Ark of the Covenant

A wooden chest for storing and transporting the Ten Commandments. It was about four feet long, two and one-half feet wide, and two and one-half feet high. It was covered with gold inside and outside. On top creatures that looked both animal and human). Inside the ark were the Ten Commandments written on tablets of stone, a pot of manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded.

Because it was considered holy, it had to be carried on poles pushed through four golden rings on the corners. Anyone who touched it died instantly. The ark was placed in the tabernacle. The people of Israel carried the ark for forty years in the wilderness. When the priests carried it across the Jordan River into the Promised Land, the waters rolled back, and all the people passed over on dry land. At the battle of Jericho, the priests carried the ark around the outside of the city before the walls fell down.

The Philistines captured the ark but had diseases for seven months until they sent the ark back. Many years later, David finally brought the ark to Jerusalem. After Solomon built the temple, there was a great ceremony as the ark was placed there. When Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC, the ark was lost. There was no ark in the second temple or in the temple built by Herod the Great shortly before the time of Jesus.