YEA Lesson Library

The Lesson

What item or article can you think of that is 3500 years old? You would certainly have to go to a museum to find anything, except the dirt under your feet, which is that old. Not a lot of things in a museum would be that old. But if you were on an archeological dig, somewhere around what people commonly call "the Holy Land," and found the Ark of the Covenant, there should be three quarts of manna in it. According to the NIV Study Bible, "It has been traditionally held that the exodus occurred c. 1446." Add the current year to 1446 and you're not far short of 3500 years.

In last week's seminar, we discussed that in spite of the Israelites' griping and complaining, God miraculously fed them with manna, which means "What's It?" God rained down this white stuff from heaven and the Israelites could go out in the early morning and gather their food for the day. But if some anxious person feared the manna wouldn't be on the ground the next day and tried stashing some away, just in case, it would breed worms and stink. That is. . . except on Friday. Then God instructed them to gather twice as much manna and prepare it to eat on the Sabbath, so they could rest and keep their minds focused on Him. But there's also another exception we need to know about.

"Then Moses gave them this further instruction from the Lord: they were to take three quarts of it (manna) to be kept as a museum specimen forever, so that later generations could see the bread the Lord had fed them with in the wilderness, when he brought them from Egypt. Moses told Aaron to get a container and put three quarts of manna in it and to keep it in a sacred place from generation to generation. Aaron did this, just as the Lord had instructed Moses, and eventually it was kept in the Ark in the Tabernacle" (Exodus 16:32-34, TLB).

In your excavation, if you should find the Ark of the Covenant and open it, would the manna be moldy? According to Exodus 16:33, it would still be preserved; it would not be wormy or stink. God would see to that.

But you could never open the Ark of the Covenant. Why? God put in place some very strict laws concerning the Ark of the Covenant. In Numbers 4:5-15, He lays out how the Ark of Covenant is to be prepared for moving. He says in verse 15: "When Aaron and his sons have finished packing the sanctuary and all the utensils, the clan of Kohath shall come and carry the units to wherever the camp is traveling; but they must not touch the holy items, lest they die. This, then, is the sacred work of the sons of Kohath" (TLB).

There is an incident in 2 Samuel 6:7 where this did happen. "But when they arrived at the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen stumbled and Uzzah put out his hand to steady the Ark. Then the anger of the Lord flared out against Uzzah and he killed him for doing this, so he died there beside the Ark." Now this would make a believer out of you - you don't touch the Ark or you die!

Then why is the Ark of the Covenant so special, so sacred? "The ark (GNB: covenant box) was a gold-covered wooden box, two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits high. . . It was the only piece of furniture in the Most Holy Place. . . Inside the ark were two stone tablets on which the law was written, as a constant reminder to the people of Israel that the God who dwelt among them was also their law-giver. . . (Deuteronomy 10:1-5). (Later Aaron's rod and the golden pot of manna were also placed in the ark; see Hebrews 9:4.)

"A special sacred part of the ark was its richly ornamented lid, called the mercy seat. The two cherubim (GNB: winged creatures) attached to the top of the mercy seat apparently symbolized divine protection of the seat, the ark and the contents (Exodus 25:17-21). This mercy seat appears to have been a visible throne for
the invisible God. It was the place where God spoke with Moses and where the high priest made atonement for the sins of the people when he entered the Most Holy Place once a year (on the Day of Atonement) (Leviticus 16:1-19, 29-31; Hebrews 9:7). . ." (Concise Bible Commentary).

Did you catch what made the Ark so special? The visible throne for the invisible God was there. Not only that, it was the place where God spoke with Moses and where the high priest atoned for the sins of the people on the Day of Atonement. Do you recall that only the High Priest was allowed in the Most Holy Place, and only on the Day of Atonement, or they would die?

"So the people of Israel ate the manna forty years until they arrived in the land of Canaan, where there were crops to eat. The omer - the container used to measure the manna - held about three quarts; it is approximately a tenth of a bushel" (Exodus 16:35-36 TLB).

When God puts His laws in place and warns you that if you transgress them you will die, you better not muck around with them. You'd better believe God and do exactly what He says. Are you ready to take God at His Word and do exactly what He says?