2 Samuel 7:6

“Whereas I have not dwelt in [any] house, etc.] Fixed, stated, habitation: since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day; a space of five or six hundred years, though he might before: but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle; moving from place to place while in the wilderness, and since in the land of Canaan, first at Gilgal, then at Shiloh, afterwards at Nob, and now at Gibeon. “Tent” and “tabernacle” are distinguished, though they were but one building and habitation; the tent was the curtains of goats’ hair, and the tabernacle the linen curtains, (see <022601>Exodus 26:1,6,11-13). In (<131705>1 Chronicles 17:5) it is “from tent to tent, and…”

“Have walked - Implying the frequent moving of the tabernacle, in the times of the Judges, as opposed to a settled resting in one place. The word tent, refers especially to the outward covering of skins, etc.: the tabernacle denotes the framework of beards and bars. Observe the constant reference to the Exodus and to the details as given in the books of Moses. return to 'Top of Page'”

“Tent and tabernacle - These two seem thus to be distinguished, the one may note the curtains and hangings within, the other the frame of boards, and coverings upon it. 2 Kings (2 Samuel) 7:8”

“7:6 never lived in a house: Prior to the building of the Temple in one fixed location, God’s dwelling was the Tabernacle, a mobile, tentlike structure. The text here uses language of human experience to describe a truth about God (see study notes on Exod 29:18; Deut 8:2). Although God is omnipresent, he chose the Tabernacle and Temple as his “dwelling place” in ancient Israel (see study note on 2 Chr 2:5-6; cp. Acts 17:24).”

“I have not: Jos 18:1; Kg1 8:16; Ch1 17:5, Ch1 17:6 walked: Exo 33:14, Exo 33:15, Exo 40:35-38; Lev 26:23, Lev 26:24, Lev 26:27, Lev 26:28; Num 10:33-36; Deu 23:14; Co2 6:16; Rev 2:1 tent: Exo 40:18, Exo 40:19, Exo 40:34; Act 7:44 2 Kings (2 Samuel) 7:7”

“The reason assigned for this answer: "I have not dwelt in a house from the day of the bringing up of Israel out of Egypt even to this day, but I was wandering about in a tent and in a dwelling." "And in a dwelling" (mishcan) is to be taken as explanatory, viz., in a tent which was my dwelling. As a tent is a traveller's dwelling, so, as long as God's dwelling was a tent, He himself appeared as if travelling or going from place to place. "In the whole of the time that I walked among all the children of Israel, ... have I spoken a word to one of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Wherefore have ye not built me a cedar house?" A "cedar house" is equivalent to a…”