Construction (Exodus 25:10–22)
"And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about."
Acacia (shittim) wood, overlaid with pure gold inside and out. Two staves of acacia, gold-overlaid, run through gold rings on each side — the Ark is to be carried, never set on a cart (a lesson Uzzah would learn at the cost of his life, 2 Samuel 6:6–7). The Mercy Seat — pure gold, no wood — caps the Ark. Two cherubim of beaten gold rise from the seat itself, wings spread upward and forward, faces toward each other and downward toward the blood-line. The whole assembly is, by God's word, His throne on earth: "And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims" (Exodus 25:22).
Contents (Hebrews 9:4)
Three items lay inside the Ark:
- The two tablets of stone — the Ten Commandments, written by the finger of God (Exodus 31:18, Deuteronomy 10:2). The broken law of Israel, kept beneath the blood-stained covering.
- Aaron's rod that budded — a dead almond branch that overnight produced buds, blossoms, and ripe almonds (Numbers 17:8). Sign that God had vindicated the priesthood He had chosen.
- The golden pot of manna — the desert bread, preserved beyond its expiration (Exodus 16:33–34).
Each is itself typological. The tablets: Christ fulfilled the law (Matthew 5:17) and bore its broken pieces. The budded rod: resurrection — "whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death" (Acts 2:24). The manna: Christ as bread from heaven (John 6:31–35). The Ark contains the Christ-types in miniature.
In Israel's history
The Ark led at the front. The Jordan stopped flowing the moment the priests bearing it stepped in (Joshua 3–4). Jericho fell after seven days of circuits with the Ark at the head of the procession (Joshua 6). The Ark was captured by the Philistines, who learned that the God of Israel was not a domestic deity (1 Samuel 4–6); their own god Dagon fell on its face before it. David moved it to Jerusalem with great rejoicing, and a single misstep (1 Samuel 6:6–7); Solomon installed it in the Temple's Most Holy Place at the dedication, where the cloud filled the house so the priests could not stand to minister (1 Kings 8:10–11).
Disappearance and reappearance
The Ark disappears from history at the destruction of Solomon's Temple in 587 BC. Jeremiah, prophesying the new covenant, says of it: "And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more" (Jeremiah 3:16). The Ark would not be missed in the messianic age — because the substance had arrived.
It reappears in heaven. "And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament" (Revelation 11:19). The shadow vanished from earth; the heavenly reality has been there all along.
The typological argument
The Ark contains the broken Law; the Mercy Seat covers it; the blood is sprinkled on the Mercy Seat. This is the gospel in three layers — sin against God's law, mediation, and atoning blood — bound together inside a single piece of furniture.
Commentary
John Calvin, Commentary on Hebrews (1549, PD): the Ark is the sum of Israel's ceremonial worship, and its contents picture Christ in three particulars — Lawgiver, High Priest, and Bread of life. Matthew Henry, Exposition (1706, PD): the Ark of the Covenant is the principal piece of furniture; it has three significations — God's throne, the Christ-treasury, and the meeting-place of God and man.
→ Cross-link: The Mercy Seat • The Veil • Bronze Serpent (atonement).