Shechinah

Shechinah (from the Chaldee/Aramaic shekhan, meaning resting-place or dwelling) is a post-biblical Jewish term for the visible manifestation of God's glorious presence among his people. The word itself does not appear in Scripture but was coined by Jewish rabbis to describe the theophanic phenomena recorded throughout the Old Testament: the pillar of cloud and fire that guided Israel in the wilderness, the cloud that filled the tabernacle so that Moses could not enter (Exodus 40:34–35), and the glory that filled Solomon's temple at its dedication (1 Kings 8:10–11; 2 Chronicles 7:1–3).

The Shechinah is also identified with the cloud of glory (kavod) that appeared between the cherubim over the ark of the covenant, the bright light of the divine presence that the prophet Ezekiel saw departing the temple before Jerusalem's destruction (Ezekiel 10–11). In the New Testament, John 1:14 — the Word became flesh and dwelt (eskēnōsen, tabernacled) among us, and we beheld his glory — is widely understood as a deliberate allusion to the Shechinah, presenting the Incarnation as the ultimate and permanent dwelling of God among his people.