Tabernacle
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Tabernacle. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a slightly constructed temporary building or habitation; a tent, a pavilion. Figuratively, a temple; a place of worship; a sacred place; specifically, the sacred tent built by Moses and maintained as the central place of worship for Israel till Solomon built the temple. Also, the human frame as the temporary abode of the soul. In Jewish antiquities, more fully denominated Tabernacle of the Congrega- Cyc-Vol. IX 221 tion, and Tabernacle of Witness, a tent constructed by direction of Moses, under divine authority, to be a local habitation for Jehovah while His people moved from place to place in the wilderness-a temple being obviously unsuitable to the period of the wandering. To obtain materials for the construction of this sacred tent free-will offerings were solicited, and the Jews, in response, brought gold, silver, "brass" (copper), cloths, rams' skins dyed red, oil, spices, precious stones, etc. (Exod. xxv: 1-9; xxxvi: 1-5). Bezaleel and Aholiab, men divinely endowed with genius for the purpose, were the actual builders (xxxv: 30-34; xxxvi: 4). The tabernacle was 30 cubits (i. e., 45 feet) long, 10 cubits (15 feet) wide, and 10 cubits (15 feet) high. The material was "shittim" (acacia) wood. The interior was divided into an outer room 20 cubits long by 10 broad, called the Holy Place, or Sanctuary, and an inner apartment 10 cubits (15 feet) long by 10 broad, named the Most Holy Place, or Holy of Holies. At the E. or open end, were five pillars of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, supporting a veil or curtain of fine linen with needlework of blue, crimson, and scarlet. Each pillar stood on a brass socket and was furnished with golden hooks. Between the Holy Place and the Place Most Holy was another veil or curtain of the same material as the first, but the pillars supporting it rested on silver sockets. Four different kinds of curtains or coverings supplied the place of a roof. Within the Holy Place on the N. side, was the golden table with the shew-bread on it, and on the S. side the golden candle-stick, and the golden altar of incense. In the Holy of Holies were the Ark of the Covenant and the mercy-seat (Exod. xxvi: 1-37; xxxvi: 1-38; Heb. ix. 1-5). Around the tabernacle was the court of the tabernacle, 100 cubits (150 feet) long, by 50 cubits (75 feet) broad, surrounded by 60 pillars, each five cubits (71½ feet) high, with silver capitals and hooks, and brass sockets. The four pillars in the E. side supported a veil or curtain constituting the gate of the court. The brazen altar and the laver were in the courtyard. Around the latter were the tents of the Levites, and beyond these those of the other tribes, three on each side of the tabernacle. Only the priests entered the Holy Place. This they did twice daily, in the morning to extinguish the lights, in the evening to light them anew. None but the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and he only once a year, on the great day of Atonement. The Gershonites, the Merarites, and the Kohathites took charge of the tabernacle and its furniture when these were removed from place to place. The tabernacle was first set up by Moses on the first day of the second year after the Israelites had left Egypt. After they had reached Canaan it was located at Shiloh (I Sam. iv: 3-22). In Saul's time it was at Nob (I Sam. xxi: 1, and Mark ii: 26). When Solomon became king it was at Gibeon (I Kings iii: 4). Afterward Solomon laid it up in the Temple, of which in all its leading features it had been the model (I Kings viii: 4, II Chron. v. 5). See TEMPLE. In the Roman Church a receptacle for the consecrated Host for benediction and the ciborium containing the smaller Hosts which the laity receive. In its present form-a small structure of marble, metal, or wood, placed in the center of the E. side of the altar-the tabernacle dates from the 16th century. Its original form was that of a dove; about the middle of the 14th century it was sometimes placed in an aumbry above the altar. A lamp constantly burns before the tabernacle, which is kept locked, the key never passing out of the charge of the clergy. The name tabernacle is also given to (1) a niche for an image, (2) a reliquary, (3) the aumbry near the high altar when used to contain the reserved sacrament, and (4) the abbot's stall in choir. As a nautical term, an elevated socket for a boat's mast, or a projecting post to which a mast may be hinged when it is fitted for lowering to pass beneath bridges.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a tent, pavilion, or booth. In sacred history the tabernacle was a tent built as a portable sanctuary for the Jewish nation. The construction of this tabernacle of the congregation is described fully in Exodus xxv-xxvii and xxxvi-xxxviii. This Jewish tabernacle was quite a considerable affair. The tabernacle proper was of a rectangular shape, measuring about forty-five by fifteen feet and fifteen feet in height. This tent was surrounded by an inclosure or yard about 150 feet long and seventy-five feet wide. A curtain or screen, somewhat higher than the head of a man, surrounded the outer yard. The tent proper was divided by a veil into two chambers, an outer and an inner. The inner chamber was called the "holy of holies." Here the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat stood. The altar of incense, the table of shewbread, and the golden candlesticks stood in the outer chamber. An altar of burnt offerings and a laver for the washing of hands stood in the outer yard. The Israelites carried the tabernacle with them throughout their wanderings. Wherever they stopped the tabernacle was set up and the tribe pitched their tents about it in regular order. After the Israelites reached the Promised Land they set up the tabernacle in various places but chiefly at Shiloh. On the completion of Solomon's Temple the sacred vessels that were in the tabernacle were all removed by the Levites to their permanent resting place. The term "tabernacle" has been applied variously. In Biblical phrase, the human frame, being the abode of the soul, is spoken of as the "earthly tabernacle" as in II Cor. v: 1, "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." The Whitefield Chapel in London was known as the Tabernacle. The large church which Spurgeon's congregation built in the Newington district of London was known as the Tabernacle. Talmage and his congregation built a Tabernacle in Brooklyn.