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242 The T abermzcle (2) Only the high priest could see them-and that but once a year, on the Day of Atonement. . . ( 3) Before the Kohathites, one of the three families of the Levites, could carry the ark on the march, Aaron covered it with the beautiful veil, over which he placed another covering of badgers' skins, or seal skins; and above that, a "cloth wholly of blue" (Num. 4:4-6, 15, 20). Of course, it was carried by the gold-covered staves, as were other articles of furniture. (4) The ark, with its mercy seat, was the only article from the Jewish tabernacle to be placed in Solomon's tem- ple some 480 years after the tabernacle in the wilderness was :finished. Vessels of greater beauty and glory took the place of the other pieces of furniture; but the ark was put in the Holy of Holies of the beautiful temple built by Solo- mon, the king. For very significant reasons, which we shall consider a bit later, the golden pot of manna and Aaron's rod that budded were not in the ark when it was put in the temple; they had served their purpose during the wilderness wanderings. Neither were the staves left in the golden rings when the ark was put in Solomon's temple; the pilgrimage was over. But the two tables of stone, upon which the ten commandments were written "with the finger of God," were kept in the ark, beneath the mercy seat, beneath the sprinkled blood, in the Most Holy Place of Solomon's temple, as in the tabernacle in the wilderness. Tragic, historic incidents, brought about by sin, were connected with the ark during Israel's later history. These, too, we shall consider briefly in this lesson; for they illus- trate God's value of this sacred chest with its mercy seat of pure gold. It was not to be handled carelessly; it was not to be gazed upon by curious eyes; it was holy unto the
The Tabernacle Lord. It foreshadowed Christ, our God at "the throne of grace." In order to get the clearest picture of the ark and the mercy seat, together with their typic~l teaching, ':e need to consider each one separately and m some detail. Yet we must be careful not to think of them as two separate articles; they were one, with one perfect message-the golden-covered chest with its mercy seat of pure gold. The Ark-A Type of Christ-Both Human and Divine The two materials that went into the making of the ark of the covenant foreshadowed our Lord's two-fold nature-both human and divine. This we have seen re- peatedly in our study of the boards of the tabern_acle, in the table of shewbread, and in the golden altar of mcense. The incorruptible wood speaks to us of His sinless human- ity; the gold, of His eternal deity. Th'e wood was overlaid -with gold "within" and "without," while the acacia wood gave form to the ark. The human eye could see only the gold; no wood was visible. Thus our Lord's humanity gave Him the form in which He lived upon earth, is now, and ever shall be-the "Man Christ Jesus." He was the Cre- a tor; "by him all things were made"; but He, "being in the form of God, thought it not robbery (i.e., 'a thing to be grasped after') to be equal with God: but made him- self of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and be- came obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:6-8). For all eternity He will be the "Man Christ Jesus." And yet we observe how sacredly our Lord guards us from having a low view of this Most Holy One. The gold covers all. Just as the ark was overlaid; within and with-
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