4. The Description Of The Ark
BOOK ONE
love God and their neighbours; imitate this. They come to the aid of the unfortunate (not to angels who are altogether blessed, but surely to humans); imitate this. They are humble, they are gentle, they are peaceable toward one another, they obey the divine commands; how well would you do to imitate this! They neither speak, nor do, nor h n k anything that is evil, or useless, or unjust, but assist at the divine praises with speech and thought that are unwearied; as far as you are able, imitate this. Build a sanctuary for the Lord in accordance with the pattern that was shown to Moses on the mountain, and when our Lord and Saviour comes he and the Father will make a home with you, and then after this life he will bring you into that blessed tabernacle which you have always imitated. There follows:
25:9-10 And you shall make it in this way: build an ark of acacia wood. It is appropriate that the ark, which is the first ofall the things ordered to be made in the tabernacle, designates the incarnation of our Lord and Saviour, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdoni and knowledge. It is easy to see that the ark is properly ordered to be built out of acacia wood, for they say that acacia wood is light and incormptible in nature, not very different in quality from whitethom2 Consequently, the ark was made of acacia wood because the Lord's body is composed of members free from every stain of imperfection. And this same wood is quite similar to that of a thorn, because though he came not in sinful flesh, nevertheless it was in the likeness of sinful flesh, as the Apostle said.3
THE DESCRIPTION OF THE ARK
There follows:
25: 10 The length of [the ark] shall be two cubits and a half; the width, a cubit and a half; and the height also, a cubit and a half. Someone is bound to ask how we should reckon the length of the cubit that Moses employed [in describing] bothNoah's ark and the making of the tabernacle.
This question is easily answercd if we look at the words of Josephus, for we must not suppose that a Jewish man of priestly descent, most excellent in ability and most learned in literature both secular and divine, could be mistaken in any way about such a matter. Now this is what he says: The ~~ 1 Col. 3:2
2 Jerome, InEs. I2(CCSL 73A: 474, 51-7), In loel. 3, 18 (CCSL 76: 207, 349-52) 3 Rom. 8:3
BEDE: ON THE TABERNACLE
ark was made jive hands in length and three in width. From this it is obviously quite clear that woses'] cubit designates the span of two hands.
Mystically, however, the length of the ark suggests the long-suffering patience with which our Lord and Redeemer lived among humankind; its width suggests the amplitude of that love with which he was willing to come to us and dwell among us; its height suggests the hope of future sublimity, in which he foresaw either that he himself would be glorified after his passion or that we shall be glorified2 [I41 Hence it was also fitting for the ark to be two cubits long, because of the teaching and the deeds with which he shone brightly in the world. On this account the evangelist Luke declared that he had [previously] written a treatise concerning those things that Jesus began to do and to teach,3 and [Jesus'] fellow citizens marvelled, saying, 'Where did he get this wisdom and these powers? "-obviously meaning by 'wisdom' those wonderful things that he was saying, and by 'powers' those that he was doing. But in addition to these two cubits, the length of the ark contained another half-cubit; we can ascribe this to the slowness of human frailty, which could never worthily grasp the sublime words and deeds of the Saviour.' For this reason also it was plainly said of some of his mystical actions: His disci les did not understand these things atjrst, but when Jesus wasglorfled; and in like manner of his more sublime words: But this saying was hiddenporn them, and they did not understand what was said7 The ark, therefore, was two cubits long because when the Lord appearcd in flesh he was brilliant both in word and in deed, and it was a half cubit more because of the long-suffering with which he bore the slowness of the disciples who could never perfectly grasp either his words or his deeds.
B The width of the ark was one cubit on account of the dispensation of the Lord's own chanty, with whch he took care to unite his elect in God. For 1 Josephus, Ant. Jud. 3, 6, 5 (ed. Blatt, 235, 15-17). As a Jewish priest with firsthand experience ofworship in Herod's temple before its destruction in 70 CE, the Jewish historian
Flavius Josephus (c.35100) was able to provide important information supplementing the biblical description of the tabernacle cult. Bede employed the Latin translalion of Josephus'
AntiqurtatesJudurcue that Cassiodorus had arranged to be made at Vivarium. It was suggested in Laistner (1935), 246-7, that Ekde may have made use of a copy of the Greek original as well, hut this remains only a conjecture.
2 Gregory the Great, Horn. in Ezech. 1.6, 18; 2, 3, 11; 2, 9.9; 2, 10, 17 (CCSr. 142: 78,
371-3 and 380-1; 243, 209-10; 363,284-6; 392,432-3) 3 Acts 1:l 4 Matt. 13:54
5 Gregory the Great, Horn. in Ezech. 2,9,9 (CCSr. 142: 363, 286-93) 6 John 12:16
7 Luke 18:34
BOOK ONE
this reason also, when he prayed to the Father on their behalf he said: 'Now I asknot on behalfofthese only, but also on behalfof those who will believe in me through their word, that they all may be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; J and a little later: 'And I made your name known to them, andI will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. " After the one cubit, there was another half cubit in order to signify our frailty, for whle we are in this life we never manage perfectly to love God for his own sake, or to comprehend the love that God has towards us3 Indeed, just as the Apostle bears witness that we know in part and we propheq in part,4 it is evident in the same way that we also love in part. Therefore the ark was one cubit and a half because the Lord loves us with a singular affection, uniting us to himself and to the Father, and with an equally affectionate kindness he also accepts our capacity to love, however limited it may be in this life, until we are worthy to come to that vision of him in which we shall love him with all our heart, all our mind, and all our ~trength.~
Quite aptly, the height of the ark was also one cubit and a half. [The one cubit] obviously signifies the singular hope with which the Lord himself, when he was with us in the flesh, was awaiting the event of his future resurrection and subsequent glory; [the half cubit] reminds us who are amidst the adversities of the world that we should always rejoice on account of the rewards of future blessings. Therefore the ark was a full cubit in height because our Lord and Saviour (although he was corruptible as long as he was still dwelling in the flesh) knew full well how much glory was laid up for him in the future, whether in himself or in his members, which we are. It was another half cubit in height because he has also willingly accepted into his body those of us who piously strive to love the future homeland with humble devotion Although we are as yet unable to grasp perfectly what its felicity may be, nevertheless what we do grasp here, that we have from him alone.
25: 1 1 And you shall overlay it with the purest gold inside and outside, and you shall make a golden crown over it all around. The ark is overlaid with the purest gold inside and outside because the human nature assumed by the Son of God was full of the power of the Holy Spirit on the inside, and on the outside it openly displayed the works of the Holy Spirit to [all]
1 John 17120-1 2 John 1726 3 Gregory the Great, Horn. rn Ezech. 2, 9, 10 (CCSL 142: 364,321-4)
4 1 Cor. 13:9
5 Mark 12:30
BEDE: ON THE TABERNACLE
people. The top of that ark is doubtless properly ordered to be encircled withagoldencrown,because whenhe appeared in fleshandcame to redeem the human race, the Son of God was anticipating a certain time and hour when he would overcome the death he had borne for us (along with the author of death himself), and ascend victorious to the Father in heaven. Of this crown the Apostle says: But we see Jesus. who war indeed made a little lower than the an els, crowned with glory and honour because ofthe suflering of death. Of this crown John in the Apocalypse says: And I looked and behold, a white horse!And the one who was sitting upon it had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering that he might conquer.2 Surely the white horse is the Church; the rider who was commanding it is the Lord; he had a bow because he was coming to make war against the powers of the air; and a crown of victory was given to him because by dying he overthrew the reign of death.
25:12 And there shall be four golden rings, which you shall put at the four corners of the ark; two rings on one side, and two on the other.
The four golden rings are the four books of the gospels, which are deservedly golden on account of the splendour of the wisdom with which they glisten. They are deservedly compared to rings because the very wisdom of God which they preach is the eternal divinity received by the human
Christ, which neither began in time nor will ever cease to be eternal. For this reason, when the hour of his passion was near he prayed to the Father, saying: 'And now, Father, make me shine in your own resence with the splendour that I had with you before the world existed. s [ I 61 Now the ark has four comers because the sacrament of the Lord's incarnation never ceases to be celebrated throughout all the regions of the world into which the Holy Church is spread. And four rings were put at those four comers because the gospel of Christ is preached to the ends of all the world, so that the hearts of the faithful might be saved.4 And there are two rings on one side and two on the other, either because two of the evangelists became disciples of the Saviour when he was in the flesh preaching and doing miracles and the other two came to faith in him after his resurrection and ascension into heaven,' or because in the figure of the four living creatures the two designated by the man and the calf display the tokens of his passion and death, but the two prefigured by the lion and the 1 Heb. 2:9
2 Rev. 6:2; 'bow' = arcus, which is similar in sound to archa = 'ark'.
3 John 175 4 Gregory the Great, Reg. pasr. 2, 11 (SC 381: 2 5 4 , 2 5 4 5 Manhew and John became disciples of Jesus during the period of his earthly ministry
(Matt. 4:21; 9:9), while Mark and Luke became Christians only after his ascension.
BOOK ONE
eagle reveal the signs of the victory in which he destroyed death.' For the man represents the Lord as he was made mortal through the incarnation; the calf stands for him as he was offered for us upon the altar of the cross; the lion portrays him whcn he bravely conquered death; the eagle when he ascended into heaven. And thus there are two rings on one side and two on the other because the figures of two evangelists doubtless suggest the Lord's assumptionofhumanfrailty,andthetwootherssuggest thevictory inwhich he triumphed over the same frailty that he had assumed, and over death as well. For just as the left side of the ark had two rings since two evangelists are figures of the Lord's incarnation and passion, there were similarly two rings on the right side because two evangelists likewise figuratively represent his resurrection and ascension, which pertain to the glory of the life to come.
25: 13-15 You shall also make poles out of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. And you shall insert them through the rings that are on the sides of the ark, so that it may be carried on them. They shall always be in the rings; they shall never he taken out of them. The poles with whch the ark is canied are the holy teachers who carry the Lord to the hearts of their hearers by preaching.2 It is prescribed that these poles are always to be in the rings because it is doubtless necessary that those who preach the heavenly sacraments to others must never inhibit their minds from the recollection of the Sacred Scri tures, nor their hands from the observance of the divine commandments. And there properly follows: ej 25: 16 And you shall put in the ark the testimony that I will give you, because we ought to speak and to believe about the incarnate Son of God only those things that the Lord himself has deigned to reveal to us through the authors of Sacred Scripture. And if you want to know what that 1 Rev. 4:7, cf. Ezek 1:5-10. Although there was general agreement in the early church that the four living creatures symbolized the authors ofthe four gospels, there were diverse opinions about which creature represented which evangelist. According to Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. 3, 11,
8 (SC 21 1: 160, 175 - 170, 236), Matthew, Mark Luke, and John were figured by the man, the eagle, the calf, and the lion, respectively, while Jerome, in the preface to his In Mafth.
(CCSL 77: 3,55 - 4,84) and in In Ezech. 1, 1,6-8 (CCSL 75: 1 1, 191-206), preferred the order man, lion, calf, and eagle, which is that found in most medieval art, includingthe illuminations of the Lindisfame Gospels and the Book of Kells. Bede, however, consistently followed the order lion, man, calf, eagle, which had been advanced by Augustine in De cons. evang. 1, 6
(CSEL 43: 9,3 - 10, 14). As a result, some readers of the prologue to his early commentary In Apocalypsin (PL 93: 144A-B) accused Ekde of being an innovator; his reply, which appeals to the authority of Augustine, is found in the prologue of In Lucam (CCSr. 120: 6, 68 - 10,
220).
2 Gregory the Great, Reg. past. 2, 11 (SC 381: 254,28-32) 3 Ibid. (SC 381: 254,38 - 256,55)