ARK OF THE COVENANT ()inN, and, dis tinctively, the Ark of the Law,' here the Decalogue' (Exod. xxv. 22; xxvi. 33) ; ;lin! rolz the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD' (Dent. x. 8 ; xxxi. 9, 25); pt..; the Ark of the Covenant' (Josh. iii. 6 ; iv. 9); rim! rinti the Ark of the LORD' (I Sam. v. 34; vi. 8, seq.); the Ark of God' (i Sam. iii. 3); LXX. and N. T. Ktficords; 'Vulg. area).
The Hebrew word i11N, used for the Ark of the Covenant, has no connection with that which nates Noah's Ark. (ARK, Names.) It comes from the root Mix, ' he or it collected or gathered,' and is used for chests, as a money-chest (2 Kings xii. to, It), and a coffin, in the case of Joseph's (Gen. 1. 26). It has, however, no connection with the Egyptian term for a coffin, KARS or KRAS.
The ark was made of shittim wood, which can not be doubted to be the wood of one or more species of acacia, still growing in the peninsula of Sinai. (See art. SHITTAH, SH=IM. ) It was two cubits and a half in length, and a cubit and a half both in breadth and height, so that its form was probably oblong, although we cannot go so far as to conclude that it was rectangular. Within and without, it was overlaid with pure gold. Upon it was a crown of gold, which may have been a border or rim (comp. Exod, xxv. 25), running round the upper part of the sides. There were four of gold, two on either side, one at each of the ' feet, probably corners (comp. ver. 26), in which rested, not to be taken away, staves of shittim wood, over laid with gold, by which the ark was to be borne.
The lid or cover of the Ark (nn'n, iXaar4piov, iXao-rhpLav Irikaa), commonly called the Mercy seat, after the rendering of the LXX., also used in the N. T., was of the same length and breadth, and of pure 'gold. [MERCY-SEAT.] There were two golden cherubim of beaten work upon it, one at either end, facing one another, and looking towards the Mercy-seat, which was covered by their out stretched wings. Bezaleel made the Ark accord ing to the Divine directions. (Exod. xxv. 10-22 xxxvii. 1-9 ; Dent. x. 1-5 ; Heb. ix. 4, 5).
Within the Ark were deposited the Tables of the Law, especially commanded to be there placed, a golden pot with manna, and Aaron's rod that budded. Some suppose that a copy of the book of the Law was also placed there, but it is said to have been put ' by the side' of the Ark, which can scarcely be inferred to mean inside (Exod, xxv. 16, 21 ; xl. 20 ; Dent. x. 1-5 ; t Kings viii. 9 ; Exod. xvi 32-34 ; Num. xvii. to; Dent. xxxi. 27 ; Heb. ix. 4). We read that when Solomon brought the Ark into the Temple ' [there was] nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb' (1 Kings viii. 9), where the tables only may be mentioned as larger than the other objects, or because the rod may have perished, and the pot of manna and book of the Law, if ever within it, been removed. It may be remarked that the Jewish shekels and half shekels usually, and, we believe, rightly, assigned to Simon the Maccabee, have on the one side, a pot or vase, and on the other, a branch bearing three blossoms, usually supposed to represent Aaron's rod and the pot of manna.* We cannot attempt to define the object of the Ark. It was the depository of the Tables, and thus of the great document of the Covenant. It seems also to have been a protest against idolatry and materialism. The Mercy-seat was the place where God promised His presence, and He was therefore addressed as dwelling between the cherubim. On this account the Ark was of the utmost sanctity, and was placed in the Holy of Holies, both of the Tabernacle and of the Temple. When the Israelites
were moving from one encampment to another, the Ark was to be covered by Aaron and his sons with three coverings, and carried by the sons of Kohath (Num. iv. 4-6, z6). It was borne in advance of the people, and the journey was thus providentially directed, as we read : And they departed from the mount of the LORD three days' journey; and the ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them in the three days' journey, to search out a resting-place for them. And the cloud of the LORD [was] upon them by day, when they went out of the camp. And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Arise, O LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee. And when it rested, he said, Return, 0 LORD, unto the ten thousand thousands of Israel' (Num. x. 33-36). It was in this manner that the Ark passed in advance through Jordan, and remained in the bed until the people had gone over, when it was brought out and the waters returned (Josh. iii. iv.) So too was the Ark carried around Jericho when it was compassed (vi. r-2o). Joshua placed the Taber nacle at Shiloh, and the Ark does not seem to have been removed thence until the judgeship of Eli, when the people sent for it to the army, that they might gain success in the war with the Philistines. Yet the Israelites were routed and the Ark was taken (r Sam. iv. 3-11). After seven months, during which the majesty of God was shewn by the plaguing of the inhabitants of each town to which it was brought, and the breaking of the image of Dagon, the Philistines hastened, on the advice of their priests and diviners, to restore the Ark to the Israelites. These incidents and those of the coming of the Ark to Beth-shemesh, where the people were smitten for looking into it, shew its extremely sacred character, no less than does the death of Uzzah, when he attempted to steady it, on the journey to Jerusalem, an event which caused David to delay bringing it in. It is noticeable that it was carried in a cart both when sent from Ekron, and, at first, when David brought it to Jerusalem, though after the delay on the latter occasion it was borne by the Levites in the ordained manner (1 Chron. xv. 1-13, 2 Sam. vi. 13). It was then placed on Mount Zion, until Solomon removed it to the Temple. From the statement that Josiah com manded the Levites to place the Ark in the Temple, and to bear it no longer on their shoulders (2 Chron. xxxv. 3), it seems probable that Amon had taken it out of the sanctuary, or else that the Levites had withdrawn it from the Temple then or in Manasseh's time, and the finding. of the book of the Law under Josiah favours this idea (2 Kings xxii. 8 ; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 14). A copy of the Law was deposited with, or, as some suppose, in the Ark, as already noticed, and it seems that this was 'the copy from which the king was required to write his own (Deut. xvii. 18-2o). But perhaps the Ark was only removed while the Temple was repaired. It is generally believed that it was destroyed when the Temple was burnt by the Babylonians, and it is certain that it was not contained in the Second Temple. Some imagine that a second ark was made, but the direct statement of Josephus that the Holy of Holies of the Second Temple was empty (B. J. v. cap. v. § 5), and the negative evi dence afforded by the silence of the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Maccabees, as to an ark, when the sacred vessels after the Captivity are mentioned, make this a very doubtful conjecture. See, how ever, Prideaux, i. p. 2o7, and Calmet, Dissertation sur l'Arche de l' Alliance.