- Name 44 of 70A Sanctuary
- HebrewMiqdash me'at
- In plain wordsA holy place of safety, the place you run to
- Where to find itIsaiah 8:14 and Ezekiel 11:16, in war and in exile
A sanctuary is what God promised to be for His people when they had nowhere safe to stand. Isaiah wrote And he shall be for a sanctuary
(Isaiah 8:14), and to exiles far from home God said He would be as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come
(Ezekiel 11:16). The word means a holy place, and in the Bible a holy place was also where you ran for protection.
A king in a panic
The first part of the story happened in Jerusalem in the 700s BC. Ahaz was king of Judah. Two neighbors, Syria (also called Aram) and the northern kingdom of Israel, had joined forces against him. When Ahaz heard the news, the Bible says his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind
(Isaiah 7:2). The whole city was shaking like leaves.
God sent the prophet Isaiah to Ahaz with a calm message: Take heed, and be quiet; fear not
(Isaiah 7:4). Isaiah even offered the king a sign from God. Ahaz said no. Instead he sent to the king of Assyria, the most powerful empire of the day, and paid for help. The Bible records that Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD
and sent it to the Assyrian king (2 Kings 16:8). He emptied God's house to hire a foreign army.
Fear spread through the people. Everyone was talking about the alliance against them, the "confederacy." God told Isaiah not to join in:
Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
Isaiah 8:12-13
To "sanctify" the LORD means to treat Him as holy, to give Him first place. In plain words: do not catch everyone else's fear. Let God be the One you take seriously. Then comes the promise that gives this page its name.
And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Isaiah 8:14
The people thought the temple building made them safe. Their own king was stripping it. Isaiah pointed past the building to the LORD Himself. He is the sanctuary. But the same verse warns that for those who will not trust Him, He becomes a stone they trip over. A "gin" is an old word for a trap.
Miqdash: holy ground and a safe place
The Hebrew word for sanctuary is miqdash. It grows from the root qadash, which means to be holy or set apart for God. Miqdash is the usual Old Testament word for the tabernacle, the worship tent in the desert, and later for the temple in Jerusalem. The first time God asked for one, He said let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them
(Exodus 25:8). A sanctuary was where God chose to live among His people.
Strong's dictionary also lists "asylum" among its meanings, and the Bible shows why. When Solomon was crowned, his older brother Adonijah, who had tried to take the throne, feared for his life. He arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar
(1 Kings 1:50). The altar had a horn-shaped point at each corner, and holding on to it was a way of begging for mercy at God's own house. Customs like this are one of the old roots of the later practice of "claiming sanctuary." It was never a hiding place for a cold-blooded killer, though. God's law said such a person was to be taken even from the altar (Exodus 21:14).
Isaiah's point, then, is bold. The safest spot in the nation was the holy place. God said, in effect, "I am that place."
A little sanctuary for people far from home
More than a hundred years later the worst had happened. Babylon had carried thousands of people from Judah away to a foreign land. The prophet Ezekiel lived among them among the captives by the river of Chebar
(Ezekiel 1:1). Back in Jerusalem, the people who were left said the exiles were finished. Their message was Get you far from the LORD: unto us is this land given in possession
(Ezekiel 11:15). In other words, "You are far from the temple, so you are far from God."
God answered for the exiles:
Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.
Ezekiel 11:16
The Hebrew phrase is miqdash me'at. Me'at means "a little" or "a few." It can be read as a small sanctuary, or as a sanctuary for a little while. Either way, the people who had lost their land, their homes and their temple were told that God Himself would be a holy place for them, right where they were. Jewish teachers in later centuries applied this verse to the synagogue, the local house of prayer and study that kept faith alive after the temple was gone.
More King James verses about the sanctuary
Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.
Psalm 73:17
The writer of Psalm 73 was upset that cruel people seemed to win. His confusion did not clear up until he went into God's presence. The sanctuary is where things come back into focus.
To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
Psalm 63:2
David wrote Psalm 63 in a dry wilderness, far from the tabernacle, longing for what he had seen of God there. Ezekiel's promise is the answer to that longing: God can meet you in the wilderness too.
Finding sanctuary where you are
Isaiah's world sounds a lot like ours. Every day brings a new headline, a new threat, a new reason to be scared, and fear spreads fast, through group chats, news feeds and dinner tables. God's word through Isaiah still works: do not fear what everyone else fears. Make the LORD the One you take most seriously, and you will have a place to stand that no headline can knock over.
Ezekiel's promise speaks to anyone who feels cut off. You might be in a hospital room, a dorm far from home, a military base, a prison cell, or a house where you are the only believer. You might have moved to a new country. You can feel a long way from "church." God made this promise to people in exactly that spot. The room may be small. God can still be your sanctuary in it.
Some people carry real hurt from a church or a leader who should have protected them. That is a deep wrong, and it is not what a sanctuary is supposed to be. This name puts your trust in God Himself, not in any building or group. If someone has harmed you, please talk to safe people, and report a crime to the authorities.
- Turn off the news for a day and notice whose fear you have been carrying.
- Pick a quiet corner, even a car or a closet, and make it a place where you meet God each day.
- Read Isaiah 8:12 to 14 before you scroll in the morning.
A Sanctuary is name 44 of the 70 in the book. It follows Thy Keeper, and the next name, A Strength to the Poor, a Refuge from the Storm, shows God sheltering the people with nothing. You can explore more Hebrew names of God as well.
