Contents of the Ark of the Covenant

[NHInsider]

I was struck in yesterday’s reading from 1 Kings by the statement “There was nothing in the Ark but the two stone tablets which Moses had put there at Horeb” As we all know, Moses was told to place in the Ark the Tablets, Aaron’s rod that had budded, designating him as the High Priest, and a jar of manna. And most of us recognize the significance of these items when we speak of Mary, Ark of the New Covenant, in whom was carried the High Priest, the Bread from Heaven, the Incarnate Word.

As far as I know, there is no explanation in Scripture of how the manna and the rod came to be missing by the time of the building of the Temple. Did the Philistines nick them when they peeked into the Ark? Did some misguided housekeeper toss them? (No, I am not serious . . .)

I wonder what studies have been done on this subject? I don’t ever recall having read any discussion of it.

I cannot help but think of the image of the faith of our non-Catholic brethren, retaining only the Word, having lost the truth of the Eucharist and the Eternal Offering.

Would be interested in others’ thoughts or quotes from ECF etc. . . .

 

[NotWorthy]

There is no mention in the Old Testament regarding the budding rod of Aaron’s being placed in the Ark. The author of Hebrews (I believe) is the only one to mention this fact.

So what happened to the Manna and the Rod? Who knows. I’m not aware of any Jewish commentaries that talk of this omission.

 

[NHInsider]

So I’m not alone in my ignorance, that’s comforting. . . .

BTW I believe the verse that is believed to support the Rod being preserved in the Ark is Numbers 17:10.

 

[Fidelis]

So I’m not alone in my ignorance, that’s comforting. . . .

BTW I believe the verse that is believed to support the Rod being preserved in the Ark is Numbers 17:10.

That’s right: it says that Moses ordered the rod of Aaron to be kept forever “before the testimony” (the “testimony” was the tablets of the Law placed in the Ark; cf. Exodus 40:20). Scripture says the same thing about the jar of manna in Exodus 16:33.

The passage in question from Hebrews is chapter 9, verses 3 and 4.

I’m speculating that, between the time of Moses and Paul, the Jewish rabbis had dertimined that “before the testimony” was equivalent to being in the Ark with the testimony. Rabbinically trained St. Paul would have no reason to make something like this up, especially in the context of what he was discussing in Hebrews (Yes, I beleive St. Paul wrote the letter to the Hebrews, So, sue me )…

 

[patrick457]

That’s right: it says that Moses ordered the rod of Aaron to be kept forever “before the testimony” (the “testimony” was the tablets of the Law placed in the Ark; cf. Exodus 40:20). Scripture says the same thing about the jar of manna in Exodus 16:33.

The passage in question from Hebrews is chapter 9, verses 3 and 4.

I’m speculating that, between the time of Moses and Paul, the Jewish rabbis had dertimined that “before the testimony” was equivalent to being in the Ark with the testimony. Rabbinically trained St. Paul would have no reason to make something like this up, especially in the context of what he was discussing in Hebrews (Yes, I beleive St. Paul wrote the letter to the Hebrews, So, sue me )…

Hey, another possibility is that the jar and the rod were only put inside the Ark of the Covenant when transporting it, but were usually kept literally in the space in front of the Ark at times when the Tabernacle is set up. Or that they were originally kept in the space before the Ark but later placed within it for safekeeping. At any rate, the jar is never mentioned again outside of Exodus 16:33f and we never hear of Aaron’s almond-blossoming rod anymore outside of Numbers 17. If the Ark did contain other objects, it would seem that they were eventually lost as time passed - all except for the tablets.

Yet another interpretation I came across points out that when God commanded manna to be placed in a jar, the Ark and the Tabernacle did not yet exist - hence “before YHWH” simply meant that the jar was placed before whatever item or place the Israelites used to symbolize the Divine presence before the Tabernacle and its furnishings were built. When all was constructed, the jar was then deposited inside the chest.

Whichever may hold true does not really matter IMHO: the author of Hebrews was after all just using an illustration to convey a more bigger point; he is not really concerned with giving a thorough and extremely accurate description of the Tabernacle’s furnishings. As is common in the Middle-Eastern mind, the little details might be understated or overstated or even misstated, not because the speaker is being a liar or deceiving his listeners, but rather because the bigger picture is given more importance.

Interestingly though, I have read that while rabbinic tradition records a number of objects supposedly kept inside the Ark, it never included the two items that the sacred writer of Hebrews mentioned. The items were: two silver columns which supported the tablets of the Law, the original set of tablets which Moses broke, a copy of the Torah*, and the Names of God which the high priest invoked when he was before the Ark’s presence.

*There was a dilemma that the rabbis (and later, Rashi) faced when they read the passage which says, “take this scroll of the law and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD, your God, that there it may be a witness against you” (Deuteronomy 31:26 NAB): they were unsure whether it meant that the scroll was placed in some sort of device that enabled it to be literally ‘beside’ the Ark at all times, say, a shelf, or whether the scroll was actually inside the chest.