“They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and outside shall you overlay it, and you shall make on it a molding of gold around it. You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them. The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. And you shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you.
“You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.
Comment: This is not the only passage in the Bible which talks about ‘the Ark of the Covenant.’ Where is it now and why can’t people find it? The Ethiopian Orthodox Church believes that they have it in a special church at Axum in the north where they have a priest guarding it behind a tall barbed wire fence. Many say that nobody knows! What does this passage tell us definitely about what God set up as a place to which the travelling Israelis were to come to and worship Him? 1. It was of a size that was portable and made so that it could easily be carried as the Israelis travelled to the Promised Land. 2. It was all from His peoples’ donations (yesterday) but it was very, even exquisitely, precious and beautiful. 3. It contained the Ten Commandments as sent down with Moses from God. Peter 9v4 in the NT mentions other things being present in it. When were these added? – the simple answer is that no one knows, although there are multiple theories! 4, The top is called the ‘mercy seat’. Thus it represents the great Mercy of God to the travelling Israelis, and thus to us. 5. That which represented the seat of the God of Mercy was overshadowed by angels with heads bowed in reverence watching over the God whom they served!
Prayer: Help us not to see entering Your Presence as just ‘one of those things’ which we do. You are a Great and Merciful God!
As I read it! 