Ark of the Covenant, ARK OF THE TESTIMONY, or ARK OF JEHOVAH, among the ancient Israelites, an oblong box of acacia-wood, overlaid with gold within and without, two cubits and a half (3 ft. 9 in.) in length, one cubit and a half (2 ft. 3 in.) in breadth and height, in which was deposited the 'testimony,' the law of the ten commandments inscribed on two stone tablets. (In Hebrews, ix. 4, mention is also made of the pot of manna and Aaron's rod.) The lid of the mercy-seat was of gold, and had at each end a cherub, between which was the place of the Shechinah or visible manifestation symbolical of the Divine presence. Rings also were fastened to the ark, through which were inserted the staves by which it was carried, after being covered with a curtain of badgers' skins, with a blue cloth over all. Alike in the tabernacle and in the temple it was put into the 'most holy place,' into which, on the 'day of atonement,' the high-priest was to enter alone. The desire of the Israelites to have the ark in the army, and its solemn conveyance to the new capital in David's time, have been interpreted by some critics as revealing a somewhat sensuous conception of Jehovah as actually having his residence within it. This is but little in harmony with the spiritual idea of Jehovah found in the prophets, and it is significant that the ark is only once alluded to by them, and that in a very peculiar manner (Jer. iii. 16). The ark and the mercy-seat have long held an important place in the orthodox interpretation of Old Testament typology.
Professor Sayce in his Hibbert Lectures (1887) pointed out a close parallel to the Israelitish ark in the Babylonian papakhu borne on men's shoulders in procession at festivals. These 'arks' filled an important place in the Babylonian ritual. They had all special names, and were the visible abodes of the gods to which they belonged. The papakhu, however, was not the original form, but merely a Semitic development of the ma or 'ship' of the pre-Semitic Sumerians. The latter was furnished with helm, oar, and mast, thus pointing back to a hoary antiquity when the first worshippers who used them dwelt by the sea-shore, as did the inhabitants of the old Chaldee city Eridu, on the shores of the Persian Gulf—whence the religion of primitive Babylonia first spread. For the Ark of Noah, see DELUGE.