Our art, whether paintings by the masters, or movies made by Hollywood moguls like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, have given us a consistent image of how the Ark of the Covenant should appear. What many don’t know, is that their inspiration has always been the extremely detailed description provided in the Bible. Exodus describes it in detail:
“They shall construct an ark of acacia wood two and a half cubits long, and one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits high. You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and you shall make a gold molding around it. You shall cast four gold rings for it and fasten them on its four feet, and two rings shall be on one side of it and two rings on the other side of it. You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry the ark with them. The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be removed from it. You shall put into the ark the testimony which I shall give you. You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. You shall make two cherubim of gold, make them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat at its two ends. The cherubim shall have their wings spread upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings and facing one another; the faces of the cherubim are to be turned toward the mercy seat. You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony which I will give to you. There I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel.”
Those who believe, will not doubt that the Israelites followed their instructions to the letter, as did generations of artists.
What many, if not most, have overlooked, is the prophecy delivered by the Lord in Jeremiah 3:16-17, in which He tells of a time when the Ark will have been forgotten, there no need to remember it, as all man will be united under Him in Jerusalem.
And what better way to forget something that has been lost, than to destroy it before it can ever be rediscovered?