THE POPULAR ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLE PROPHECY

ARK OF THE COVENANT Part I

THE ARK OF THE COVENANT ( Hebrew, ‘aronha-brit ) was Israel’s most sacred ritual object. It was designed to contain the original tablets of the law, and it was where God manifested his His shekinah glory. It was a box of acacia ( Hebrew, shittim ) wood overlaid with gold ( Exodus 25:10 – 11 ), approximately three or four feet long and one or two feet high and wide.On top of the Ark was the mercy seat ( Hebrew, kapporet, literally “the Covering” ) a golden lid with sculpted figures. The figures on the mercy seat symbolized cherubim, the angelic creatures who guarded God’s holy presence in the Garden of Eden ( Genesis 3:24 )

God Promised Israel, “There I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two Cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel” ( Exodus 25: 22 NASB ). The ark apparently served as the place between heaven and earth. As the visible footstool for the invisible throne of God, it was available when He “descended” to earth, as He did at Sinai, on the battlefield, or in a foreign land ( such as Philistia ). The ark enable God to manifest His presence among the Israelites.

The Tent of meeting, the Tabernacle, and finally the Temple were constructed to house the ark ( see Exodus 25: 8-22; 2 Chronicles 6: 10-11 ). The ark disappeared when Babylonians destroyed the first Temple, and when the Hebrew exiles returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple and restore its vessels ( Ezra 1:7-11; Isaiah 52:11-12; Jeremiah 27:16-22), the ark was mysteriously absent.