The Song of the Ark was sung by Moses and the Israelites when they broke or pitched camp in the wilderness. The Church Fathers had a startling insight into it, an insight that has everything to do with the Blessed Virgin Mary.
We can read about the Song of the Ark in the Book of Numbers, as Moses and the Israelites are leaving the Sinai Wilderness:
And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Arise, O Lord, and let thy enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.” And when it rested, he said, “Return, O Lord, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel. Numbers 10:35-36
Ark as throne
The Ark was considered to be God’s throne. In my posts “The Tent of Meeting” and “The Hilasterion”, I describe how God dwelled in the Holy of Holies above the Ark of the Covenant, between the cherubim, and from there He spoke to Moses.
The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake! Psalm 99:1
The Ark in the Psalms
A few verses later in the same psalm the psalmist refers to the Ark as God’s footstool:
Extol the Lord our God; worship at his footstool! Holy is he! Psalm 99:5
He rode on a cherub, and flew; he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind. Psalm 18:10
The first verse of the Song of the Ark (Numbers 10:35) is echoed by the psalmist at the beginning of Psalm 68:
Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered; let those who hate him flee before him! Psalm 68:1
It’s also evoked in Psalm 132:
Arise, O Lord, and go to thy resting place, thou and the ark of thy might. Psalm 132:8
We’re going to refer back to this verse in a minute.
Used in Battle of Jericho
God told Joshua to march with the Ark around the city of Jericho blowing trumpets once each day for six days, and on the seventh day, march around it seven times. The city walls fell, and the Israelites took the city. (Joshua 6:1-27)
The Ark was not a palladium
Historically, many people have considered the Ark to be a palladium, that is, an object that magically protected the Israelites on their journeys and in their battles. Some might remember that this idea provided the basis for Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones movie, “Raiders of the Lost Ark” in the eighties. The scriptures are clear though, that it was God himself who provided the protection. Before the Battle of Jericho, we read:
And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given into your hand Jericho, with its king and mighty men of valor. Joshua 6:2
In fact, the Tent of Meeting and the Ark were only moved upon God’s command and only stopped at His command, which we see in Numbers 9:18-23.
In the First Book of Samuel 4:1-11 we read that the Ark was brought into battle without being bid to do so by God, and it ended in disaster. The Israelites were battling the Philistines, and it wasn’t going well at all, so with the help of two evil priests, they brought the Ark into battle and it was captured by the Philistines.
Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant
Very early in the Church’s history, the Fathers saw the Ark as a type or prefiguring of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Church Fathers often used typology in their interpretation of the Old Testament, that is, they saw people and objects in the Old Testament as prefiguring people and events of the New Testament.
In the third century, St. Gregory Thaumaturgus (“miracle worker”), in his Homily on the Annunciation to the Holy Virgin Mary, said, quoting the verse in Psalm 132 that I mentioned earlier:
Let us chant the melody which has been taught us by the inspired harp of David, and say, ” Arise, O Lord, into Your rest; You, and the ark of Your sanctuary. ” For the holy Virgin is in truth an ark, wrought with gold both within and without, that has received the whole treasury of the sanctuary. ”
St. Methodius, a 9th century bishop, who, with his brother Cyril, evangelized the Slavs, spoke of the Ark in his Oration on Simeon and Anna. Speaking of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Methodius said,
For if to the ark, which was the image and type of your sanctity, such honour was paid of God that to no one but to the priestly order only was the access to it open, or ingress allowed to behold it, the veil separating it off, and keeping the vestibule as that of a queen, what, and what sort of veneration is due to you from us who are of creation the least, to you who art indeed a queen; to you, the living ark of God…
Why would the Church Fathers consider Mary to be the Ark? We read in the Letter to the Hebrews:
…the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, which contained a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; Hebrews 9:4
So the Ark contained the tablets of the law and manna. Mary bore Jesus in her womb, the Word of God and the bread from heaven.
I am the bread which came down from heaven. John 6:41
Ark’s design
God specified the design of the Ark in incredible detail, which we see in the 25th chapter of Exodus. It was to be made of acacia wood, lined with gold inside and out. It would have a certain type of rings and poles for carrying it, it would have a cover with gold and statues of cherubim on top.
Since Mary bore Jesus in her womb for nine months, the Fathers thought it inconceivable that He didn’t put the same amount of loving care into the preparation of Mary for her role in carrying Jesus within her.
The Untouchable Ark
The Ark was untouchable, much like Mary was a perpetual virgin. We see in the fourth chapter of the Book of Numbers that it had to be covered before the Levites could carry it. They could not not look at it or touch it directly. And in Second Samuel 6:1-7 we see that Uzzah, one of David’s men died after touching it.
The Ark Overshadowed by God
The Ark, like Mary in Luke chapter 1, was overshadowed by God.
On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony; and at evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning. Numbers 9:15
Conclusion
This idea that Mary is the Ark of the Covenant is confirmed by the Catechism:
Mary, in whom the Lord himself has just made his dwelling, is the daughter of Zion in person, the ark of the covenant, the place where the glory of the Lord dwells. She is “the dwelling of God . . . with men CCC 2676
The Litany of Loreto, which we often recite after praying the Rosary, includes an invitation to Mary under this title.
In what battles can Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant help us? Against temptation to sin and in our efforts to do good. Whether our adversary is the world and its values, the weakness of our own flesh, or the devil and his minions. In my experience, I have found the Holy Rosary and the Memorare to be most helpful in invoking her help.
Arise, O Lord, and let thy enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.
Holy Mary, Ark of the Covenant, pray for us!