Bricks and stones

After the flood God told Noah and his sons to multiply and fill the earth.  So what did they do?

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.”

And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”  (Genesis 11:1-4)

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The ark of the covenant

Exodus 25:10-22 describes the construction of the ark of the covenant.  The Israelites spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness, during which time the ark was carried from place to place.  After they entered the promised land the tabernacle was set up at Shiloh and the ark remained there for many years.  King David eventually brought it to Jerusalem.  When King Solomon built the temple the ark was placed in it.

Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim.  (2 Chronicles 5:7)

The king and the people probably thought the ark had found a permanent resting place and the days of its being carried from place to place were over.  That turned out not to be the case.  Here is an incident that took place during the reign of King Josiah.

Forget your people and your father’s house

Psalm 45

 My heart overflows with a pleasing theme;
    I address my verses to the king;
    my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.

² You are the most handsome of the sons of men;
    grace is poured upon your lips;
    therefore God has blessed you forever.
³ Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,
    in your splendor and majesty!

⁴ In your majesty ride out victoriously
    for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness;
    let your right hand teach you awesome deeds!
⁵ Your arrows are sharp
    in the heart of the king’s enemies;
    the peoples fall under you.

⁶ Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
    The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;
⁷     you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
    with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;
⁸     your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.
From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;
⁹     daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor;
    at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.

¹⁰ Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear:
    forget your people and your father’s house,
¹¹     and the king will desire your beauty.
Since he is your lord, bow to him.
¹²     The people of Tyre will seek your favor with gifts,
    the richest of the people.

The lost ark

When God told Moses how to make the ark of the covenant he included this command.

You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them. The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it.
Exodus 25:13-15

The poles were needed during the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.  Eventually Solomon built a temple to house the ark and it appeared that it would no longer need to be carried from place to place, but in obedience to God’s command the poles were left in it.

The cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering above the ark and its poles. And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the Holy Place before the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day.
2 Chronicles 5:8-9

Crossing the Kidron

John’s gospel records what Jesus taught his disciples at the Last Supper.  After he finished he and his disciples left and went to the garden where he would be arrested.

When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered.
John 18:1

There was a brook called the Kidron between the room where the Last Supper was held and the place where Jesus was betrayed.  Of course they had to cross it.  At first this seems like an unimportant detail, but there is an incident in the Old Testament which shows the significance of going across this brook.

Living stones

The stones used in Solomon’s temple were carved at the place from which they were taken, not at the place where the temple was being built.

When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.
1 Kings 6:7

Imagine that these stones were alive.  How might they have felt about what was being done to them?