Raiders of the Lost Ark has become a movie classic. Indiana Jones searches for the lost Ark of the Covenant, desperate to find it before the Nazis can use its power in their quest for world domination. While definitely fiction (very entertaining fiction!), the movie did do a fairly decent job of portraying the real Ark and its significance.
The Ark of the Covenant
The Ark is described in Exodus 25:10-22 as a wooden chest — about 45 inches long, 27 inches high and 27 inches wide — overlaid with pure gold. It was topped by the “mercy seat”, a golden lid mounted by two hammered-gold angels (cherubim) facing each other with their wings touching in the middle. Its precious contents were the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments written by God’s own hand (Deuteronomy 10:1-5). It had rings fixed to the corners through which poles could be threaded, allowing the Ark to be carried without being touched directly.
Of this Ark, God told Moses:
There I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel.
Exodus 25:22
The Ark was kept in the Most Holy Place, the inner sanctum within the Holy Place, within the tabernacle (and later the temple once it was built in Jerusalem). This was the place that only the High Priest was ever allowed to enter, and then only once a year on the Day of Atonement 1.
Joshua chapters 3 and 4 tell of the Ark, carried by the Levitical priests 2, leading the way as the people finally entered their promised land. Chapter 6 tells of it again leading the way, this time around the city of Jericho as it was conquered.
The Ark of God
For this article, I want to focus on another mention of the Ark, in 1 Samuel chapters 4-6. The Israelites took the “Ark of God”, as it is called in this passage, into battle against their enemies, the Philistines, believing it would guarantee them victory. Instead, they were defeated and the Ark was captured.
The Philistines took the Ark to their city of Ashdod and into the temple of their god Dagon, thinking that would prove Dagon’s superiority over God. Rather comically, the statue of Dagon was found flat on its face the next morning. They stood it back up. The following day, it was down again, with its head and hands cut off and lying across the threshold of the temple.
The Philistines moved the Ark from city to city trying to find a safe place for it. Each city was plagued by disease as long as the Ark was there. Finally, they decided to send it back to Israel along with a guilt/peace offering of gold.
The Ark is the Symbol, Not the Reality
Both the Israelites and the Philistines were focussed on the Ark of God. But they both forgot that they were dealing with the God of the Ark! The Ark was a powerful symbol, but only a symbol; God is the real power.
Both the friends and the enemies of God can still make the same mistake today.
Christians — who are redeemed to be friends of God — can substitute His symbols for Himself. I’ve written recently about why the cross is such an important icon for us. But my cross necklace does not automatically put God on my side in every choice I make. We know that it is important to meet together with others in our church family. But attending a worship service is not the same as actually worshipping, and being in the church building on Sunday does not enhance my walk with God if I ignore Him the rest of the week. Growing up in a Christian home, or living in a Christian-friendly community, is not the same as trusting Christ as my own personal Savior.
…And, just because the United States was founded on Biblical principles does not mean that God’s favor will continue if we abandon those principles.
God’s modern-day enemies, also, can make the Philistines’ miscalculation. They can think that burning a church building can stop His Church. They can try to remove Him from the public square by banning manger scenes and displays of the Ten Commandments. Around the world, they are persecuting and killing His people, hoping to stamp out His kingdom.
Like the Philistines, they will learn that God is not contained in a box. Even if they succeed in harming the things — and people — that stand for Him, they cannot stop Him.
The God of the Ark
The Ark of the Covenant — the Ark of God — was unique, valuable, and very sacred. But without the God it represented, it was only a pretty box. Both it and its modern-day equivalents are nothing compared to the God of the Ark!
(For your viewing pleasure, here is a clip of what happened when the Nazis in the movie learned that lesson. Caution: It’s a bit grim.)
Footnotes and Scripture References
- See more on the Day of Atonement and other Jewish holy days in the article “Feasts of Jesus“.
- Only Levites, descendants of the patriarch Jacob/Israel’s son Levi, were allowed to carry the Ark.
