Hebrews Chapter Nine, The Ark Of The Covenant

 

Hebrews 9:4b and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;

 

The epistle now touches upon an item of some small controversy: the Ark of the Covenant. Brought into popular culture by Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, the symbol of the ark has long been a topic of great interest in certain circles of Christianity.

But what does Scripture say about the ark? Exodus 25:10 begins the description of the ark’s creation. Overlaid with gold, crowned with the mercy seat that is framed by overshadowing cherubim, it was made for two initial purposes. In it was to be the Decalogue, or the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God, Exodus 25:21. Secondly, God would manifest in the Shekinah to speak to Moses about future commandments; there His presence would reside as a visible token of His association with the nation of Israel.

 

The ark would remain, for the most part, in the Holiest of All, behind the veil and visited but once a year by the high priest on the Day of Atonement. But there were exceptions. During the wilderness wanderings prior to the conquest of Canaan, the ark traveled with the people. Aaron and his sons had charge of the ark, covering it with the veil that obstructed seeing it in the Holiest of All, to make it ready to be moved, Numbers 4:5. The ark first traveled from Horeb on a 3 day journey to Canaan that would, because of Israel’s rebellion, take 40 years, Numbers 10:33.

 

When rebellious Israel presumed to attack the Amalekites and Canaanites without God’s approval, it is said the ark remained in camp, alluding to the notion that the ark was carried into battle by Israel when they made war, Numbers 14:44. We learn that this practice was so in 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel 4:3 states, “Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh to us, that when it comes among us it may save us from the hand of our enemies.” The apostate priests, sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, did just that, 1 Samuel 4:4, 5. God was not with them at that time either, and the priests died and the ark was taken, 1 Samuel 4:11.

 

In Joshua’s time, after he had succeeded Moses as Israel’s human leader, God used the ark as a token of His power over creation. The priests bearing the ark entered the Jordan and the river ceased flowing so Israel entered Canaan dry-shod, Joshua 3:17. In Eli’s day the ark, not the ark’s God, was looked to for deliverance a box of wood and gold could not provide. In Joshua’s time they crossed the Jordan by faith, not in the ark, but in the ark’s Architect. By Samuel’s time the ark had become an object of idolatrous worship because of the human penchant for associating some visible, tangible object with God.

 

However, wrongly handling the ark, divinely appointed by God through the hand of Moses concerning its construction and purpose, met with awful consequences. When the Philistine rulers no longer wanted the ark because it had desecrated the idol of Dagon they sent it back with a trespass offering, 1 Samuel 6:3. Unfortunately, curiosity and a lack of reverential fear compelled the people to not only handle the ark (not being Aaronic priests) but to open it, 1 Samuel 6:19. The people had profaned, or treated as a common thing, the ark that received the blood of atonement given on behalf of Israel’s populace. Hebrews 10:29 describes the insult of treating the holy as something mundane or profane. If the ark and the Law’s mishandling were met with such reproach from the Lord, the writer of Hebrews asks how much worse fate awaits the one who profanes Christ’s blood?

 

In the NKJV, the verse states 50,070 people died because of the transgression of 1 Samuel 6:19. There is a side note that says an alternate rendering has 70 men smote by God for looking into the ark. Either could be plausible; 50,000 men may have had the intention to, and God judged them by what was in their hearts, or He may have only punished those who actually succeeded in looking, 70 being a more reasonable number if that were the case. Both the Tanakh and the Septuagint agree with the NKJV’s primary reading, while the NIV promotes the secondary translation. The HCSB renders the verse, “70 men out of 50,000 men.” And the Tanakh does seem to indicate from its reading that it could be rendered to agree, stating, “seventy men among the people [and] fifty thousand men.” The word “and” being bracketed suggests an addition for clarification not found in the manuscript source.

 

A second incident of mishandling occurs in 2 Samuel chapter 6. When David attempted to bring the ark into the City of David, the cart is shaken, the ark was moved and Uzzah, son of Abinadab, tried to steady it. Once again the injunction against mishandling the ark was ignored, and Uzzah died before the Lord because of the transgression, 2 Samuel 6:6, 7. One might attribute to the ark supernatural power because of these incidents. But then by that notion one might also attribute to the fruit eaten by Adam and Eve supernatural power because it spiritually slew them, resulting in sin and death entering the world. It had nothing to do with the ark; it had to do with reverencing and obeying God.

 

The ark, were it to be found, would become an object of the grossest idolatry. The bronze serpent Moses raised up in the wilderness had survived until King Hezekiah’s time. The people named it Nehushtan, which literally means Bronze Snake, 2 Kings 18:4. Hezekiah destroyed it, like he did with the high places, sacred pillars, and wooden images. Why? Because the people were worshiping the serpent. Something in our fallen, sinful thinking craves a physical outlet to express an outward form of worship. If this were not so, religions such as Roman Catholicism would not have survived until today.

 

Finally, God makes mention of the ark in the book of Jeremiah. He tells Israel, “Then it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days,” says the Lord, “that they will say no more, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It shall not come to mind, nor shall they visit it, nor shall it be made anymore,” Jeremiah 3:16. This verse expresses a clear picture of the ark’s removal. Like Israel in the days of the wilderness wanderings and their battles against the Philistines, they had become fixated on the ceremonial and arrogant because they possessed the objects God ordained for them. When Jeremiah preached to them it fell on deaf ears because they trusted in their lineage and position as God’s chosen people. “Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these,” Jeremiah 7:4. Ezekiel, a contemporary of Jeremiah that prophesied from Babylon, being part of the captivity, said this of God’s Shekinah glory. “Then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house,” Ezekiel 10:18, KJV. This verse may parallel the passage in Jeremiah that indicates the ark of the covenant will be taken away and recalled no longer; for so the glory of the Lord would depart from the house called by His name.