Arca da aliança
A Arca da Aliança era o símbolo mais sagrado de Israel — representava a presença de Deus no meio do seu povo. Sobre ela brilhava a glória do Senhor entre os querubins.
And they are to construct an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it.
Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, two rings on one side and two on the other. And make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, in order to carry it. The poles are to remain in the rings of the ark; they must not be removed. And place inside the ark the Testimony, which I will give you.
And you are to construct a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. Make two cherubim of hammered gold at the ends of the mercy seat, one cherub on one end and one on the other, all made from one piece of gold. And the cherubim are to have wings that spread upward, overshadowing the mercy seat. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the mercy seat.
Set the mercy seat atop the ark and put the Testimony that I will give you into the ark.
And I will meet with you there above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony; I will speak with you about all that I command you regarding the Israelites.
Bezalel went on to construct the ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high.
Then the LORD said to Moses, "On the first day of the first month you are to set up the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting. Put the ark of the Testimony in it and screen off the ark with the veil.
Moses took the Testimony and placed it in the ark, attaching the poles to the ark; and he set the mercy seat atop the ark. Then he brought the ark into the tabernacle, put up the veil for the screen, and shielded off the ark of the Testimony, just as the LORD had commanded him.
When Moses entered the Tent of Meeting to speak with the LORD, he heard the voice speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the mercy seat on the ark of the Testimony. Thus the LORD spoke to him.
So they set out on a three-day journey from the mountain of the LORD, with the ark of the covenant of the LORD traveling ahead of them for those three days to seek a resting place for them. And the cloud of the LORD was over them by day when they set out from the camp.
Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say,
"Rise up, O LORD!
May Your enemies be scattered;
may those who hate You flee before You."
And when it came to rest, he would say:
"Return, O LORD,
to the countless thousands of Israel."
And the LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and take from them twelve staffs, one from the leader of each tribe. Write each man’s name on his staff, and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi, because there must be one staff for the head of each tribe. Place the staffs in the Tent of Meeting in front of the Testimony, where I meet with you. The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid Myself of the constant grumbling of the Israelites against you."
So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff — one for each of the leaders of their tribes, twelve staffs in all. And Aaron’s staff was among them. Then Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the Tent of the Testimony.
The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Testimony and saw that Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted, put forth buds, blossomed, and produced almonds. Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the LORD’s presence to all the Israelites. They saw them, and each man took his own staff.
The LORD said to Moses, "Put Aaron’s staff back in front of the Testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebellious, so that you may put an end to their grumbling against Me, lest they die." So Moses did as the LORD had commanded him.
So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carried the ark of the covenant ahead of them.
Now the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest season. But as soon as the priests carrying the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the flowing water stood still. It backed up as far upstream as Adam, a city in the area of Zarethan, while the water flowing toward the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel crossed over the dry ground, until the entire nation had crossed the Jordan.
When the priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD came up out of the Jordan and their feet touched the dry land, the waters of the Jordan returned to their course and overflowed all the banks as before.
Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.
And the LORD said to Joshua, "Behold, I have delivered Jericho into your hand, along with its king and its mighty men of valor. March around the city with all the men of war, circling the city one time. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry seven rams’ horns in front of the ark. Then on the seventh day, march around the city seven times, while the priests blow the horns. And when there is a long blast of the ram’s horn and you hear its sound, have all the people give a mighty shout. Then the wall of the city will collapse and all your people will charge straight into the city."
So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said, "Take up the ark of the covenant and have seven priests carry seven rams’ horns in front of the ark of the LORD."
And he told the people, "Advance and march around the city, with the armed troops going ahead of the ark of the LORD."
So when the rams’ horns sounded, the people shouted. When they heard the blast of the horn, the people gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed. Then all the people charged straight into the city and captured it.
The Philistines arrayed themselves against Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who struck down about four thousand men on the battlefield.
When the troops returned to the camp, the elders of Israel asked, "Why has the LORD brought defeat on us before the Philistines today? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Shiloh, so that it may go with us to save us from the hand of our enemies."
So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the LORD of Hosts, who sits enthroned between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
When the ark of the covenant of the LORD entered the camp, all the Israelites raised such a great shout that the ground shook.
On hearing the noise of the shout, the Philistines asked, "What is this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews?"
And when they realized that the ark of the LORD had entered the camp, the Philistines were afraid. "The gods have entered their camp!" they said. "Woe to us, for nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness. Take courage and be men, O Philistines! Otherwise, you will serve the Hebrews just as they served you. Now be men and fight!"
So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great — thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
Now the hand of the LORD was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity, ravaging them and afflicting them with tumors. And when the men of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, "The ark of the God of Israel must not stay here with us, because His hand is heavy upon us and upon our god Dagon."
So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and asked, "What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?"
"It must be moved to Gath," they replied. So they carried away the ark of the God of Israel.
But after they had moved the ark to Gath, the LORD’s hand was also against that city, throwing it into great confusion and afflicting the men of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors.
So they sent the ark of God to Ekron, but as it arrived, the Ekronites cried out, "They have brought us the ark of the God of Israel in order to kill us and our people!"
Then the Ekronites called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, "Send away the ark of the God of Israel. It must return to its place, so that it will not kill us and our people!"
For a deadly confusion had pervaded the city; the hand of God was very heavy upon it.
When the ark of the LORD had been in the land of the Philistines seven months, the Philistines summoned the priests and diviners, saying, "What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us how to send it back to its place."
They replied, "If you return the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it away empty, but by all means return it to Him with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why His hand has not been lifted from you."
So the men did as instructed. They took two milk cows, hitched them to the cart, and penned up their calves. Then they put the ark of the LORD on the cart, along with the chest containing the gold rats and the images of the tumors.
And the cows headed straight up the road toward Beth-shemesh, staying on that one highway and lowing as they went, never straying to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed behind them to the border of Beth-shemesh.
Now the people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they were overjoyed at the sight.
The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there near a large rock. The people chopped up the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD. And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD and the chest containing the gold objects, and they placed them on the large rock. That day the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the LORD.
Then the men of Kiriath-jearim came for the ark of the LORD and took it into Abinadab’s house on the hill. And they consecrated his son Eleazar to guard the ark of the LORD.
And from that day a long time passed, twenty years in all, as the ark remained at Kiriath-jearim. And all the house of Israel mournfully sought the LORD.
Now it was reported to King David, "The LORD has blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God."
So David went and had the ark of God brought up from the house of Obed-edom into the City of David with rejoicing. When those carrying the ark of the LORD had advanced six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf.
And David, wearing a linen ephod, danced with all his might before the LORD, while he and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and the sounding of the ram’s horn.
At that time Solomon assembled before him in Jerusalem the elders of Israel — all the tribal heads and family leaders of the Israelites — to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Zion, the City of David. And all the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the feast in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim.
When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark, and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the Tent of Meeting with all its sacred furnishings. So the priests and Levites carried them up.
There, before the ark, King Solomon and the whole congregation of Israel who had assembled with him sacrificed so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.
Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, beneath the wings of the cherubim. For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its poles.
The poles extended far enough that their ends were visible from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are there to this day.
There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD had made a covenant with the Israelites after they had come out of the land of Egypt.
And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD so that the priests could not stand there to minister because of the cloud. For the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.
"Return, O faithless children," declares the LORD, "for I am your master, and I will take you — one from a city and two from a family — and bring you to Zion. Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding."
"In those days, when you multiply and increase in the land," declares the LORD, "they will no longer discuss the ark of the covenant of the LORD. It will never come to mind, and no one will remember it or miss it, nor will another one be made.
Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. A tabernacle was prepared. In its first room were the lampstand, the table, and the consecrated bread. This was called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, containing the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. Inside the ark were the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. Above the ark were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.
Then the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple. And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a great hailstorm.