Its Construction, Contents and Coverings
The Ark in the Wilderness
The Ark in the Midst of Israel
The Ark Seeks a Resting Place
The Ark Moving and Resting
The Ark Crossing Jordan
The Ark at Jericho and Mount Ebal
Gibeah, Shiloh and Ebenezer
The Ark in Captivity
The Ark at Bethshemesh and Kirjath-Jearim
The Ark in the Days of Saul and David
Bringing The Ark To Jerusalem
David's Exercises in Relation to the Ark
The Ark of God concerning David, Uriah and Abiathar
The Ark at Rest and in Heaven
There are three arks of which we have often heard, the ark built by Noah, the ark into which Moses was placed by his parents, and the ark of Jehovah, the God of Israel. Each has its own peculiar lessons for us, but all three bring before us the thought of salvation. Noah prepared an ark for "the salvation of his house": the ark of bulrushes brought salvation to the child Moses; and the ark of Jehovah was the means used by God to bring His people safely over Jordan, and to overthrow the power of their adversaries at Jericho.
The varied descriptions of the Ark of shittim wood and gold display the precious thoughts of God concerning Christ, the One whom we see in this divine symbol. It is called "the ark of Jehovah"; "the ark of the testimony"; "the ark of the covenant"; "the ark of the … Lord of all the earth"; "the ark of the Lord God"; "the ark of our God"; "the ark of Jehovah the God of Israel"; and "the ark of Thy strength." Each of these designations gives the ark a distinctive character appropriate to the context in which it is found.
Shittim wood was used to make the ark. It was also the material used in the construction of the tabernacle and its various articles of furniture; and nowhere else in Scripture is it spoken of. It has been called imperishable acacia. There can be little doubt that it brings before us the humanity of our Lord Jesus; a humanity that was real and perfect. The Son of God became Man in order that we might be identified with Him on the resurrection side of death in a humanity that brought delight to the heart of God.
When the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews speaks of the ark, he does not mention the shittim wood, but says it was "covered round in every part with gold." He is calling attention to the glory of Jesus, to His divinity, to the divine nature, the divine righteousness and the divine glory that faith can discern in Him. A holy mystery surrounds the inscrutable union in the Son of God of the natures of His Godhead and Manhood. We know that He was perfect Man, partaking in all that constituted and belonged to manhood, and entering into the conditions and circumstances that belonged to men in the most real way; and at the same time He was God, the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in Him; One who perfectly set before men what God is in His nature and disposition towards men; and setting forth what man is according to the thoughts, desires and will of God.
The border of gold around the ark no doubt signified the personal glory of the Christ; the golden rings and the staves telling that God would have His testimony carried about according to His own thoughts, and in keeping with the glory and dignity of Him in whose Person the testimony of God was set forth.
Forming the lid of the ark was the mercy-seat of pure gold, that which formed the throne of God in the midst of His people, where God appeared in the cloud of glory (Lev. 16:2) which merged with the cloud of incense, and from which He spoke to Moses, from between the cherubims (Num. 7:89). The golden cherubims looked towards the mercy-seat, as viewing the redemption that secured the glory of God in relation to the question of sin. In Eden, the cherubim safe-guarded the tree of life, lest man in sin should for ever live in this condition; in the temple that Solomon built they looked towards the house as witnesses of the display of the divine glory that redemption had procured; in Revelation 5, along with the redeemed of earth, they celebrate in praise the Lamb of God.
From Romans 3:25, we learn God's thoughts of the mercy-seat, where it is written, "Whom God has set forth a mercy-seat, through faith in His blood, for the showing forth of His righteousness, in respect of the passing by the sins that had taken place before." God was able to view the sins of His own, in past dispensations, in the light of the coming work of His Son upon the cross. The blood-sprinkled mercy-seat in the Tabernacle foreshadowed this great work, which was the basis of God's forbearance before Christ came. Now that Christ has come, and the great work of redemption has been accomplished, God is made known in the Gospel as just, and the justifier of all that have faith in Jesus.
In Hebrews 9:4, there are three things found in the ark, the first of which is "the golden pot that had manna." Manna was the "food of the mighty" that God provided for the sustenance of His people throughout their desert journey, food, from its careful description, that speaks of Christ "once humbled here." If we are to be in this world for the pleasure of God, we shall have to feed on Christ. Nothing will strengthen us for the desert journey like the prayerful contemplation of what Christ was as Man in this world for the will and pleasure of God. Christ as the food of His people is brought before us in many ways; He is "the old corn of the land," "the grapes of Eschol," "the meat offering," "the peace offering," and "the showbread"; each having its own peculiar significance, and strengthening for some particular function or service; but the manna was for all the people at all times, as is the contemplation of Christ in His holy life of devotion to God's will in Manhood here.
What the manna presented to God was so precious to Him that He commanded Moses to lay up before Him, in a golden vessel, an omer of the food He had provided for Israel. The golden vessel indicates to us the glorified Christ; and in Christ glorified there is the treasured remembrance for the pleasure of God the Father all that His Son was for Him as a Man on earth. The time came when Israel despised the "light bread"; but what Israel despised, God delighted in; and Israel despised and ill-treated the Christ of God when He was on earth; but God has glorified the Christ that they rejected.
To the overcomer of Pergamos, Christ gives the promise, him "will I give to eat of the hidden manna" (Rev. 2:17). This is no doubt a promise of future blessing, what the saints shall enjoy in heaven in a coming day, the enjoyment of God's own thoughts of His Son as the Man of sorrows here. But even now, while we feed on Christ as the manna to sustain us for the path of God's will through this world, we can also, while in communion with the glorified Christ in heaven, find pleasure in what He was for God as a Man in this world.
Aaron's rod that budded lay beside the golden pot inside the ark, another relic of the desert way. Korah and his company had challenged the leadership of Moses and the priesthood of Aaron, and in so doing had called in question the prerogative of God to choose His own servants. After the judgment of God had fallen upon the profane Korah and his followers, and also upon those who accused Moses and Aaron of being responsible for their judgment, Jehovah commanded Moses to bring twelve rods, each with the name of a prince representing his tribe written upon it, and to lay them up before Him in the tabernacle of witness.
On the morrow, when Moses went into the tabernacle, "the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds" (Num. 17:8). The choice of the house of Levi had been confirmed; the priesthood of Aaron had been divinely attested in resurrection power. Does not this teach us that Christ has been called as God's High Priest "after the power of an endless life"? (Heb. 7:16). Raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, Christ has entered upon His priestly work in all the fragrance of the blossoms that tell of what He was to His Father in life and in death, and as having secured fruit for God's glory and praise, not only in His own holy life, but as the result of His having been found in death for the accomplishment of all God's will.
The two tables of stone, "the tables of the covenant," were also in the ark. On the tables were written the ten commandments, God's righteous demands of what man should be both towards Himself and towards his neighbour. Alas! no man had answered to the divine commands. Even the Apostle Paul who could not be convicted by men of having broken them, for he wrote, "touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless" (Phil. 3:6), has to say, "I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet … but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died" (Rom. 7:7-9). The very best under the law are convicted by the commandment, Thou shalt not covet. There was not found a man who loved the Lord his God with all his heart, and his neighbour as himself.
Yet there was one Man who answered perfectly to every commandment of the law, who magnified the law and made it honourable. The testimony of God was secure in the heart and life of Him of whom the ark spoke, even in Jesus the Son of God, who could challenge all around with the words, "Which of you convinceth me of sin?" (John 8:46). Not only did He love the Lord His God with all His heart, and His neighbour as Himself, but in Him there was the revelation of God's love; and the hatred of men to Him was met by perfect love, and all the evil of men by the perfection of goodness.
For its journeys, the ark was first to be wrapped in the "covering veil" of the tabernacle, whose variegated colours bring out the features of Jesus; the blue speaking of His being "the second Man out of heaven"; the purple, His traits and glories as Son of Man; the scarlet, that He was Son of David: the fine twined linen, the practical righteousness exhibited in all His steps; and the cherubim, His judicial character for the securing of all God's will.
Faith alone discovers the secrets of the "covering veil," for over it was "the covering of badgers' skins," hiding the beautiful colours, and protecting them, and the ark, from the gaze of men. But the blue was evident to all, for a covering of blue was over the badgers' skins. All could see that, although the Lord Jesus was a Man in outward appearance like other men, He was a different kind of Man, altogether heavenly in His manner of life, even as He claimed to have come down from heaven.
Every feature connected with the ark brings something of Christ before us, that which is for our edification, our instruction, and pleasure; that too which it is our privilege to bear about in testimony during our sojourn in this world, to manifest the features of Jesus as we speak of Him, so that He might be magnified in our lives, and God glorified in His royal priesthood, who "show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light" (1 Peter 2:9).
Those who have carefully considered the ark of Jehovah have no doubt that it is presented to us in Scripture as a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, the One who, in His Person, is both God and Man. Nearly five hundred years elapsed between the setting forward of the ark from the mount of God until it reached its resting place in Solomon's temple, and its movements and vicissitudes are pregnant with meaning regarding the ways of God. As we follow the ark we learn of the faithfulness, longsuffering and goodness of Jehovah to-wards a disobedient and rebellious people. From this we are able to discern God's disposition towards us in Christ, all that He is in spite of all that we are, for is it not written, "whatsoever things were written afore-time were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope"? (Rom. 15:4).
Whether the ark was at rest in the holiest, or moving with the hosts of Israel, its normal position was in the midst of the people of God, surely showing us Christ's place in the midst of His own. The care of the ark was given to the Kohathites (Numbers 4), and in Numbers 10 we see that they carried the holy vessels and furniture in the midst of the tribes as they journeyed through the wilderness. The ark was therefore the divine centre in Israel, all the functions and movements of God's people being ordered in relation to it.
The Lord Jesus delights to take His place in the midst of His own as they journey onward to the rest of God. Coming out of death, where He had been for the glory of God, and for the blessing of His people, the risen Son of God says, "I will declare Thy Name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto Thee" (Ps. 22:22; Heb. 2:12). The presence of the Lord in the midst of His own can still be known and enjoyed in spite of all the failure and ruin of the church, and for this the Lord provided when He said, "Where two or three are gathered together to my Name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20).
Gathering to the Lord's Name implies a moral state in consonance with the holy Name of the Lord Jesus, and those who so gather will endeavour to safeguard the holiness of that precious Name to which they are gathered. The real, spiritual presence of Christ is assured to those who truly gather with Himself before them, and who wait upon Him to direct all in the circle of His own. If Christ is in the midst, there is no place for man after the flesh, and He will be the Object before every heart, drawing out the praise, adoration and worship of which He is worthy, and which His own delight to give. It is in the midst of His own that He praises, and leads the praises of His own to the Father.
Passing through the wilderness, the Kohathites bore the ark upon their shoulders, the covering of blue being seen by all. Beneath the heavenly covering of blue was the protection of the badgers' skins, and next to the ark was the beautiful covering veil that signified the glories, perfections, and ministries of the Son of God.
Like the favoured family of Kohath, we are privileged to bear the testimony of God, set forth in Christ, through this world. God's testimony is set forth in the words of the Gospel, but is also witnessed in the lives of His people. Paul had a very special part in the proclamation of God's testimony concerning Christ, and in his epistles we learn much regarding it; but he also sought to manifest in his life what he preached in his Gospel. In 2 Corinthians 4:1 the Apostle writes of the "ministry" he had received, but in verse 2 of this same chapter he writes, "but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God."
It is not given to all to preach the Gospel, but every saint of God has the privilege of manifesting the truth. Every true believer in Christ has the life of Christ, and the manifestation of this life evinces something of the cloth of blue that covered the ark, for the life that Christ has given to us is a heavenly life, even as Paul wrote, "your life is hid with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3). We live this life in communion with Christ, but the evidences of our possessing it are seen in all the practical details of our life down here.
At the close of Numbers 10 the ark takes an unusual place as the children of Israel set forward, even as it is recorded, "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" (Num. 10:33). Instead of remaining in the midst of God's hosts, the ark took the leading place, going on ahead to find a suitable place for Israel to rest.
The reason for this unpredicted movement of the ark is found in the preceding verses (Num. 10:29-32). Moses had invited "Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite" to journey with Israel to the land of promise, but he had also said to him, "Leave us not I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes."
Had not Jehovah, the God of Israel, undertaken to care for His people Israel? Did He require the help of Hobab? What could the knowledge and experience of any man in this world add to the God of Israel who had delivered His people from Egypt, and had maintained them with the food of the mighty, and with water out of the rock? God's answer to the lack of faith in Moses was to send the ark before His people. Israel, and Moses, were to rely on their God, and to know that they were independent of the wisdom and knowledge of this world, and of its men of experience and discernment.
What a solemn lesson there is for us in this. There is ever the natural tendency with us to rely on flesh and blood rather than on our God. Whatever the circumstances in which we are found, God would have us to rely on Him, whether it be for our individual pathway or in relation to the affairs of His assembly. The saints at Corinth needed to learn that the wisdom of this world is foolishness, and that Christ Jesus "is made unto us wisdom" from God. He is the true ark of God who has the discernment to mark out the way for us through the wilderness, and to show us where we can rest in the presence of God.
Jesus, the true ark of God, has been down here, passing through the wilderness of this world, and has marked out the way for God's people. What rest of soul for us there is in the contemplation of that holy One in Manhood, bearing the sickness and carrying the sorrows of His people, at infinite cost to Himself; and going to the cross to suffer for sins, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God. God's people Israel will have a resting place in the world to come because of what Christ has done, and the saints of this day will rest for ever in the Father's house in the company of the Son of God.
The saints at Colosse were in danger of seeking a Hobab to help them, for instead of looking solely to Christ, they were bringing angels between them and their heavenly Head. They were also occupied with the philosophy of the world, and therefore with the principles of the world. Nothing of this world's wisdom or resources of any kind can help the assembly of God, for its philosophy and religion are to sustain and direct a system of things that has no place for the Christ of God, in whom are all God's resources for His people.
We can therefore see that in Numbers 10 the Lord Jesus, as God's ark, is in the midst of His own, and is also leading His own through the wilderness towards the rest of God, even as it is written in Hebrews 2:10, "For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain (or leader) of their salvation perfect through sufferings." He leads us through the wilderness, and is our forerunner into heaven to which He is leading us (Heb. 6:19. 20).
The cloud of Jehovah's presence accompanied His ark and His people on their three days' journey, "and it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee." God's presence with His people was manifested in the cloud of glory, and in the ark on which the cloud rested when the tabernacle was pitched; and what could the enemies of His people do when God was present among His people? They were utterly powerless, and God's people were safeguarded, in His presence.
When the Lord was on earth the enemies of God and His people were fully manifested in their deadly opposition to Him. Satan was met, and compelled to retreat, in the temptations in the wilderness; and men, under Satan's influence, could not stand before the wisdom and power of the Son of God. Demons were cast out, men and women were liberated from the grip of disease, and even death had to relinquish its victims at His word.
All the enemies of God marshalled their forces against His Christ to put Him to death, but in His entry into death the power of God was manifested, for it was through death that Jesus annulled him that had the power of death, to deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage. Satan was completely vanquished by Jesus entering death's domain, death was robbed of its sting and its power was broken, "and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them" (Col. 2:15). How complete is the triumph of God over all His foes through His Son coming into this world, and going into death.
When the ark rested, Moses said, "Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel" (Num. 10:36). If the mighty power of God has been manifested in the scattering of all His foes, His delight in His people is expressed in His dwelling among them. God has a dwelling place among His people today, for the church is His habitation by the Spirit (Eph. 2:22). In the millennium, the Lord will be found among the many thousands of Israel, after having poured out His righteous judgment on His enemies; and God will dwell with men in the eternal state after every judgment is past, and after the last enemy, death, has been destroyed.
There is a marked difference between the crossing of the Red Sea and the passage of the Jordan. At the Red Sea, Israel went over by night, with a strong east wind blowing and a powerful foe behind them, the pillar of fire directing their way between the crystal walls that Jehovah had cleaved for them. There was much to cause fear in the hearts of the people, the darkness lit by the presence of Jehovah, the stormy wind, the massive walls of water on either side, and the pursuing army. It was with great relief that the people saw their enemies dead on the seashore, and with deep thankfulness and joy they celebrated the triumph of God.
At the Jordan there was no storm, though the waters between the people and the land of promise were as formidable as those of the Red Sea, for Jordan's banks were overflowing. The enemies behind them had already been defeated, and those on the other side were shut up in their cities with the dread of Jehovah upon them. All was calm as the divine instructions were given about the way they were about to take, and the passage was to be made in daylight. No stormy east wind was needed, for God had another way of making a path for His people through the way of death.
It has often been remarked that the crossing of the Red Sea foreshadowed the death and resurrection of Christ for His people, whereas the passage of the Jordan pointed forward to the death and resurrection of the saints with Christ. This very clear distinction must be evident to every spiritual mind that considers the two Scriptures in the light of the New Testament.
In Joshua 3:3, the officers commanded the people, "When ye see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then shall ye remove from your place, and go after it." Every eye was directed to the ark, just as God directs our every eye to Christ, the true ark of the covenant, the One in whom God's testimony is found, who in perfection answered to all the claims God made on man, and who brought glory and pleasure to God in His every step. God's people were not told to follow the officers, or to keep their eye on the priests the Levites, but they were to "go after" the ark. It is good when the saints have men like Paul, who could write, "Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample" (Phil. 3:17), but though others can be ensamples for us, Christ alone is our object, as it is written in Hebrews 12:2, "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of faith." He is both the object for us, and the perfect example.
In following the ark, Israel were commanded, "Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore" (verse 4). Across the Jordan was a new way for Israel, and the way through death is a new way for the people of God, and only as having Christ before us can we take that way for His glory. For ourselves we have to learn that this is the way for all God's people, that which is true for the whole Christian company as associated with Christ, but we also have to learn it experimentally.
All twelve tribes were represented in the crossing of the river, but there were the two and a half tribes that remained on the wilderness side of the Jordan. The fighting men of the two and a half tribes went over with their brethren, but they left their homes and loved ones behind. It was God's purpose that all Israel should dwell over Jordan, but the two and a half tribes fell short of God's purpose for them. They dwelt in the land that God gave to His people, for it was part of the inheritance, but not that part that God gave them as a dwelling. The Jordan separated them from the place where God would dwell among His people. There is therefore the need for us to learn experimentally the truth of the crossing of Jordan, so that we might dwell in the knowledge of, and act in the light of, the purpose of God for His saints.
The two thousand cubits allowed each one to have an uninterrupted view of the ark, and God desires that no one should be allowed to obscure our view of Christ. Moreover, the measured distance tells us that Christ stands alone in the eye of God in all His deep perfections, and that He should thus be seen by His people. God has richly blessed us, giving us His own life and nature, and has associated us with Christ as His brethren, so that we are "all of one" with Him, and are heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; but while thanking God for these surpassing blessings, we must never forget who Christ is in the glory of His Person, the Only-begotten Son in the bosom of the Father, unique and alone in this relationship with His Father.
Normally, the ark was in the midst of the tribes while they journeyed, this time the ark, as in Numbers 10:33, went before them, but it would remain in the midst of Jordan till all the people were clean passed over. When the priests that bore the ark came to "the brink of the water of Jordan" they were to stand still in Jordan. This day would show to Israel that the living God was in their midst, and was the assurance that all their foes would be driven out of the land that He had promised to them.
God's people were not called upon to meet the overflowing banks of the river of death, they were to view the ark going down first, and to see the waters recede whenever it came thither. What Joshua said would come to pass did come to pass, for as soon as the feet of the priests were dipped in the brim of the river, "the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho" (Joshua 3:15-16).
When the Lord Jesus Christ went into death, He met death in its overwhelming power, which is foreshadowed in the overflowing banks of the river Jordan. Its power was overwhelming for men, but there was One who met the full force of death, so that His people might go over dryshod. How wonderful the sight must have been for Israel that day to see the waters of Jordan recede, or as Psalm 114 puts it, "What ailed thee … thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?" There was a greater power present than that of Jordan's mighty flood that drove its dark, chilly waters back to the city Adam, and beyond it. The power of death was annulled there, not yet completely destroyed, for the great wall of water remained, ready to flow forward in its fury and power, once the restraining power of the ark was taken away.
It was not the rod of God's power yielded by Moses that caused Jordan's waters to be driven back, as had been the case at the Red Sea, it was the presence of the ark of God. What a wonderful mystery lies in this! The Son of God was crucified in weakness, yet there was power in Him to overcome the power of death when He entered into death. It was the power that was manifested in Him in life, the power of holiness, that drove back the dark waters of death. This same power is manifested in Him in the raising of the dead, even as it is written, that He is "Declared the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead" (Rom. 1:4). Do we not see the Son of God, according to the Spirit of holiness, driving back death's mighty waters here?
The feet of the priests had first of all but touched the brink of the water of Jordan, and the waters were driven back while they stood there, but while the people were passing over, "the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan" (Joshua 3:17). Death's power is so completely set aside in the death of Christ that not an evidence of death is there, the ground is firm and dry: and it was on the firm, dry ground that God's people passed over.
Already the saints of God are viewed as having died with Christ, and as being risen with Christ; His death and resurrection assuring us of this place with Him. God has given us this place in association with His blessed Son, and it belongs to every saint of God whether he has learned the truth of it or not, but God desires that we should know it, and live in the light of it constantly. It is not exactly facing the article of death, though if it has to be faced, we can view death as being robbed of its power; we can view the Jordan as firm and dry for us to pass over into Christ's presence, having no terrors for us, for Christ has caused its waters to recede.
Twelve stones were carried by twelve prepared men from the bed of the Jordan, from the place where the feet of the priests stood firm, and were raised as a memorial on the side of Jordan where the people lodged after the crossing. These stones were a witness for coming generations of what God did that day for His people. We too can look back to the day when Christ entered into death, and there is a fitting memorial for that, given by the Lord Himself on the night in which He was delivered up, and because of His death it is ours to be associated with Him as risen from the dead.
We also learn that "Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood: and they are there unto this day" (Joshua 4:9). Surely these twelve stones in the bed of the river tell us that we have died with Christ, even as the twelve stones on the bank tell us that we are risen with Christ (Col. 2:20; 3:1).
How very touching it is to read, "For the priests which bare the ark stood in the midst of Jordan, until everything was finished that the Lord commanded …" (Joshua 4:10). Are we not reminded of the Lord enduring the judgment of death until He was able to cry, "It is finished"? There is nothing more to be done; all that God commanded was done by Jesus, and His people are brought into the place of richest blessing because Jesus did all that was required to meet the claims of God and secure His glory.
When all the people were clean passed over, "the ark of the Lord passed over, and the priests, in the presence of the people" (Joshua 4:11). How intimately were the people associated with every movement of the ark of the Lord. They saw the ark move towards the river; they beheld the waters recede as the feet of the priests bearing the ark touched the brink; they watched, as they passed over, the ark in the midst of the Jordan; and they saw the ark come out of the Jordan after they had crossed. How blessed are our privileges of viewing Christ in all the different situations foreshadowed in these things. What a rich contemplation for us to consider Christ passing through this world, onward into death; then to see Him in the precincts of death; to contemplate Him in death, sustaining all for God's glory and our blessing, and witnessing His mighty triumph over all death's power; and gazing upon Him coming up the victorious One, that all His people might be with Him on the risen side of death.
In Joshua 4:23 the crossing of the Jordan and passing over the Red Sea are linked together, not only to remind God's people of what He has done for them, but "That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever." What a testimony God has given to men in the death of Christ. It is in bringing Christ out of death that God has displayed the "exceeding greatness of His power" (Eph. 1:19-23); and whether men accept this testimony or not, it is also given that His own might fear Him for ever. Reverential fear should ever fill the hearts of God's people as they contemplate what He has done for their blessing in Christ's death and resurrection.
The inhabitants of Canaan were greatly troubled by the presence of Israel, for, as Rahab had said, "We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side of Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed"; but they may have felt that they were safe while Jordan overflowed all its banks. If any had this sense of false security, it was speedily dispelled, for "when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel" (Joshua 5:1). They may not have heard of the part played by the ark of the covenant of the Lord, the possessor of all the earth, but the inhabitants of Jericho would soon learn something about God's holy ark.
Jericho appeared to be an impregnable fortress, and was no doubt the citadel of Canaan, and its inhabitants seemed to be secure behind its wall, strong and high; but it was here that God was about to break the enemy's power. What were the massive walls of stone and lime to the God who had made a way for His people through the waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan? God was about to teach His people that the conflict was His, that they had no power of their own, and that they must rely on Him and the ark of His strength.
God could easily have brought about the destruction of Jericho by an earthquake in the night, or in some other way, but He chose to demonstrate before His people, and before the nations of the land, and before all who could learn from His ways, that His resources for men lay in the ark that spoke of Christ. We are privileged to look back over more than three thousand years since Jericho was taken, and learn what God had to teach in relation to the ark which foreshadowed the coming into the world of His own Son, in whom were all His resources for the overthrow of the power of our great and mighty foes.
Joshua, like the priests and the warriors of Israel, had but to carry out the instructions that God gave. The people were not left to their own resources, nor was the plan for the overthrow of Jericho one that man had suggested, or ever would have thought of suggesting: it was God's, and given to Joshua expressly by Himself in its every detail. In Joshua 6:2 the Lord tells His servant how to meet the situation described in verse 1, where Jericho "was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none went in."
God's command was clear and simple, "Ye shall compass the city, all the men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets." Joshua fully realised that the warriors were to have no part in the actual overthrow of the enemy's power as represented by the wall of the city, for he commanded them, saying, "Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout" (Joshua 6:10).
The only noise that was heard while the Lord's host marched round the city was the blowing of the rams' horns in front of the ark of God. The attention of all was directed to the ark which the Levites carried daily round the city. Israel had already learned something of the divine power connected with the ark of God as they watched it going into Jordan, and the overflowing waters being driven back from before it. Then they had seen the ark coming out of the river, and once it was out they saw the waters returning in their power. Here was another lesson for them to learn, so God concentrates their attention afresh on His holy ark.
For the enemies of God's people, shut up in their strong city, the sight of the ark must have been very mysterious. Looking from the walls they would see the host of warriors, silent as they marched, but they would hear the blasts from the horns sounded by the seven priests that went before the ark. Behind the priests was this mystic symbol of the presence of the God of Israel: a box, hidden from their eyes with a cloth of blue, and carried on the shoulders of the family of Kohath. They could not see the shittim wood, the gold, the blood-sprinkled mercy-seat, the beautiful veil of separation, and the badgers' skins.
Jehovah's presence with His people was hidden from the eyes of men beneath the cloth of blue. This we learn from Joshua 6:8, where it is written, "When Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns passed on before the Lord, and blew with the trumpets: and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them." The ark was the symbol of the presence of Jehovah in the midst of His host, for although most of the warriors went on before, there was also a rearguard.
Seven priests doubtless signify the perfect testimony given by Jehovah through those who were nearest to Him. They were not calling attention to the host of the Lord, or to themselves, but to the ark that was immediately behind them. Every eye, whether of Israel, or of their foes, was to be focused on the ark. It was God's presence, as seen in the ark of His strength, that had taken up the challenge of the enemy as seen in the mighty walls of Jericho. In the daily procession of the ark, God was giving plenty of opportunity for all to see that He was directing their whole attention to His ark.
On the seventh day, with the seven priests blowing the rams' horns, the ark went round the city seven times. How full, perfect and complete was the testimony of Jehovah's presence with His people as the ark went round for the seventh time on the last day. It was only then that the voices of Israel were to be heard, and on the command of Joshua they gave a shout. The falling down of the wall was not the result of the shout, but God, in grace, allowed His people to share the triumph over the power of the enemy. It was His almighty power that made the wall fall flat down, and that enabled His people, as strong in the Lord, to overcome their foes. The ark that had been the means of bringing His people safely through the waters of Jordan was the means of bringing down the strong walls in which their enemies trusted.
Israel had refused to go up into the land when the spies brought back their report of a "people greater and taller than we"; and of "cities great and walled up to heaven" (Deut. 1:28). Where was this great and high wall now? The confidence of Joshua and Caleb in the ability of God to give them possession of the land was vindicated that day when Jericho was destroyed. Those who had despised the pleasant land, and those who had brought back the evil report, had perished in the wilderness, and did not live to see the mighty victory that God gave to His people.
Like Israel, we have not to meet the power of the enemy. The true Ark of God's strength has brought down the power of Satan, has taken from him the panoply in which he trusted. What was all Satan's power before Him who went into the Jordan, the river of death, to make a way for His own? The One who died to bring us into the land that God has promised has vanquished every foe. Israel had only to shout that day, and as they shouted they saw the mighty power of God take from their enemies their only defence.
If we have not to meet the enemy's power, we have to meet his wiles, just as Israel had to meet the wiles of the Gibeonites after their triumph at Jericho. To meet these wiles we have to "be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might" (Eph. 6). It was just here that Israel failed. They did not consult the Lord, and were taken in by the wiles of the inhabitants of Gibeon, for "They did work wilily" (Joshua 9:4).
We have to be sure that we are not strong in ourselves, and imagine that we are able to meet the enemy in our own strength, for this is why Israel failed at Ai. Had Israel consulted Jehovah before going up against Ai they would have learned that He had a controversy with them. The sin of Achan was also the sin of Israel until they had cleared themselves of it, and this they would have learned earlier had they consulted Jehovah. Flushed with their victory over Jericho, they overlooked that they were entirely dependent on the Lord their God, and their lack of dependence and self-confidence brought them into disgrace; but their defeat was used of God to bring them back to Him.
Joshua knew where to go in time of trouble, for he "rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads" (Joshua 7:6). Here, in the presence of the ark of God, Joshua and the elders of Israel learned that Jehovah would not tolerate sin among His people. Disobedience is intolerable to God. It brought sin into the world, and death in its wake; and the awfulness of disobedience in the sight of God, and its dire consequences for the children of disobedience, are learned in the presence of Him who "was obedient even unto death, and that the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:8). If men are disobedient, obedience in its perfection is found in the true Ark of the covenant, where the two tables were enshrined for God's pleasure.
The last time the ark is mentioned in the days of Joshua is when Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in mount Ebal "As Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel" (Joshua 8:30-31). Joshua wrote there "upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel." It was a very solemn assembly, as "All Israel and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, as well the stranger … there was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them" (Joshua 8:32-35).
This was a most solemn occasion. All Israel were arranged with the ark between them, to hear the blessings and the cursing of the Law read to them. The two tables of the law were in the ark, written upon the two tables of stone, and Joshua wrote a copy on the stones of the altar of Mount Ebal. As they gazed upon the ark that day, would not the children of Israel recall that their movements had been bound up with it? They had watched it at the Jordan: they had seen it go round Jericho, and the wall fall flat before it; and they had seen Joshua and the elders of Israel enquire before Jehovah on their faces before the ark. To learn God's mind at all times we have to enquire from Him in whom there is the expression of all God's will and pleasure.
Yet it is almost immediately after this solemn assembly that Israel are taken in with the wiles of the Gibeonites. We should have expected that after the failure at Ai they would have at once consulted Jehovah before His ark, but again they fail. It is so often the same with ourselves. Instead of consulting the Lord, as being strong in Him, we rely on our own imagined strength and wisdom, with the resulting failure of one kind or another. But these things are written that we might learn from Israel's failure, so that in the conflict into which God has called us we may ever rely on the grace, strength and wisdom of Him who has for us broken the power of the enemy, and given to us such rich blessings.
There is but one mention of the ark in the Book of Judges (Judges 20:27). The days of the judges were dark days in Israel's history. They followed what is recorded in Joshua 24:31. "And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that over-lived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the Lord, that He had done for Israel." See also Judges 2:7. What God had done for Israel was soon forgotten by the generations that followed the elders of Joshua's day, for "In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes" (Judges 17:6; Judges 21:25). Lawlessness prevailed, and the awful consequences of it are found in the closing chapters of the Book of Judges. Idolatry and moral corruption marked the Levites, and the sin of Sodom being found in Benjamin, the evildoers were sheltered and supported by the whole tribe when the men of Israel intervened to deal with the evil.
The tribes of Israel were aroused from their indifference by the sin of Gibeah, and after gathering together they "went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God" (Judges 20:18). They did not fall upon their faces before God, confessing their sins, and weep over the dishonour done to the Name of the Lord. The natural man can feel outraged by gross evil without realising that he himself is engaged in sin against God. Nor did they ask God what they should do, but supposing that there was strength in their numbers to deal with the evildoers, they simply asked, "Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin?"
God allowed Benjamin to defeat and destroy twenty-two thousand men of Israel, which made it evident that God had a controversy with Israel as well as with Benjamin. It would seem as if the men of Israel still confided in their own strength to defeat Benjamin, for although they wept before the Lord until even, and asked the Lord if they should go up again against Benjamin, they had already "encouraged themselves, and set their battle in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day" (Judges 20:22). Again the Lord allows Benjamin to defeat Israel, slaying eighteen thousand of them.
This second defeat brought "all the children of Israel, and all the people" to the house of God. There they wept, fasted, sat before the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord, "and the children of Israel inquired of the Lord" (Judges 20:26-27). God's discipline of His people wrought in them a great change. They no longer set themselves in array before seeking counsel of the Lord, they no longer trust in their own strength and numbers, but their weeping is accompanied with sacrifices, fasting, sitting before the Lord, and seeking His mind and will. Then it is that we are told of the presence of the ark of the covenant of God (Judges 20:27). In spite of all the evil in Israel and in Benjamin, God was in the midst of His people, and when they had been sufficiently chastened and humbled on account of their dishonour to His Name, He would enable them to be His instruments to punish the gross evil that was permitted and defended in Benjamin.
Like the Levite of Judges 19, the men of Israel were greatly disturbed by the low moral condition of others, but were insensible to their own evil, and the God whose ark was among them had to teach them that holiness becomes His house for ever. The ark in Jordan had manifested God's power to deal with the dark waters of death, and at Jericho had demonstrated that He had power to overcome all the strength of His enemies; now, in the land, He has to teach His people that the power used to vanquish death and defeat the foe will be brought forward to maintain the holiness of His Name, even if it means the chastisement of His chosen people.
The next time the ark is brought to our notice is when Samuel was a boy, "ministering unto the Lord before Eli" (1 Sam. 3:1). Alas! instead of the lamp of God burning "from the evening unto the morning before the Lord continually" (Lev. 24:3), it was evidently allowed to go out during the hours of darkness, showing the neglect of God's word among His priests. Eli's sons were evil men, who knew not Jehovah, and who caused Israel to transgress. God was about to judge Eli's house for their sins, and Samuel was laid down to sleep "in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was." How good it was that the child's resting place was near to the ark, whereon was the mercy seat, from which God spoke to Moses (Num. 7:89). Now the same Jehovah spoke to the child who was so near to Him, but the divine communications concerned the judgment about to be executed.
Eli's sons had not learned the lesson of Gibeah, that God will have holiness from those who profess His Name, and especially from those who are nearest to Him. The presence of the ark of God at Shiloh was an immense privilege for God's people, but every privilege carries with it a commensurate responsibility, whether for Israel of old or for those who profess the Name of the Lord now. Those who have the privileges of nearness to the Lord, and of His presence with them, have the responsibility to live constantly in the light of this, and to walk in consistency with the truth made known to them. The speedy judgment on Ananias and Sapphira, and the discipline on the saints at Corinth (1 Cor. 11:30), testify that judgment begins at the house of God. If God punishes the nations for their sins, He will not tolerate evil in His people who have tasted of His goodness.
How very patient God is. In spite of the long years of Israel's neglect, He is still with His people, as signified in the ark of His covenant, and though He deals with them in government because of their sin, He is ever near to hear their cries when they turn to Him. It is still the same. In spite of all the failure in the church, in spite of its ruin and decay, it is still a habitation of God by the Spirit. God in His faithfulness and grace remains with His people, and will be with them till the Lord comes to rapture His own to heaven.
When Israel went out to fight with the Philistines, it was not at the command of Jehovah, nor do they seem to have thought of consulting their God about it, so that it was no wonder that they suffered defeat at the hands of the enemy, and that four thousand men were slain (1 Sam. 4:2). Israel never seemed to learn that they had no strength of their own, and that they could only meet their enemies through divinely given wisdom and strength. Even now, after their humiliating defeat, they did not humble themselves before Jehovah. They did not, as did their fathers, seek in defeat the presence of the Lord with weeping, sitting in His presence, fasting, sacrificing and enquiring of Him (Judges 20:26). True, they thought of the ark, and attributed their defeat to Jehovah, but their thoughts were far from God's thoughts.
The idea of fetching the ark from Shiloh came from the elders of Israel, men who should have been better acquainted with what was becoming to the ark of God. What right had they to dictate the movements of the ark? Hitherto the ark had only moved at the bidding of Jehovah, either by the moving of the cloud or at His express command. Here were men taking upon themselves the prerogative of the God of Israel. If the priests, the sons of Eli, were marked by iniquity and ignorance of the God of Israel, the elders of Israel were also governed by ignorance of God and His ways. They evidently thought of the ark of the covenant of the Lord as an amulet that would secure for them victory over their enemies. They no doubt recalled what the ark had done at Jordan, and at Jericho, but they had not understood that its movements had been directed by the word of Jehovah of hosts.
In recalling what was done, the writer says, "So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims" (1 Sam. 4:4). What profanity for the people to take away the ark that belonged to Jehovah, who dwelt between the cherubims. What was the ark without Jehovah's presence! It might be a charm in the thoughts of the people, but it was an empty charm, as they soon discovered.
On the approach of the ark to Ebenezer "all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again." This was not a shout that had been commanded by the Lord as when the hosts of Jehovah had gone round Jericho, but one that came from themselves as imagining the success of their own schemes; it was not the shout of obedience or confidence in Jehovah, but of confidence in their own plans. The Philistines also were greatly affected by the presence of the ark in the camp of Israel, saying, "God is come into the camp … Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore. Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness" (1 Sam. 4:5-8).
The Philistines had good cause to be afraid of the God of Israel, who had plagued the Egyptians so long before, but they were still determined to "Be strong," so as not to become the servants of Israel. Little did they know the mind of God, for He would use them for the chastisement of His people, then deal with them, just as later He would use the Assyrian as the rod of His anger against a rebellious people, then punish the Assyrians who thought it was by their own power that they had been the scourge of Israel.
It is very sad when God's people put their trust in the symbols of God's presence rather than in God Himself. So it was here; and so it was later, just before Judah were taken captive, by the king of Babylon. Here, the people thought because the ark was in the camp they were perfectly safe; later they thought because they had the temple in Jerusalem that the enemy could not overthrow them. They trusted in the temple, not in God, else their ways would have been consistent with faith in Him. The prophet gave them the message of Jehovah, "Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord (are) these (buildings)" (Jeremiah 7:3-4). The presence of the ark did not save Israel any more than the presence of the temple, and this because their ways were not pleasing to the God they professed to serve.
Is it not the same today? There is a great religious profession, the great majority trusting to the symbols and ceremonies of Christianity rather than in Christ the Son of God. Many trust in their baptism, in their partaking of the Lord's supper, in their church going, and all the while neglecting the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, not having living faith in Him. The solemn case of such was foretold by the Lord Himself, while upon earth, when He said, "When once the Master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying Lord, Lord, open unto us; and He shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence … But He shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity" (Luke 13:25-27). The Lord will have reality in those who profess His Name, and will deal with all whose trust is not in Himself.
God's judgment fell on the two sons of Eli because of their sins, for they were slain, and thirty thousand of Israel fell in the battle; and God allowed the ark of His strength to fall into the hands of His enemies, and His enemies to prevail over His people. These are divine mysteries, but hold secrets in which His people may learn His wisdom and His ways, and which produce from the hearts of those who seek to know His mind, "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out" (Rom. 11:33).
There will be no doubt in any spiritual mind that the captivity of the ark of God foreshadows the entry into death of the blessed Son of God. How wonderful is the divine wisdom that comes to light in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The disciples of Jesus were con-founded when they saw their Master taken captive by the leaders of Israel, then handed over to the Roman power to be crucified; but they learned, and were able to testify before the people, that although He had been "taken, and by wicked hands … crucified and slain," yet is was "by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God" (Acts 2:23). The purposes of God required that His Son should enter into death to break the power of death, to vanquish Satan, and to procure redemption; and God's Son willingly undertook to die that God might be glorified in that which at the first appeared to be defeat.
For Eli, the death of his sons and the defeat of Israel were a great calamity, but for the heart of the pious priest the greatest of all calamities was the captivity of the ark of God. When he heard of this, he fell, and his neck was broken. Old as he was, he had a great responsibility. He had not restrained his sons, even if he had rebuked and pleaded with them; and he had allowed them to take away the ark of God without a divine command or even consulting Jehovah. If this was Eli's weakness, neglect and judgment, what shall we say of the high priest, the chief priests, and the leaders of Israel, who not only allowed the true Ark to go into captivity, but wickedly plotted with Judas Iscariot to betray Him, then condemned and abused Him, and delivered Him up to Pilate to be slain? What an awful judgment awaits them!
Eli's daughter-in-law seems to have borne a very different character to her wicked husband, for she was greatly concerned about the ark of God. True, she heard with grief about the death of Eli, and of her husband, but what broke her heart was the taking of the ark of God, and this she made very clear in naming her son Ichabod, for she said, "The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken" (1 Sam. 4:21-22). She was like the women who stood by the cross of the Lord Jesus, and like Mary of Magdala who said, "They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him" (John 20:13).
When the Lord Jesus was crucified, the glory indeed departed from Israel. How few in the days of Eli really thought of God's glory as connected with His ark; and how few could say with the apostle John of the Lord Jesus, "We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father" (John 1:14). From Israel as a nation the divine glory has departed, and will not return until Messiah returns, and they are established in the land on the ground of the New Covenant in His blood.
It was not long before the enemies of God's people found themselves in trouble with the ark, for on the early morning of the day after which they had taken it into the house of their god Dagon, he was found on his face before the ark of the Lord. Christ's going into death brought low the god of this world, the fore-shadowing of what is soon going to take place, when "At the Name of Jesus every knee" shall "bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth" (Phil. 2:10). The demons refused to own the lordship of Jesus when He was upon earth, but in the coming day they, with every other creature, will be brought to His feet to own Him Lord; and this is because Jesus "humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."
The Philistines had at the first been afraid when the ark came into the camp of Israel, but in capturing the ark they no doubt thought their fears groundless. Instead of learning the lesson of Dagon on his face on the earth before the ark, they put Dagon back in his place again, only to find him, not only fallen down again, but broken, his head and hands cut off, his fish stump being left. Are we not taught another lesson from this, even that the death of Christ not only brought down the power of the god of this world, but also broke his power, or, as the Scripture says, "that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Heb. 2:14).
What took place in the house of Dagon is but a faint foreshadowing of what took place when Christ went into death. Satan thought he had achieved a mighty victory over God and His Christ when he used the leaders of Israel to crucify and slay their Messiah, but, in the wisdom of God, it was to his own undoing. Jesus was indeed "crucified in weakness," but in Him there was power to deal the enemy a mortal blow, and on coming out of death "He led captivity captive, and … ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things" (Eph. 4:8-10). It was then that "having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them" (Col. 2:15). Men did not see this mighty triumph, but it was public to the unseen world, just as it was seen by the priests of Dagon that their god had been humbled and broken. The effects of the presence of the ark in Dagon's house were lasting, for "neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day" (1 Sam. 5:5). Like the triumph of the Philistines, the triumph of Satan was short-lived, and the effects of Christ's triumph are lasting, and for the rich and abiding blessing of His own.
Not only was their god punished, but the inhabitants of Ashdod shared God's displeasure, for "the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and He destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof" (1 Sam. 5:6). And does not the world share the judgment of its god, even as we read in John 16, that the Holy Spirit reproves the world "of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged" (John 16:11). It was a solemn matter for the inhabitants of Ashdod to lay their hands upon the ark of God, and how much more solemn for the world to lay their hands upon the Lord Jesus, and put Him to death.
How very foolish the wisdom of this world was made by the death of Christ, and this is shown in the dilemma of the lords of the Philistines. Called upon by the inhabitants of Ashdod, they are asked, "What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?" They reply, "Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath." At Gath the hand of God was manifested in judgment as it had been at Ashdod, for "the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction." Without calling for the lords of the Philistines, the inhabitants of Gath sent away the ark to Ekron, and as "it came to Ekron … the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people."
"Destruction and death" were indeed saying in the cities of the Philistines concerning the ark of God, "We have heard the fame thereof with our ears" (Job 28:22). Plagues and destruction came with the presence of God's ark, a contrast to the words, "O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction" (Hosea 13:14). The men of Ekron called for the lords of the Philistines, not to ask for counsel, but to give it, for they said to them, "Send away the ark of the God of Israel: for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there. And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven."
The inhabitants of the cities of the Philistines, like the men of Israel, had to learn that they could not handle with impunity the ark of the God of Israel. It is a very solemn matter to have to do with the Christ of God, and all will have to do with Him sooner or later. Even king David had to learn this lesson, along with others who had not learned from God's word His thoughts concerning His ark. Whether it be in ignorance, or wilfully, those who disregard God's thoughts of Christ will come in for the solemn judgments as shown in what happened to the men of Ashdod, Gath and Ekron.
Death could not hold the Lord Jesus any more than could the Philistines the ark of Jehovah; they were compelled to send it away, remembering what happened to Pharaoh, who hardened his heart when plagued by the God of Israel. On the advice of the priests and diviners they offered a trespass offering, five golden mice and five golden emerods, according to the number of the five lords of the Philistines, for God's hand had been, and still was, upon their lords as upon the people. The mice had destroyed their land, and the emerods had smitten their persons.
The object of the trespass offering was to "give glory unto the God of Israel," and to desire the lightening of His hand from off them, their gods and their lands. God's glory had been vindicated by the presence of the ark in the midst of His enemies, who were compelled to give Him glory. How great is the glory that has been brought to God through the death of His Son! All His and our foes have been defeated; death has been vanquished; redemption has been secured; and the basis laid in death for the accomplishment of all God's will.
On a new cart, and with two milch kine, whose calves had been taken home, the ark was sent on its way to Bethshemesh. This was to prove whether the judgments had come from God, or whether "it was a chance" that had befallen them. Nature would have caused the cows to return for their calves, but guided by the God of Israel they took their way straight before them "lowing as they went." The five lords of the Philistines followed after, right to the border of Bethshemesh, and having seen all that took place, returned to Ekron, no doubt convinced that the God of Israel had indeed been dealing with them, and glad to have His ark no longer in their midst.
This was not the way that God had commanded His ark to be carried, but the Philistines could not be expected to know the will of the Lord, so that He accepted their offering and overlooked their ignorance. What was done in the field of Joshua the Bethshemite, the cleaving of the wood of the cart, and the offering of the kine, for a burnt offering, and the Levites taking down the ark, and the offering of other burnt offerings and sacrifices, must have been well-pleasing unto the Lord.
It was the Levites' privilege, that of the sons of Kohath, to carry the ark on their shoulders, and this, very properly followed the destruction of the new cart of the Philistines. The testimony of God is to be carried on the shoulders of His saints, borne in the lives of those in nearness to Him. Alas! many in this day have their own way of carrying God's testimony. Instead of following carefully the divine instructions of the Holy Scriptures, they have their own ideas, thinking that the end justifies the means. This is but ignorance of God and His word, and imitating the men of this world instead of doing what God has commanded.
When the ark of God was sent back to Israel, the lords of the Philistines watched to see what would happen, and they saw the men of Bethshemesh break up their new cart, and use it to sacrifice the kine that had brought the ark. This offering, and their sacrifices to Jehovah, must have been well pleasing to Him. Nor does it seem that any but the Levites were allowed to handle the ark, for "the Levites took down the ark of the Lord" (1 Sam. 6:15), and set it on "the great stone of Abel" in the field of Joshua, the Bethshemite, which remained as a memorial to the happenings of that great day.
Alas! the men of Bethshemesh did not maintain the regard of that first day for the ark of Jehovah, for God "smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord … and the people lamented, because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter" (1 Sam. 6:19). God had given very careful instructions regarding the ark of the covenant. It was normally hidden within the veil, in the holiest, and, when Israel commenced a journey, Aaron and his sons were to "take down the covering veil, and cover the ark of testimony with it" (Num. 4:5). Not even the sons of Kohath could "touch any holy thing, lest they die" (Num. 4:15); they carried the ark and the holy vessels, but only Aaron and his sons were allowed to touch them.
To pry into the ark was a wilful sin against the commandment of the Lord, and the men of Bethshemesh paid the penalty in divine judgment. Even the Philistines treated the ark with respect, for they put their trespass offering "in a coffer by the side" of the ark. If the men of Bethshemesh were ignorant of God's commandment, it was wilful ignorance, and contrary to the respect at first shown, when only the Levites touched the holy ark.
Is there not a very solemn lesson for God's people now to learn from the judgment on the men of Bethshemesh? The ark of shittim wood, covered with pure gold, and having a crown of gold round about, is a type of the Person of Jesus, the One in whom was combined the perfection of Manhood and the fulness of Godhead; and in this is a holy mystery beyond the ken of the creature. On earth, the Lord Jesus said, "no man knoweth the Son, but the Father" (Matt. 11:27); and every Christian should be content to accept what the Lord has said regarding Himself. Attempts to pry into the holy mystery of the Person of the Son can only do damage to souls, and bring upon them the governmental judgment of God.
Instead of judging themselves for their profanity, and crying to God for His mercy, the men of Bethshemesh said, "Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? and to whom shall He go up from us?" (1 Sam. 6:20). It was a very great privilege to be entrusted with the care of God's ark, but they had abused the privilege, and they no longer desired to have God with them. Their moral condition was so low that they could not abide the presence of the holy Lord God, and sought means to get rid of Him.
Was it not the same when the Lord was on earth? When the Lord in richest grace had delivered poor Legion from the power of the devil, "the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought Him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear" (Luke 8:37). Like the men of Bethshemesh, they were afraid of the presence of "this holy Lord God." In Jesus divine power had been manifested, not in judgment, but in grace, yet the result was the same, men were afraid. The Gadarenes preferred their swine to the presence of the Son of God.
What marked the Gadarenes was also true of the leaders of Israel, and, indeed, of the nation of Israel. God's Son was refused by the cities of Galilee, where most of His mighty works were done; and in Jerusalem, where His power and grace had also been evinced in works from His Father, they cried, "Away with Him!" Nor is Christendom any better, for, as seen in the church of the Laodiceans, that which professes the Name of Christ has put Him outside its door. How very few of the leaders of the professing church have real regard for the Person of the Son of God. Many deny His deity and His atoning work, and other foundation truths which affect Christ's Person.
The inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim answered the appeal of the men of Bethshemesh, and without hesitation, it would seem, "came, and fetched up the ark of the Lord, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the Lord" (1 Sam. 7:1). God's holy ark was no longer exposed on the rock of Abel, where inquisitive men could pry into it; the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim brought it into a house, providing it with the most suitable accommodation they had, and they saw that there was someone to watch over it.
There was no rejoicing in Kirjath-jearim as there had been in Bethshemesh when first the ark came, but there was respect for the God of Israel in the care shown for His ark. The joy of Bethshemesh was little different from the shouting of Israel when the ark came into the camp with Hophni and Phineas: there was not the spiritual state that cared with divinely given intelligence for the things of God. The attitude of the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim was certainly more in keeping with the prevailing conditions, for they had learned from the laxity of Bethshemesh that godly care was necessary for the holy ark if they were not to come under God's displeasure.
The divine commentary on this part of Israel's history, as found in Psalm 78, is very instructive. There was not only the grievous failure of the house of Eli, but Israel had "provoked" God "to anger with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their graven images" (Ps. 78:58). There can be no doubt of Israel's failure in removing the ark from the tabernacle without the consent of Jehovah, but there was also God's governmental dealings with His people in allowing them to do this, for, indeed, "God … was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel: so that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which He placed among men; and delivered His strength into captivity, and His glory into the enemy's hand" (verses 58-61).
God never allowed the ark to return to Shiloh; it was His judgment on the nation, and on the house of Eli. Has it not been the same with the church of God? When the church fell into ruin and decay, on account of its departure from its first love, God did not and has not allowed it to return to the unity and power that marked it at the beginning. In allowing the ark to fall into the enemy's hands, God has secured His glory in the judgment of His people, and also of their enemies; even as in the death of Christ there was judgment for Israel that rejected Him (see Luke 21:1-24), and the complete overthrow of the power of Satan.
Even when the ark was first brought back to the land of Israel, God allowed it to rest on the rock of Abel, then to lie in the house of Abinadab in the hill for a very long time. And what shall we say of the testimony of God in relation to the professing church? Did God not allow His testimony to go into captivity throughout the dark ages, and ever since then has it not been marked by weakness, breakdown and failure? It is true that there have been those right down the ages who have been faithful to God, and God is not unrighteous to forget all that has been done for Him, but there has never been any return to the bright witness seen in the church before it left its first love, nor does Scripture lead us to expect that there shall he anything but weakness and declension until the Lord shall come to take us away from the scene of the church's failure to be for ever with Himself.
If God forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, He had something better in store for His ark, as we see in connection with David, and that before the ark found its resting place in the temple in the days of Solomon. So it has been with God's testimony. Amidst the general failure, there have been seasons of recovery with the people of God, when, in spite of all the declension, there have been those who have valued the truth of God, and have sought to walk in the light of it.
Such a revival marked the stay of the ark in Kirjath-jearim, for in connection with the stay of the ark there it is written, "And all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord" (1 Sam. 7:2). But lamentation is not enough, there must needs be the fruits meet for repentance, and therefore "Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve Him only: and He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines" (1 Sam. 7:3).
This little revival was marked by the putting away of the strange gods that had brought upon them the discipline of God, by the prayer of Samuel for them, by their gathering together at Mizpeh, by fasting and confession of their sin, and the pouring out of water upon the ground as confessing their weakness before God.
At once the enemy, on hearing of the gathering together of God's people, bestir themselves, and the leaders of the Philistines come up against Israel. A true state of soul before God is not attractive to an enemy that desires to hold them in bondage, so the foes of Israel come against them to assert their power and authority. It was no wonder that the children of Israel were afraid; but they did not rely on themselves, or cry for the ark to be brought, instead, "the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that He will save us out of the hand of the Philistines" (1 Sam. 7:7-8).
How delightful must this have been to Jehovah to find His people relying on Him for their deliverance. They realised that God alone could help them, and Samuel interpreted their thoughts when he "took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord: and Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel; and the Lord heard him" (1 Sam. 7:9).
This resulted in a great triumph for Israel, for "the Lord thundered with a great thunder … and they were smitten before Israel," and "the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the coast of Israel" (1 Sam. 7:10-13). The stone of Ebenezer was set up as a memorial of this great day, for Israel could truly say, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." In this mighty triumph all God's goodness to His people, long forgotten, was recalled and the stone set up that it might not again be forgotten. It was in contrast to the stone of Abel that recalled the judgment of God on the men of Bethshemesh for looking into His holy ark.
Amidst all the ruin of the church it is still open to the saints of God to come before Him in true contrition, refusing all that is contrary to the holy Name of the Lord, depending only on Him, and confessing that we owe every blessing to the work of His own Son who gave Himself for us. We have no strength of our own, but we can confide in Him who has ever been the resource of His people. Israel did not assemble at Shiloh that day, for God had forsaken the tabernacle there; but Ebenezer and Mizpeh brought to them, in spite of all the failure, the fresh realisation of the goodness and kindness of a Saviour God.
For a long time the ark of God remained in the house of Abinadab in Kirjath-jearim, and only once is there mention made of it during the forty years of the reign of king Saul, and that near the beginning. Already, Saul had "done foolishly," not having kept the commandment of the Lord (1 Sam. 13:13), and had forfeited the kingdom. He had not waited for Samuel, the prophet of the Lord, but had sought the Lord's help in his own way. This time, he approaches to God through the ark, but he has not patience to wait for the answer of the Lord.
Jonathan and his armour-bearer had gone down to the garrison of the Philistines, and God had given them into his hand. Then a very great trembling laid hold of the host of the Philistines, which was observed by the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah, for as they looked, "the multitude melted away, and they went on beating down one another" (1 Sam. 14:16). Saul evidently realised that someone from Israel was the instrument of this strange happening, and on numbering the people found that Jonathan and his armour-bearer were missing. It was then that he said "unto Ahiah, Bring hither the ark of God."
Saul's attitude was very much like that of the elders of Israel who, as recorded in 1 Sam. 4:3, said "Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us today before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies." Like Saul, they were evidently insensible that their moral state had put them at a distance from God.
God allowed the ark to be brought before the king, but He did not hasten to answer, "And it came to pass, while Saul talked unto the priest, that the noise that was in the host of the Philistines went on and increased: and Saul said unto the priest, Withdraw thine hand" (1 Sam. 14:19). Saul was more affected by the noise among the host of the Philistines than with seeking to learn from God His mind about what was transpiring.
We cannot tell whether Jehovah would have answered or not, or what His reply would have been had He replied to the intercession of the priest, but it is plain that the whole matter was marked by fleshly impatience, and by a lack of intelligence regarding the king's relations with God at that time. There is no seeking the mind of the Lord through Samuel, and no understanding that God was acting for His own glory in what was taking place in the host of the Philistines.
It is clear that Saul's thoughts were far from the thoughts of God when he made his rash vow, and when the people had to intervene to save Jonathan from perishing at his hands. God had been using Jonathan as His instrument in this great victory, yet Saul is so unaware of what God is doing that, in his ignorance, he would put to death the one whom God was using. Had Saul patiently waited before the ark he might, at least, have been spared from acting in ignorance and rashness.
God has made His presence available to all men, but it is presumptuous to approach God without being in right relations with Him. The sinner can approach God and God will listen to him if he comes in confession of his sins. God will abundantly pardon all who come to Him pleading the death of His Son, and believing that God has raised Him from the dead. God's presence is open to His saints at all times, but if the conscience is not right with God we cannot expect Him to listen to us till the conscience has been put right (1 John 3:19-22).
When the conscience is right we can approach God to seek His mind in communion, and to make known our requests (Phil. 4:6); we can come to the throne of grace for needed grace and mercy (Heb. 4:16); and we can be before God as worshippers, delighting in Him and in His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that He is pleased to have us in His presence to worship Him in spirit and in truth (Heb. 10:19-22; Eph. 2:18: John 4:23-24).
Man in self-will, disobedience and ignorance of God and His will, cannot hope to have the ear of God. He may be religious, and make great pretension of seeking to do what is right, yet be all the while filled with his own thoughts, and only seeking God for his own ends. When he thinks he can do without God, he will not seek His presence, nor is he troubled when there is no response from God to his approach. Only when the heart and conscience are right before God can man know God, and know His will.
David's desires in relation to the ark of God were very different from those of king Saul, for he genuinely sought to do what would give God pleasure. But a right desire is not enough; we should at all times seek what the will of the Lord is regarding our intentions and activities. It is the word of God that is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Heb. 4:12); and it is the word of God that can alone show us what we should do to please God.
When David desired to bring the ark to Jerusalem, he "consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader" (1 Chr. 13:1), but there is no mention of consulting the word of God or those who were instructed in His word. True, he "said unto all the congregation of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and that it be of the Lord our God … let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we enquired not at it in the days of Saul."
The leaders of Israel were consulted, and the people also, but David did not enquire of the Lord concerning a matter that was so near to His heart, and with which His honour and glory were bound up. When it was a matter of war, David had no hesitation about asking counsel of the Lord, for in 1 Chr. 14:10 it is written, "And David inquired of God, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? And wilt Thou deliver them into mine hand?" Nor was there any doubt about the reply, for "The Lord said unto him, Go up; for I will deliver them into thine hand."
To see Israel so united in a good thing was indeed blessed; the king, the leaders and the people all united in their resolve to bring up the ark to Jerusalem. There was but the one thing lacking, and that the thing of the greatest consequence, the mind of the Lord. Is it not so often with the saints of God today? They are often at one in some matter which concerns the interests of the Lord, but they think it sufficient that they are united, and the Lord is left out of their thoughts. Should it not be our first consideration in every matter, whether regarding our individual lives, our service to the Lord, or in that which pertains to His assembly, to seek His will as made known in His word?
Everything seemed outwardly in order on that great day: the king was there, and all Israel with him; and the ark of God was there, "And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets." There was but one thing missing, and that which God had ordained, His priests to carry the ark; and there was one thing that should not have been there, the new cart that had been substituted for what God had commanded.
All seemed to go well until the oxen that pulled the new cart stumbled, then Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark, "and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza, and He smote him, because he put his hand to the ark: and there he died before God" (1 Chr. 13:10). It might seem a very small matter to men that Uzza touched the ark, but it was in disobedience to the express command of God. The judgment of God had fallen upon the men of Bethshemesh for looking into the ark, and now God's judgment fell on Uzza for touching it.
God had given specific instructions regarding the ark in Numbers 4. Only the priestly family were allowed to touch the ark, Aaron and his sons to cover it before it set out on its journeys, and the sons of Kohath to carry it on poles upon their shoulders. There was no need for Uzza to touch the ark, the oxen may stumble, but God was able to look after His holy ark without the aid of men. Not even the Levites were allowed to touch the holy vessels: it was clearly written, "the sons of Kohath shall come to bear: but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die" (Num. 4:15).
David was displeased "because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzza," but David had been remiss in not observing the command of the Lord with respect to His holy ark. Had he looked into God's word, he would never have followed the ways of the Philistines. The Philistines had not the priests of Jehovah, or the sons of Kohath, and God could wink at their ignorance, but He could not so treat His people who ought to have known better.
And have we not the same thing today? Abroad in Christendom, where the Name of the Lord is professed. men have little regard as to how God's testimony should be borne. All kinds of new carts have been introduced for bearing about the testimony of God, especially in these last days. The new cart was made by men, and God had expressly stated that His testimony was to be carried on the shoulders of the Levites. Some of the Levites had wagons for carrying other parts of the tabernacle, but the ark was not to be carried on these wagons or carts.
Men have devised all kinds of things that God has not commanded for doing His work. Where there is ignorance of the will of God, God may bear with it, but those who have His word, in which His mind has been revealed, have no excuse for introducing their own means of doing His work. God has no need of what man has devised, He does not require the latest inventions of science to bring His Christ before men. He has appointed that Christ, His holy ark, shall be carried on the shoulders of His servants, a privilege that belongs to every saint of God.
If Uzza had realised the importance of being near the ark of God, and the greatness of the privilege, he ought to have been concerned to learn what God had said about those who were so privileged, and have shrunk from touching what was so holy in the sight of God. Only the high priests and his sons were allowed to touch God's ark. Unsanctified hands did so at the peril of their lives, as God had forewarned, and as Uzza proved.
And do we not see men today touch God's holy ark with unsanctified hands? Alas! in Christendom, there are those who dare to speak lightly about the Person of God's Son, as well as those who, like the men of Beth-shemesh, would pry into its holy secrets. For many who have touched the things of Christ without being in nearness to Him, it has meant spiritual death. God will only have those who are His priests, those who have been sanctified by the blood of sprinkling, and have received the gift of the Holy Spirit, touch the holy things that bring Christ before us. How very solemn that men in high religious places, with high pretension, should profess to be servants of God, and all the while be far from Him.
2 Samuel 6; 1 Chronicles 13.
When divine judgment fell upon Uzza for touching God's holy ark, an act of gross disobedience to the command that had been given at the beginning, David was indignant and afraid of God. Like Jonah, David was angry because God did not act as he thought becoming to the situation. Jonah was angry because God acted in mercy and spared Nineveh (Jonah 3:4, 9); David was angry because God punished Uzza for an act of disobedience for which David was partly responsible, for he should never have tolerated a new cart being used to transport the ark to Jerusalem. Neither Jonah nor David understood the ways of God. God could forgive the Philistines using a new cart, for they had not His word nor His priests; but He looked for obedience in His people who had His holy oracles.
It is not difficult to understand why David was afraid of God. He had not consulted God at all in this solemn matter, which showed that he was not in communion with God. Where there is true communion with God there will not be fear. Fear exists where God is not known, where the conscience is not pure before Him, and when God intervenes to make us aware that we have been acting without regard to His will and His glory. God's intervention in judgment had made David aware that He was displeased, and David's conscience had been reached. His reaction was that of a guilty conscience that had not yet sought to learn from God the reason for His displeasure.
David should have immediately sought the reason for God's judgment, hanging his head under His chastening hand. Reverential fear of God does not make us afraid of Him, but makes us act so as to please Him, and it was here that David was lacking. No doubt he thought that God should have been pleased at his bringing the ark to Jerusalem, but he had to learn in a painful way, what we should all know, that God's work should be done in God's way if we are to please Him. When God acts to safeguard the honour of His Name and to secure His glory, it becomes His saints to bow under His discipline, and to learn the lessons He desires to teach them.
During the long years that the ark had been in the house of Abinadab in the hill, there is no evidence of God acting to arouse the king or the people concerning their neglect of His ark. He waited in patience, suffering all the while the indifference of His people; but now that the king had acted, showing some regard for Him, God intervenes to teach His people afresh what is becoming to those who claim relationship with Him.
Because of his being afraid of God, David will not bring the ark to Jerusalem, but carries it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite; and while it remained there, God "blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that he had" (1 Chr. 13:14). It was this that renewed the exercise of David concerning the ark of God.
How very different was God's attitude towards Obed-edom and Uzza. Do we not see in this an illustration of "the goodness and the severity of God" of which Paul writes in Romans 11:22? We may be sure that the goodness of God towards the house of Obed-edom was because there was a godly care for His ark, even as His severity fell upon Uzza because of his disregard of the divine commandment. God's ark was not to be touched by an unsanctified hand, much less looked into by the unholy eyes of the men of Bethshemesh.
It was only for three months that the ark was in the house of Obed-edom, but God's blessing was so manifest that the tidings of it soon reached the ears of the king. Is there not something for us to learn from this? When Christ has His true place in the hearts and homes of His people will there not be the evidence of His blessing for all to see?
News of God's blessing reached David, even as it is written, "And it was told king David, saying, The Lord hath blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God" (2 Sam. 6:12); and this good news stirred up the king, for "David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with gladness."
What heart searching must have gone on between David's first journey with the ark and his second. There was also searching of the Scriptures, for "David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the Lord chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto Him for ever" (1 Chr. 15:2). The king was no longer afraid of God, and his indignation was gone, for he no doubt realised that it was his ignorance of God's word, and his failure to consult Him, that had caused God's intervention in judgment. Moreover, he had learned that the blessing of God is reserved for those who manifest a godly care for His interests.
God had not left it to David, or to any other, to say how the ark of His testimony was to be carried, for He had chosen the Levites for this service, and His choice must be respected and owned. Is it not the same today? God has a chosen company, His own saints, those who have been separated from among men to serve Him, and to them His testimony has been committed. Every saint of God has the privilege, and the duty, to carry about with him from day to day the testimony of God concerning His Christ.
Preachers have the privilege of announcing God's glad tidings, and it is a very precious privilege, but even the youngest in the family of God carries about with him the testimony concerning Him whose Name is called upon him. To the saints in Corinth the Apostle Paul wrote, "Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ," and this epistle is "known and read of all men" (2 Cor. 3:2-3). Paul does not say that they ought to be Christ's epistle, but that they are that epistle. We carry Christ about in all our ways. What kind of an impression are we giving of Christ?
Alas! there are those in Christendom who have arrogated to themselves this testimony, being a priestly caste, chosen of men, and many of them shall perish "in the gainsaying of Core" (Jude 11). God has not left it to men to choose His priests and Levites; He has chosen them, and to every one of them "is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ" (Eph. 4:7); and it is this divinely given grace that alone can enable God's chosen to carry about His testimony of Christ.
Having gathered the people, the children of Aaron and the Levites, David instructs the priests and Levites, saying, "Ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it" (1 Chr. 15:12). He had not learned this from his consultation with "the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader" (1 Chr. 13:1); he had learned it from the word of God.
Then David confesses his failure, saying, "For because ye did it not at the first, the Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought Him not after the due order" (1 Chr. 15:13). Here David acknowledges that God's hand was not only upon Uzza but upon them all. There was collective responsibility and guilt in this matter, and David no longer thinks of "Perez-uzza," but of the "breach upon us."
After the three months of soul searching, Scripture searching, and exercise before God, and with the confession of their failure, Israel can now gather to bring up the ark, "after the due order." So it is recorded, "And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the Lord" (1 Chr. 15:15).
The first attempt to bring up the ark was marked by judgment, indignation and fear, but on the second occasion there is great joy. The singers were there, and "with instruments of musick, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy." At the command of the king, the Levites appointed the three chief musicians, Heman, Asaph and Ethan, and the porters were also there, and the "doorkeepers for the ark." The elders of Israel were not left out, nor were "the captains over thousands," but this time they are not consulted, but called to join the joyful throng.
When the new cart was used to carry the ark, God intervened in judgment; now that the Levites are called to serve, "God helped the Levites that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord." And it was when the help of God came that "they offered seven bullocks and seven rams" (1 Chr. 15:26). This was a perfect offering for the occasion, the bullock that gave the highest expression of sacrifice to God, and the ram that speaks of consecration.
How delightful all this must have been to God, the sacrifice of praise, the offerings upon the altar, the priests, blowing with their trumpets before the ark, the elders, the people, the captains, the doorkeepers for the ark, the porters, all there with the king to celebrate and safeguard the ark of God that had been so long neglected. The Psalmist speaks of this neglect where he writes. "Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the wood" (Psalm 132:6). If this was when it was in the house of Abinadab, it would seem that after the first manifestation of godly care (1 Sam. 7:1), the ark of God was subject to gross neglect.
David was suitably attired for the occasion, for he was clothed "with a robe of fine linen," and he had also "upon him an ephod of linen" (1 Chr. 15:27). He was not a priest, but he was clothed in priestly raiment, his spiritual judgment discerning that his royal robes would not have graced such a holy gathering. God's ark was the centre of attraction and attention, not the king of Israel. David was not occupied with himself, but with the Lord, and he was found "leaping and dancing before the Lord" (2 Sam. 6:16).
There was, however, one discordant note that day, one whose heart could not enter into the joys of the holy occasion, for "Michal the daughter of Saul looking out at a window saw king David dancing and playing: and she despised him in her heart" (1 Chr. 15:29). Not content with despising the king in her heart, she also reproached him for his actions, but the king replied, "It was before the Lord, which chose me … therefore will I play before the Lord. And I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight …" (2 Sam. 6:20-22). The flesh cannot understand what becomes the presence of the Lord, but those who know the Lord apprehend how base they are in themselves when seen in the light of God's presence, a light that not only exposes what they are, but that reveals what He is in all His love and grace.
The ark having been brought into the place prepared for it, there are burnt offerings and peace offerings, that which is for the heart and pleasure of God, and also that which His people can feed upon in His presence in communion with Him. After the sacrifices are offered, the king "blessed the people in the Name of the Lord," and distributed to them that which would nourish them and make their hearts glad (2 Sam. 6:18-19). What memories the people must have carried home with them from the happenings of that glad day.
After David had brought the ark of God to Jerusalem, and set it in the midst of the tent he had pitched for it, the ark became the centre of the worship of Jehovah. It was in the presence of the ark that the king offered his burnt offerings and peace offerings, "and he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, and to record, and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel" (1 Chr. 16:1-4). Worship, praise and thanksgiving flowed freely to God when the ark had its proper place in the midst of His people.
There had been nothing like this all the days of Saul. Samuel the prophet had been with Israel, and the ark was in the house of Abinadab in the hill, but the worship of Jehovah had been neglected. Now that the ark was cared for, there was a portion for Jehovah from His people, and the people had their portion, for after the king had offered his sacrifices, and blessed the people in the Name of the Lord, "he dealt to every one of Israel, both man and woman, to every one a loaf of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine" (1 Chr. 16:3).
It is still true that there can be no true worship for God from His people unless the true Ark of God is in their midst. When on earth, the Lord Jesus said, "For where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20). Without the presence of the Lord there will be little of worship for God from His people. The individual can indeed be true to God, and worship flow from his heart and spirit, but there is something very special belonging to the assembly of the saints of God with Christ in the midst; and this is available for even two or three at all times.
When Christ is in the midst of His own there will indeed be a suited portion for God, that which answers to the burnt and peace offerings, and there will also be that which answers to the bread, the flesh and the wine for His people. God will see to it that if His people give Him His portion they will have something for themselves, that which will sustain and cheer them.
From the king there was a special note of praise, even the psalm that he composed, beginning with, "Give thanks unto the Lord," and ending with, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for ever and ever," and "all the people said, Amen, and praised the Lord" (1 Chr. 16:8 and 36). Are we not reminded by this verse of what is written in Psalm 22:22 and Hebrews 2:12, "In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto Thee"? Christ is not only the centre of His gathered people, but the leader of their praise to God the Father.
What took place on that memorable day when the ark was brought up to Jerusalem was but to be the commencement of David's care for Jehovah and His ark, for "he left before the ark of the covenant of the Lord Asaph and his brethren, to minister before the ark continually, as every day's work required" (1 Chr. 16:37). There was to be continual praise to God, with one of the chief musicians leading the praises, and this according "as every day's work required," for there would be special causes for thanksgiving and praise to God as day succeeded day.
Nor had the king forgotten that Jehovah had blessed the house of Obed-edom while the ark remained under his care, for with Asaph and his brethren there were "Obed-edom with their brethren … to be porters" (1 Chr. 16:38). Those three months during which the ark was in the house of Obed-edom had demonstrated that there was a man who knew how to care for the ark of God, and who in this had the approval of the Lord. It was therefore fitting that he should have a special place in caring for the ark when it was brought to the city of David.
Although the ark had been brought to the city of David, the king's heart continued to be exercised regarding it; so that it is written, "It came to pass, as David sat in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in an house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord remaineth under curtains" (1 Chr. 17:1). Nathan judged that David's thoughts were right thoughts, and said to him. "Do all that is in thine heart; for God is with thee." It was indeed good that instead of consulting the captains of thousands that the king had spoken to the prophet of the Lord: but Nathan had answered before obtaining the mind of the Lord.
It is indeed good to consult servants of the Lord in regard to His things, but the answer of the Lord's servants is not enough, for the Lord Himself must be consulted. In removing the ark to Jerusalem, David had failed to consult God's servants, who might have directed him to God's word. Now, he realises that he must have the Lord's mind on his actions, and God shows him that it is not enough to consult the prophet: it is necessary to have His word on the matter.
For us there is the complete word of God to direct us in all things; but David was asking about something for which there was not direct direction in the law of Moses, as there had been with regard to the manner of carrying the ark. Therefore God intervenes to give His word to the prophet. "It came to pass the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying, Go and tell David my servant, Thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in" (1 Chr. 17:3-4). It was good that David was exercised concerning the ark of Jehovah, for it showed that he was truly interested in the Lord, but more than exercise was required in this matter, and that the mind and word of God.
There is surely a salutary lesson for us in all this. It is right for us to be continually exercised about the things of God, but our exercises have to be directed according to the mind and will of God, and this can only he as we are governed by the word of God. David, at this time, was not near enough to the Lord to discover for himself His mind and will, but he had learned that in such matters it was best to seek God's mind through one who was near the Lord.
Very graciously the Lord goes into the matter with Nathan, recounting how He had "gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another" since the time He brought up Israel, and had never asked any of the judges, "Why have ye not built me an house of cedars?" In spite of all the waywardness of Israel, God had been with them, content to share their wanderings and to dwell in moving tabernacles.
Now God has a message for David. He had been with His servant, cutting off all his enemies and making his name great. Then He looks forward to the time of Israel's future blessing, saying, "I will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning" (1 Chr. 17:9). This time has not yet arrived; but it will surely come. Israel will yet be established in their own land, under the new covenant, blessed of God, and the centre of His government of the earth, according to the many promises to Abraham and through the prophets.
If the nation is to be singularly blessed of God, David has a special promise, "Moreover I will subdue all thine enemies. Furthermore I tell thee that the Lord will build thee an house." As we look over the history of the house of David, it is to see the sovereign goodness of God and His faithfulness to His promise. In spite of the unfaithfulness of many of the sons of David, God never turned aside from His promise to build His servant an house.
David was to go to be with his fathers, but God would raise up his son. Of him, God said, "He shall build me an house, and I will stablish his throne for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son" (verses 12, 13). This was indeed partially fulfilled in Solomon, but other Scriptures show that Christ was in view. It is in Christ that the throne is established for ever, and, as the builder of the temple, Solomon is the type of Him of whom the prophet writes, "Behold the Man whose name is The BRANCH; and He shall grow up out of His place, and He shall build the temple of the Lord. Even He shall build the temple of the Lord; and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a priest upon His throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both" (Zech. 6:12-13). Christ also is The Son of whom Solomon was a type (Heb. 1:5). What is spoken of in 1 Chronicles 17:14 could only be fulfilled in Christ.
David's exercise of soul and God's word to him through the prophet had a very excellent result, for "David the king came and sat before the Lord." In the presence of the Lord the king poured out his soul in thanksgiving. The king found deep pleasure in all that God had promised, and said, "Let it even be established, that Thy Name may be magnified for ever." He had learned that in God redeeming His people out of Egypt, and in driving out the nations before them, His Name was great and terrible (1 Chr. 17:21).
This very sweet paean of praise ends with the words, "Now therefore let it please Thee to bless the house of Thy servant, that it may be before Thee for ever: for Thou blessest, O Lord, and it shall be blessed for ever." David's heart rested firmly on the promise of God to bless, and in spite of all that he passed through, and the failure of his house, this same confidence in God remained with him to the end, for in the last words of David we hear the king saying, "Although my house be not so with God; yet He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although He make it not to grow" (2 Sam. 23:5).
The Ark of God concerning David, Uriah and Abiathar
The sacred character of the ark was enshrined in the heart of Uriah the Hittite, and this was manifest when he refused the comforts and consolations of this life in the time of war. He was a loyal soldier of king David, but his loyalty was not returned by the king who, to gratify the lusts of the flesh, dishonoured the wife of the gallant and noble Uriah, and sought to cover up his evil deed. How brightly the nobility of Uriah's character shines against the dark background of David's sin. It was "the time when kings go forth to battle" that "David tarried still at Jerusalem" (2 Sam. 11:1), and his tarrying led him into the grave dishonour of the Lord's Name that clouded his life and testimony.
What happened with Bathsheba was not normal to the life of God's king, but it demonstrated that even a man after God's own heart is not proof against the desires of the flesh when removed from communion with God. It would seem from what Uriah said that the ark was in the battle area with the hosts of Israel, but the king was not in the company of the ark. Had David been with the ark, sharing the dangers and privations of his soldiers, he would have been spared the awful temptation that met him, and the very solemn and sad blot on his history by his dishonouring the Lord.
When David said to Uriah, "Camest thou not from thy journey? why then didst thou not go down unto thine house?" the noble reply of Uriah was, "The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing" (2 Sam. 11:10-11). What a solemn rebuke to the king from his faithful servant, though not intended to be so, for he was ignorant of what had transpired.
Uriah's first thought is concerning the ark of God. How could he think of resting in his house when God's ark was under a tent in the field of battle? He thought of Israel, of Judah, of Joab, and of the troops, but his first thought was of the ark. This brave man was not an Israelite by birth, but a Hittite, one by nature an enemy of Israel; yet he had come to Israel, and was loyal to the king of Israel, and evidently valued the ark of Jehovah above all else in the land of his adoption.
At the time of Uriah's death, king David had been unwilling to accompany the ark into the field of battle; but when David had to flee from Jerusalem in Absalom's conspiracy, the ark went with him, borne by the Levites, and accompanied by the priests Zadok and Abiathar and their sons. But David was unwilling to let the ark share his rejection, counting on the Lord, if it was His will, to bring him back to Jerusalem again to see the ark there.
What the king was now suffering was the result of his sin. God had forgiven him in His mercy, but the sword was not to depart from his house in the government of God. Divine righteousness is manifest both in the forgiveness of David's sin, as also in His government, though we have to wait for the cross of Christ to under-stand the former.
Under the government of God, and no doubt too as knowing His mercy, the chastened spirit of David manifests itself in his attitude towards the ark. Whatever might happen to him, he would not have anything untoward happen to the ark of God, so he instructs Zadok and Abiathar to take it back to the city. He had been willing before to allow the ark to go into the battlefield while he remained in Jerusalem; now he will not allow the ark to be put in jeopardy because of the governmental hand of God upon him. This shows how completely the heart of David had been restored.
Although David had failed in the matter of Uriah through not being found with the ark of God, there can be no doubt that the ark had a very real place in his heart. God had not allowed him to build a house for the ark as he desired, but towards the close of his life he called for Solomon, and charged him to build a house for God, and said, "Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the Lord an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight" (1 Chr. 22:14). (There was also that which he gave of his "own proper good" because of his affection "to the house" of his God, as recorded in 1 Chr. 29:3-5).
Having charged Solomon, David said to his son, "Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the Lord God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the Name of the Lord" (1 Chr. 22:19).
Not content with charging Solomon regarding God's house as a resting place for the ark, "David assembled all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the captains of the companies that ministered to the king by course … with the mighty men, and with all the valiant men, unto Jerusalem," and said to them, "I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building" (1 Chr. 28:1-2). The king not only desired Solomon to know what was nearest to his heart, but he desired that all in his realm might understand what he really valued.
At the beginning of his reign, and at the end, what lay nearest to his heart was a place of rest for the ark of God. God's testimony was of supreme importance to the king, and he desired that it might also be to Solomon who was to succeed him on the throne, and to all who had a place of influence and authority in the kingdom.
Oh that we had the same concern as king David for the testimony of God, a testimony that presents Christ in the glory of His Person, in the perfection of His Manhood, and in the greatness of the work that He accomplished on the cross. In 1 Corinthians 2:1 we read of "the testimony of God" which Paul preached. It is God's testimony for He is its source, but in the previous chapter we read of "the testimony of Christ," (1 Cor. 2:6), for Christ is the subject of God's testimony.
Then in 1 Timothy we read that "there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus: Who gave Himself a ransom for all" (1 Tim. 2:5-6). This speaks of the Person and work of Jesus, and is "to be testified in due time," even in this day of grace. In 2 Timothy Paul exhorts Timothy, and us, "'Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord … now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel" (2 Tim. 1:8-10).
This is indeed a testimony of which we need not be ashamed. Paul had a special part in God's testimony as a preacher, an apostle and teacher; but each true believer has a part in the making known of Christ in this world. Like the Levites, we are to carry about God's testimony in our daily lives, making Christ known in all that we are, in all that we do and say before the men of this world.
Just before David died there was a plot to put Adonijah the brother of Solomon on the throne, and sad to say, Abiathar the priest had been ensnared in this conspiracy. When Solomon came to the throne, the conspirators were dealt with, and the sentence on Abiathar was pronounced by the king, when he said to him, "Get thee to Anathoth, unto thine own fields; for thou art worthy of death: but I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou barest the ark of the Lord God before David my father, and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted" (1 Kings 2:26).
Abiathar had borne the ark of God, and this saved him in the day when he was convicted before Solomon. It was very sad indeed that a priest of God should be entangled in a plot to set aside the will of God, for God had plainly stated to David that Solomon was to succeed him as king, and had Abiathar been living close to the king he would have known the mind of God. As one of the chief priests, if not the high priest, he should have known God's mind regarding the kingdom, for, near the ark of God, he was where the mind and will of God was to be learned.
Many, like Abiathar, have been faithful in the service of the Lord, but have been turned aside. Something is allowed into the life that hinders communion with God, so that we are deprived of the knowledge of what we should be in testimony for Him. No doubt Abiathar thought that in following Adonijah he would be assured of the priesthood, being flattered that Adonijah had conferred with him. Alas! instead of being confirmed in the priesthood, he was thrust out, and only saved from death because of previous faithfulness.
Zadok, who with Abiathar bore the ark before David, and like Abiathar was faithful to David in the insurrection of Absalom, remained with David and with Solomon, and was established in the priesthood. Abiathar should have known that, if it was wrong to follow Absalom, it was also wrong to follow his brother Adonijah. It is not enough for us to be faithful in one crisis: we ought to be faithful in every crisis, yea, at all times and in all things.
The downfall of Abiathar was very sad, especially when we think of how his father Ahimelech and so many of his kindred had been slain by Saul for helping David, and of how David had said to Abiathar, "I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father's house. Abide thou with me, fear not: for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life: but with me thou shalt be in safeguard" (1 Sam. 22:22-23).
So long as we are in the world there will be danger for us. A subtle foe without, and the flesh within, will seek to ensnare us in some course in which we shall compromise God's testimony. Yet there is a place of safety for every child of God, and that nearness to the Lord, so that we might know His will, and find with Him the grace that will enable us to do His will.
When the ark was brought from the house of Obed-edom to Jerusalem there were praises to Jehovah the God of Israel from those the king had chosen for this service, "whom David set over the service of song in the house of the Lord, after that the ark had rest," the three chief musicians, Heman the grandson of Samuel, Asaph and Ethan (1 Chr. 6:31-44). Besides, "Aaron and his sons offered upon the altar of the burnt offering, and on the altar of incense" (1 Chr. 6:49), so that the worship of Jehovah centred in the ark of God. This was the anticipation of what would be set up in the temple in the days of Solomon, and typical of the worship that now centres in Christ who, in heaven, rests from His journeyings in this world.
After Solomon had built the house of God, he "assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes … that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion" (1 Kings 8:1). It was a great occasion, with all the men of Israel assembled, "and all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark." How good it was to see this great congregation united in their homage to their God, with His ark as the centre of their thoughts and movements. Our homage to God can only be acceptable to Him as Christ is the object before the heart, directing all our movements for His pleasure.
The inner shrine of the temple was the oracle, and here was the prepared place for "the ark of the covenant of the Lord" (1 Kings 6:19). The walls of the oracle were of cedar, carved "with knops and open flowers," and all was covered with pure gold. It was a shrine of beauty, and a fit resting place for the ark of Jehovah. Besides, there were the two cherubim, made of olive wood, and covered with gold, their wings touching each wall, and their faces turned towards the house.
The cherubim on the mercy seat looked down upon the blood that had been sprinkled, witnessing the redemption that secured the glory of God's throne, but the cherubim in the temple looked outwards, witnessing the results in glory that had been procured through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, for everywhere was the gold that spoke of the glory of God.
It was into this holy shrine "the priests brought … the ark of the covenant of the Lord unto his place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims" (1 Kings 8:6). Do we not see in all this a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus entering into heaven after His journeyings through this world? He has left behind the scene where He was despised and neglected of men, and has gone into the Presence of His God and Father where all is glory. In holiness He once passed through a world where all was opposed to God and defiled by sin: now He has entered the holy place to rest from all His work.
This also looks forward to the coming day when Christ shall reign as King of kings and Lord of lords, when the cherubim of His glory shall overshadow the whole scene, where "a King shall reign in righteousness" and where no evil shall be permitted to raise its head.
There is even now the testimony to Christ in God's presence as having entered there after His journey through this world, for the staves that once bore the ark are now still and seen from without. Moreover, there "was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb" (1 Kings 8:9). In the coming kingdom when the Lord reigns as the true Solomon, Christ shall sit as priest upon His throne, but there will not be the exercise of His priesthood as now towards a people passing through a wilderness, which is seen in Aaron's rod that budded. The pot of Manna is not for an earthly people, but for the saints with Christ in the paradise of God.
It was when the ark had rested "that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord." Like Moses, when the tabernacle was reared, the priests are unable to remain where God's glory dwells, for man under law cannot bear the brightness of God's glory. It is very different now under grace, for we can gaze into the glory in the face of Jesus, and His presence shall be our dwelling place for evermore.
Solomon is seen at his greatest on the day that the ark of God was brought into its place. His prayer to Jehovah, after his address to the people, was answered by God, for "When Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices: and the glory of the Lord filled the house" (2 Chr. 7:1). What a sight for Israel that day, when their king stood "before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands" (2 Chr. 6:12), and then to see God's answer in the fire from heaven and the appearing of His glory.
This would surely remind those acquainted with God's word of the day when "Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people. And there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces" (Lev. 9:23-24).
Whatever the impression made upon the hearts of Israel that memorable day, the Spirit of God would surely direct our hearts to the time indicated, when the true Solomon will reign on earth, and the glory of the Lord will be seen in Him, the Son of God the King of Israel. The glory of the Lord will be in the midst of God's earthly people, abiding there, because the true Ark, after all His journeyings, entered into His rest. While Jesus was on earth, the divine glory was here (John 1:14), but the glory could not remain in a scene where death reigned. When the Lord returns to this earth, after His present session on high is over, death will no more reign, righteousness will reign, and the glory of the Lord will centre in Jerusalem and fill the whole earth (Num. 14:21).
At the close of his prayer, Solomon said, "Now therefore arise, O Lord God, into Thy resting place, Thou, and the ark of Thy strength: let Thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let Thy saints rejoice in goodness" (2 Chr. 6:41). These words are very similar to those of Psalm 132:8-9, 16, where there is the prayer to Jehovah to "remember David, and all his afflictions," and God's answer to the prayer of His servant.
The millennial day, foreshadowed in this scene, will indeed be a rest for God and His people, but also for the "Ark of His strength." It was the One in whom God's strength was manifested that made it possible for Jehovah to enter into His rest, the rest that remaineth for the people of God (Heb. 4:9). At the Jordan, where the waters fled, at Jericho, where the strong walls fell, among the Philistines, where Dagon fell and was broken, the ark was seen as having the strength of Jehovah.
Solomon had allied himself in marriage with Egypt, and because of this he felt that nearness to the God of Israel was not the place for his Egyptian wife, therefore "Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her: for he said: My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, whereunto the ark of the Lord hath come" (2 Chr. 8:11). Egypt will have its own peculiar place in the millennium in association with Israel, as is written in Isaiah 19:25, "In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance." Still, Egypt will not have the place of nearness to God's holy place that He has given to His people Israel.
The priesthood will belong to the sons of Zadok, "they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God" (Ezek. 44:15). However blessed Egypt's place in association with Israel, as a nation they are still in the distance from Jerusalem, and, like the other nations, are obliged to "go up (to Jerusalem) from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles" (Zechariah 14:16). Then there is the specific threat for Egypt, "And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles" (Zech. 14:18). Near to Israel geographically, and having once sheltered God's people in time of famine, in the days of Joseph, God remembers Egypt, and gives them special blessings; but the place of peculiar nearness to Himself and to His King belongs to Israel.
Unlike the bride of Solomon, the bride of Christ will not only share His kingdom glory, but will rest with Him in the Father's House, in the nearest place of intimacy and affection with Himself and with the Holy Father.
In the days of Josiah, the ark had left its resting place, and was evidently again carried on the shoulders of the Levites, for the king said to the Levites, "Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; it shall not be a burden upon your shoulders" (2 Chr. 35:3). How very sad it was that amidst all the vicissitudes of Israel's history, Jehovah's rest was broken: He could not rest in a scene where His people were marked by indifference to His claims and to His holiness. When Jesus was on earth He said to those who sought to slay Him for healing on the sabbath day, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" (John 5:17). God's rest, on the seventh day of His work, had been broken by the entry of sin into the world; and the rest offered by Solomon had also been broken by the entry of idolatry among His people.
Jeremiah faithfully warned God's people of the judgment that was about to fall on them because of their having forsaken the Lord their God, but he also foretold the blessings that would be theirs under the new covenant. Judah had fallen into gross idolatry, but maintained an outward semblance of respect for the Name of Jehovah. His Name was on their tongues, but their hearts were far from Him. In the coming day of glory they would no more in hypocrisy say, "The ark of the covenant of the Lord" (Jer. 3:16), thinking God's holy ark to be some kind of amulet for warding off their evils. Poor Israel thought they were safe from the judgment foretold by Jeremiah because they had the ark and "The temple of the Lord" (Jer. 7:4); but God required conduct in keeping with His holiness if they were to remain in the land.
On account of Israel's sins, the temple was destroyed, and the ark of the covenant is found no more on earth; but in Revelation 11:19 it is written, "And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament." Although Israel had grievously failed, their God remained faithful to His covenant; and, indeed, through the blood of the new covenant, would bless His earthly people in His sovereign goodness. Here, in Revelation 12, God is about to take up His ancient people again, and in the closing verse of chapter 11 this is introduced by the presentation of His temple and His ark. It is because of God's goodness, and the faithfulness of Christ, the true Ark. and His work upon the cross, that God can fulfil all His will for the blessing of His earthly people Israel.