TABERXACLE
TABERNACLE
66t
of incense* and the ark of the covenant.' The same verse contains a similar divergent tradition rej^arding tlie contents of the ark (see next section).
IX. The Fuu.viTunB of the Most Holy Place. —The Ark and the Propitiatory (Ex 25'°-"=37'-» [Gr. 38'"] ; Jos. Ant. III. vi. 5).— Within the Most Holy Place stood in solitary majesty the sacred ark, on which rested the iiroiiitiatory or niercy- Beat with its overarching ctieruliim. The histor}' of the ancient palladium of the Hebrew tribes, 'the ark of J" of the older writers, has been given under Ark. We have here a more elabor- ate shrine, to which P gives by preference the designation 'ark of the testimony' (nnyrr [hx au-"^ and often, ij Ki/Swrdy tov fiaprvpiov), a phrase parallel to and synonymous with that favoured by Deut. and the "Ueuteronomistic editors, ' ark of the cove- nant.' In both cases the ark was so named as containing the Decalogue (nnin ' the testimony,' 2510. 31)^ written on ' the tables of testimony ' (31'»). The ark itself sometimes receives the simple title 'the testimony' (IG** etc.) ; and the tabernacle, as we have seen (§ iii.), as in its turn containinj; the ark, is named 'the dwelling of the testimony' and 'the tent of the testimony.' t See Testimony.
The ark of P is an oblong chest of acacia wood overlaid within and without with gold, 24 cubits in length, and I J in breadth and height (i.e. 5x3 x3 half - cubits). Each of its sides is finished with a strip of cable or ogee moulding (n:, EV 'crown,' see § viii. (a)) of solid gold in the same manner as the top of the table of shewbread ; with this ditlerence, however, that in the former the upper line of moulding must have projected teyond the plane of the top of the ark, probably to the extent of the thickness of the propitiatory, in Older tliat the latter, with its cherubim, might remain ir jilace during the march. Witliin the sacred chest was to be de])Ositcd 'the testimony' jv.'*) or Decalogue, as already explained. Before it — not within it, as a later tradition suppo.sed (He 9') — were afterwards jilaced a |>ot of manna (Ex 10™'-) and Aaron's rod that budcled (Nu IT'").
Distinct from but resting upon the ark, and of the same superficial dimensions (2^ x IJ cubits), was a slab of solid gold, to which the name knpjiorcth is given (only in P and 1 Ch 28" EV ' mercy -seat').
The familiar rcnderintt ' mercy-seat,' first uswl by Tindalo, (oltowintc Luther's ihiadfnxtuhl (cf. .Siikwbrkad, g i.)j noee hack to that of the oldest \SS {l..\.\ iKcLffTiptov, VllI;,^ pn>ptliatorium) — and IB based 011 the eecondary and teclitiicai sense of the root-verb hed, viz. ' to make propitiation ' for ein. Hence the Wyclif-llereford reiiderin(f 'propitiatory,' derived from Jerome, la preferable ^<^ Tindule's 'mercy -seat.' In our opinion the renderini; • propitiatory ' must be maintained. The alternative 'coverinit' (KVm) adopted in preference by so many modern,
farticularly Uerman, scholars (cf. iT.(/iaa in Or. of Ex 21^"^, and hilo. np. cit. [ed. Man^'ey, ii. 160] iT.«i^^« irttwtl wHum [a lid)), is open to two serious objections. On the one hand it is based on the still unproved uisumptton that the primary si^'nitication of lED w»s ' to cover," t and on the other hand the kapporeth waji in no sense the lid or cover of the ark, which was a chest or coffer complete in itself. Dillmann and others have unsuccess- fully attempted a ma nuilia by taking kai'imnUi in the sense of a protective coverinif (Sc/iutztlach, DeckpliiUe, etc.^ See, further, Deissmann, Bible Studies [Eng. tr.j, p. VliQ.
Near the ends of the propitiatory stood, facing each other, two small § emblematic figures, the cherubim, of the same material and workmanship
• So KVm and American UV in text for xf^*^' 6v^i^r%f,tf with most recent interpreters ; AV and UV 'a i^olden censer.'
t Id the art. Ark (8 1.) attention was brielly called to the three sets of designations of the ark characteristic of the early, the Dcutcronomic, and the priestly writers restjectivelv, of which all the other OT titles, some twenty in all, arc merely variations and expansions. See for later discus-sions II. P. Bmkh.Samuel.Si; 'Ark' \a JSnci^c. Bil/t,I.S00t.; Mcinhold, Du; Ladf JaJtret, 2 ft
J The most recent research seems to point In favour of the •Iteniatlvc ' to wipe oil ' ; sec Zimmem, Beilniqe zxir Kmntni*e a. ba),yl. Heligion, 92 ; Ilaupt In JDL, xLx. (IBi'lo) (il, BO.
i It must D« noted that, with bodies bent and wings out- stretched, the cherubim were accommodated on a surface less than 4 ft. from end to end.
as the golden lampstand, viz. 'beaten' or ripoussi work (irfp, xpvaoTop(vTa) of pure gold. Being securely soldered to the propitiatory they ara reckoned as 'of one piece' with it (v.'»). Each cherub was furni.<;hed, like the larger and diflerently placed cherul)im of Solomon's temple (I K e'^"-), with a pair of wings whicli met overhead, while their faces were bent downwards towards the propitiatory. Whatever may have been their significance in primitive Hebrew mythology, the cherubim as here introduced, like the kindred sera- jiliim in Isaiah's vision, are the angelic ministers of J", gu.iniiiig in the attitude of adoration the throne of His earthly glory (cf. liuok of Enoch, ed. Charles, 71"). The propitiatory, with the over- arching cherubim, wa.s, in truth, the innermost shrine of the wilderness sanctuary, for it was at once J"'s earthly and the footstool of His heavenly throne* (cf. 1 L\\ 2S'-'). Not at the tent door, as in the earlier representation (Ex 33'"), but 'from above the propitiatory, from between the cherubim ' (25-"''), will J" henceforth commune with His servant Mo.se3 (30'). 'There, in the darkness and the silence, he listened to the Voice ' (Nu 7").