A Simple Wooden Box

Looking closely at the centerpiece of the tabernacle

Read or Listen: Exodus 25:10-22, Exodus 37:1-9

The most important part of the tabernacle was the ark of the covenant. As we looked at earlier, it was constructed by Bezalel, the chief craftsman and teacher of all the other craftsmen. But what is this ark? The ark is the place where God meets His people, where heaven and earth touch.

We can learn a lot about the ark and what it represents by the details given in its construction. First, it’s a vessel designed to contain the tablets of the law, written by God’s hand. Unlike a statue that might reside in the holiest place of other temples, It has a function. 

Second, it’s constructed out of wood, and covered with gold. In many places of worship, that might have been a common practice, because it saves weight and money. It’s virtually certain that this was how they made the 90’ tall statue in Daniel chapter 3, but we don’t know for sure - because most of the time the construction details of such items are kept private. The regular people who rarely see and never touch these items are made to believe it’s solid gold. 

Gold is valued for its rarity, but also for its purity and beauty, and it has many other interesting qualities. One such quality is that it can be hammered out extremely thin without losing its integrity. A single ounce of gold can be flattened into a foil that covers 300 square feet. To cover the ark of the covenant, inside and out, would only require about 70 square feet. That means a piece of gold about the size of a quarter would be enough to do the job.

Some of the other qualities of Gold are that it is extremely heavy, and soft. The gold bars you see in movies, stacked inside bank vaults are about the size of a brick. But while a typical brick weighs about 4 pounds, each gold bar weighs over 27! And because of the softness of gold, to construct something as large as the ark of solid gold, the sides would have to be quite thick to keep their shape. 

But wood is an entirely different product. It’s extremely abundant. Trees turn sunlight into something we can eat, hold and work with. Acacia wood in particular can grow in places with little water, yet it is extremely durable. Wood is not perfect however. It can deteriorate if exposed to moisture, and insects and fungus can cause it to fail faster. A coating or covering can make it last much longer. 

The combination of the gold and the wood compliments each other perfectly. The strength and lightness of the wood, protected and enhanced with the purity and beauty of gold. 

We tend to like thinking in categories of “good” and “bad”, but God challenges us to consider why we are impressed with gold, and disappointed with wood. God planted trees in the garden, and He designed them in such a way that we would never be without them. As I wrote in another place, wood plays a very important role in the story of our redemption. But God takes the common, and covers it with glory. This is true of the ark, and it is true of us as well. 

This is just to scratch the surface of what we can glean from close reading. The point is not to be overly spiritual, but to realize that God thinks of everything, and everything He says or does will stand up to our biggest questions. His Word is a lot more sturdy than a solid gold box.