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Your Bible Questions Answered

April 28, 2024

As we continue our look at the subject of the Ark of the Covenant, we now arrive at Episode Five. "What was the Purpose of the Ark?" This is from our book, "In Search of the Lost Ark, the Quest For The Ark of the Covenant." It can be found as a free download from our website educatingourworld under the heading of Bible prophecy.

There have been various theories put forward with respect to the purpose of the Ark.

1. A container where the Lord, the God of Israel, dwelt.

2. An idea borrowed from other nations.

3. A “talisman” or “good luck” charm.

4. A device that Moses constructed with advanced scientific knowledge.

5. An ancient war machine.

6. A container for the Ten Commandments as well as a representation of God’s presence.

As we noted, there is no evidence whatsoever for Views 1-5. View 6 is the biblical view and the correct view.

Indeed, though there have been many different attempts to discern the purpose of the Ark, the only view that fits the facts is the biblical explanation.

The Ark was a container for the Ten Commandments—the covenant between God and His people. More than that, it was symbolic of the presence and character of God. He did not exist only there, but He revealed Himself from that sacred object. The Ark represented God’s presence in the midst of His people. The Lord told Moses:

I will meet with you there, and from above the atonement lid, from between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will command you for the Israelites (Exodus 25:22 NET).

To those who consider the Ark merely some human-made superstitious object and who reject the God of Israel and His sacred artifact, we offer them the comments of the psalmist:

Why do the nations rage? Why do the people waste their time with futile plans? The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the LORD and against his anointed one. “Let us break their chains,” they cry, “and free ourselves from this slavery.” But the one who rules in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them (Psalm 2:1-4 NLT).

The Lord indeed scoffs at those who attempt to make plans against Him and His Anointed One, Jesus.

He also laughs at those who try to explain away this sacred object which He Himself ordered to be created, the Ark of the Covenant.

In the following episode, we will move on to our next section, "The History of the Ark of The Covenant."

Your Bible Questions Answered

May 3, 2024

As we continue with our study of the Ark of the Covenant, we come to a tragic event in its history, namely, the capture of the Ark by the Philistines. On the positive side, we are introduced to one of the greatest characters in Israel's history, Samuel. We find that he had been dedicated to the Lord by his mother Hannah. He was staying with the High Priest Eli at the Shiloh where the Ark was housed. This chapter gives us a precious incident where the Lord Himself spoke to you Samuel who initially thought it was Eli. Samuel's eventual response was, "Speak Lord, your servant is listening." A great lesson for us as how we are to react when the Lord is speaking to us. In this context, we are told that Israel went out to battle against the Philistines and were soundly defeated. Sadly, back in the camp, some of the leaders came up with the terrible idea of bringing the Ark with them into the next battle. They assumed that this would guarantee victory. The Philistines were needlessly fearful when the Ark arrived in Israel's camp. While the Ark symbolically represented the Lord Himself, the Lord was not living inside of it. Hence Israel was defeated and the Ark came into the hands of the pagan Philistines. Add to this, the two worthless sons of Eli, Phineas and Hophni, died in the battle. When word reach Eli that the battle was lost, that his sons had died, and the Ark was taken he fell over backwards and died. It was hearing about losing the Ark that cause his death. The wife of Phineas was giving brith at the tine to a son. She was also overwhelmed by the loss of the Ark to the point where she died in childbirth. Before she died, she named the child "Ichabod," the glory has departed from Israel. Indeed, it had. The people trusted in the Ark as a "good luck charm" rather than in the Lord Himself. As we will see in our next episode, while the Ark was now in the hands of the Philistines, it would not be something that was magical or even helpful to them. Indeed, the opposite would be the case.

Your Bible Questions Answered

May 2, 2024

We continue with our examination of the subject of the Ark of the Covenant. We've come to Episode 9 which is also chapter 9 in our book, In Search of the Lost Ark: The Quest For The Ark of the Covenant. The chapter is titled "Battling for the Promised Land." This book is a free download from our website educatingourworld and is found under the category of Bible Prophecy. We read the following.... We recall that God had promised Abraham that the entire land of Canaan would belong to his descendants. Jericho was the first city of the Promised Land to be conquered. After Jericho was destroyed, Joshua set his sights on the smaller city of Ai (pronounced eye). With the success at Jericho, it seemed that victory at Ai would be a simple matter. This, however, would not be the case. The People Went Fighting Without The Lord If Joshua thought that having the Ark of the Covenant would be an automatic guarantee for victory in battle, he would soon learn differently. The Bible describes what happened as follows: Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” And the men went up and spied out Ai. Then they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Not all the people need go up; about two or three thousand men should go up and attack Ai. Since they are so few, do not make the whole people toil up there” (Joshua 7:2,3 NRSV UE). The victory at Jericho was not won because of the superior fighting ability of Israel but because of the power of the Lord. Unfortunately, the overconfident people went to fight the battle with Ai without consulting Him. Scripture says: So about three thousand men went up there from the people, but they fled before the men of Ai (Joshua 7:4 NKJV). The army was defeated at Ai. The main reason for the defeat was that one of the Israelites, a man named Achan, took some of the booty from the destroyed city of Jericho. God had commanded that Jericho be utterly destroyed with no spoils taken. The Israelites had to be judged for their disobedience. After the loss at Ai, Joshua and the leaders fell before the Ark: Joshua and the leaders of Israel tore their clothing in dismay, threw dust on their heads, and bowed down facing the Ark of the LORD until evening (Joshua 7:6 NLT). Ai was eventually conquered, but a valuable lesson was learned—mere possession of the Ark did not guarantee victory. The Ark moved around a number of places during this time period. First, it seemed to remain a couple of years at Gilgal, the place where they first entered the land. On one occasion it was brought to Mount Ebal in the area of Shechem. This was too commemorate the victories at Jericho and Ai as well as having the covenant renewed. The Ark then settled in Shiloh for some 400 years. There a more permanent structure was built for the Ark. We discover that for a three-hundred-year period after the time of Joshua, the references to the Ark are rare. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia notes: Just where the ark was during the period of the judges is still a matter of some uncertainty. We have the record of the High Priest Phineas receiving counsel from God concerning the civil war with Benjamin.7 We read the following in the Book of Judges: And the Israelites went up seeking direction from the LORD. (In those days the Ark of the Covenant of God was in Bethel, and Phinehas son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron was the priest.) The Israelites asked the LORD, “Should we fight against our relatives from Benjamin again or should we stop?” The LORD said, “Go! Tomorrow, I will give you victory over them” (Judges 20:27,28 NLT). Apart from this one event, the Bible is silent about the Ark during the time of the Judges. Conclusion For several hundred years after the battle of Jericho, references to the Ark are few. It is assumed the Ark traveled with the Tabernacle and came to rest in Shiloh8, where it stood for a period of four hundred years. We now come to an incident where the Ark is again brought out to battle, and this time with disastrous results.

Your Bible Questions Answered

May 1, 2024

We continue our study of the subject of the Ark of the Covenant. As we have indicated, all the material from these videos comes from our book, In Search of the Lost Ark: The Quest For The Ark of the Covenant. It is a free download from our website, educatingourworld and can be found under the heading of Bible prophecy. We now come to Chapter 8, Conquering A City God's Way: Jericho... The God who reveals Himself in Scripture does things His own way. His ideas and thoughts are not the same as we human beings. The prophet Isaiah records the Lord as saying: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8,9 NKJV). This statement was never truer, than when Joshua received the battle plan from the Lord to take the city of Jericho. Once the children of Israel entered the land God had promised, they practiced the neglected rite of circumcision. Then they were ready to fulfill the promises of God and conquer the land. The first battle would be against the city of Jericho. The Battle Plan Against Jericho The battle fought against Jericho employed one of the oddest strategies ever used to fight a battle. Joshua told the men of war: Your entire army is to march around the city once a day for six days (Joshua 6:3 NLT). The seventh day the strategy would be different: Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the horns. When you hear the priests give one long blast on the horns, have all the people give a mighty shout. Then the walls of the city will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the city (Joshua 6:4,5 NLT). As predicted, the walls did indeed come tumbling down at the seventh day after they had circled the city seven times. How did it happen? Simply put, it was a miracle. The Evidence Says This Actually Happened Recent archaeological evidence has substantiated the biblical account of the destruction of the city of Jericho by Joshua. After evaluating all the facts, archaeologist/scholar, Bryant Wood, writes: Was there a destruction at the hands of the Israelites? The correlation between the archaeological evidence and the Biblical narrative is substantial. The city was strongly fortified (Joshua 2:5,7,15,6:5,20). The attack occurred just after harvest time in the spring (Joshua 2:6, 3:15, 5:10). The inhabitants had no opportunity to flee with their foodstuffs (Joshua 6:1). The siege was short (Joshua 6:15). The walls were leveled, possibly by an earthquake (Joshua 6:20). The city was not plundered (Joshua 6:17,18). The city was burned (Joshua 6:24). For further documentation on the evidence from Jericho, see our book Ancient Mysteries of the Bible Solved, Volume 1, pages 54-55... It can be found under the heading of "The Bible." God’s Power Is What Brought Down The Walls Jericho, the fortified city of Canaan, was conquered by the miraculous power of God. Led by the Ark of the Covenant, the city was taken with a battle plan that clearly showed the superiority of the God of Israel. The conquest of the Promised Land had begun.