7900. sok

Lexical Summary

sok: Thicket, hedge, or covering

Original Word: שׂךְ
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: sok
Pronunciation: soke
Phonetic Spelling: (soke)
KJV: tabernacle
NASB: tabernacle
Word Origin: [from H5526 (סָכַך שָׂכַך - To cover) in the sense of H7753 (שׂוּך - hedge)]

1. a booth (as interlaced)

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance

tabernacle

From cakak in the sense of suwk; a booth (as interlaced) -- tabernacle.

see HEBREW cakak

see HEBREW suwk

NAS Exhaustive Concordance

Word Origin
from sakak
Definition
booth, pavilion
NASB Translation
tabernacle (1).

Brown-Driver-Briggs

[שׂךְ] noun [masculine] booth, pavilion (׳שׂ perhaps erroneous, compare סֹךְ, סֻכָּה below II. סכך); — suffix שֻׂכּוֺ Lamentations 2:6 his [׳י's] pavilion ("" מֹעֲדוֺ).

Topical Lexicon

Meaning and Imagery

The term שׂךְ portrays a frail, makeshift shelter—something one might throw up in a garden for a single season. It evokes transience, vulnerability to the elements, and the ease with which it can be dismantled. Scripture uses this lone occurrence to shock the reader: what should have been steadfast and holy has been reduced to the status of a garden hut.

Scriptural Context: Lamentations 2:6

“He has laid waste His booth like a garden; He has destroyed His place of meeting. The LORD has made Zion forget both appointed feasts and Sabbaths; in His fierce anger He has spurned king and priest” (Lamentations 2:6).

1. Setting: Following Babylon’s siege, Jeremiah laments Jerusalem’s ruin.
2. Point of comparison: The once-glorious temple—Solomon’s permanent stone edifice—now likened to a flimsy garden booth.
3. Purpose: Emphasizes the severity of divine judgment; sacred spaces do not guarantee protection when covenant faithfulness collapses (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28).
4. Liturgical fallout: Festivals and Sabbaths disappear because the physical center of worship is gone, underlining the link between space, practice, and memory in Israel’s life with God.

Relationship to Other Biblical “Booths”

1. Feast of Booths (Leviticus 23:33-43): Israel dwelt in temporary shelters to recall wilderness dependence. That annual reminder of fragility parallels the judgment image; failure to heed the lesson turns the temple itself into what the people once built as a teaching tool.
2. David’s “fallen booth” (Amos 9:11): Prophetic hope that God will raise up dismantled worship underscores the temporary yet restorative nature of divine dealings. Lamentations shows the tear-down; Amos envisions the rebuild.
3. Messianic overtones: John 1:14 declares that the Word “tabernacled” among us—God assuming a temporary human dwelling that, after being “torn down” at the cross, is raised in glory (John 2:19-21).

Historical Background

• 586 B.C.: Nebuchadnezzar razes Jerusalem. Temple treasures taken (2 Kings 25:13-17), walls breached, royal house ended.
• Archeology confirms widespread burning layers atop earlier strata at the Temple Mount region.
• Lamentations likely compiled soon after, its poetic acrostics offering structured grief for communal worship.

Theological Reflection

1. Holiness does not immunize structures from judgment; covenant loyalty is primary (Jeremiah 7:4).
2. God’s presence is not confined; He can withdraw glory (Ezekiel 11:23) and still fulfill redemptive purposes elsewhere.
3. The metaphor underscores the contrast between human expectation of permanence and God’s sovereign freedom to uproot when sin persists.

Practical and Devotional Application

• Corporate worship today must never presume on buildings or traditions; repentance and faith are central.
• Seasons of loss can drive believers to fresh dependence, much like the Feast of Booths reminded Israel of wilderness reliance.
• Lament invites honest grief yet keeps hope alive; chapters 3:21-24 pivot to God’s steadfast love even amid ruins.

Christological and Eschatological Dimensions

• Jesus Christ embodies the true sanctuary (Hebrews 9:11). What was made “like a garden booth” prefigures the cross where the veil is torn (Matthew 27:51).
• Revelation 21:3 envisions God’s ultimate “dwelling” (Greek skēnē, cognate concept) with His people—no longer temporary, never again dismantled.

Pastoral and Ministry Implications

1. Discipleship: Teach believers to hold material resources loosely and prioritize covenant fidelity.
2. Liturgy: Incorporate lament into worship to express faith during communal or personal loss.
3. Mission: The mobility implied by a booth reminds the church to be pilgrim-minded, ready to move wherever Christ leads.

Forms and Transliterations

שֻׂכּ֔וֹ שכו śuk·kōw sukKo śukkōw

Englishman's Concordance

Lamentations 2:6
HEB: וַיַּחְמֹ֤ס כַּגַּן֙ שֻׂכּ֔וֹ שִׁחֵ֖ת מוֹעֲד֑וֹ
NAS: And He has violently treated His tabernacle like a garden
KJV: And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as [if it were of] a garden:
INT: has violently A garden his tabernacle has destroyed his appointed

1 Occurrence

Strong's Hebrew 7900
1 Occurrence

śuk·kōw — 1 Occ.