The rites and worship of the Jews . lies. Within this Holy of Holies stood what a writer haswell called the Palladium of the nation, that Ark whose pre-sence alike Jew and foe believed would ensure victory. TheArk, called in earliest days the Ark of the Covenant, lateron, the Ark of Witness, of God, of Jehovah/ was anacacia wood chest, two and a half cubits long by one and ahalf broad and high. 1 Numb, iv. 7. 38 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part I. This box was covered within and without with gold, wassurmounted by a golden crown, and at each corner had afoot, which turned slightly outwards
The rites and worship of the Jews . lies. Within this Holy of Holies stood what a writer haswell called the Palladium of the nation, that Ark whose pre-sence alike Jew and foe believed would ensure victory. TheArk, called in earliest days the Ark of the Covenant, lateron, the Ark of Witness, of God, of Jehovah/ was anacacia wood chest, two and a half cubits long by one and ahalf broad and high. 1 Numb, iv. 7. 38 RITES AND WORSHIP OF THE JEWS. [Part I. This box was covered within and without with gold, wassurmounted by a golden crown, and at each corner had afoot, which turned slightly outwards. Upon the chest wasplaced the kapporeth, not intended to serve merely as a lid,but in form a massive gold plate, as large in circumference asthe Ark, and designed for a special purpose. For the Mercy-Seat, indeed, was the place of Gods presence among was surmounted by two golden Cherubs— the Cherubim ofGlory—figures of winged beings, whether in appearance likehuman beings or like animals does not appear. Each cherub had. ARK AND MERCY-SEAT. two wings overshadowing the Mercy-Seat; that is, the figureswere slightly inclined, in an attitude, not of prayer, but ofreverence. It has been thought that the winged figures on theAssyrian monuments give an idea of the appearance of theseCherubim of Glory, but the conjecture can hardly be is rather to the monuments of Egypt than to the later onesof Assyria, that we would look. The staves for transporting the Ark were always fixed in it,possibly as depicted above; or, as some have thought, on thetwo shorter sides, so that their ends would project towardsthe Veil and the Holy Place. The wings of the Cherubim Chap. II.] THE ARK. ^g stretched from north to south, and completely veiled the placewhere God sat throned among men. Within the Ark werekept the Two Tables of the Law, five of the Ten Words beingwritten on each table ; by their place in the Ark showing thatGods presence on the Mercy-Seat was after all founded on
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