Joshua 3:3-6

3:3 and commanded the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God ¹  being carried by the Levitical priests, you must leave here ²  and walk ³  behind it. 3:4 But stay about three thousand feet behind it. ⁴  Keep your distance ⁵  so you can see ⁶  which way you should go, for you have not traveled this way before.”

3:5 Joshua told the people, “Ritually consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will perform miraculous deeds among you.” 3:6 Joshua told the priests, “Pick up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people.” So they picked up the ark of the covenant and went ahead of the people.

Exodus 25:16-22

25:16 You are to put into the ark the testimony ⁷  that I will give to you.

25:17 “You are to make an atonement lid ⁸  of pure gold; ⁹  its length is to be three feet nine inches, and its width is to be two feet three inches. 25:18 You are to make two cherubim ¹⁰  of gold; you are to make them of hammered metal on the two ends of the atonement lid. 25:19 Make ¹¹  one cherub on one end ¹²  and one cherub on the other end; from the atonement lid ¹³  you are to make the cherubim on the two ends. 25:20 The cherubim are to be spreading their wings upward, overshadowing ¹⁴  the atonement lid with their wings, and the cherubim are to face each other, ¹⁵  looking ¹⁶  toward the atonement lid. 25:21 You are to put the atonement lid on top of the ark, and in the ark you are to put the testimony I am giving you. 25:22 I will meet with you there, ¹⁷  and ¹⁸  from above the atonement lid, from between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will command you for the Israelites.

Revelation 11:19

11:19 Then ¹⁹  the temple of God in heaven was opened and the ark of his covenant was visible within his temple. And there were flashes of lightning, roaring, ²⁰  crashes of thunder, an earthquake, and a great hailstorm. ²¹ 

[3:3]  ¹ sn The ark of the covenant refers to the wooden chest that symbolized God’s presence among his covenant people.

[3:3]  ² tn Heb “set out from your place.”

[3:3]  ³ tn Or “march.”

[3:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “But there should be a distance between you and it, about two thousand cubits in measurement.”

[3:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “do not approach it.”

[3:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “know.”

[25:16]  ⁷ sn The “testimony” is the Decalogue (Exod 24:12; 31:18; Deut 4:13; 9:9; 1 Kgs 8:9); the word identifies it as the witness or affirmation of God’s commandments belonging to his covenant with Israel. It expressed God’s will and man’s duty. In other cultures important documents were put at the feet of the gods in the temples.

[25:17]  ⁸ tn The noun is כַּפֹּרֶת (kapporet), translated “atonement lid” or “atonement plate.” The traditional translation “mercy-seat” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV) came from Tyndale in 1530 and was also used by Luther in 1523. The noun is formed from the word “to make atonement.” The item that the Israelites should make would be more than just a lid for the ark. It would be the place where atonement was signified. The translation of “covering” is probably incorrect, for it derives from a rare use of the verb, if the same verb at all (the evidence shows “cover” is from another root with the same letters as this). The value of this place was that Yahweh sat enthroned above it, and so the ark essentially was the “footstool.” Blood was applied to the lid of the box, for that was the place of atonement (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 269-270).

[25:17]  ⁹ tn After verbs of making or producing, the accusative (like “gold” here) may be used to express the material from which something is made (see GKC 371 §117.hh).

[25:18]  ¹⁰ tn The evidence suggests that the cherubim were composite angelic creatures that always indicated the nearness of God. So here images of them were to be crafted and put on each end of the ark of the covenant to signify that they were there. Ezekiel 1 describes four cherubim as each having human faces, four wings, and parts of different animals for their bodies. Traditions of them appear in the other cultures as well. They serve to guard the holy places and to bear the throne of God. Here they were to be beaten out as part of the lid.

[25:19]  ¹¹ tn The text now shifts to use an imperative with the vav (ו) conjunction.

[25:19]  ¹² tn The use of זֶה (zeh) repeated here expresses the reciprocal ideas of “the one” and “the other” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 26, §132).

[25:19]  ¹³ sn The angels were to form one piece with the lid and not be separated. This could be translated “of one piece with” the lid, but it is likely the angels were simply fastened to it permanently.

[25:20]  ¹⁴ tn The verb means “overshadowing, screening” in the sense of guarding (see 1 Kgs 8:7; 1 Chr 28:18; see also the account in Gen 3:24). The cherubim then signify two things here: by their outstretched wings they form the throne of God who sits above the ark (with the Law under his feet), and by their overshadowing and guarding they signify this as the place of atonement where people must find propitiation to commune with God. Until then they are barred from his presence. See U. Cassuto, Exodus, 330-35.

[25:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “their faces a man to his brother.”

[25:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the faces of the cherubim will be” (“the cherubim” was moved to the preceding clause for smoother English).

[25:22]  ¹⁷ sn Here then is the main point of the ark of the covenant, and the main point of all worship – meeting with God through atonement. The text makes it clear that here God would meet with Moses (“you” is singular) and then he would speak to the people – he is the mediator of the covenant. S. R. Driver (Exodus, 272) makes the point that the verb here is not the word that means “to meet by chance” (as in Exod 3:18), but “to meet” by appointment for a purpose (וְנוֹעַדְתִּי, vÿno’adti). The parallel in the NT is Jesus Christ and his work. The theology is that the Law condemns people as guilty of sin, but the sacrifice of Christ makes atonement. So he is the “place of propitiation (Rom 3:25) who gains communion with the Father for sinners. A major point that could be made from this section is this: At the center of worship must be the atoning work of Christ – a perpetual reminder of God’s righteous standard (the testimony in the ark) and God’s gracious provision (the atonement lid).

[25:22]  ¹⁸ tn The verb is placed here in the text: “and I will speak”; it has been moved in this translation to be closer to the direct object clause.

[11:19]  ¹⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence on events within the vision.

[11:19]  ²⁰ tn Or “sounds,” “voices.” It is not entirely clear what this refers to. BDAG 1071 s.v. φωνή 1 states, “In Rv we have ἀστραπαὶ καὶ φωναὶ καὶ βρονταί (cp. Ex 19:16) 4:5; 8:5; 11:19; 16:18 (are certain other sounds in nature thought of here in addition to thunder, as e.g. the roar of the storm?…).”

[11:19]  ²¹ tn Although BDAG 1075 s.v. χάλαζα gives the meaning “hail” here, it is not clear whether the adjective μεγάλη (megalh) refers to the intensity of the storm or the size of the individual hailstones, or both.