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This command implies a resumption of the relationship that had been broken by the
disobedience and failure of Israel in the wilderness:--
"And they departed from the mount of the Lord three days' journey: and the ark of the
covenant of the Lord went before them in the three days' journey, to search out a resting
place for them" (Numb. 10: 33).
This happy condition was interrupted by the failure so quickly manifested (see
Num. 11:) and the last reference to the ark in the book of Numbers is that of 14: 43, 44:--
"Ye are turned away from the Lord, therefore the Lord will not be with you. But they
presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and
Moses, departed not out of the camp."
A glance at the verses shews the intimate association of the presence of the Lord with
the ark: "The Lord will not be with you . . . . . the ark . . . . . departed not out of the
camp" (Num. 14: 43, 44).
From this time until the close of the wilderness wandering we find no mention of the
ark of the covenant. The resumption of favour is indicated in Deut. 31: where Moses,
at one hundred and twenty years of age, speaks these words to Israel:--
"The Lord thy God, He will go over before thee, and He will destroy these nations
from before thee, and thou shalt possess them; and Joshua, he shall go over before thee,
as the Lord hath said" (Deut. 31: 3).
Continuing the account in Deuteronomy, we read:--
"And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong
and of a good courage; for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord
hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it. And
the Lord, He it is that doth go before thee: He will be with thee, He will not fail thee,
neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed. And Moses wrote this law and
delivered it unto the priests, the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the
Lord, and unto all the elders of Israel" (Deut. 31: 7-9).
"Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord
your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee" (Deut. 31: 26).
When Israel, therefore, were called upon to follow the ark, they had the consciousness
that it contained the covenant engagement of the Lord to lead them triumphantly into the
land of promise. All inheritance, whether enjoyed on earth or in the heavenlies, is by
promise, and cannot be disassociated from the great propitiation for which the Mercy
Seat stands. Moreover, the Mercy Seat was made of one piece with the Cherubim, and
the Cherubim link the purpose of grace here with the promise made at Eden's gate
(Gen. 3:) and the fall of the anointed Cherub* (* - See Index to Volumes I-XX for a
series of notes under the heading CHERUBIM) before Adam was created (Ezek. 28:).
The crossing of the Jordan, and the fall of Jericho take upon them fuller and deeper
meanings as we see them in the light of the great purpose of the ages.