SKENE 21: tents and nests

Now that we have looked at two variants of the noun ‘skene’, it might be a good time to consider two compounds of the verb ‘skeno’, which we saw so suggestively used by John in his description of the incarnation. The first is ‘kataskeno’, which is used four times in the NT, three of them in the same context in the synoptic gospels. These we will look at in a moment, but first, a brief comment on the fourth occurrence. This comes in Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost, when he quotes from the LXX version of Psalm 16: “My heart rejoices and my tongue leaps for joy, and my flesh will dwell (‘kataskeno’) in hope that you will not leave my soul in Hades” (Acts 2.26-7, Psalm 16.9-10) We could well have included this reference in the previous section, since it clearly suggests that the human body (“my flesh”) is, in this life on earth, ‘living in a tent’ (‘kataskeno’), but sustained in joyful hope, like Abraham, of a heavenly ‘city with foundations’, and, like Paul, of a heavenly home ‘not-made-with-human-hands’. This verb in turn adds to the ‘skene’ family by giving birth to the noun ‘kataskenosis’, which makes two appearances, and which we shall also look at. The verb is found in all three versions of the parable of the mustard seed, to which Jesus likens the kingdom of God: “the mustard seed is the smallest of the seeds, but when it grows it is bigger than the other plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest (‘kataskeno’) in its branches” (Matt 13.32). The other two versions are very similar, but Mark writes, “it puts out great branches, so that the birds of the air can nest in its shade” (Mark 4.32). He might almost be accused of making a pun here (Mark indulging in wordplay ? surely not !), since, as we have seen, ‘skene’ is related to ‘skia’, the word for ‘shade’. However that may be, what is clear is that a nest is the avian equivalent of a tent, not mobile, perhaps (except in a high wind!), but certainly temporary. The only mystery is why neither AV (‘lodge’) nor NIV (‘perch’) translates this verb as to ‘nest’. This is particularly perverse since the noun derived from it, ‘kataskenosis’, is used by both Matthew and Luke in Jesus’ reply to the over-enthusiastic would-be disciple (Matthew identifies him as a scribe) who says “I will follow you wherever you go”. Jesus says to him: “Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have --- ” ‘lodges’ ? ‘perches’ ? No: “nests”, of course; “but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matt 8.20, Luke 9.58). In all these five passages the phrase ‘the birds of the air’ should strictly be translated “the birds of the heaven”, and it is possible that Matthew also is making a verbal point when he alone of the three synoptics refers (as he habitually does) to ‘the kingdom of heaven’ rather that to ‘the kingdom of God’. In the former phrase, ‘heaven’ is singular, while in the latter it is always plural. Whoever, or whatever, these birds represent in the parable, they clearly do not belong to ‘the kingdom of heaven’, even though they are ‘birds of the heaven’, and their ‘nests’ are just as obsolescent and earthbound as the tents which are their human equivalent.