____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ July 30, 1995 ____________________________________________________ "Snapshots" of the Ark of God by Tom Edwards The ark of God was unquestionably a very sacred object, kept apart from even many of the other holy articles in the tabernacle--and, later, temple--by being placed in the ``Most Holy Place,'' also called the ``Holy of Holies.'' This was a place so sacred that only the high priest could enter on just one day out of the entire year--the Day of Atonement. The ark's sacredness is also seen in the fact that if ever a person would touch it, he would immediately incur the wrath of God and lose his very life as a fatal consequence (Num. 4:15). The ark of God is also referred to by other terms in the Scriptures. ``ark of the Covenant,'' for example, because it was in the ark that the Ten Commandments had been kept--commandments for God's people that would enable them to enjoy a covenant relationship with Him, if they would abide by the stipulations in that covenant. Another name for it is ``the ark of the Testimony,'' for the commandments that were to be kept in it are spoken of as having been God's ``testimony'' (Exo. 25:16). As the ``ark of God,'' it had also become a symbol of God's presence, for Moses would hear the Lord's voice from above it (Num. 7:89). As God instructed him in Exodus 25:22, ``And 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.'' Going back to its beginning, we find that the making of the ark of God had been not only commanded, but also ``blueprinted'' by the Lord Himself: ``And they shall construct an ark of acacia wood two and a half cubits long, and one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits high. And you shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and you shall make a gold molding around it. And you shall cast four gold rings for it, and fasten them on its four feet, and two rings shall be on one side of it and two rings on the other side of it'' (Exod. 25:1--12). Through these rings were to be placed poles, also made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold, and which were never to be removed; they would be used for carrying the ark, so that the carrier would not be in danger of touching it and incurring God's wrath (Exod. 25:13-15). The following are various ``snapshots'' of the ark of the Covenant, highlighting many of the events that surrounded it: In Joshua 3:14-17, the priests with the ark of the Covenant were the first to begin crossing the Jordan River as they entered into the Promised Land. When their feet dipped into the water's edge, the river dried up; and the priests crossed to the middle of the dry river bed and waited until all of Israel crossed over before they themselves completed their crossing. After they did, the waters overflowed the banks once again. In Joshua 6, Jericho was the first city Israel conquered after having crossed the Jordan River to begin their conquest of the land of Canaan. The ark of God was carried behind seven priests, as they marched around the city with the fighting men of Israel, once each day for six days, and seven times on the seventh day. The ark of God symbolizing the Lord's presence with them as they defeated this heathen city by the help of God's powerful hand. Unfortunately, as we see in Joshua 7:6, because Achan had disobeyed the Lord by taking for himself coveted booty from Jericho (Josh. 6:17-19; 7:1), Israel was defeated when attacking the next city, Ai (Josh. 7:2-5). Though it looked as an easy victory because the city was not even as great as Jericho, Israel was defeated because the Lord was no longer on their side. It's interesting to note that while in grief of Israel's defeat, it was before the ark of the Lord that Joshua prostrated himself--along with all the elders of Israel. A few hundred years later, after Israel had been defeated by the Philistines they presumed that if they took the ark of the Covenant with them, they would triumph over their enemies. Tragically, they had misconceived. On top of their defeat, the ark of God was also snatched from them; and during this time, the two sons of Eli, Hopni and Phinehas, died (1 Samuel 4:1-3, 10, 11). Perhaps Israel was at fault for viewing the ark ``superstitiously.'' It had formerly symbolized God's presence and power, but just having the mere ark would not guarantee God's power on their side; that, rather, was conditioned on their faithfulness. What a seize this was for the Philistines--at least they probably thought this initially. To them, the ark of the Covenant was a god of Israel--and one of the gods who ``smote the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness'' (1 Sam. 4:5-10). They were well aware of many of God's miraculous interventions for His people, and perhaps they now thought they would have this same power working on their side. Prior to its being taken into this battle with the Philistines, the ark had been kept in Shiloh, which at that time was an early sanctuary of Israel, with its tabernacle and services, and where the ark had remained during the whole period of the Judges, which was a few hundred years. To Shiloh, the ark was never returned. When Eli the priest heard about the death of his sons and that the ark of God had been taken, he fell from his seat backwards, broke his neck, and died; he was ninety-eight years old (1 Samuel 15:18). Eli's daughter-in-law (Phinehas' wife) kneeled down and gave birth when she heard that the ark of God had been taken and her husband had been killed. She soon also died; but before she did, she named her son ``Ichabod,'' which means, ``The glory has departed from Israel'' because the ark of God had been taken from the Israelites (1 Samuel 4:19-22). The Philistines first took the ark of God to Ashdod and set it up next to Dagon (their idol). For two days in a row, Dagon was found fallen on its face before the ark--thus, indicating that the God of the Israelites was, by far, superior to the god of the Philistines. On the second day, Dagon's head and both palms of his hands had been ``cut off on the threshold''--with only the trunk of Dagon remaining. As a result, the record shows that ``neither the priests of Dagon nor all who enter Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day'' (1 Sam. 5:1-5). Furthermore, the Lord had ``ravaged them and smote them with tumors,'' so the ark of God was next taken to Gath--the city of the Philistine giant, Goliath (1 Sam. 5:6-8). In Gath, the people were also afflicted for having the ark of the Covenant, so they sent it to Ekron, where people were either killed or smitten with tumors as a consequence (1 Samuel 5:9-12). The Philistines had finally decided it best to send the ark of God back to the Israelites; and this they were going to do, while in addition, including a guilt offering, which consisted of five golden tumors and five golden mice (one golden tumor for each of the five cities: Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron). The golden mice were according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords (1 Samuel 6:2-18). All in all, the ark of the Covenant had remained in the country of Philistia for seven months (1 Sam. 6:1). In order to rid themselves of it, the Philistines had sent the ark of God to Beth-shemesh, a Levitical city; but there the Lord destroyed 50,070 men because they had looked into it. They, therefore, sent messengers to Kiriath-jearim to have someone from there come take the ark away (1 Samuel 6:19-21). Kiriath-jearim was located about 10 miles west of Jerusalem. In response to their request, some men of Kiriath-jearim came and took the ark from Beth-shemesh, which the Philistines had returned, and brought it into the house of Abinadab who was also a Levite. Eleazar his son was consecrated in order to ``keep the ark of the Lord'' (1 Samuel 7:1-2). While the ark remained at Kiriath-jearim there was a time when Saul ordered that it be brought to him at Gibeah temporarily. Apparently, he believed that it would help him in winning the battle (1 Sam. 14:18). Whether this order was actually carried out or not, I am uncertain. The Septuagint renders this as ``ephod'' instead of ``ark''; and it has been pointed out that ```Bring hither' is never used of the ark, but only of the ephod.'' About twenty years later after the ark was first taken to Kiriath-jearim (also spoken of as ``Baale-judah'' in 2 Samuel 6:2), David began moving the ark of the covenant from the house of Abinadab to Jerusalem. It was during this time that Uzzah reached out to stabilize it from toppling out of the ox-cart, but God destroyed him for touching it. This made David afraid and unwilling to move the ark into Jerusalem; instead, he took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite; and there it stayed for three months (2 Samuel 6:1-11). David heard that Obed-edom, and all that was his, was being blessed by the Lord on account of the ark. David, therefore, had it brought into the city of Jerusalem, where it was kept in a tent that he had prepared for it (2 Samuel 6:12-19). As David's men brought the ark into Jerusalem, it was a day of great gladness and rejoicing. David ``was dancing before the Lord with all his might''; but his wife despised him for this because he had ``uncovered himself'' in ``the eyes of the servants' maids as one of the foolish ones shamelessly uncovers himself!'' (2 Sam. 6:20) Later in David's history, when his son Absalom rose up in revolt against him, David, along with some of his loyal followers fled from Jerusalem. Zadok and the Levites had taken the ark of the Covenant with them; but David, however, ordered them to return it to the city; and they did so (2 Samuel 15:24,29). When Solomon built the first temple, which replaced the tent-like structure of the tabernacle, the ark was brought into the Most Holy Place--the Holy of Holies--where it was kept (1 Kings 6:19; 8:1,6-8). By this time, however, there was nothing in the ark except the two tablets which Moses put there at Horeb. Aaron's rod that had budded and the manna were gone (1 Kings 8:9). Whatever became of them would be mere speculation on our part. In addition, we find that the ark had been moved for some reason during the time of Manasseh. 2 Chronicles 35:3 speaks of instruction to the Levites to return the ark of God back to the temple. It's been suggested that it was probably removed during the time of Manasseh's reign to keep it from being defiled, for he had introduced many corrupt practices to Judah: ``he rebuilt the high places...erected altars for the Baals and Asherim, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. And he built altars in the house of the Lord...'' (2 Chron. 33:3,4). He ''...practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced sorcery, and dealt with mediums and spiritists,'' and made his sons ``pass through the fire'' (v. 6); He ``built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord'' (v. 5), and he also placed in the temple a ``carved image of the idol which he had made'' (2 Chron. 37:7). The charge to put the ark back was given by King Josiah who is noted as being a great religious reformer for Judah. He had ``purge(d) Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, the carved images, and the molten images. And they tore down the altars of the Baals in his presence....'' Also, he broke in pieces ''...the Asherim, the carved images, and the molten images'' (2 Chron. 34:3-7). He ``set the priests in their offices and encouraged them in their service of the house of the Lord....'' (2 Chron. 35:2). It was in this setting that he told the Levites to ``Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built; it will be a burden on your shoulders no longer....'' (2 Chron. 35:3). So whatever became of the ark? When the temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, the ark, too, could have either been destroyed along with it or taken as plunder. Though I can't cite it as gospel truth, 2 Esdras 10:21,22 (part of the Apocrypha) states: ``You see how our sanctuary has been laid waste, our altar demolished, and our temple destroyed. Our harps are unstrung, our hymns silenced, our shouts of joy cut short; the light of the sacred lamp is out, and the ark of our covenant has been taken as spoil....'' Of course, there is also a Hebrew tradition that the ark had secretly been taken by the prophet Jeremiah and hidden in a cavern at the time of the Babylonian capture of Jerusalem--and that this hiding place has never been found.... Ironically--and pointing out an inconsistency in it--this, too, is spoken of in the Apocrypha (2 Maccabees 2:4-6), and mentions the mountain ``of which Moses saw God's promised land,'' as being the place that Jeremiah found the cave where presumably he hid not only the ark of the Covenant, but also the Tent of Meeting, and the incense altar. It is said that the front of this cave he then blocked and later said that ``The place shall remain unknown.'' In addition, there are also similar rabbinical tales of whatever became of the ark of God. Actually, I don't know where it is now, but I do know that it was a special object--ordained by God--and a major reminder to the Israelites of God's presence during that time of their history. Today, as children of God, we have a ``greater and more perfect tabernacle'' through Christ; and one that has not been ``made with hands'' (Heb. 9:11); and one which the old tabernacle and all its items merely served as ``a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things'' (Heb. 8:5). The ark of God symbolized God's presence, but only the high priest could go into the Most Holy Place one day out of the entire year where the ark of God rested. Now, however, we who are in Jesus can come boldly before the throne of God's grace to receive mercy and find grace to help in needy times (Heb. 4:6). When Jesus died, the veil of the temple--which separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy--was torn in two. Graphically, this illustrates the access we can now have to God's presence through the death of Jesus Christ. As the Hebrew writer expresses this: ``Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith....'' (Heb. 10:19-22). According to Scripture, the last citing of the ark of the Covenant's location is seen in 2 Chronicles 35:3. What really happened to it after this is mere speculation. ___________________________________________ Only those who are truly BOUND to Christ are truly FREE (selected). A good angle to approach any problem is the TRY-ANGLE (selected) ________________________________________ Tri-State CHURCH OF CHRIST 1314 Montgomery Avenue, Ashland, Kentucky 41101 Sunday: 10:00 A.M. Bible class 10:50 A.M. Worship 6:30 P.M. Worship Wednesday: 7:30 P.M. Bible study evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (606) 325-9742 e-mail: tedwards@zoomnet.net Gospel Observer web site: http://www.zoomnet.net/~tedwards/go ________________________________________