The ark of the testimony, and the staves thereof, and the mercy seat,
the ark of the testimony, and the staves thereof, and the mercy-seat;
the ark of the testimony and its staves, and the mercy-seat;
the ark of the testimony, and its staves, and the mercy-seat;
Exodus — Deliverance, covenant, presence. A slave-people redeemed from Egypt, brought to Sinai, and given a tabernacle so that God might dwell among them.
Voices1
His institutions neither need nor admit men's inventions to make them either more beautiful or more likely to answer the intention of them. Add thou not unto his words. God is pleased with willing worship, but not with will-worship.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first — the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Hebrews 9:8By this arrangement the Holy Spirit was showing that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.
leads to
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear His voice,
I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture.
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Through
Hebrews 9:5Above the ark were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.
leads to
When Moses entered the Tent of Meeting to speak with the LORD, he heard the voice speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the mercy seat on the ark of the Testimony.…
And the LORD said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron not to enter freely into the Most Holy Place behind the veil in front of the mercy seat on the ark, or else he…
And you are to construct a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.
The whole web at once: see the Arc.
The verses this one reaches4
By this arrangement the Holy Spirit was showing that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.
Above the ark were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.
And you are to construct a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.
containing the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. Inside the ark were the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.
