06 The Ark Of The Covenant
The Ark Of The Covenant
Verse 10. “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.”
NOAH was commanded to make “an ark” for the saving of his house; the Hebrew word there used is “tebah,” as also in the “ark” of bulrushes in which Moses was laid. But the Hebrew word here employed is “ahrohn,” which signifies a chest. This ark of the covenant is one of the most complete and comprehensive types of the Lord Jesus, a full length portrait. In the instructions given for the vessels of the tabernacle, the first mentioned is the ARK. As to worship, service, and testimony, God’s centre is Christ. The SHITTIM WOOD is a type of the sinless humanity of the Lord Jesus. And its dimensions being fixed by God, reminds us of the words of the Lord Jesus, “A body hast Thou prepared Me” (Heb 10:5).
Verse 11. “And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it.” Pure gold is the emblem of that which is divine, divinely excellent and holy. It typifies the Word which was in the beginning with God, and was God, made flesh and tabernacling among us, the great mystery of God manifest in flesh. To the carnal mind human was conspicuous, He was Jesus the Nazarene. The badger’s skin hid the glory of the tabernacle, but to the spiritually minded the gold hid the shittim wood, such could say, “And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.” And “The God shone glorious through the man.” At foot of the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus was seen in contact with sinners, and in conflict with Satan; but to the disciples on the mount He appeared in glory, and the Father Himself bare witness to Him. The ark was. to be overlaid within as well as without old. Every internal thought, feeling, and affection of the Lord Jesus was not only perfect as human, but spiritually and divinely excellent; like the fat of inwards burnt upon the altar which was for God alone. In Him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and in Him the Church of God is blessed with every Spiritual blessing. This ark of the covenant is the treasure chest of the family of God, in which all the title deeds and promises of God in Him, Yea and Amen, are contained.
“And thou shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.” This crown of gold surrounding the ark and surmounting it, kept the propitiatory or mercy-seat in its place; even so was it with Jesus, He for the joy that set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame; and, though for a season, made a little lower than the angels, He is now crowned with glory and honour. The obedient and humbled Son of Man is now seated on the right hand of majesty and power, and glorified with the glory He had with the Father before the world was.
Verses 12-15. “And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof; and two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it.” “And thou shalt make staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them. The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it.” These rings and staves adapted the ark to the wilderness condition of God’s people, ready at all times, not only to accompany them in their journeyings, but also in their wanderings. The rings were to be of gold, but the staves of shittim wood, overlaid with gold. The divine grace and human sympathy of the Lord Jesus renders Him sufficient to meet our every need. The staves were never to be taken from the rings; even so Jesus assures us, “Lo, I am with you alway” ; “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” The three families of Levites, Gershonites, Merarites, and Kohathites, may represent the evangelists, pastors and teachers of the Christian ministry. The Gershonites and Merarites, when the camp set forward, went before and set up the tabernacle, for these six wagons and twelve oxen were provided; but none were given to the sons of Kohath, because the service of the sanctuary belonging unto them was that they should bear it on their shoulders (Num 7:9). To the charge of the Kohathites was committed the and other sacred vessels of the sanctuary. The teacher is specially thrown upon his individual responsibility before God in treating on those subjects which pertain to the person, offices, and perfections of the Son of God; he needs, in an especial manner, the unction from the Holy One. God is especially jealous of human interference in regard to the glory of His Son. When David put the ark upon a new cart, and Uzzah put forth his hand to steady it, God made a breach upon Uzzah. What is needed is not human intellect, invention, nor imagination, but the teaching and revealing of the Holy Ghost.
Verse 16. “And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee.” Whilst Moses was on the Mount, receiving these instructions from God, respecting the tabernacle and its vessels, the children of Israel were impatient at his delay, had made the golden calf, and worshipped it. The law which they had undertaken to keep they had broken in its most essential parts. Thereupon Moses, on his coming down from the Mount, with the two tables of the testimony in his hand, which he had received from God, written with the finger of God, moved with holy indignation, brake the tables at the foot of the Mount. And Jehovah said unto Moses, “Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.” These two tables of the testimony Moses was commanded to put into the ark. This type was fulfilled in Christ, who is the Mediator of the New Covenant, whose language was, according to Psa 40:8, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart.” Made of a woman, born under the law, He magnified that law, and made it honourable. And it is by abiding in Him that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us, who walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.