And thou shalt put therein the ark of the testimony, and cover the ark with the vail.
The verse commands that the ark of the testimony be set inside the tabernacle and screened from view by the veil that divides the building, placing it in the inner apartment, the most holy place, behind the partition. The testimony it holds is the stone tables of the Ten Commandments testifying to God's will, crowned by the mercy seat set upon the ark above the law. The ark thus stands beneath the mercy seat as the center of the sanctuary service, with the law as the standard of character and detector of sin while God's glorious presence abode above it. At that mercy seat repentant sinners receive mercy and pardon through sprinkled atoning blood that honors the claims of the broken law beneath it, showing how atonement enables man to approach again to the law he broke. The earthly ark followed the heavenly pattern, so its ministry typifies Christ's ministry in the heavenly sanctuary where He pleads His blood at the mercy seat above the law to bring pardon without abolishing the law.
Setting in Exodus
Exodus 40:3 belongs to the preparing and fitting of the tabernacle, which was reared up on the first day of the first month of the second year after Israel departed from Egypt. It shows the placing of the ark when the tabernacle was thus reared, with the testimony put into the ark and the mercy seat set upon it, and the ark brought into the second apartment where God dwells and the veil set up to cover it and divide it from the first apartment. The showbread was set out at that setting up, but this does not prove that day was the weekly Sabbath, because the command to set out the showbread every Sabbath was given later.
The verse belongs to the detailed instructions given in the mount for setting up the finished Mosaic sanctuary. It places the ark of the testimony inside and covers it with the veil, locating it in the inner apartment, the most holy place, screened from the holy place, where the glory of God was manifest above its mercy seat. It is listed among passages offered as evidence for Israelite religious observances, which are distinguished from the Sabbath as types and shadows whose purpose ended when they pointed to Christ.
The verse stands in the worship division of Exodus, chapters 25 to 40, which gives Israel's established form of worship after the going out from Egypt that gives the book its Greek name, and after their great deliverance from bitter bondage into a nation with thorough organization, efficient leadership, and a complete code of laws. It belongs to the instructions for worship, distinct from the civil laws in Exodus 21-23, directing that the ark of the testimony be placed in the tabernacle and covered with the veil as part of the separate religious arrangements God gave Israel.
The verse gives part of the laws God gave through Moses, including the ceremonial laws setting out the sanctuary and its furnishings. These laws, alongside the moral and other laws, were to be remembered so that the substance of the new dispensation could be traced from the shadows of the old. It is part of God's explicit instructions for the manner of construction of the sanctuary, or dwelling place, which He asked Israel to make after He led them out of Egypt so that He might dwell among them in order to reveal more fully His great love, continuing the unfolding of the plan of redemption previously shown from Eden to the Exodus in the simple service of offering a lamb for sin upon an altar of rough stones with the father of each family acting as priest.
The ark of the testimony, containing God's holy law, was directed to be placed in the sanctuary's most sacred room and covered by the veil, and the ark and its furnishings were made and installed according to God's directions. The placement was made according to the pattern God showed to Moses on the mount, putting the ark of the covenant crowned with the mercy seat holding the tables of the Decalogue inside behind the veil in the most holy place, apart from the table of presence bread, the golden candlestick, and the altar of incense in the holy place. The tabernacle thus made exactly according to the explicit directions given in the mount, so that God might dwell among His people delivered from Egypt, was God's dwelling place with men, first pitched in the wilderness and afterward succeeded by Solomon's temple in Jerusalem.
After the ark was thus covered, the table of shewbread, the golden candlestick with its lamps lighted before the Lord, and the golden altar of incense before the veil with sweet incense burned thereon were set in order, and the burnt offering and meat offering were offered on the altar before the door. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. That manifestation of God's glory at the construction and inauguration of the sanctuary showed His acceptance of the people's repentance.
Ark Veil and Placement
The ark of the testimony was to be put inside the tabernacle and covered and screened from view by the veil that divides the building into two apartments, locating it in the inner apartment, the most holy place, behind the partition. That placing set the ark containing God's law in the most holy place beneath the mercy seat, as the center on which worship in the earthly sanctuary centered. The covering veil is the inner or second veil that veils the ark and marks the boundary of the most holy place, separating it from the outer sanctuary and the holy place where God appeared above the mercy seat.
In Hebrew the inner veil is designated paroketh, while masak and the Greek kalumma or katapetasma apply to the sanctuary hangings generally. Katapetasma means a covering or hanging-down veil, used for both the entrance curtain and the inner curtain, so both curtains may be called veil though Hebrew uses different words. The testimony in the ark is the stone tables of the Ten Commandments, the law of God testifying to His will. Its name therefore identifies the ark, and also gives name to the veil and the second apartment.
The testimony was given before it was placed in the ark, and the ark was set up on the first day of the first month about nine and a half months later. The mention of the pot of manna in the account of the manna does not mean the testimony or ark already existed when the manna first fell. The book of the law and the memorials of the manna and Aaron's budding rod also testified within or beside the ark. The mercy seat was placed upon the ark, crowning it above the tables of the Decalogue. There repentant sinners received mercy and pardon through the sprinkled blood of the offering, honoring the claims of the law beneath it.
The second apartment where God dwelt had no window, while the first apartment held the table of shewbread, the golden candlestick with its seven lamps, and the golden altar of incense before the veil. The placement was made according to the pattern shown on the mount, distinguishing the second apartment from the first where the seven lamps and golden altar stood. The ark stood in the middle of the most holy place as regards the sides but near the second veil, directly opposite the altar of incense, so that most of the apartment lay in front of the ministering priest. This orderly position also allowed its staves to be drawn out against the curtain, though how the position was changed, if at all, in the later temple is not known.
Law Mercy and Worship
The ark holding God's law stood in the most holy place beneath the mercy seat, and worship in the earthly sanctuary centered upon it. The ark and the law within it formed the center of the sanctuary service. The law in the ark is the standard of character and the detector of sin, while above the ark at the mercy seat the presence of God abode. The glory of God was manifest above its mercy seat.
Its cover was the mercy seat, where repentant sinners received mercy and pardon through the sprinkled blood of the offering, honoring the claims of the law beneath it. Its top is the mercy seat, where the breaker of the law shut up beneath can find pardon through the sprinkling of the blood of atonement upon it. Above the ark containing the law of God the blood of atonement was sprinkled and pardon was extended to the penitent. The arrangement shows the relation between the law that sinners had broken and the ceremonial system that taught how atonement could be made. The whole ceremonial system centers on this placement to enable man to approach again to the broken law.
That placement typifies the restitution of the pardoned to their inheritance and the destruction of the impenitent. The veil separated the ark and the visible manifestation of God's glory from the first apartment, so only the high priest could enter beyond it, once a year, and live. The Levitical priesthood was set apart to minister before the ark containing the two tables of the law and covered by the veil while that typical sanctuary continued. From the first apartment the priest looked toward the ark when offering incense. Christ pleads His blood at the mercy seat above the law, bringing pardon without abolishing the law.
The tabernacle and its furnishings were object lessons in spiritual truths. The tabernacle itself was a type of the heavenly sanctuary where Christ ministers. Once the sanctuary was sanctified for God's service, the priests could not use it as they would their own houses. The setting apart of the sanctuary as holy thus illustrates the difference between what God has sanctified and what is common.
Type of Heavenly Sanctuary
The placing of the ark of the testimony in the tabernacle and covering it with the veil was part of constructing the earthly sanctuary exactly according to the directions given to Moses in the mount, so that God might dwell among His people delivered from Egypt. That tabernacle thus made was God's dwelling-place with men, first pitched in the wilderness and afterward succeeded by Solomon's temple in Jerusalem, where the true worship of God centered until Christ's sacrifice. It was always typical and foreshadowed the better temple, the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man, serving unto the shadow of heavenly things. All its rites and ceremonies were object lessons in spiritual truths pointing to the Lamb of God that takes away sin and to the coming Messiah and His power to forgive sin, transform character, and deliver from burdens. The tabernacle itself was therefore a type of the heavenly sanctuary where Christ ministers.
The ark is called the ark of the testimony because God's testimony, or law, was placed in it. The earthly ark and tabernacle followed the heavenly pattern, so the ark in the heavenly temple contains the Ten Commandments as the earthly ark did. The ark containing the law was placed in the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle, where the Levitical priesthood ministered before it. That ark and its earthly ministry served as a pattern of Christ's ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, where He pleads His blood at the mercy seat above the law, bringing pardon without abolishing the law.
The placing of the ark of the testimony behind the veil locates it in the sanctuary's second apartment, distinguished from the first apartment where the seven lamps and golden altar stood. When heaven's temple is opened and the ark is seen, the scene is therefore associated with the second apartment and the judgment conducted there. With the death of Christ the veil of the temple was rent in two and the merely typical and shadowy earthly sanctuary passed away entirely and forever. Its religious observances, including the instructions for setting up the sanctuary with the ark inside and covered by the veil, were types and shadows whose purpose ended when they pointed to Christ, and are thus distinguished from the Sabbath.
Sabbath and Law Questions
The setting up of the tabernacle on the first day of the first month included setting out the showbread, but that does not prove that day was the weekly Sabbath. The command to set out the showbread every Sabbath was a ceremonial precept given later, so it cannot be used to prove the setup day was a Sabbath.
The ark was made on purpose to receive the two tables of the moral law spoken by God at Sinai, and it was placed inside the sanctuary and covered with the veil in the second apartment, the most holy place. Its top is the mercy-seat, where the breaker of the law shut up beneath can find pardon through the sprinkling of the blood of atonement upon it. The whole ceremonial system centers on this placement to enable man to approach again to the broken law, typifying the restitution of the pardoned to their inheritance and the destruction of the impenitent. In this way the moral law contained in the ark is distinguished from the ceremonial system centered upon it.
The instructions for placing the ark of the testimony inside and covering it with the veil belong among the evidences for Israelite religious observances. Those observances are distinguished from the Sabbath as types and shadows whose purpose ended when they pointed to Christ.
The verse commands that the ark of the testimony be set inside the tabernacle and screened from view by the veil that divides the building, placing it in the inner apartment, the most holy place, behind the partition. The testimony it holds is the stone tables of the Ten Commandments testifying to God's will, crowned by the mercy seat set upon the ark above the law. The ark thus stands beneath the mercy seat as the center of the sanctuary service, with the law as the standard of character and detector of sin while God's glorious presence abode above it. At that mercy seat repentant sinners receive mercy and pardon through sprinkled atoning blood that honors the claims of the broken law beneath it, showing how atonement enables man to approach again to the law he broke. The earthly ark followed the heavenly pattern, so its ministry typifies Christ's ministry in the heavenly sanctuary where He pleads His blood at the mercy seat above the law to bring pardon without abolishing the law.
Setting in Exodus
Exodus 40:3 belongs to the preparing and fitting of the tabernacle, which was reared up on the first day of the first month of the second year after Israel departed from Egypt. It shows the placing of the ark when the tabernacle was thus reared, with the testimony put into the ark and the mercy seat set upon it, and the ark brought into the second apartment where God dwells and the veil set up to cover it and divide it from the first apartment. The showbread was set out at that setting up, but this does not prove that day was the weekly Sabbath, because the command to set out the showbread every Sabbath was given later.
The verse belongs to the detailed instructions given in the mount for setting up the finished Mosaic sanctuary. It places the ark of the testimony inside and covers it with the veil, locating it in the inner apartment, the most holy place, screened from the holy place, where the glory of God was manifest above its mercy seat. It is listed among passages offered as evidence for Israelite religious observances, which are distinguished from the Sabbath as types and shadows whose purpose ended when they pointed to Christ.
The verse stands in the worship division of Exodus, chapters 25 to 40, which gives Israel's established form of worship after the going out from Egypt that gives the book its Greek name, and after their great deliverance from bitter bondage into a nation with thorough organization, efficient leadership, and a complete code of laws. It belongs to the instructions for worship, distinct from the civil laws in Exodus 21-23, directing that the ark of the testimony be placed in the tabernacle and covered with the veil as part of the separate religious arrangements God gave Israel.
The verse gives part of the laws God gave through Moses, including the ceremonial laws setting out the sanctuary and its furnishings. These laws, alongside the moral and other laws, were to be remembered so that the substance of the new dispensation could be traced from the shadows of the old. It is part of God's explicit instructions for the manner of construction of the sanctuary, or dwelling place, which He asked Israel to make after He led them out of Egypt so that He might dwell among them in order to reveal more fully His great love, continuing the unfolding of the plan of redemption previously shown from Eden to the Exodus in the simple service of offering a lamb for sin upon an altar of rough stones with the father of each family acting as priest.
The ark of the testimony, containing God's holy law, was directed to be placed in the sanctuary's most sacred room and covered by the veil, and the ark and its furnishings were made and installed according to God's directions. The placement was made according to the pattern God showed to Moses on the mount, putting the ark of the covenant crowned with the mercy seat holding the tables of the Decalogue inside behind the veil in the most holy place, apart from the table of presence bread, the golden candlestick, and the altar of incense in the holy place. The tabernacle thus made exactly according to the explicit directions given in the mount, so that God might dwell among His people delivered from Egypt, was God's dwelling place with men, first pitched in the wilderness and afterward succeeded by Solomon's temple in Jerusalem.
After the ark was thus covered, the table of shewbread, the golden candlestick with its lamps lighted before the Lord, and the golden altar of incense before the veil with sweet incense burned thereon were set in order, and the burnt offering and meat offering were offered on the altar before the door. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. That manifestation of God's glory at the construction and inauguration of the sanctuary showed His acceptance of the people's repentance.
Ark Veil and Placement
The ark of the testimony was to be put inside the tabernacle and covered and screened from view by the veil that divides the building into two apartments, locating it in the inner apartment, the most holy place, behind the partition. That placing set the ark containing God's law in the most holy place beneath the mercy seat, as the center on which worship in the earthly sanctuary centered. The covering veil is the inner or second veil that veils the ark and marks the boundary of the most holy place, separating it from the outer sanctuary and the holy place where God appeared above the mercy seat.
In Hebrew the inner veil is designated paroketh, while masak and the Greek kalumma or katapetasma apply to the sanctuary hangings generally. Katapetasma means a covering or hanging-down veil, used for both the entrance curtain and the inner curtain, so both curtains may be called veil though Hebrew uses different words. The testimony in the ark is the stone tables of the Ten Commandments, the law of God testifying to His will. Its name therefore identifies the ark, and also gives name to the veil and the second apartment.
The testimony was given before it was placed in the ark, and the ark was set up on the first day of the first month about nine and a half months later. The mention of the pot of manna in the account of the manna does not mean the testimony or ark already existed when the manna first fell. The book of the law and the memorials of the manna and Aaron's budding rod also testified within or beside the ark. The mercy seat was placed upon the ark, crowning it above the tables of the Decalogue. There repentant sinners received mercy and pardon through the sprinkled blood of the offering, honoring the claims of the law beneath it.
The second apartment where God dwelt had no window, while the first apartment held the table of shewbread, the golden candlestick with its seven lamps, and the golden altar of incense before the veil. The placement was made according to the pattern shown on the mount, distinguishing the second apartment from the first where the seven lamps and golden altar stood. The ark stood in the middle of the most holy place as regards the sides but near the second veil, directly opposite the altar of incense, so that most of the apartment lay in front of the ministering priest. This orderly position also allowed its staves to be drawn out against the curtain, though how the position was changed, if at all, in the later temple is not known.
Law Mercy and Worship
The ark holding God's law stood in the most holy place beneath the mercy seat, and worship in the earthly sanctuary centered upon it. The ark and the law within it formed the center of the sanctuary service. The law in the ark is the standard of character and the detector of sin, while above the ark at the mercy seat the presence of God abode. The glory of God was manifest above its mercy seat.
Its cover was the mercy seat, where repentant sinners received mercy and pardon through the sprinkled blood of the offering, honoring the claims of the law beneath it. Its top is the mercy seat, where the breaker of the law shut up beneath can find pardon through the sprinkling of the blood of atonement upon it. Above the ark containing the law of God the blood of atonement was sprinkled and pardon was extended to the penitent. The arrangement shows the relation between the law that sinners had broken and the ceremonial system that taught how atonement could be made. The whole ceremonial system centers on this placement to enable man to approach again to the broken law.
That placement typifies the restitution of the pardoned to their inheritance and the destruction of the impenitent. The veil separated the ark and the visible manifestation of God's glory from the first apartment, so only the high priest could enter beyond it, once a year, and live. The Levitical priesthood was set apart to minister before the ark containing the two tables of the law and covered by the veil while that typical sanctuary continued. From the first apartment the priest looked toward the ark when offering incense. Christ pleads His blood at the mercy seat above the law, bringing pardon without abolishing the law.
The tabernacle and its furnishings were object lessons in spiritual truths. The tabernacle itself was a type of the heavenly sanctuary where Christ ministers. Once the sanctuary was sanctified for God's service, the priests could not use it as they would their own houses. The setting apart of the sanctuary as holy thus illustrates the difference between what God has sanctified and what is common.
Type of Heavenly Sanctuary
The placing of the ark of the testimony in the tabernacle and covering it with the veil was part of constructing the earthly sanctuary exactly according to the directions given to Moses in the mount, so that God might dwell among His people delivered from Egypt. That tabernacle thus made was God's dwelling-place with men, first pitched in the wilderness and afterward succeeded by Solomon's temple in Jerusalem, where the true worship of God centered until Christ's sacrifice. It was always typical and foreshadowed the better temple, the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man, serving unto the shadow of heavenly things. All its rites and ceremonies were object lessons in spiritual truths pointing to the Lamb of God that takes away sin and to the coming Messiah and His power to forgive sin, transform character, and deliver from burdens. The tabernacle itself was therefore a type of the heavenly sanctuary where Christ ministers.
The ark is called the ark of the testimony because God's testimony, or law, was placed in it. The earthly ark and tabernacle followed the heavenly pattern, so the ark in the heavenly temple contains the Ten Commandments as the earthly ark did. The ark containing the law was placed in the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle, where the Levitical priesthood ministered before it. That ark and its earthly ministry served as a pattern of Christ's ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, where He pleads His blood at the mercy seat above the law, bringing pardon without abolishing the law.
The placing of the ark of the testimony behind the veil locates it in the sanctuary's second apartment, distinguished from the first apartment where the seven lamps and golden altar stood. When heaven's temple is opened and the ark is seen, the scene is therefore associated with the second apartment and the judgment conducted there. With the death of Christ the veil of the temple was rent in two and the merely typical and shadowy earthly sanctuary passed away entirely and forever. Its religious observances, including the instructions for setting up the sanctuary with the ark inside and covered by the veil, were types and shadows whose purpose ended when they pointed to Christ, and are thus distinguished from the Sabbath.
Sabbath and Law Questions
The setting up of the tabernacle on the first day of the first month included setting out the showbread, but that does not prove that day was the weekly Sabbath. The command to set out the showbread every Sabbath was a ceremonial precept given later, so it cannot be used to prove the setup day was a Sabbath.
The ark was made on purpose to receive the two tables of the moral law spoken by God at Sinai, and it was placed inside the sanctuary and covered with the veil in the second apartment, the most holy place. Its top is the mercy-seat, where the breaker of the law shut up beneath can find pardon through the sprinkling of the blood of atonement upon it. The whole ceremonial system centers on this placement to enable man to approach again to the broken law, typifying the restitution of the pardoned to their inheritance and the destruction of the impenitent. In this way the moral law contained in the ark is distinguished from the ceremonial system centered upon it.
The instructions for placing the ark of the testimony inside and covering it with the veil belong among the evidences for Israelite religious observances. Those observances are distinguished from the Sabbath as types and shadows whose purpose ended when they pointed to Christ.