

The whole earth was devastated. Quickly were my tents devastated; in an instant, my tent curtains. (Jeremiah 4:20)

And in another place:

My tent was devastated and all my ropes were torn out; my children left me and were no more. I am no longer stretching out my tent or setting up my tent curtains. (Jeremiah 10:20)

The tent stands for heavenly qualities, the tent curtains and ropes for the spiritual qualities that come from them. In the same author:

[Others] will seize their tents and flocks; [others] will carry off for themselves their tent curtains and all their vessels and the camels. (Jeremiah 49:29)

This is about Arabia and the "children of the east," ¹ representing people who possess holy, heavenly qualities. In the same author:

The Lord poured his wrath out into the tent of Zion's daughter like fire. (Lamentations 2:4)

This stands for being stripped of everything sacred and heavenly about faith.

[3] The reason why a tent in the Word is taken to mean sacred, heavenly love is that the ancients carried out sacred worship in their tents. When they started to profane the tents with profane types of worship, the tabernacle and later the Temple were built. So tents have the same symbolism as the tabernacle and the subsequent Temple. A godly person is therefore called a tent, a tabernacle, and a temple to the Lord.

It is clear in David that a tent, a tabernacle, and a temple mean the same thing:

One thing have I asked of Jehovah; this I will seek: that I may remain in Jehovah's house all the days of my life to watch Jehovah in sweet pleasure and to make early morning visits in his Temple. For he will hide me in his tabernacle on the day of evil. He will conceal me in the concealment of his tent; on a rock he will lift me up, and now my head will be lifted up against my enemies all around me and I will offer in his tent the sacrifices of shouting. (Psalms 27:4-5, 6)

[4] In the highest sense, the Lord's human quality is a tent, a tabernacle, and a temple. That is why these terms are applied to every heavenly person and to every sacred, heavenly quality too.

The Lord loved the earliest church more than the ones following it, and its people lived alone with each other — divided into their families, that is — holding sacred worship in their tents. For these two reasons their tents were considered more sacred than the Temple, which was eventually profaned. In remembrance of this, the Feast of Booths (or huts) was established. It took place while the people were gathering the land's produce, and during it they lived in huts as the earliest people had (Leviticus 23:39-44; Deuteronomy 16:13; Hosea 12:9). ²

Footnotes: