And they shall make an ark of acacia-wood; two cubits and a half the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.
God has just told Moses to build Him a sanctuary, and the first thing He describes is not the tent but a wooden chest for its heart. Why start there, and what does a plain box of acacia wood teach?
The order of the instructions is itself a message:
The detailed instructions begin at verse 10. The first word is about the centre-piece of the whole system of types. Right at the start we see that God's thoughts are not ours. We would have begun with the tabernacle that was to house everything, working from the outside in to the centre. God begins with the centre, and works outward from that. The shadow plainly declares that the centre of all God's thoughts is — CHRIST.
God gave the plans for the ark before the plans for the building meant to hold it.
Who but God would think of the furniture before the house? Yet the reason is plain: the Ark was the type of Christ, and so everything had to be built out from it and in connection with it. It sets Him forth as the centre from which everything flows out, and the centre to which everything tends in God's system of worship. Around it all the people were to assemble. When it moved they were to follow; when it stopped they were to camp. In the end it led them through the Jordan into the promised land.
Older translations call acacia "shittim wood." The choice of timber carries meaning.
Christ is the substance of all these shadows, and in the ark we surely have Christ. The acacia wood is the wood of the desert — the only timber tree there. It speaks of Him as the "root out of dry ground" who grew up before God (Isaiah 53:2). It was precious and lasting, the type of victory over surrounding circumstances, of life conquering death. Such was Christ in His humanity. The gold that covered the wood shows His divine glory, yet the gold stayed distinct from the wood, just as His deity was distinct from His humanity.
One writer reads the two materials together as a picture of who Christ is.
The ark was made of acacia wood, overlaid with pure gold. Some say the acacia is a wood that never perishes. Either way, it is a type of what is human. And if it truly cannot rot, incorruptible, it was a most fitting emblem of the humanity of our Lord. The gold is always a symbol of what is divine. The structure of the ark, therefore, pictures the union of the two natures in the person of Christ. He was "very God, and very man."
Every dimension God gives ends in a half cubit. One writer finds meaning in that unfinished measure:
Its length was two and a half cubits. Two speaks of testimony, for God's throne always bears witness to what is true. The added half is interesting, however. It reminds us of the Queen of Sheba's words to Solomon, "the half was not told me" (1 Kings 10:7). So this shows that the glory of Christ is beyond human understanding. The height and width of the ark were each one and a half cubits. So in every dimension the glory of Christ exceeds our understanding. The one cubit, however, speaks of unity. In the authority of God there can be no inconsistency, but one perfect standard of judgment for all.
The ark travelled with Israel through every turn of their journey.
Christ, in the presence of God, is the One in whom God's testimony is preserved intact from first to last. As to the wanderings of Israel: when they left Egypt they turned east to Sinai. From Sinai they went north to Kadesh-Barnea. From there they went south to the shores of the Red Sea, then north again to the plains of Moab. Finally they went west into the land. But whether they turned east or north, south or west, the testimony of God was preserved intact in the ark. God never lowered His standard. His eye rested on the thing which, in the type, kept that standard at its full height.
- Centre first. God describes the ark before the tent that would house it. He works outward from His centre, not inward from the walls.
- Christ at the centre. The ark is a type of Christ. The whole sanctuary was built out from it, and the camp assembled around it and followed it.
- Desert wood. Acacia was the only timber tree of the desert. It pictures Him growing up before God like a root out of dry ground — precious, lasting, victorious over His circumstances.
- Wood and gold. Wood stands for what is human, gold for what is divine. Together they picture one Person: very God and very man.
- Measured, yet immeasurable. Every dimension carries a half cubit. Even the ark's size says the half has not been told: His glory runs past what we can take in. Yet the standard it carried never dropped, wherever Israel turned.
And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold inside and outside shalt thou overlay it; and shalt make upon it a border of gold round about.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And cast four rings of gold for it, and put [them] at the four corners thereof, that two rings may be upon the one side thereof and two rings upon the other side thereof.
The instructions for the ark begin with its box, its gold covering and its rim — and then God adds four cast rings at its corners. Rings hold poles, and poles are for travel, so this small detail says something big: God meant His throne among His people to move with them.
The ark stood in the innermost room of the tabernacle. Yet the first fittings God names for it are the ones that let it leave. One writer traces where those rings and poles took it.
The ark of the covenant was to accompany the people in all their wanderings. It never rested while they were a travelling or a fighting host. It moved from place to place in the wilderness. It went before them into the middle of the Jordan; it was their great rallying point in all the wars of Canaan... The ark was to be Israel's companion in travel, in the desert; and "the staves" and "the rings" were the apt expression of its travelling character.
The rings sit at the ark's four corners, two to a side, and the poles run through them. Another writer notes the word used for those corners — "feet" — and what it meant for the people watching the ark pass.
It remains to say a word about the poles. They were to be put into the rings on the two sides (or feet) of the ark, to carry it through the desert. Some have stressed the word "feet." It suggests that the ark, when carried on the shoulders of the priests, would be above their heads — a clear object for the people to see. It is clear that the poles in the rings remind us that our Lord always journeys with His people. If they are pilgrims, He will be a pilgrim too, and fulfil His own word, "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5).
The rings are cast gold. The poles that run through them are acacia wood overlaid with gold — the ark's own two materials.
The children of Israel were pilgrims in the wilderness. So the tabernacle and all its furniture were made for them in that character, and went with them in all their wanderings. Christ is always with His people. The rings and poles are made of gold and acacia wood, just like the table itself, and they point to Him as the God-man.
(Dennett is writing here about the table, which has the same rings and poles.)
Because the rings held poles, no one ever laid a hand on the ark itself. One writer draws out what that pattern means for God's people now.
The throne of God does not need the steadying of men's hand... The responsibility for bearing witness to God's sovereign authority (symbolised in the ark) does not belong on oxen and a cart. It belongs on the shoulders of the Levites, the sons of Kohath (Numbers 3:27-32). Today every believer, like the Kohathite Levites, is responsible to bear Christ on his shoulders. He is the One who sustains the throne of God's glory. They never touched the ark, but carried it with the poles.
Another writer gives the reason behind God's method: the worth of the One the ark speaks of.
The golden rings and the poles tell us that God would have His testimony carried about according to His own thoughts. It was to be carried in keeping with the glory and dignity of Him in whose Person the testimony of God was set forth.
The poles stayed in the rings, and writers see in that a message about where God's people still are.
The poles were not to be withdrawn until the ark found its final resting place in the temple in the land. So God would teach us that we are still in the wilderness.
The same writer looks ahead to the day the journey ends — and to what the poles will still say then.
The poles will be withdrawn only when our Lord's going along with His blood-bought people through the wilderness is over: "So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God" (Hebrews 4:9). Even then the "poles" will be visible, in memory of the past, and be the cause of fresh and eternal outbursts of praise.
- Movement — The rings are the first sign that God's throne could travel. The ark never rested while the people marched or fought.
- Material — The rings and poles use the ark's own two materials, gold and acacia wood. They point to Christ as God and man.
- Method — Poles through rings kept the ark on shoulders and out of human hands. God fixed how His testimony travels.
- Marker — On the shoulders of its bearers the ark rode above their heads, a rallying point in plain sight.
- Memory — The poles stayed in the rings until the temple: the wilderness is not over. Even in the final rest they will be seen, and will stir fresh praise.
And make staves of acacia-wood and overlay them with gold.
God told Moses to make poles of the same desert wood as the ark itself, and to cover them with the same gold. The order is short, but it settles two things: what the poles are made of, and how Israel must move the ark.
The poles are made of the same wood as the ark. Commentators read that wood as a picture of the Lord's human nature.
In the tabernacle, the ark of the covenant was made of acacia wood overlaid with pure gold: the wood points to the Humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ and the gold to His Deity — two natures in one glorious Person. The acacia wood is a beautiful picture of the imperishable, indestructible human nature of the Lord. It was not only that He did not sin, but He could not sin… Acacia wood does not rot; there was no way into the faultless life of purity. No decay could get hold of that wood. Insects could not attack it. In that sense it was a beautiful image of the spotless life of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The gold covers the wood without mixing into it. One writer links the wood, the gold and the poles in one picture of Christ.
The acacia wood is the wood of the desert — the only timber tree in it. It speaks of Him as the "root out of dry ground" (Isa. 53:2), the way He grew up before God: precious and lasting, a picture of victory over surrounding circumstances, of life conquering death. Such was Christ in His humanity. The gold that covered the wood shows His divine glory, yet the gold stayed distinct from the wood, as His deity was distinct from His humanity. The rings are of gold, and the poles were to stay in them always, for divine love makes Him always a pilgrim with His pilgrim people.
A chest with carrying poles is made for the road. The ark went wherever Israel went.
The ark of the covenant was to go with the people in all their wanderings. It never rested while they were on the march or at war. It moved from place to place in the wilderness. It went before them into the middle of the Jordan. It was their great rallying point in all the wars of Canaan. Wherever it went, it was the sure and certain pledge of power. The ark was the well-known expression of God's presence and power, and no power of the enemy could stand before it.
The poles were not a temporary fitting. The day they came out mattered.
They were commanded to make poles to carry the ark by. These were symbols of travelling. They show us how our Lord goes with His people in all their wanderings through the wilderness: "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Until they crossed the Jordan, they were commanded to leave the poles in their rings. But when they reach their goal in the promised land they take out the poles (1 Kings 8:8), for now they were to wander no more.
One writer draws the personal side of it out: if His people are travellers, He travels too.
It is clear that the poles in the rings remind us that our Lord always journeys with His people. If they are pilgrims, He will be a pilgrim too, and fulfil His own word, "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Heb. 13:5).
The poles also settled who would do the carrying.
The priests did not touch the ark, but carried it by the poles (vv. 12-15). So believers have the place of priests, to carry the Lord Jesus as a testimony before the world.
One writer adds where the ark sat while the priests carried it.
The poles were put into the rings on the two sides (or feet) of the ark, to carry it through the desert. Some have stressed the word "feet": it suggests that when the priests carried the ark on their shoulders, it stood above their heads, where all the people could see it.
David learned the hard way that God had named a method, not only a material.
If you want to know where to find the right order, read Exodus 25:13-15. The Ark was only to be carried in that way. God had written it plainly enough. But until then David had read his Bible carelessly. You may say to me, "I do not see things as you do." Quite possibly. But go and read your Bible, and you will see what the Lord says the order of His Assembly should be. That is the vital point. It is of the greatest importance to have the mind of God, and not to take our own way in anything to do with the carrying of the Ark — for us, the testimony of Christ.
- Wood — the acacia of the desert resists decay. It pictures a real human nature with no opening for corruption.
- Gold — laid over the wood, covering it yet remaining distinct, as His deity is distinct from His humanity.
- Poles — the ark travelled. It went before Israel through the desert, into the Jordan, and into every battle.
- Kept in — the poles stayed in the rings the whole journey. They came out only at the temple. He stays with pilgrims while they are pilgrims.
- Carried rightly — God named the method as well as the material. David's mistake shows we do not get to redesign the way we carry the testimony.
And put the staves into the rings upon the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them.
God's instructions about the ark do not stop at its gold. He adds two poles and tells Moses where they belong. So why did the chest that held God's testimony need to be carried from place to place?
The poles and rings gave the ark its character. This was furniture built to travel.
The ark of the covenant was to accompany the people in all their wanderings. It never rested while they were a travelling or a fighting host. It moved from place to place in the wilderness. It went before them into the middle of the Jordan. It was their great rallying point in all the wars of Canaan. Wherever it went, it was the sure and certain pledge of power. No power of the enemy could stand before it, for it was the well-known expression of the divine presence and power. The ark was to be Israel's companion in travel in the desert. "The poles" and "the rings" were the fitting expression of its travelling character.
The poles kept human hands off the ark itself. They also gave the priests a job that has a counterpart today.
Because the ark was to be carried by means of poles, there were two rings of gold attached to the ark on each side. The poles were made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. These slid through the rings so the ark could be carried. The priests did not touch the ark, but carried it by the poles (vv. 12-15). So believers have the place of priests in order to carry the Lord Jesus as a testimony before the world.
God did not only tell Moses to move the ark. He said how, and the "how" matched the worth of the One it pictured.
The border of gold around the ark no doubt signified the personal glory of Christ. The golden rings and the poles told that God would have His testimony carried about according to His own thoughts. The carrying was to match the glory and dignity of Him who displayed the testimony of God in His own Person.
The same care applies to how God's testimony is carried today.
The testimony of God is to be carried on the shoulders of His saints, borne in the lives of those who are near to Him. Sadly, many today have their own way of carrying God's testimony. They do not keep to God's instructions in the Holy Scriptures. They follow their own ideas, thinking that the end justifies the means.
The poles also said something about the people who followed the ark.
The rings and the poles (vv. 12-15) also have a voice. Their object was "to carry the ark by them" (v. 14). This shows that God's people were pilgrims in the wilderness, travelling on to the place God had prepared for them… So the poles in the rings speak of Christ with His pilgrim host, as being Himself with them in wilderness circumstances. This is Christ in this world, Christ in all His own perfection as man — Christ, in a word, in all that He was as the One who revealed God. In truth, He was the perfect presentation of God to man.
The poles had an expiry date, and it was not in the desert.
The poles were not to be withdrawn until the ark found its final resting place in the temple in the land. So God would teach us that we are still in the wilderness.
Only one event in Israel's history ended that arrangement.
The poles were to remain always in their place. This continued until the temple was built. Then the poles were drawn out (1 Kings 8:8), because the ark was now in its proper resting place.
Being portable meant the ark could lead as well as accompany.
The people were never to march without the ark. It was to go before them and mark out the way… On the three days' journey after they left Horeb, the ark went ahead to search out a resting place for them. So Christ, in the power of resurrection, always leads His beloved ones through the trackless waste. What need have we of "eyes" when such a One leads us on?
- Carried, therefore near. The rings and poles gave the ark its travelling character. It never rested while the people were still moving or fighting.
- Carried, not touched. The priests lifted it by the poles, a picture of believers bearing Christ as a testimony before the world.
- Carried God's way. God prescribed the method to match the dignity of the One the testimony displayed. He did not leave it to human ideas about what works.
- Carried ahead. The ark went first to find a resting place, so the Leader chose the road before the people walked it.
- Carried until rest. The poles stayed in until the temple, a standing reminder that the wilderness is not over yet.
The staves shall be in the rings of the ark they shall not come out from it.
Exodus 25 describes the ark, the gold-covered chest at the centre of Israel's worship. Verse 15 adds one rule about its two carrying poles: they never leave the rings, so the ark is always ready to move.
The rings and poles were part of the ark's design, not an afterthought.
The ark of the covenant was to accompany the people in all their wanderings. It never rested while they were a travelling or a fighting host. It moved from place to place in the wilderness. It went before them into the middle of the Jordan; it was their great rallying point in all the wars of Canaan... The ark was to be Israel's companion in travel in the desert, and "the staves" and "the rings" were the fitting expression of its travelling character.
If the poles stay in, the journey is not over. Commentators see a picture of Christ here.
It is clear that the staves in the rings remind us that our Lord always journeys with His people. If they are pilgrims, He will be a pilgrim too, and fulfil His own word, "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Heb. 13:5).
The poles also kept human hands off the ark. The bearers held the wood, not the gold.
Oxen and a cart were never to bear the responsibility for witnessing to God's sovereign authority (pictured in the ark). That responsibility rested on the shoulders of the Levites, the sons of Kohath. Today every believer, like those Kohathite Levites, is responsible to bear Christ on his shoulders as the One who sustains the throne of God's glory. They did not touch the ark; they carried it with staves. We must not leave this witness to any organisation that man devises, a new cart with its impersonal "oxen" to drive it.
So where is the right way to carry it written down? One writer sends the reader straight back to this passage.
If you want to know where to find the "due order," read Exodus 25:13-15. That was the only way to carry the Ark. God had written it plainly enough... go and read your Bible, and you will see what the Lord says the order of His Assembly should be. That is the vital point. It is of the greatest importance to have the mind of God, and not to take our own way in anything that touches the carrying of the Ark — for us, the testimony of Christ.
The same care runs through the ark's whole design.
The golden rings and the staves tell us that God would have His testimony carried according to His own thoughts. The way it is carried must match the glory and dignity of the One who displayed the testimony of God in His own Person.
The command was tied to a season. The poles stayed in while there was travelling to do.
This shows that God's people were pilgrims in the wilderness, journeying on to the place which God had prepared for them. But the time would come when they would possess the inheritance, and when the temple... would be built. In the desert the staves were never to be taken from the rings of the ark. Then they would be drawn out, because the pilgrimage was past. The ark, with the people, would have entered into its rest.
Mackintosh pictures the change:
The golden floor of the temple would replace the sand of the desert. The wanderings of the ark were to have an end. There was no enemy and no trouble, and so the staves were drawn out.
Commentators differ: were the poles taken right out, or only pulled back?
The temple record has caused much debate and searching. Did the staves come out of the ark entirely, or were they only withdrawn to one end? ... Look at the words "drew out." They show that the staves lay along the sides of the ark and stuck out at the front end, pointing towards the house. They were not taken right out but withdrawn to one end. This showed that the Levites would no longer carry the ark. God had commanded in Exodus 25:15, "They shall not be taken from it."
(Where these writers use the older word "staves," the ESV says "poles.")
- Ready — The poles stay in because the ark is a throne on the move, made to travel with a travelling people.
- Accompanied — While His people are pilgrims, Christ walks the road as a pilgrim too, and never leaves them.
- Carried — Levites carried the ark by its poles on their shoulders. They never touched it and never loaded it onto a cart.
- Ordered — God wrote down how to carry His testimony, so His pattern, not our preference, decides the way.
- Rested — The poles came out only when the ark reached its place in the temple. Until then, the journey continues.
And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony that I shall give thee.
The Lord has just described a gold-covered chest of acacia wood, and now He says what belongs inside it. The ark is not a chest for treasure. It is a chest for God's own words.
The word points to a specific object, and it gave both the ark and the tent their names.
The testimony was given to Moses at Sinai. It was the moral law, kept in the ark and in the tabernacle. So they were later called the ark of the testimony and the tabernacle of testimony. The ark, with the mercy-seat of gold above and the golden cherubim, formed the throne of Jehovah on the earth. The law within the ark — "the testimony," was the moral foundation of that throne... Here was the foundation of right relations with God. But because man was a sinner, the law had to condemn him — and rightly so.
Moses had already smashed the first tables in front of the people.
So now we see God's provision. He called Moses to bring an Ark of acacia wood, so that no one would carry the bare law into the camp. The two Tables, the Tables of the Testimony, were put inside the Ark. This showed beforehand that One would come who would keep the law perfectly and hide it in His heart. Then God would have One on whom He could call to bring blessing to those who broke the law and repented.
The law came twice, and the difference between the two times is part of the message.
Once it was shown that they could not keep the Law, the Law is shut up in Christ — and afterwards written on their hearts. This gives a very remarkable contrast in the place of the Law after failure, or man being a sinner. Before, Moses carries the tables down to Israel and breaks them in front of their eyes. Now, in giving the Law, God provides that it should be shut up in the ark of the covenant. That is in fact where it is in Christ, though afterwards it may be written in the heart when He owns the people.
The materials say one thing; what goes inside says another, and they agree.
It was made of acacia wood, overlaid with pure gold... it is a type of what is human. Acacia is a wood that, as some say, would not rot. If so, it was a most fitting picture of the humanity of our Lord. The gold is always a symbol of what is divine. The structure of the ark, therefore, pictures the union of the two natures in the person of Christ... The contents of the ark are also significant in this connection... the two tables of stone, with the ten commandments written on them, were placed in the ark. So it is often called the ark of the covenant, because it held the law on which the covenant was founded. But it points in a clear way to Christ. Speaking in the Spirit in the Psalms, He says, "I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."
Another writer describes what the ark really held.
It was God's holy law, kept in the only place where it could stay unbroken — in the heart of Christ Himself.
So how could God stay with a people who kept breaking that law?
The two tables of the law — the law they had broken — lay inside the ark. On its lid of gold the blood of atonement was sprinkled. This blood always met the eye of God. Did the law demand judgment on the transgressor? There was the blood to meet its righteous demand. The blood-sprinkled mercy-seat covered all.
Israel's route wandered in every direction, yet the contents of the ark stayed the same.
In the ark was to be put the testimony which the Lord gave to Israel. The two tables of stone, or "the testimony," showed what God required: perfect love toward Himself and perfect love toward men. These things are seen in Christ in all their completeness, and are fulfilled in Him alone... But whether they turned east or north, south or west, the testimony of God was preserved intact in the ark. God did not lower His standard. His eye rested on what, in this picture, kept that standard at its full height.
- Testimony — the two tables of stone. They named the ark and the tent, and formed the moral foundation of God's throne on earth.
- Shelter — after Moses broke the first tables, God gave a chest, so no one would carry the bare law openly into the camp again.
- Person — acacia wood and gold picture Christ as man and as God. The law inside answers to His words, "your law is within my heart."
- Blood — blood on the lid above the law met the law's righteous demand, in full view of God.
- Standard — through every turn of the wilderness road, God's requirement never dropped. It stayed whole in the ark, and it is fulfilled in Christ alone.