Exodus 25:10-16 And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof… I. The ark may be taken AS SYMBOLICAL OF THE DIVINE PRESENCE, OR THE DIVINE PLAN IN HUMAN LIFE. It was a visible form of an invisible power. 1. In the ark, for example, you find law. See, too, the peculiar place occupied by law: the ark is in the Tabernacle; not only in the Tabernacle, but in the most sacred part of that sacred place; not only in the holiest part of the holy house, but actually in the midst of the ark is found the immutable law of God. Thus we have law at the very centre and heart of things! That which is at the heart of things is right: not something fickle, eccentric, tantalizing; but law, righteousness, God! 2. But, happily, the ark represents something more than law; and every reflective man will acknowledge that in the system within which we live, there is a mystery for which some gentler name than law must be found. The lid of the ark was the seat of mercy. It signified propitiation, favour, mediation, ground and medium of communion with God. Study that tender symbol a moment, if you please. Law, in coming up from the centre, comes through the lid or covering of mercy; it is, so to speak, attempered, or it would come like a sword, or a fire, or a judgment terrible in righteousness. On the other hand, starting the movement from the outside, in our appeal to law we go through the medium of mercy. We do not, dare not, challenge the law in its own name or on its own merits. "By the deeds of the law shall no flesh living be justified." Our approach is through mercy, and our daily prayer is, "God be merciful unto me a sinner." II. We now pass onward to notice A FEW REMARKABLE POINTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE ARK. In doing this, we shall be more careful about the spiritual teaching than about the mere chronology of that history, and thus we shall secure closer continuity of doctrine and illustration. 1. As our song is to be of mercy and judgment, it will be grateful to us first to see how the mercy of the Lord was revealed amongst His people (see Numbers 10). Unquestionably there is a law of movement. We must go forward. How? Into darkness? Into danger? Into thickening mysteries that bring with them sevenfold darkness, and trouble that makes the soul afraid? No; we are offered guidance, defence, and rest! 2. As we have thus seen the goodness of the Lord, we may now behold also His severity, as shown here and there in the history of the ark. Fall of Jericho, Dagon, Bethshemesh, Uzza. Will man attempt to eke out the failing strength of Omnipotence? Doth it become us to watch the stars lest they fall, or to open the clouds at dawn lest the sun should miss his way? Shall we appoint ourselves the special guardians of the truth, and surround it with our defences, lest God should have no foothold on His own earth? III. We now come still more closely to PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS. Here and there in the course of the study we have indicated one or two modern bearings of the subject, which admit of obvious amplification. Let us look at one or two others. The Israelites had a visible symbol of the Divine presence so long as they retained the ark in their midst. It was something to look at — something for the heart to stay itself upon in the time of fear and trouble. But look at our own case. Are we not left without a centre that can be seen, and without a locality sanctified above all other places? Have we not fallen on mean times — all poetry dead and gone, all music hushed for ever? To such questionings the Scriptures give a distinct reply. They tell us that ours are the brightest and noblest of all the days of time (see 2 Corinthians 3:7, 8; Jeremiah 3:16). The local has become the universal, and all things are inscribed — "Holy unto the Lord." That law and mercy are still at the heart of things is a truth which is acknowledged in some form even by others than Christian believers; but by Christian believers it ought to be ardently and gratefully maintained as at once the glory and the security of life. And yet we are not left without a visible sign of God's presence. So long as we have the Bible we have the ark of the covenant. (J. Parker, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. |
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