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.
And thou shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold two cubits and a half the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
The lid of the ark gets a name of its own — the mercy seat — and a material of its own: solid gold, with no wood in it at all. The chest it rests on sets its size. That pairing shows how a holy God can sit among a sinful people without destroying them.
The ark under it was made of acacia wood. The lid was different.
There is no mention of the acacia wood in the making of the mercy-seat; it was to be "of pure gold." This gives us the precious thought that God comes out to us according to what He is in Himself, according to His own essential fullness. But He comes with thoughts of mercy toward His creatures, who were hostile to Him and estranged from Him.
The lid sat on the ark, yet it never counted as part of it.
The mercy seat had a meaning and a name of its own. It was not part of the ark, though it was always joined to it. The holy of holies is called the place of the mercy seat. The Hebrew word for mercy seat is Kapporeth = to cover up, to reconcile, to atone.
A covering can mean hiding something. Ridout draws a line between the two kinds.
It comes from the intensive form of the Hebrew verb "to cover." So it carries the thought of a complete, effective, eternal covering. Its gold says the same thing: this is a divine covering. Man's idea of a covering is hiding. God's covering works by atonement: "Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper" (Prov. 28:13)... For such a person God provides a perfect and eternal covering.
The lid matches the size of the ark beneath it, and that match carries meaning.
What these two measurements mean in themselves is not clear. But it matters greatly that ark and mercy seat are alike in size. The grace of God flows out from His own eternal love. Yet it stands on a righteous foundation, Christ and His work, just as the mercy seat rests on the ark that holds the law. But that grace is also the whole size of Christ; it is no partial blessing; it is a whole Christ, all that Christ is to God.
This slab of gold was where God sat. Its name is a surprise for a throne.
As the throne of God, this stands for absolute dominion, authority, righteousness and truth. Yet, amazingly, its name is not the justice seat but "the mercy seat." So from the throne of absolute righteousness God is able to give out mercy. This is marvellous. It is only possible because of the truth the great day of atonement makes clear.
Inside the ark lay the law. The golden lid sat over it, between two angelic figures called cherubim.
God set up His throne in the middle of Israel. The cherubim made up that throne — "He sits enthroned upon the cherubim." Their faces looked not at the ark, but at the mercy-seat above it, which covered it. The law was not pushed aside or weakened. God placed it in that holy container, which did represent Christ, but there it was hidden... That cover of pure gold was divine righteousness — and the blood of atonement was sprinkled on it and in front of it.
The lid could not stand alone. It needed the ark beneath it.
Looking at the ark and mercy-seat together, we may see in them a striking picture of Christ, in His Person and work. In His life He magnified the law and made it honourable. Through death He became a propitiation, or mercy-seat, for everyone who believes. God's mercy could only rest on a pedestal of perfect righteousness... God and man can only meet at one point: where grace and righteousness come together in perfect harmony. Only perfect righteousness could suit God. Only perfect grace could suit the sinner. But where could these meet in one point? Only in the cross.
In Israel the blood came in once a year. That yearly limit is gone.
Blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat once a year on the day of atonement... a picture of Christ entering into heaven, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Heb. 9:7,12. The veil of the temple has been torn. God has come out in grace, and man in the person of Christ has gone in. So the Christian is urged to come at all times boldly to the throne of grace, to find grace to help in time of need.
- Gold — no wood in the lid: God acting out of what He is in Himself, in mercy toward people at odds with Him.
- Covering — kapporeth means to cover, reconcile, atone. Man's covering hides sin. God's covering deals with it.
- Measure — the lid matches the ark size for size: grace is no partial gift, but the full size of Christ and His work.
- Mercy — the throne of absolute righteousness carries the name of mercy, and the blood of the day of atonement makes that possible.
- Access — with the veil torn, the once-a-year place has become a throne of grace open at any hour.
And thou shalt make two cherubim of gold; [of] beaten work shalt thou make them, at the two ends of the mercy-seat.
Two figures of gold stand on the lid of the ark, above the seat called mercy. The first question is why figures last seen guarding Eden with a flaming sword now stand there.
Wherever cherubim appear in Scripture, they carry God's authority to judge and rule. One writer sums up their role and adds that they need not be one fixed class of creature.
Others have described the cherubim well: "God's judicial executive, whoever carries it out, and in whatever circumstances it appears." They do not seem to be a distinct order of creature that God made. They are symbolic figures instead. In His ways of government and judgment God sometimes uses angels and sometimes men. Whichever it may be, the instruments He uses would be God's cherubim for the moment.
Commentators differ here: others read them as real beings, not symbols. Both agree that the text tells us next to nothing about how they looked.
Genesis 3:24 shows plainly that the cherubim are a special order of angelic beings. Their work is to carry out God's righteous judgments. Scripture mentions them next in our chapter, where they are to be made in gold. Beyond their wings and their faces, the text makes no attempt to describe their form.
At Eden the cherub's sword flashed in judgment. Here the same figures look down at the mercy seat, and that direction is the whole point.
People sometimes say that the cherub means the executive function. Quite true — but executive of what? In Ezekiel it is beyond doubt the executive of judgment. In Genesis 3 too its flashing sword shows the same work, though for a merciful purpose, no doubt. Someone may object that the cherubim on the ends of the mercy seat create a difficulty. But I see singular beauty in Judgment and Mercy combined as the basis of God's dealings with sinners. Notice above all that the faces of the cherubim were to look down at the mercy seat — not at the sinful person. So they always saw the blood which the mercy seat provided as the sinner's atonement. Judgment looks upon what Mercy provides and maintains.
The verse calls this "hammered work". The lid and the two figures came from one block of gold, with nothing cast apart and joined on.
From either end of the mercy seat rose a cherub, beaten out of the one solid piece of gold. So mercy seat and cherubim were one in the sense of divine glory. Scripture mentions the cherubim in connection with the execution of judgment, or at least with the display of God's righteous ways concerning man's sin. That single piece of gold, hammered into the forms of both cover and cherubim, makes divine glory in mercy and divine glory in judgment one. The glory was undivided. Now not only the mercy of God, but the mercy and the judgment of God, are exactly revealed in Christ.
The law lay safe underneath and these figures rose at either side. God could take His seat there, and speak from there.
Here the LORD expresses His gracious intention of coming down from the fiery mountain to take His place upon the mercy seat. He could do this because the tables of testimony lay safe and unbroken beneath. The symbols of His power, in creation and in providence, rose on the right hand and on the left. They were the inseparable companions of the throne where the LORD had seated Himself. It was a throne of grace founded upon divine righteousness and supported by justice and judgment. Here the glory of the God of Israel shone out. From there He gave His commands, softened and sweetened by the gracious source they came from and the medium they came through. They were like the beams of the midday sun passing through a cloud: we can enjoy their warmth without being dazzled.
Because the gaze of judgment rests on blood and not on the guilty, God's whole attitude toward people is settled.
Taking account of the infinite value of the blood of Christ, God's attitude toward men is one of unqualified grace. Through the work of redemption God has been glorified as a Saviour‑God, and His righteousness displayed in the exercise of His rights of mercy toward men… God is against sin, but for the sinner. All His attributes, pictured in the cherubim, act in perfect harmony to carry out all His purposes of grace toward men.
- Judgment. The cherubim carry out God's righteous rule — with a flaming sword at Eden's gate, and here as the guard of His throne.
- Reversal. The same figures that once barred the way now look down at the mercy seat. Judgment sees what mercy provides.
- Union. Hammered from one piece with the lid, they show one undivided glory: God's mercy and His judgment, both revealed in Christ.
- Throne. The law lies unbroken below and justice rises on either side. So the seat is a throne of grace built on righteousness, and God speaks from it.
- Welcome. The result is not a softened God but a satisfied one: against sin, and for the sinner.
And make one cherub at the end of the one side, and one cherub at the end of the other side; out of the mercy-seat shall ye make the cherubim at the two ends thereof.
Verse 19 looks like a simple repeat — one cherub here, one cherub there — until the last clause says how the figures were made: not fastened on, but hammered out of the same gold as the mercy seat. That raises a question: why do figures tied to judgment stand on the seat of mercy?
These figures appear in the Bible long before Israel's tent of worship. Commentators link them with God carrying out His sentence, and note how little the text says about their form.
Genesis 3:24 clearly shows that the cherubim are a special order of angelic beings, concerned with carrying out God's righteous judgments. The next time Scripture mentions them is in our chapter, where they are to be shown in gold. Apart from their wings and their faces, the text does not describe their form.
Commentators differ on what the two figures stand for. Some read them as created beings. Others take them as symbols of God's own attributes. One writer looks at the gold and sees a picture of Christ, since the cherubim were of one piece with the mercy seat and bear witness "to the perfect execution of the will of God by His perfect Servant" (H. F. G. Cole).
The gold of verse 19 is not decoration. Because the cherubim rise out of the same metal as the covering, the throne and its supporters are one object.
The ark of the covenant was the throne where God showed Himself, and the seat of His rule over every living man — the God of the whole earth. It was also the throne of His relationship with His people. The law — the testimony of what He required of men — was to be placed there. Over it was the mercy-seat, which covered it in and formed the throne, or rather the base of the throne, while the cherubim, made of the same piece, were its supporters and formed its sides.
Because they cannot be detached, mercy is never a mood that overrides God's power to act. The same hand that would execute judgment is the hand that carries out the blessing.
But the cherubim and the mercy seat are inseparable. God does work rich blessing. The grace is His, its bestowal is His, and its duration is as its source.
Verse 19 fixes their position; the next verse fixes their gaze. Both look down at the lid, not out at the people. That direction answers the difficulty of finding judgment seated on mercy.
Someone may think that placing the cherubim on the ends of the mercy seat creates a difficulty. But I think there is a rare beauty in Judgment and Mercy joined together as the basis of God's dealing with sinners. Notice above all that the faces of the cherubim were to be turned down towards the mercy seat — not towards the sinful person. So they always saw the blood which the mercy seat provided as the sinner's atonement. Judgment looks upon what Mercy provides and maintains.
The blood goes onto that lid. What the watching figures see there settles how anyone can approach God.
The cherubim formed part of the mercy-seat. These are symbols of the divine attributes and, as such, of judicial power. But since the blood on the mercy-seat has glorified God, all His attributes are in harmony, and all of them act on behalf of believers... All that God is, is against sin; and now all that God is, is for the believer. The blood on the mercy-seat has brought about this mighty change.
Two golden figures stand at the ends, and the space between them holds nothing. Other nations put an image in that place; here God left it empty.
We are told that the pagan nations had something similar to the ark and mercy-seat with the cherubim, but ugly and repulsive in character. What stands out in these pagan arks is that an idol rested on the lid — man's own work and man's own god — and the cherubim gazed at it in worship... But on the mercy-seat there was no image of God.
God takes His place on that seat and speaks from it. Where the words come from changes how they land.
Here the LORD announces His gracious plan to come down from the fiery mountain and take His place on the mercy seat. He could do this because the tables of the testimony lay unbroken underneath, and the symbols of His power, in creation and in providence, rose on the right hand and on the left... "His commandments are not burdensome," when we receive them from the mercy-seat, because they come together with grace, which gives the ears to hear and the power to obey.
- One piece. The cherubim are hammered from the same gold as the lid. Judgment and grace are one throne, not two.
- One gaze. Both faces turn inward and down. The ones who carry out God's judgment look straight at the place of atonement.
- One blood. The blood on the lid changes everything: all that God is was against sin, and now all that God is stands for the believer.
- One void. No image sits between them. God kept His people from picturing Him, and met them at the mercy seat.
- One voice. God speaks from that seat. Commands that come from a place of grace also bring the power to obey.
And the cherubim shall stretch out [their] wings over it, covering over with their wings the mercy-seat, and their faces opposite to one another toward the mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubim be [turned].
God's command to Moses fixes more than the shape of the two gold figures over the ark's cover. It fixes the way they face: wings lifted and spread, eyes turned down to the lid between them. Commentators focus on that posture: what the figures look at, and what they no longer look at.
Cherubim did not first appear in the tabernacle. One writer traces where they stand, and the first place faces the wrong way for a sinner:
We first read of the cherubim in Genesis 3:24: "He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life." Here they act for God in judgment. They appear looking outward toward man in his sin.
The verse gives two details: the outstretched wings and the turned faces. One writer weighs both, and marks the faces by where they do not look:
Their faces show that they had perception — eyes to see. Their wings declared that they would be swift to act in righteousness against sin. But their faces were to be "toward the mercy seat," and not looking outward toward the sinful people. They were to be shown gazing at the spot where the blood of propitiation would be. So in Genesis 3, we see them with the flaming sword of judgment against sin. Here they are at rest, because their eye is on the blood.
The lid they stare at was not left bare. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, blood was sprinkled on it. That is what holds their gaze:
In Scripture the cherubim are always connected with the judicial power of God, or they carry out the will of that power. They too are made of gold, and the direction of their faces is important. Inward, toward the mercy seat. Why? Because from there they could see what the moral nature of God demanded to be on the mercy seat, if man, a sinner, is to draw near. For God is holy: He hates sin and must judge it. But what do they see on the mercy seat? Blood… The claims of His throne must be met, and only blood can meet them — the sign that death has taken place.
Another writer notes what they are not looking at:
The mercy seat covered the tables of the law, so it was not at these that the cherubim were gazing. They had been associated with the giving of the law at Sinai, amid the thick darkness, lightning and thunder. They stood ready to take vengeance for "every transgression or disobedience." But it is the blood on the mercy seat that fixes the gaze of these ministers of justice and judgment. It is the blood of the sacrifice, sprinkled there on the great Day of Atonement. The blood speaks of judgment already carried out on the Substitute, and it arrests the adoring gaze of these holy servants of God.
The figures are of one piece with the lid. Commentators differ on what they stand for: some read them as holy servants of God, others as symbols of God's own attributes in His throne:
The cherubim formed part of the mercy seat. These, as already said, are symbols of the divine attributes, and, as such, of judicial power. But God has been glorified by the blood on the mercy seat. So all His attributes are in harmony, and all of them act on behalf of believers… The cherubim therefore favour the showing of mercy to all who approach trusting in the value of the blood. Blessed truth! All that God is, is against sin, and now all that God is, is for the believer.
This posture was not the last word. Solomon set the cherubim in his temple another way, and one writer draws the contrast:
It is the throne of God, and the cherubim are of one piece with it. They look toward one another, but their gaze is fixed downward on the covenant. Their wings stretch out to cover the mercy seat. When Solomon put his cherubim in the temple, they stood up… and they looked outward, because all the attributes of God were going out to man.
- Outward — In Eden the cherubim faced man in his sin, holding a sword that guarded the way back.
- Inward — Here they turn from the people and look down on the lid. Their wings show speed to act; their faces show one fixed object.
- Blood — There they see the blood on the mercy seat. It meets the claims of God's throne, so a sinner may come near.
- Harmony — Of one piece with the mercy seat, they picture God's own attributes. All that God is, is against sin; and now all that God is, is for the believer.
- Outward again — In Solomon's temple they stand looking out, because all that God is now goes out toward man.
And thou shalt put the mercy-seat above on the ark, and shalt put in the ark the testimony that I shall give thee.
Two commands sit side by side here: law underneath, covering above. That order carries the whole picture of how a holy God can live among a sinful people.
The name given to the lid, "mercy seat," is not quite what the word behind it says.
The word is not literally "mercy seat," but "covering." Remember that the account of the ark said nothing about a covering. Our ever-blessed Lord needed none; all was open to His Father's eyes, and He delighted to have it so. God, who sees everything, could look into the pure depths of that perfect heart. He would find nothing there but what answered to the divine will. It was a fit home indeed for the law of a holy God. Only such a One could be the basis of a divine "covering" for those who needed it.
"The testimony" means the two stone tablets of the law, now sealed inside the chest and under gold.
Of these the highest is the ark. It was the seat of divine majesty in Israel. And as everyone knows — this is most significant — the mercy seat was, more than anything else, that throne of God. It is the mercy seat we later see with blood sprinkled on it and before it. It concealed the law that destroys all man's claims, yet kept that law in the place of highest honour, though hidden from human view. Was this nothing? Was there no comfort here for any heart that trusts God? He took such a seat as this, and gave it such a name, in relationship with a guilty people on the earth.
Remove the lid, and think what is left. One writer quotes this test with approval:
Suppose an ark with no mercy seat. The law would then lie uncovered. Nothing would silence its thunder. Nothing would stop the carrying out of its righteous sentence. Could a nation of law-breakers stand before it? Could a holy and righteous God meet sinners there? Could mercy reign, or grace shine out from such an ark? Impossible! An uncovered ark might make a throne of judgment, but not a seat of mercy.
The gold lid and the tablets underneath speak of different things. Commentators read the pairing as a portrait of Christ.
Consider the mercy seat for a moment alongside the testimony inside the ark. Here human and divine righteousness are combined. The testimony points to the law — human righteousness — which was in the heart of Christ (Psalm 40). The gold points to God's righteousness, which shines out in Him too. The mercy seat is therefore in a special way a picture of Christ. The apostle indeed applies the term to Him. He says that we "are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith" (Rom. 3:24-25). The word for "propitiation" there is the word for the mercy seat.
Because the law was shut away under that covering, it stopped being a standard held over the worshipper's head.
But suppose the law is in His heart in this way — magnified and made honourable by His own subjection to it through His life, and by His bearing on the cross its curse upon sin. Even then it is still shut up away from man, with the curse removed from him.
One detail of the throne's design shows which of the two carried its power.
When God set up His throne in the middle of Israel, the cherubim made up that throne — "He sits between the cherubim." Their faces looked not at the ark, but at the mercy seat, which was over it and covered it. The law was certainly not slighted or weakened. It went into that holy container, which indeed represented Christ, but it lay hidden there... That container held the law and honoured it, but the power of the throne rested with the mercy seat.
The chest carries the cover — and that is why God can speak from it.
Notice also where the mercy seat was set... The ark, a precious picture of Christ, as already noted, holds up the mercy seat. He accomplished the work of redemption. The blood of the sin offering went into the holiest of all, sprinkled once upon the mercy seat and seven times before it (Lev. 16:11-14). On that ground God speaks with the Mediator, and through Him to His people.
- Covered. The word behind "mercy seat" means a covering — and the chest beneath it, picturing Christ, is the one thing that never needed covering.
- Honoured. Hiding the tablets did not weaken God's standard; it kept the law in the place of highest honour while shielding a guilty people from its sentence.
- Kept. The tablets inside point to Christ, in whose heart the law was kept, and the gold above points to God's own righteousness.
- Sprinkled. Blood on that covering makes it a propitiation, and the New Testament gives the same word to Christ Himself.
- Approached. Because the ark holds up the mercy seat, God's throne becomes a place where He speaks and meets, not a place that only condemns.
And there will I meet with thee, and will speak with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, everything that I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
God has just given Moses the pattern of the ark, its golden lid, and the two cherubim. Now He says what it is all for. One word carries the weight — there: God names one spot on earth where He will meet a man and speak with him.
God did not describe three separate ornaments here.
These words refer to the ark, mercy seat, and cherubim taken together. They served as one to form the throne of Jehovah in Israel. There He dwelt, and from there He communicated His thoughts to His people. As a picture, it sets before us our Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God. God has spoken in Him (Heb. 1:1). By Him God was declared (John 1:18).
Not long before, God had spoken from a mountain of fire. The tone here is different.
God knew what was in man: that he would refuse to submit and would break the law. Here He was setting out what was in His heart toward him. On the principle of law, or works, man must always stay at a distance from God. Yet His own wise and gracious heart could plan the way. By it, men on earth and He Himself could not only meet together, but have communion.
What made the move possible was the position of the law — inside the box, under the golden lid.
Here Jehovah tells of His gracious purpose: to come down from the fiery mountain and take His place on the mercy seat. He could do this because the tables of testimony lay unbroken underneath. The symbols of His power, whether in creation or in providence, rose on the right hand and on the left. These were the inseparable parts of that throne on which Jehovah had seated Himself — a throne of grace founded on divine righteousness and supported by justice and judgement.
Figures linked with judgment stand on the lid of mercy. Which way they look explains how the two go together.
There is singular beauty in the way Judgment and Mercy combine as the basis of God's dealing with sinners. Notice this above all: the faces of the cherubim were to look downwards towards the mercy seat, not towards the sinful being. So they always saw the blood which the mercy seat provided as the sinner's atonement. Judgment looks upon what Mercy provides and maintains.
The lid was more than a cover for a box. It points to Christ, and to the one place where God and a sinner can meet.
In His life He magnified the law and made it honourable. Then, through death, He became a propitiation or mercy seat for everyone who believes. God's mercy could only rest on a pedestal of perfect righteousness... God and man can only meet properly at the point where grace and righteousness meet and agree perfectly. Nothing but perfect righteousness could suit God; and nothing but perfect grace could suit the sinner. But where could these attributes meet in one point? Only in the cross.
The orders God gives come out of the place of mercy. That changes how they land.
This is also full of blessing. For when issuing commands to His people the Lord is still on the throne of grace. Paul, in New Testament form, gives this thought: "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice." The earlier part of the letter to the Romans had been, as it were, constructing the mercy seat, or raising the throne of grace in the sight of the congregation of the Lord... Now, entering on the detail of duties, the voice still breaks out from the mercy seat.
God gave this promise to one man. That limit is part of the lesson.
God did not permit the people themselves to enter the tabernacle. He met with them at its entrance. Moses alone had access to the mercy seat at all times, while the high priest could go in only once a year. Moses had that access as mediator, and in that role he is a picture of Christ.
Everything changed once the work of redemption was finished.
The mercy seat in the tabernacle was the place from which God communed with Moses, but no man could sit down there. The Lord Jesus, having completed the great work of redemption, has sat down on the throne of God. Because of man's sin, God's throne became for man a throne of judgment. It has now become a throne of grace, because of the precious blood of Christ, and because Christ sits on the throne.
- There — the ark, the lid, and the cherubim together made one throne. It was the one place on earth where God lived among His people and spoke to them.
- Covered — the law lay unbroken under the golden lid. So God could come down from the fiery mountain: mercy rested on righteousness, not instead of it.
- Downward — the cherubim looked down at the mercy seat, not at the sinner. Judgment looks at what mercy provides.
- Fulfilled — through death Christ became the mercy seat itself. Grace and righteousness meet in one point, and that point is the cross.
- Opened — Moses alone went in, as mediator. Now Christ has sat down on that throne, and what was a throne of judgment is a throne of grace.