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Topic:
Thoughts And Things Of The Bible -- Ark Of The Covenant
The first piece of the tabernacle's furniture, for which precise
directions were delivered. Exod 25. I. Description.--It appears to have
been an oblong chest of shittim (acacia) wood, 2 1/2 cubits long by 1
1/2 broad and deep. Within and without gold was overlaid on the wood,
and on the upper side or lid, which was edged round about with gold, the
mercy-seat was placed. The ark was fitted with rings, one at each of the
four corners, and through these were passed staves of the same wood
similarly overlaid, by which it was carried by the Kohathites. (Numbers
7:9; 10:21) The ends of the staves were visible without the veil in the
holy place of the temple of Solomon. (1 Kings 8:8) The ark, when
transported, was enveloped in the "veil" of the dismantled
tabernacle, in the curtain of badgers' skins and in a blue cloth over
all, and was therefore not seen. (Numbers 4:5,20) II. Its purpose was to
contain inviolate the divine autograph of the two tables, that
"covenant" from which it derived its title. It was also
probably a reliquary for the pot of manna and the rod of Aaron. III.
History.--Before David's time its abode was frequently shifted. It
sojourned among several, probably Levitical, families, (1 Samuel 7:1; 2
Samuel 6:3,11; 1 Chronicles 13:13; 15:24,25) in the border villages of
eastern Judah; and did not take its place in the tabernacle, but dwelt
in curtains, i.e. in a separate tent pitched for it in Jerusalem by
David. Subsequently the temple, when completed, received, in the
installation of the ark in its shrine, the signal of its inauguration by
the effulgence of divine glory instantly manifested. It was probably
taken captive or destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, 2 Esdr. 10:22, so that
there was no ark in the second temple.
Derived from Easton's and Smith's Bible Dictionaries
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