Exodus 40:34-38
Moses, the man who spent 80 days talking to God on Sinai, could not go into the Holy Place when God’s presence was too strong. How much less are we able approach God directly? Moses was a foreshadow of the Messiah, Yeshua. Moses could not go into the Holy Place when God’s presence was too strong there, but the rest of the Children of Israel could not go in at all. We need a mediator to allow us to approach God. Moses (and the High Priest) was a type of the Messiah, Yeshua. Only they could approach God here on Earth, and even then not whenever they felt like it. Since there is no Temple or Tabernacle here on earth now, Yeshua is our only High Priest in the Tabernacle in Heaven. He is the cover over the tabernacle of our hearts and our mediator before the Father.
1 Kings 8:8-9
When the priests placed the Ark into the Temple for the first time, they pulled the staves part way out so they extended through the veil into the main sanctuary. This either indicates that the might not have been parallel with the veil as in most recreations, but perpendicular, or else that the staves were mounted on the left and right instead of the front and back of the Ark. I suspect the latter was true, so that when it was carried, God’s throne could face either forward or back towards the people. It wouldn’t make much sense for the throne to face left or right. It was probably very dark behind the veil, and the priest might have needed some way to feel his way to the Ark. Alternatively, this could represent how God reaches through the veil to us, because we cannot reach through it to him. I prefer the latter explanation, but I don’t know what is correct.
Another interesting thing is that Kings says only the two tablets of the Law were in the Ark at this time. It could be that the Philistines removed the rod and the pot of manna when the Ark was in their possession, or it could be that those things were never in the Ark at all. Some believe that they were placed before the Ark instead of inside of it. In a way that makes much more sense, since the Ark was quite short compared to a walking or shepherd’s staff as Aaron’s must have been. The idea that the rod represents God’s authority and guidance, while the manna represents God’s providence is not harmed either way. They are in our hearts with God’s Law or they are before our hearts, while the interior is reserved as a special place for the Law. Either way works for me.
Update 2007/03/21: Edited for one error and added a bit to the paragraph re the orientation of the Ark.
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