Tents in the Scriptures

When we were reading the scriptures recently as a family we came to the part in Mosiah 2 where the people set up tents facing the temple and gathered to hear the words of King Benjamin.  My kids got excited about that and thought they should likewise get out a tent, go to the temple, and set it up.  We tried to explain that setting up a tent at the temple probably isn’t allowed in our day, so they were a bit disappointed.  Thinking about this, though, it is interesting to see how common tents are mentioned in the scriptures.  In the Old Testament tents are spoken of frequently, from Abraham in Bethel (Genesis 12:8) to the account of the travels of Jacob and his family after leaving Laban (Genesis 31:5) to numerous references in the account of the children of Israel traveling in the wilderness.  Tents were involved in the holy tabernacle that Moses built (Exodus 26:13) and in the account of Gideon and his 300 going against the Midianites (Judges 7:8).  In the Pearl of Great Price we read of how there were “tent-keepers” in the days of Enoch and how a whole people dwelt in tents (Moses 6:38, 7:5).  In addition to the story of King Benjamin, the Book of Mormon mentions tents frequently in conjunction with the voyage of Lehi and his family.  Even Paul was a tentmaker. 

               While many of these references to tents aren’t necessarily very inspiring, I think there are themes of humility and revelation that accompany a few of these stories involving tents.  This is probably best seen in the story of Lehi and his voyage.  The fact that Lehi was willing to leave his comfortable home and possessions and live in a tent in order to be obedient to the Lord shows his humility and devotion to the Lord.  We also see that some of the great revelations came to him and Nephi while they were living in tents in the wilderness.  After his vision of the tree of life and Nephi’s subsequent vision showing him what it meant, Nephi summarized their incredible revelatory experiences with these words: "Now, all these things were said and done as my father dwelt in a tent in the valley which he called Lemuel" (1 Nephi 16:6).  Despite their humble circumstances in the wilderness (and perhaps because of them), they were able to draw close to the Lord and receive incredible revelations.  It was the same for the people of King Benjamin; they showed they were willing to leave the comforts of their homes and set up in tents to hear the word of the Lord.  And they were richly blessed because of their willingness to sacrifice for a short time some of their comforts.  Abraham was another who traveled through wilderness in tents and received great revelations from the Lord as He did:  "And I took Sarai, whom I took to wife when I was in Ur, in Chaldea, and Lot, my brother’s son, and all our substance that we had gathered, and the souls that we had won in Haran, and came forth in the way to the land of Canaan, and dwelt in tents as we came on our way" (Abraham 2:15).  It was on this trip that the Lord spoke to Him and gave him great promises, “My name is Jehovah, and I know the end from the beginning; therefore my hand shall be over thee.  And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee above measure” (Abraham 2:8-9).  He was blessed because he was willing to follow the Lord even into the wilderness at the cost of physical hardship. 

               There’s an interesting reference to tents in the Doctrine and Covenants.  Speaking of missionaries traveling, the Lord said, “Behold, I, the Lord, have appointed a way for the journeying of my saints; and behold, this is the way—that after they leave the canal they shall journey by land, inasmuch as they are commanded to journey and go up unto the land of Zion; And they shall do like unto the children of Israel, pitching their tents by the way” (D&C 61:24-25).  I think the Lord wants us to be willing to, symbolically speaking, pitch our tents by the way as we journey on the gospel path.  Lehi, Abraham, and others did not get 5 star hotels to stay in as they traveled on their journeys, and we likewise should expect to make similar sacrifices in order follow the Lord’s direction for us.  As we can choose following the Lord over preserving our own physical comfort we can more readily look for great spiritual knowledge and blessings that the Lord will pour down.