ARK OF THE COVENANT (ark of the kilv't nant ), aw-rone% Septuagint and New Kificor6s, chest 1. The word here used for ark is different front that which is applied to the ark of Noah.
(1) Names. It is the common name for a chest or coffer, whether applied to the ark in the tabernacle, to a coffin, to a I :26), or to a chest for money (2 Kings xii :o, col Our word ark has the same tm :ming, being derived front the Latin area. a The dis tinction between aron and the already been suggested. The sacred chest is dis tinguished from others as the 'ark of God' (I Sam. iii :3) ; 'ark of the covenant' (Josh. iii :6; Num. iv:5) ; 'ark of the law' (Exod. xxv :22). This ark was a kind of chest, of an oblong shape, made of shittim (acacia) wood, a cubit and a half broad and high, two cubits and a half long, and covered with the purest gold. It was ornamented on its upper surface with a border or rim of gold; and on each of the two sides, at equal distances from the top, were two gold rings, in which were placed (to remain there perpet ually) the gold-covered poles by which the ark was carried, and which continued with it after it was deposited in the tabernacle. The lid of cover of the ark (translated propitiatory offer ing; mercy-seat) was of the same length and breadth, and made of the purest gold. Over it, at the two extremities, were two cherubim, with their faces turned towards each other and in clined a little towards the lid (otherwise called the mercy-seat). Their wings, which were spread out over the top of the ark, formed the throne of God, the King of Israel, while the ark itself was his footstool (Exod. xxv:io-22; Deut. x:3; xxxvii :1-9).
(2) History. This ark was the most sacred object among the Israelites. It was deposited in the innermost and holiest part of the tabernacle and temple, called 'the holy of holies,' where it stood so that one end of each of the poles by ‘‘hick it was carried (which were drawn out so far as to allow the ark to be placed against the back wall) touched the veil which separated the two apartments of the tabernacle (1 Kings viii:8). In the ark were deposited the tables of the law (Exod. xxv:i6). A quantity of manna was laid up heside the ark in a vase of gold (Exod. xvi :32, 36; I Kings N'ili :9) ; as were also the rod of Aaron (Num. xvii :9), and a copy of the book of the law (Dent. xxxi :26).
Nothing is more apparent throughout the his torical Scriptures than the extreme sanctity which attached to the ark, as the material symbol of the Divine presence. During the marches of the Israelites it was covered with a purple pall. and borne by the priests, with great reverence and care, in advance of the host (Num. iv :5, 6: x:33). It was before the ark, thus in advance, that the waters of the Jordan separated ; and it remained in the bed of the river, with the at tendant priests, until the whole host had passed over, and no sooner was it also brought up than the waters resumed their course (Josh. ; iv:7, to, II, 17, 18). The ark was similarly conspicu ous in the grand procession round Jericho (Josh.
vi :4, 6, 8, I I, 12). It is not wonderful. there fore. that the neighboring nations, who had no notion of spiritual worship, looked upon it as the God of the Israelites (I Sam. iv:6. 7). a de lusion which may have been strengthened by the figures of the cherubim on it. After the settle ment of the Jews in Palestine the ark remained in the tabernacle at Shiloh, until, in the time of Eli, it was carried along with the army in the war against the Philistines, under the supersti tious notion that it would secure the victory to the Hebrews. They were, however, not only beaten, but the ark itself was taken by the Philis tines (I Sam. iv :3-II ; vi :2, 3), whose triumph was, however, very short-lived, as they were so oppressed by the hand of God that, after seven months, they were glad to send it back again (I Sam. v:7, 8, 9, to, II). After that it remained apart from the tabernacle, at Kirjath-jearim (vii: I, 2), where it continued until the time of David, who purposed to remove it to Jerusalem; but the old prescribed mode of removing it from place to place was so much neglected as to cause the death of Uzzah, in consequence of which it was left in the house of Obed-edom (2 Sam. vi :I-1 I) but after three months David took courage and succeeded in effecting its safe removal, in grand procession, to Mount Zion (ver. 12-19). When the Temple of Solomon was completed, the ark was deposited in the sanctuary (I Kings viii: 6-9). The passage in 2 Chron. xxxv :3, in which Josiah directs the Levites to restore the ark to the holy place, is understood by some to imply that it had either been removed by Amon, who put an idol in its place, which is assumed to have been the 'trespass' of which he is said to have been guilty (2 Chron. xxxiii :23), or that the priests themselves had withdrawn it during idolatrous times and preserved it in some secret place, or had removed it from one place to an other. But it seems more likely that it had been taken from the holy of holies during the purifi cation and repairs of the Temple by this same Josiah, and that he, in this passage, merely directs it to be again set in its place. What became of the ark when the Temple was plundered and destroyed by the Babylonians is not known, and all conjecture is useless. The Jews believe that it was concealed from the spoilers, and account it among the hidden things which the Messiah is to reveal. It is certain, however, from the consent of all the Jewish writers, that the old ark was not contained in the second temple, and there is no evidence that any new one was made. Indeed the absence of the ark is one of the important par ticulars in which this temple was held to be in ferior to that of Solomon. The most holy place is therefore generally considered to have been empty in the second temple (as Josephus states, De Bell, Jud. v:14), or at most (as the Rabbins allege) to have contained only a stone to mark the place which the ark should have occupied.