THE ARK
OF THE
COVENANT
The Ark of the Covenant was suggested by the following fragments from the Talmud:
Rabbi Eliezer saith: "The Ark hath gone into captivity unto Babylon, as ii is said, 'And at the return of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him (Jehoiachin) to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the House of the Lord.'"
Rabbi Simeon ben Yochai saith: "The Ark hath gone into captivity unto Babylon, as it is said, 'Nothing shall be left, saith the Lord.' This referreth to the Ten Words which were enshrined therein."
Rabbi Judah (ben Lakish) saith: "The Ark is hidden in its place, as it is said; 'That the ends of the staves were seen from the holy place before the oracle; but they were not seen without: and there they are unto this day.'"
And where it is written "unto this day," it is always understood to mean forever.
And the sages say, "The Ark was hidden in the chamber of the Wood Pile."
Rabbi Nachman bar Isaac saith: "I likewise have received a tradition. It is related of a priest, that, while wrapt in contemplation, he perceived that one of the stones of the pavement differed in appearance from the others. And he forthwith went to apprise his comrade; but be fore he had ended his words his soul went forth. And they knew of a truth that there the Ark was hidden."
There was a tradition with the disciples of Rabbi Ishmael, that two priests were examining the wood (to be burnt upon the altar}, when the axe of one fell, and a flame went forth and consumed him,—Yoma 53b, 54a.
. . . . There were thirteen places of prostration in the sanctuary. But in the time of Rabban Gamaliel and Rabbi Chanina, the second High Priest, they prostrated themselves at fourteen places, And where was the additional place? By the wood pile; for they had received a tradition from their fathers that the Ark was hidden there. It is related that a priest, while wrapt in contemplation, perceived that one of the stones differed in appearance from the others, And he forthwith went to apprise his comrade; but before he had ended his words, his soul went forth, And they knew of a truth that there the Ark was hidden.—Jerus. Shekalim, ch. 16.
Stanza 7, line 4. The Shechinah withdrew by ten stages—from the Mercy Seat to one Cherub, from one Cherub to the other, from the Cherub to the Threshold, from the Threshold to the Court, from the Court to the Altar, from the Altar to the Roof, from the Roof to the Wall, from the Wall to the City, from the City to the Mount, and from the Mount to the Wilderness. From the Wilderness it ascended and abode in its place, as it is said, "I will go and return unto My place."—Rosh ha-Shanah 31a.
The Ark of the Covenant
THERE is a legend full of joy and pain,
An old tradition told of former years,
When Israel built the Temple once again
And stayed his tears.
'Twas in the chamber where the Wood Pile lay,
The logs wherewith the altar's flame was fed;
There hope recalled the Light of vanished day,
The Light long fled.
A priest moved slowly o'er the marble floor,
Sorting the fuel in the chamber stored;
Frail was his form;—he ministered no more
Before the Lord.
Wrapt in still thought, with sad and mournful mien,
Plying his axe with oft a troubled sigh,
He dreamed of glory which the House had seen
In days gone by;
Mused of the time when in the Holy Place
God's Presence dwelt between the Cherubim,
And of the day He turned away His face,
And light grew dim;
When the Shechinah from that erring throng,
Alas, withdrew, yet tarried in the track,
As one who lingereth on the threshold long
And looketh back;
Then step by step in that reluctant flight
Approached the shadow of the city wall,
And lingered yet upen the mountain height
For hoped recall.
The Temple standing, pride of Israel's race,
Hath resting there no sacred Ark of Gold;
God's Glory filleth not the Holy Place
As once of old.
Surely the glory of the House is o'er;
Gone is the Presence, silent is the Voice;—
They who remember that which is no more,
Can they rejoice?
To him, so musing, sudden rapture came;
The axe fell from his trembling hand's control;
A fire leapt upward, and a burning flame
Woke in his soul.
His eyes had seen; his soul spoke; he had gazed
Upon one stone of that smooth marble plain:—
Lo! from its place it surely had been raised,
And set again.
Into his heart there flashed prophetic light;
With sudden force the secret was revealed;
What but one treasure, sacred in his sight,
Lay there concealed?
As one of Heaven bid who dare not wait,
With step grown firm as with the strength of youth,
He hastened to his comrade to relate
The wondrous truth.
With hand uplifted, and a light sublime
In eyes that full of some new wonder shone,
He seemed a holy seer of olden time
To look upon.
Yet from his parted lips no message came;
In silence reached he his immortal goal;
And from its dwelling in the earthly frame
Went forth his soul.
Soon o'er the house flew, murmuring, strange reports.
And men and women trembled at the sound,
And priests came swiftly from the sacred courts,
And thronged around.
And all these came from all their paths away,
In hurried gathering which none gainsaid,
And stood in utter silence where he lay,
The priestly dead.
Lo! in the hush the spirit, as it passed
Beyond the still form and the peaceful brow,
Seemed to speak audibly: "O Lord, at last!
I see Thee now.
"Mine eyes have seen this day my life's fair dream,
In this my death have seen that dream fulfilled—
The longing of my heart, the wish supreme
That grief instilled.
"I said, God's Ark is captive far away,
So wept I, Ichabod, for glory fled,
And mourned because the brightness of the day
Was quenched and dead.
"Yet, verily, if in a far-off land
The Ark of God in exile dwelleth still,
Yea, even so 'tis with the pure of hand
Who do His will.
"Know then, ye priests and Levites, Israel all,
Hid in its place the Ark of God doth lie,
His presence hath not gone beyond recall,
But bideth nigh.
"Haste, brethren, let the gates asunder burst;
Regain the Ark, the Covenant hold fast;
And by the glorious Second House, the First
Shall be surpassed!
"Behold, thou comest as the dawn of day!
Shechinah! changeless, to illume the night!
O Thou, Who art a lamp upon the way,
Who art the light!"
So sang his soul, with life's full radiance crowned;
So dawned again the shining of God's face:
For each heart knew the Ark could yet be found
Within its place.