The Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:1-22)

The Ark of the Covenant was a wooden chest that was used to store sacred items from the time of the Exodus. According to the Old Testament, it was designed using specific instructions that God gave to Moses. As a holy and precious object, it came to be kept in the Temple of Jerusalem.

After God had revealed the Ten Commandments, he told Moses to make a beautiful chest out of acacia wood, complete with two carrying poles. It was to be lined and covered with gold, with two winged angels mounted on the lid. The chest was to be used to store the stone tablets that God gave to Moses, as well as Aaron’s miraculous staff and a golden pot of the manna.

This chest, known as ‘the Ark of the Covenant’, was made while the Israelites were living in the wilderness, before they entered the Promised Land. Originally it was housed in a portable linen tent called the Tabernacle. Later, once the Israelites had settled in Canaan and King Solomon had built the great Temple of Jerusalem, it was kept in its inner sanctuary. 

Since the Ark was considered a sacred object, only the priests were allowed to carry it. When they carried the Ark through the River Jordan, the waters miraculously divided. Before the conquest of the city of Jericho, the priests carried it around the city walls to ensure the victory. Later, it was captured by the Philistines, who suffered greatly until they returned it to Israel. 

After the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587 BC, the Prophet Jeremiah hid the Ark of the Covenant in a cave near Mount Nebo, east of the Dead Sea (2 Maccabees 2:1-8). Nobody knows exactly where it was hidden, or whether it remained there. According to Jeremiah 3:16, the Ark was not rediscovered or remade.

This mosaic image of the Ark of the Covenant is found within the sanctuary of St John the Baptist in Rochdale. The impressive scheme that it belongs to was created by Eric Newton of the Ludwig Oppenheimer firm between 1932-1933. The sanctuary features various apocalyptic scenes, as well as episodes from the life of St John the Baptist.

The mosaic is captioned with a phrase in Latin from St Matthew’s gospel: et ecce velum templi scissum est in duas partes et terra mota est et petrae scissae sunt (Matthew 27:51). This means, “And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two. The earth quaked and rocks were split apart.” This is what happened when Christ died on the cross, and what we see in the scheme.

Here the Ark of the Covenant is seen within the sanctuary of the Temple of Jerusalem, behind the veil that was miraculously torn during the crucifixion. This is a little puzzling, since it had actually been lost centuries beforehand. Perhaps Eric Newton also had in mind a later vision from the book of Revelation, where the Ark is seen in God’s heavenly temple (Revelation 11:19). In a neat parallel, the image faces another ‘Ark of the Covenant’ – Noah’s Ark.

The church, which was built between 1923-1925, was modelled on the art and architecture of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, as well as Westminster Cathedral in London. The beautiful mosaics of these two places of worship inspired the sanctuary scheme, which was created from stone, marble, glass and gold tesserae (tiles).

See the full image:

Where to find this work of art
St John the Baptist, Rochdale

Read the relevant passage
Exodus 25:1-22

On a similar theme

• From the Old Testament: When the priests carried the Ark through the River Jordan, the waters miraculously parted.
• From the New Testament: In the Book of Revelation, the Ark of the Covenant is seen within God’s heavenly temple.