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 will make an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits its length and a cubit and a half its width and a cubit and a half its height. And you will overlay it with pure gold, inside and outside you will overlay it, and you will make on it a gold molding all around. And you will cast for it four gold rings, and you will put them on its four feet, with two rings on its one side and two rings on its second side. And you will make poles of acacia wood, and you will overlay them with gold. And you will put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark with them. In the rings of the ark will be the poles; they will not be removed from it.And you will put into the ark the testimony that I will give to you.
"And you will make an atonement cover of pure gold, two and a half cubits its length and a cubit and a half its width. And you will make two cherubim of gold; you will make them of hammered work at the two ends of the atonement cover. And make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end of the atonement cover; you will make the cherubim on its two ends. And the cherubim will be with outspread wings above, covering with their wings over the atonement cover and facing each other; the faces of the cherubim will be toward the atonement cover. And you will put the atonement cover above onto the ark, and into the ark you will put the testimony that I will give you.
And I will meet you there, and I will speak with you from over the atonement cover, from between the two cherubim that are to be on the ark of the testimony—all that I will command you to the Israelites.
And Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits its length and a cubit and a half its width and a cubit and a half its height.
And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "On the first day of the month, you will set up the tabernacle of the tent of assembly. And you will put there the ark of the testimony, and you will cover over the ark with the curtain.
And he took and he put the testimony into the ark, and he placed the poles on the ark, and he put the atonement cover on the ark, above it. And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and he set up the curtain of the screening, and he shielded the ark of the testimony, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
And when Moses came to the tent of assembly to speak with him, he would hear the voice speaking to him from the atonement cover, which is on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim, and he would speak to him.
And so they set out from the mountain of Yahweh a journey of three days, with the ark of the covenant of Yahweh setting out ahead of them three days’ journey to search out a resting place for them; and the cloud of Yahweh was over them by day when they set out from the camp.
And whenever the ark was setting out Moses would say,
"Rise up, Yahweh!
May your enemies be scattered;
may the ones that hate you flee from your presence."
And when it rested he would say,
"Return, Yahweh,
to the countless thousands of Israel."
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the Israelites, and take from among them twelve staffs, a staff from each family from among all their leaders according to their families’ households. Write the name of each man on his staff, and the name of Aaron on the staff of Levi, because one staff is for the head of each of their families.You must then put them in the tent of assembly before the testimony where I meet with you. And it will happen, the man whom I will choose, his staff will blossom, and so I will rid from upon myself the grumblings of the Israelites, who are grumbling against you." Moses spoke to the Israelites, and all their leaders gave him a staff for each leader, one from each of their families, twelve staffs, and the staff of Aaron was in the midst of their tribes. And Moses put the staffs before Yahweh in the tent of testimony.
Then the next day, Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi blossomed and put forth a flower and produced blossoms, and it produced almonds. Then Moses brought out to all the Israelites all the staffs before the presence of Yahweh, and they saw, and each man took his staff. And Yahweh said to Moses, "Bring back the staff of Aaron before the testimony as a guard and sign for the children of rebellion, and let them finish their grumblings before me and not die." So Moses did; just as Yahweh commanded him, so he did.
And it happened, when the people set out from their tents to cross over the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant were ahead of the people.When those carrying the ark came up to the Jordan, and the priests carrying the ark dipped their feet in the edge of the water (the Jordan was flowing over its banks during all the days of harvest), the waters flowing down from above stood still; they stood up in one heap very far from Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, while the waters flowing down to the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho. And the priests carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh stood firmly on the dry land in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground, until all the nation finished crossing the Jordan.
And it happened that when the priests carrying the ark came up from the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet touched dry land, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and flowed over all its banks as before.
Now Jericho was shut up inside and out because of the presence of the Israelites; no one was going out or coming in. And Yahweh said to Joshua, "Look, I am giving Jericho into your hand, its king and the soldiers of the army. You will march around the city, all the warriors circling the city once; you will do so for six days. And seven priests will bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you will march around the city seven times, and the priests will blow on the trumpets. And when they blow long on the horn of the ram, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people will shout with a great war cry, and the wall of the city will fall flat, and the people will charge, each one straight ahead."So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests carry the trumpets of the rams’ horns before the ark of Yahweh." And he said to the people, "Go forward and march around the city, and let the armed men pass before the ark of Yahweh.
So the people shouted, and they blew on the trumpets. And when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, they raised a great shout, and the wall fell flat. The people charged, each one straight ahead into the city, and they captured it.
The Philistines lined up for the battle to meet Israel, and the battle was prolonged until Israel was defeated before the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the battlefield.When the army came back to the camp, the elders of Israel asked, "Why has Yahweh defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to us from Shiloh so that it may come into our midst and deliver us from the hand of our enemies." So the army sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the covenant of Yahweh of hosts who sits between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. Now when the ark of the covenant of Yahweh arrived at the camp, all Israel let out a loud shout so that the earth shook.
When the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said, "What is the noise of this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews?" Then they learned that the ark of Yahweh had come into the camp. So the Philistines were afraid, for they said, "God has come to the camp." And they said, "Woe to us, for this has never happened before!Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the same gods who struck the Egyptians with all sorts of plagues in the desert. Take courage and be men, you Philistines, lest you end up serving the Hebrews just like they have served you. Be men and fight!" So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated and each man fled to his tent, for the slaughter was very great. Thirty thousand foot soldiers from Israel fell. Furthermore, the ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
Now the hand of Yahweh was heavy against the Ashdodites and he destroyed them and struck them with tumors, both in Ashdod and its territories. The men of Ashdod saw that it was so, and they said, "The ark of the God of Israel should not remain with us, because his hand is harsh on us and on Dagon our god!" So they sent and gathered all the rulers of the Philistines to them, and they asked, "What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?" And they said, "Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around toward Gath." So they moved the ark of the God of Israel to Gath.
After they moved it, the hand of Yahweh was against the city, causing a very great confusion, and he struck the men of the city from the youngest to the oldest, causing tumors to break out on them. So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But when the ark of God came to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out, saying, "They have brought around the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people!" So they sent and gathered all the rulers of the Philistines, and they said, "Send away the ark of the God of Israel and let it return to its place, so that it will not kill us and our people." For a deadly confusion was throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.
Now the ark of Yahweh had been in the territory of the Philistines for seven months, and the Philistines called to the priests and to those who practiced divination, saying, "What should we do with the ark of Yahweh? Inform us how we should send it to its place." They said, "If you are sending the ark of the God of Israel away, you must not send it away empty, but by all means return it with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed and it will become known to you why his hand is not turned aside from you."
So the men did so; they took two milking cows and harnessed them to the utility cart, but they shut up their calves in the stall. Then they put the ark of Yahweh on the utility cart with the container holding the gold mice and the images of their tumors. The cows went straight on the way on the road to Beth Shemesh, on the one main road, lowing as they went. They did not turn aside to the right or to the left, and the rulers of the Philistines were walking after them up to the border of Beth Shemesh.
Now the people of Beth Shemesh were reaping the wheat harvest in the valley. They lifted their eyes and saw the ark, and they were glad to see it. The utility cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh and stopped there where there was a large stone. They split the wood of the utility cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to Yahweh. Then the Levites took down the ark of Yahweh and the container that was beside it, in which were the gold objects, and they set them on the large stone. Then the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings, and they made sacrifices to Yahweh on that day.
The men of Kiriath Jearim came and brought up the ark of Yahweh, and they brought it to the house of Abinadab in Gibeah. They consecrated Eleazer his son to guard the ark of Yahweh. From the day the ark stayed in Kiriath Jearim, days multiplied and became twenty years while all the house of Israel mourned after Yahweh.
It was told to King David, "Yahweh has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and all that is his because of the ark of God." So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David with jubilation. It happened that when the carriers of the ark of Yahweh had marched six steps that he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. Now David was dancing with all his might before Yahweh, and David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of Yahweh with shouts of joyful acclaim and with the sound of the trumpet.
At that time, Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the families of the Israelites before King Solomon, in order to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh from the city of David, that is, Zion. All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon at the festival in the month of Ethnaim, that is, the seventh month. All the elders of Israel came, and the priests carried the ark. So they brought up the ark of Yahweh and the tent of assembly and all of the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. King Solomon and all the assembly of Israel who were assembling with him in the presence of the ark were sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted nor numbered because of abundance. The priests brought the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim, for the cherubim were spreading their wings over the place of the ark. The cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles from above. The poles were long, and the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from the outside, and they are there until this day. There was not anything in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses had placed there at Horeb, where Yahweh made a covenant with the Israelites after they went out from the land of Egypt. When the priests went out from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of Yahweh. The priests were not able to stand to minister because of the presence of the cloud, for the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh.
"Return, apostate children," declares Yahweh. "For I am your master, and I will take you one from a city and two from a clan, and I will bring you to Zion. Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart and they will feed you knowledge and insight. And it will be when you have multiplied and become fruitful in the land in those days," declares Yahweh, "they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of Yahweh.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again.
Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and the earthly sanctuary. For a tent was prepared, the first one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the presentation of the loaves, which is called the holy place. And after the second curtain was a tent called the holy of holies, containing the golden incense altar and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which were a golden jar containing the manna and the rod of Aaron that budded and the tablets of the covenant. And above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat, about which it is not now possible to speak in detail.
And the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant appeared in his temple, and there were lightnings and sounds and thunders and an earthquake and large hail.