Ark of the covenant
The ark of the covenant was the most sacred religious symbol of the Israelites. It was the chest constructed at God’s behest to shelter the tablets of the Ten Commandments, the covenant between God and Israel given to Moses on Mount Sinai. It was kept heavily veiled in the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle (the portable sanctuary of the Israelites, also called “the tent of the congregation”) and only the high priest could look upon its uncovered surface. Above the ark, which was constructed of acacia wood overlaid with gold, was a “mercy seat” covered by the outstretched wings of two golden cherubim.
God told Moses: “There I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims.... I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.”[1] It is recorded that “as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses.”[2]
The children of Israel carried the ark wherever they went in their journeys through the wilderness and at times into battle. It was cherished as the active presence of Yahweh with his people. Carefully guarded, it was transported by staves thrust through rings on the sides, for to touch it was forbidden.
When Uzza, who was escorting the ark, attempted to steady it as the oxen stumbled, he was struck dead “because he put his hand to the ark.”[3] The ark was once captured by the Philistines but, according to tradition, was miraculously returned after many years and later transferred to Solomon’s temple.
Renewed interest in the ark was portrayed in Raiders of the Lost Ark, a film directed by Steven Spielberg, which reveals the race memory of the ark and the allure it still holds for both the lightbearers and those who would take by force the holy things of God. The focusing of the attention on the ark and the sacred fire registered there drives men, by their own purity or impurity, to the heights of passion, lust, and murder or to the heights of the truest nobility in Christ.
According to the Los Angeles Times (March 15, 1982), Tom Crotser, leader of an expedition to uncover the ark of the covenant, claimed to have discovered the golden box that is said to contain the original Ten Commandments. But he said that he wouldn’t release his photographs until he could show them to European financier David Rothschild, who, Crotser said, would rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem.
The flame of the ark of the covenant today
The flame of the ark of the covenant burns at the high altar at the Inner Retreat. The altars of Church Universal and Triumphant that Keepers of the Flame tend daily around the world are tied to that flame and receive its emanations.
Sources
Pearls of Wisdom, vol. 25, no. 29, July 18, 1982.