Do you have a box to keep special things? When our daughters were growing up, we kept a clear bin or two for each of them and inserted little treasures for them to take with them when they left home. These were things like their favourite stuffies, first pair of shoes, first tooth, first piece of art, special cards, certificates of achievement or souvenirs.

(Reading Time 11 mins.)

The Israelites also had a special box. It wasn’t a plain box like the ones that land on our porch after making an online order. This was a box with a name and a specific design that shed light on its purpose. The box was called the Ark of the Covenant.

God made a covenant, or conditional agreement, with the Hebrew people through Moses at Mount Sinai. God promised good to them and their children for generations if they obeyed him and his laws; but he also warned of despair, punishment, and dispersion if they were to disobey. As a sign of his covenant, he had the Israelites make a box in which the stone tablets containing the ten commandments were placed.¹ The ark was the most sacred object in Israel which represented God’s presence among the people. It was a national treasure!

The What a Parade post suggested that Psalm 24 may have been written by David to accompany the ark when it was brought from its temporary home in the house of Obed-Edom to a permanent place in Jerusalem.

The ark was the focus of the grand procession. It was the first piece of temple furniture which God gave Moses very specific instructions on how to construct (Ex. 25:10-22). That God provided detailed specifications resonated with my engineering brain. This was not any box; it was a box after God’s own design. The form and function of this box went beyond storing and transporting very special items. There was symbolism and foreshadowing in the appearance of the box which explained why detailed specifications were required and why any ordinary box would not do.

Instructions

God provided Moses with the specific instructions for constructing and transporting the ark. God also prescribed who would build the box. This was not a DIY for Moses to complete. God appointed Bezalel, a spirit-filled craftsman from the tribe of Judah, and Oholiab from the tribe of Dan to assist Bezalel.

The raw material was acacia wood. Acacia wood is a hard wood that insects find distasteful. It is a dense wood, which protects the contents from decay and water damage. This was an ideal wood for constructing and preserving the ark which was frequently moved about in its 800-year history.² Try locating something in your local antique shop that’s been around for eight centuries!

The box dimensions were rectangular: 1.1m (45 inches) long, 0.7m (27 inches) high, and 0.7m (27 inches) wide. The wood box was overlaid with gold inside and outside. There were four gold rings, two on each side. The gold rings on either side of the box held a pole of acacia wood overlain with gold (Ex. 25:1-22).

The poles were to never be removed from the golden rings and were for carrying the ark which was to be done exclusively by the Kohathite division of the Levites. The carrying arrangement ensured that the ark could be moved without anyone having to touch it. The ark was holy. God commanded that the Levites must not touch the sacred object or else they would die (Num. 4:15).

Bouncer Guardians

God also provided very specific instructions for the lid or cover. The cover, known as the atonement cover or mercy seat, was a pure gold lid complete with two gold cherubim, one at each end facing the other and with the wings covering the lid.

The two cherubim were creatures with faces and wings. According to the BibleProject podcast on the Exodus Scroll, “we know from archaeology and from other descriptions that they are hybrid, a fusion of human and different kinds of animals. They represent creatures that reside at the boundary of heaven and earth.”³ The cherubim had the same role as the sphinx outside the Egyptian pyramids – divine bodyguards, creatures set as guardians of temples in Assyria and Babylon.

The cherubim were not rivals to God, think of them as divine bouncer guardians. The pair of cherubim on the cover are present as guardians in the same way that God placed a pair of cherubim as guardians as the way in and out of Eden. They are the guardians of the boundary line between heaven and earth.

Two Goats

On the annual Day of Atonement, two unblemished goats were brought to the high priest. One was sacrificed and the second one was sent into the desert after the high priest laid his hands on it and prayed for forgiveness for the people’s sins. The sins were transferred onto the “scape goat,” and it was released into the wilderness to represent the peoples’ sins being carried away, never to return. The blood from the sacrificed goat was taken by the high priest into the holy of holies of the tabernacle and sprinkled onto the box lid. God accepted the blood as a substitute for the people’s sin. The lid was referred to as the atonement cover because the blood sprinkled on the cover acted as an atonement or substitute for sin.⁴

Where does the expression mercy seat come from for the box cover? When the high priest sprinkled blood on the cover, not only did it atone for the peoples’ sin, but it also purified the lid. Why did the lid need to be purified? The seat was like a throne which seated the divine presence, and from this place God dispensed mercy to people when the blood of the atonement was sprinkled there.⁵

Mobile Hotspot

The book of Numbers notes, “whenever Moses went into the tabernacle to speak with the Lord, he heard the voice speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the Ark’s cover, the place of atonement that rests on the Ark of the Covenant. The Lord spoke to him from there” (Num. 7:89). Psalm 80 also proclaims Yahweh as the one who sits above the cherubim, “O God, enthroned above the cherubim, display your radiant glory. Show us your mighty power (Ps. 80:1-2).”

At the centre of the ark above the cherubim there was no form of anything. This was God’s throne. The ark was not just a box to remind the Hebrews of their covenant with God. It was a mobile throne that hosted the invisible presence of God where heaven and earth meet.⁶

In the temples of the Hebrews’ neighbouring cultures, gods were represented as statues sitting on thrones. The Israelites also had a throne in their tabernacle, but it was empty. There was no statue occupying the throne. But it was occupied. When the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah had apocalyptic visions, their eyes were unveiled, and they saw Yahweh sitting on a throne surrounded by heavenly beings. The second of the ten commandments said that the Israelites were not to make an image of what Yahweh looks like. But on another level, there was an image of God in the tabernacle. It was the high priest who was sprinkling the blood on the throne.⁷

In the Ark of the Covenant, the Israelites had a mobile hotspot! The place of God’s presence. The place where heaven and earth met. The place where God spoke directly to Moses. The place where the image bearer came before the invisible Yahweh and obtained atonement on behalf of the people.

Character Contents

When the ark was first constructed, it held the tablets of stone with the ten commandments. Later on, two more items would be added; a jar of manna from the wilderness years of wandering, and Aaron’s rod that budded. These objects were the continuing and reminding evidence that God worked among the Israelites: commanded them (the tablets), provided for them (the manna), and delivered them (the rod).⁸ The ark provided a centre, giving a physical and historical focus to the revealed character of their God.

It reminded the people that God desired to be with them, to guide and protect them, and to forgive their sins. It was more than a shiny box containing exodus memorabilia.

Echo Boxes

When we hear the work ark in the Bible our minds are drawn back to Noah’s ark. While the same English word is used, the Hebrew words are very different. In spite of this difference, what’s interesting about the two ark building enterprises is that God similarly provided specifications to both Noah and Moses on how to construct the boxes. Both were rectangles constructed of wood and lined with a specific material.

Noah’s floating zoo is teba which means basket or box-shaped thing, while Moses’ sacred storage unit is aron which means chest or cupboard.⁹ The word teba is mentioned again in Exodus 2:3. Here it is not an enormous boat but a small cradle carrying a vulnerable baby across dangerous waters to an unknown destination. Noah’s ark and Moses’ basket both carried special cargo. Noah’s ark provided salvation from God’s judgment on the earth, and Moses’ basket carried a saviour figure who would free the Israelite nation from their Egyptian oppressors.

On the annual Day of Atonement, the high priest, who represented the Hebrew people before the ark, sprinkled the blood of an unblemished goat on the mercy seat which God accepted as a covering or substitution of the people’s sins.

Though the Hebrew words are different, there’s a happy coincidence because symbolically they all play a similar role in their respective stories.

Each of the arks provided salvation from sin and judgment, and each represented steps in God’s grand scheme of redemption. When we see these echoes in the Bible, they remind us that God had foreknowledge and an overall plan.

The boxes or arks foreshadowed another box-like structure that would carry a saviour: the baby Jesus in a manger. Noah’s ark, Moses’ floating basket, the gold-lined ark all looked ahead to Jesus, “the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son” (John 1:14).

Jesus was a mobile hotspot like the ark. He was God’s very presence moving among the people. Through Jesus, God established a new covenant with all people. The symbolism and foreshadowing of the ark came alive in Jesus.

• Jesus entered the most holy place to make atonement on our behalf (Heb. 6:19-20; 7:16-17).
• Jesus is both the one who offers the sacrifice and is himself the sacrifice (Heb. 7:27).
• Jesus’ own blood completely removes sin (Heb. 9:14; 10:14).
• Jesus offered himself once and for all so that all who put their faith in him can confidently enter the most holy place of God’s presence (Heb. 9:26; 10:10, 18-19).

Disappearance

The last time we hear of the whereabouts of the ark in the Old Testament is when King Josiah discovered the Book of the Law and ordered the ark to be put back in the temple some 800 years after God instructed Moses to build the box. Less than forty years later, the Babylonians invaded Jerusalem and burned the temple. When the people returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple after seventy years of exile, there was no mention of the ark.¹⁰

Up Next

To prepare for the Psalm 24 parade we will look at the backstory of the ark’s journey across four centuries from Mount Sinai to the temple of Dagon, the national deity of the Israelites arch enemy, the Philistines. As we accompany the travelling box, we’ll see the different ways that God revealed his glory.

Notes:

1. Got Questions, What is the Ark of the Covenant? https://www.gotquestions.org/ark-of-the-covenant.html
2. Aaron Clay, Ark of the Covenant, (Peabody: Rose Publishing, 2020)
3. BibleProject Podcast, Exodus Scroll – Episode 9, May 9, 2022.
4. BibleProject Podcast, Exodus Scroll
5. Got Questions, What is the Mercy Seat? https://www.gotquestions.org/mercy-seat.html
6. BibleProject Podcast, Exodus Scroll.
7. BibleProject Podcast, Exodus Scroll.
8. Eugene H. Peterson, Leap Over a Wall: Earthy Spirituality for Everyday Christians, (New York: HarperOne, 1997) 143.
9. https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-based-teaching-from israel/why-is-it-called-an-ark/
10. Aaron Clay