iv. Every student of OT who has realised to what extent the pre-exilic literature has been worked over by later editors, will appreciate the dilliculty, if not the impossibility, of gaining an accurate estimate of the conceptions entertained of tlie ark in the earliest times. So much depends also on the opinion we may form of the historical value of even our oldest sources. This much, however, seems clear. The ark is in these sources something more than a mere symbol of the divine presence. By the popular mind, at least, J" was conceived as actually residing in the ark, — a conviction clearly reflected in the ancient fragment, Nu 10^'''. That the ark was regarded as, in some sense, the abode of the Deity, is apparent also, as we saw above, from the early narratives in the Books of Samuel. Even by David himself, if we can tru.st the reading, the ark is still spoken of as God's habitation (2 S 15*»).
Only on the basis of this conception can we
• Viz. the outer coffin of Joseph's mummy (On 5038), and the chest set up by Jehoiada the priest in the temple (2 K 12*'^' = .MT lotr.).
t In 1 K 84 and is a late insertion (see 2 Ch 55). In many passages, such as 1 S 61^, the original practice baa been OAde to conform to the requirements of the priestly legislatioa
AKKITKS
AK-MEMAN VERSION
151
explain thu fact that in all the passaj;e3 we have Btudied, 'before tlie ark of J" is identical willi, or parallel to, 'before J"' Himself (cf. e.g. Jos C' with 6"). What is done in close proximity to the ark is everywhere represented as done in the presence of J", as sacrilice (2 S 6"), castinjr of lots (Jos 18«- '"), dancing (2 S ti"), and the like. With tlie !i read of more developed views of religion under the inlluenee of prophetic teaching, the import.inee of the ark undoubtedly decreased, a fact to which we may perhaps ascribe the silence of later writings regarding it. The ark in any case must be regarded as from the first a national and not a merely tribal sanctuary.! Its loss is bewailed as a national calamity (1 S 4"'-"). Nor does the writer see reason (even granted that 1 K 8' may be a gloss) for rejecting the ancient tradition which the author of lit, found in his sources, that the ark contained the tables oriyinally deposited there by Moses himself (lit lu-j. The view now generally adopted by continental writers, that if the ark really contained anything at all, it was a stone or stones of fetish origin, involves a conception of Moses and his teaching which the writer cannot share. On the other hand, the statement that the ark contained also the pot of manna and Aaron's rod that budded (Ue 9'), seems based on a late Jewish tradition.
LiTBRATi'RE. — The Comm. of Dillniann on Exodus, Driver OQ Dt, KlutiUmiann on Sam. and Kings ; the critical works o( Wellhausen and Driver on the text of tlie Books of Sam. ; the treatises on Heb. archeology of Benzingcr and Nowack (vol. ii.) ; articles in Stade's Zeitickryft by Kautzsch, 1880 ; Seyring, 18&1 ; and esp. Couard, 1892 (' Die reli^'iose nationale Bedeutg. der Lade'); also art. 'Bundeslade' in Kiehm's Uaiid- uart.^ ; Koatera in Thfot. Tij<Uchri/t, 1893 ; and K. Knetzschmar, Die Bundavortteliung im A.T. (189ti), c. 7, ' Die Bundeslade.'
A. R. S. Kennedy. ARKITES Cpiv, Gn 10", 1 Ch 1"), represented &.S descendants of Canaan, founders of the Phcen. city of Arka, in later times Ciesarea Libani, birth- place of the Koinan emperor Alexander Severus, aliout 12 miles N. of TnpolLs. Arka is also men- tioned in the inscription of Tiglath-pile-ser II. as one of the towns reduced by that monarch (Schrader, Cun I 87, 240). Jos. {Ant. l. vl 2) states that Ariicas, one of the sons of Canaan, possessed Arce, situated at the N.W. base of the Leoanon. It was 8till a place of consiilerable importance in the Middle Ages, and 8U.stained a severe sie^'e in A.D. li:{8, but was taken by tlie CriLiaders. Its site is now marked by the ruins of Tell Arka. See Schurer, ilJP L ii 2U1 f. J. MaCPHERSON.
ARM (!fii\ zer/ln'), the outstretched arm ; also the straight foreleg of an animal 1. As a unit of meiLsurement arm follows the hand with its digit, palm, span, and gives ,the standard length called the 'amvuih (see Weights and Measures, a.v. 'cubit'). As this seems to have varied from 17 '6 in. to26'I9, it is possible that besides the reckon- ing of the fore-arm, there was another of the arm's-length, the latter corresponding to the modern Arab, dhird'a, 24 in. The kindred Arab, word for full-arm (d/uird'a) also means, like the tig. use of zertin, capacity, inlluenee, power. 2. Fiff. ust of Arm. — Among Orientals the extended arm is a familiar sign of animation and action. During the excitement of discussion, it is an understood prelude to speech, and implies the possession of something tliat ought to be heard. Throughout the Hihie the a. is an expressive emblem of power to direct, control, seize, overcome, and hence also describes the purpose, either of punishment or protection, towards which the power is emiiloyed.
Thus the Exoilus is freq. referred to as tlie 'out-