Contemplative Bible Reading

1 Kings 8:6 (New International Version)

The priests then brought the ark of the LORD’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim.

The ark of the covenant. That was made famous by the movie with Harrison Ford – Raiders of the Lost Ark. I guess Charlton Heston was too old by then, but I digress.

Let’s move past the movie trivia. What struck me here is the phrase

the ark of the Lord’s covenant

An ark is a type of container. Sometimes it is a flatboat for a barge.

This ark contained the Lord’s covenant, His agreement with His people.

At this time, the only thing in the ark were the stone tablets containing the ten commandments

1 Kings 8:9 There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.

These tablets were the foundation of the agreement and they symbolized the entire agreement. The people had other copies written on other materials, but this copy was the most treasured.

Things are different today. We live by the New Testament or the new covenant, the new agreement. It is the story of the good news of Jesus Christ and His saving grace. We don’t carry it around in a special container of the agreement. Instead, we strive to carry it in our hearts. Of course we can pick up a printed copy at just about any department store and book store.

God, help me to be the container of the agreement. Help me not to contain it, but to share it and live it.