Exodus 37: 1-9, “And Bezaleel made the ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half was the length of it, and a cubit and a half the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it: And he overlaid it with pure gold within and without, and made a crown of gold to it round about. And he cast for it four rings of gold, to be set by the four corners of it; even two rings upon the one side of it, and two rings upon the other side of it. And he made staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold. And he put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, to bear the ark. And he made the mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half was the length thereof, and one cubit and a half the breadth thereof. And he made two cherubims of gold, beaten out of one piece made he them, on the two ends of the mercy seat; One cherub on the end on this side, and another cherub on the other end on that side: out of the mercy seat made he the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And the cherubims spread out their wings on high, and covered with their wings over the mercy seat, with their faces one to another; even to the mercy seatward were the faces of the cherubims.”
The ark was just a box that contained the sacred and precious artefacts of the Israeli religion. It was made of wood that would last for a long time and the wood was covered with pure gold. The gold covering ensured that the wood would last forever, if it was kept in good conditions. Gold is a gift that is fit for a king. When the wise men gave their three gifts to the infant Lord Jesus Christ they gave Him gold, frankincense and myrrh (Matthew 2: 11, “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”) God is a gift for a king, frankincense is a gift for a priest and myrrh is a bitter spice that was given for one who suffers. The Lord Jesus Christ’s mother was called Mary, which means bitterness (See Ruth 1: 20, “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”) The gold on the ark was to demonstrate that it was fit for the King of Heaven as well as to keep it for a long time. The ark was covered by the mercy seat to show that God is merciful every time He deals with people. The mercy seat was covered by two angels with longs wings reaching forward to touch each other to show a small portion of the Lord’s glory.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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