 |
| Ark of the Covenant |
We all think of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark when someone mentions the Ark of the Covenant. Who can possibly forget the melting faces of the Nazis? There are probably some who see the Ark as something invented for the movies, but it is not. It is a fascinating piece of furniture designed, first for the Tabernacle and then used in the Temple of Solomon.
What is it? The Ark was commissioned by God as one of the pieces of furnishing to be placed within the Tabernacle. It was to be put into the Holy of Holies and was to be respected, but not worshipped. It did not contain God, but rather, His Presence was over the Ark. The lid was designed with two Cherubim ("Karibu") facing each other with wings forward. The Cherubim on the Ark had two wings, but the Cherubim mentioned in Ezekiel had four. The lid was called God's footstool and the Ark itself His throne. In ancient cultures, the griffin guarded the throne, like the Cherubim, perhaps the cherubim on the Ark were actually what we would call griffins. The area between the Cherubim was called the "mercy seat" and is associated with the Hebrew word for "atonement". The Mercy Seat on the Ark was a symbolic foreshadowing of the ultimate sacrifice for all sin—the blood of Christ shed on the cross for the remission of sins.
What was it made of?
 |
| Acacia Tree |
The gold plating on the Ark could be made to be mirror-like, thus, the gold plating over the Ark may have been a mirror. The Ark was also called the Ark of Testimony (Deut. 31:26). The Ark will provide testimony. Mirrors are exact reflections of what is in front of it, and so the Torah (Law) is a mirror we stand in front of and view our reflection. (Jeff Benner)
Was there an Egyptian influence?
The Ark parallels the Egyptian sacred bark or the palanquin (in India and the East). The palanquin was a covered litter for one passenger, consisting of a large box carried on two horizontal poles by four or six bearers. The Ark is similar in that, only the Levites could carry it and then it was veiled and carried by poles, which were permanently attached. The Egyptian sacred bark resembled a boat and were carried by poles or by a sled. They were sacred ritual objects and their basic function was to transport gods and/or mummies. When transporting a god, it was gold-plated. They were carried with poles by the priests and even had epithet type names, which brings to mind the name of the Ark of the Covenant or Testimony. The bark was known to give oracles and to actually be sometimes decorated with Kerubim. The Ark used the Egyptian bark as a model.
What was the function of the Ark?
The Ark had three basic functions, as a reliquary to keep the Tablets of the Law in, as a symbolic presence of Yahweh and as a ritual object. As a ritual, the High Priest, on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), sprinkled the blood of a bull on the Mercy Seat when he entered the Holy of Holies. The blood was to cover (atone) for the sins committed by the people.
How many arks were there?
There actually were four arks mentioned in the Scriptures. First, was Noah’s ark, a picture of salvation and deliverance from the wrath of God. Second, was the ark Moses was placed in as a baby and its representation of protection from the wrath of man. Third, was the Ark of the Covenant, a picture of God’s communion and our fellowship with God as well as a foreshadow of Jesus coming as our atonement for sin. The final “ark” is the coffin Joseph was placed in. The Hebrew word for a coffin is “ark” (tebah). We read in Gen. 50:26, of Joseph’s ark, when his body was carried with the Israelites to be buried in Canaan. Joseph, himself was a type of Christ.
What did the Ark contain?
The Ark possibly only contained the stone tablets of the Law. I know we were all taught that it had Aaron’s rod and a jar of manna within, but due to the vagueness of the Hebrew language, the rod and manna may have been located in close proximity rather than within.
Moses then told Aaron, “Take a jar and put a full omer of manna in it. Then place it before the LORD to keep it for your future generations.” As the LORD had commanded Moses, Aaron placed it in front of the covenant to keep it.” – Exodus 16:33-34
“Then the LORD said to Moses: Put back Aaron’s staff in front of the covenant, for safe keeping as a sign to the rebellious, so that their grumbling against me may cease and they might not die.” – Numbers 17:1The original Greek word translated "in which" (wherein, KJV) in Hebrews 9:4 is hou. Biblical lexicons say that hou means "at which place." Hou is a general word that does not necessarily mean "wherein," "within," or "in." It simply means "in the same location as." Hebrews 9:4 appears to say that the manna and the rod were inside the Ark. Notice that the Book of the Law was not placed inside the ark, but "beside" (by the side of, RSV) the ark. This is why the Book of the Law is not mentioned in I Kings 8:9 as being in the ark. The Book of the Law, along with the pot of manna (Exodus 16:33-34) and Aaron's rod, was kept beside the ark, not in it. All of these items could properly be described as being hou—in the same place as—the ark. Take a look at Deuteronomy 31: 24-26. “So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book [not the Ten Commandments which God had written on two tables of stone, but the civil law which Moses had written in a book—the law of Moses], when they were finished, that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying: "Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there as a witness against you. "(www.cgg.org)
Thinking of how small the Ark was, I wonder if Aaron’s rod might not have fit. It was common to place objects close to a sacred object, such as the Ark, and since the objects would have been enclosed within the Holy of Holies, it may be that the rod and manna were stored with the Book of the Law, in close proximity, yet not actually within the Ark. How much space do you think there was inside after the stone tablets were put there?
Where is the Ark today?
- Second Maccabees 2:4-10 says that Jeremiah hid the Ark in a cave.
- The Ethiopian Orthodox Church claims to have the Ark in a treasury that they keep behind locked doors.
- There are also legends that the Knights Templar or Freemasons have it.
- Every once in a while, someone claims to know where it is. There are those that say it is hidden under where the Temple was. The prophet Jeremiah, speaking in the days of King Josiah (Jer. 3:16), prophesies of a future time when the Ark will no longer be used. The Ark was to reside in the Holy of Holies yet there were times it was captured as a spoil of war. The Philistines had it for seven months and they ended up being afflicted with tumors. The Ark was not be touched. The one time it was, the man fell down dead. The Ark was only handled by non-Hebrews when the Israelites were disobedient to God and had lost His divine favor. The non-Hebrews did not have a covenant with God and, since they did not know the Law, God had no reason to react in the same way He would, if the Ark had been handled by an Israelite.
An interesting side note:
The early church understood Mary to represent the new Ark of the Covenant. Like the Ark, Mary is a created thing that was capable of containing our uncontainable God. The New Testament scriptures about Mary mirror the Old Testament scriptures about the Ark of the Covenant.
Sources
- https://www.allaboutarchaeology.org/contents-of-the-ark-of-the-covenant-faq.htm
- https://www.cgg.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Library.sr/CT/BQA/k/203/What-Did-Ark-of-Covenant-Contain-Hebrews-94.htm
- S.B. Noegel: The Egyptian Origin of the Ark of the Covenant
- http://theorthodoxfaith.com/article/mary-as-the-new-ark-of-the-covenant/
- https://www.compellingtruth.org/What-Ark-of-the-Covenant.html
No comments:
Post a Comment