Sáttmálsörkin
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Sáttmálsörkin (e. ark of the covenant) var heilagasta trúartákn Ísraelsmanna. Hún var kista, smíðuð að boði Guðs, til að hýsa töflurnar með boðorðunum tíu, sáttmálann milli Guðs og Ísraels sem gefinn var Móse á Sínaífjalli. Hún var geymd rækilega hulin í hinu allra helgasta í tjaldbúðinni (hinn færanlegi helgidómur Ísraelsmanna, einnig kallaður „samfundatjaldið“), og aðeins æðstipresturinn mátti líta á óhulið yfirborð hennar. Ofan á örkinni, sem var smíðuð úr akasíuviði og lögð gulli, var „náðarstóll“ (e. „mercy seat“) sem var hulinn útbreiddum vængjum tveggja gullinna kerúba.
Guð sagði við Móse: „Þar mun ég eiga samfundi við þig og tala við þig ofan af náðarstólnum, milli beggja kerúbanna.... Ég mun birtast í skýinu yfir náðarstólnum.“[1] Skráð er að „Er Móse var kominn inn í tjaldið, steig skýstólpinn niður og nam staðar við tjalddyrnar, og DROTTINN talaði við Móse.“[2]
Ísraelsmenn báru örkina hvert sem þeir fóru í ferðalagi sínu um eyðimörkina og stundum í orustur. Hún var dýrkuð sem virk nærvera Jahve meðal lýðs síns. Hún var vandlega vöktuð og flutt á stöngum sem stungið var í gegnum hringi á hliðunum, því bannað var að snerta hana.
When Uzza, who was escorting the ark, attempted to steady it as the oxen stumbled, he was struck dead “because he put his hand to the ark.”[3] The ark was once captured by the Philistines but, according to tradition, was miraculously returned after many years and later transferred to Solomon’s temple.
Renewed interest in the ark was portrayed in Raiders of the Lost Ark, a film directed by Steven Spielberg, which reveals the race memory of the ark and the allure it still holds for both the lightbearers and those who would take by force the holy things of God. The focusing of the attention on the ark and the sacred fire registered there drives men, by their own purity or impurity, to the heights of passion, lust, and murder or to the heights of the truest nobility in Christ.
According to the Los Angeles Times (March 15, 1982), Tom Crotser, leader of an expedition to uncover the ark of the covenant, claimed to have discovered the golden box that is said to contain the original Ten Commandments. But he said that he wouldn’t release his photographs until he could show them to European financier David Rothschild, who, Crotser said, would rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem.
The flame of the ark of the covenant today
The flame of the ark of the covenant burns at the high altar at the Inner Retreat. The altars of Church Universal and Triumphant that Keepers of the Flame tend daily around the world are tied to that flame and receive its emanations.
Sources
Pearls of Wisdom, vol. 25, no. 29, July 18, 1982.