El diseño gráfico y su proceso comunicacional

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Hushai, the adviser of David and later of Absa- lom (2 Sam. 15:32; 16:16; 17:5, 14; 1 Chr. 27:33).

ark of bulrushes. Term used by the KJV to

describe the small papyrus basket made for the infant Moses, in which he was floated on the Nile in order to escape detection by the Egyp- tians (Exod. 2:3). Only this basket and the ark of Noah are called by the name tēbâ H9310, which is possibly an Egyptian loanword for “box” or “coffin” (the usual word in Heb. for “box” or for the ark of the covenant being ,ărôn H778). No description is given of the shape or construction of the basket, except that it was daubed with waterproofing sub- stances (NIV, “tar and pitch”). It was made with some sort of cover over the top (cf. v. 6); this feature could account for the name “ark” even if the general shape was that of the papyrus boats of the Nile.

ark of Noah. A vessel that God ordered Noah to

build for the purpose of preserving through the time of the flood a remnant of the human race, together with two each of all animals (Gen. 6:14-16). God told Noah what to bring into it (6:18-21), and Noah obeyed (6:22—7:10). The ark floated dur- ing the flood (7:11—8:3), then came to rest “on the mountains of Ararat” (8:4). After Noah abandoned the ark (8:18-19), what happened to it is unknown, despite many traditions and expeditions. We do not even know on which peak of the mountains in the land of Ararat the ark grounded. The ark of Noah is referred to in Matt. 24:38 and Lk. 17:27 in a warn- ing of coming judgment; in Heb. 11:7 its construc- tion is an example of faith; and in 1 Pet. 3:20 “the days of Noah while the ark was being built” are held up as an example of the long-suffering of God, fol- lowed by disaster for the disobedient and salvation for the few who entered the ark.

ark of the covenant. Also called ark of the tes- timony. A wooden chest containing the tablets of

the law, resting in the tabernacle and later in the temple. God directed Moses (Exod. 25:10-22; Deut. 10:2-5) to make the ark of acacia (shittim) wood, of precise dimensions, and to overlay it with pure gold within and without, with a crown of gold about it. Rings of gold at the corners, as well as gold-covered staves to put through the rings, were

made to carry the ark. Moses placed inside the ark the stone tablets on which the commandments were written. An atonement cover of gold, with two winged cherubim of gold, covered the top of the ark. Moses made the ark after the golden calf was destroyed (Deut. 10:1, “at that time”) and set it up in the tabernacle (Exod. 40:20).

The ark went before Israel in the wilderness journeys “to find them a place to rest” (Num. 10:33). The ark was instrumental in the crossing of Jordan on dry land under Joshua ( Josh. 3) and in the capture of Jericho (4:7-11). Joshua prayed

before the ark after the defeat at Ai (7:6) and after the subsequent victory at Mount Ebal with the ark present (8:33). In the days of Eli the ark was in the tabernacle at Shiloh (1 Sam. 3:3). Eli’s sons took it into battle against the Philistines, who captured it; because of this tragedy it was said, “The glory has departed from Israel” (4:3-22). The Philistines held the ark until a plague convinced them that it was too dangerous to keep, and they ceremoniously sent it back to Beth Shemesh (5:1—6:16). The men of this place also suffered a plague for looking into the ark, and it was removed to Kiriath Jearim (6:19-21). Here it was treated with due respect, kept in the house of Abinadab under the care of his son Eleazar (7:1-2).

David brought the ark to Jerusalem, after some misadventures (2 Sam. 6; 1 Chr. 13 and 15). When Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel

Reconstruction of the ark of the covenant.

© D r. Ja m es C . M ar tin

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and Judah are staying in tents” (2 Sam. 11:11), he may have meant that the ark had been taken by the army into the field or merely that the ark was in a tent (the tabernacle) just as the armies of Israel and Judah were in tents. At the time of Absalom’s rebellion, Zadok and the Levites carried the ark out of Jerusalem, but David had them take it back (15:24-29). The priests brought the ark into Solo- mon’s temple (1 Ki. 8:3-9). There was nothing in it at this time “except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb” (8:9).

Before the ark was made, Moses directed that a pot of manna be kept before the Lord (Exod. 16:32-34) and Heb. 9:4 says that the “ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had bud- ded, and the stone tablets of the covenant,” though it need not be understood to imply that these were the contents of the ark throughout its history. Jer- emiah, writing after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, prophesied that in time to come the ark would no longer be of significance for worship ( Jer. 3:16). Psalm 132:8 speaks of the ark poetically as representing the strength of the Lord. Hebrews 9 uses the tabernacle and all its furnish- ings, including the ark, as an analogy in explaining salvation by the high priesthood of Christ. After the destruction of the first temple, there is no evi- dence as to what happened to the ark, but only highly speculative tradition and conjecture. Syna- gogues, from our earliest knowledge of them to the present, have had arks in the side wall toward Jerusalem; the scrolls of the Law are stored in them behind a curtain.

The ark was set in the very heart of the taber- nacle, the Most Holy Place (Exod. 26:34), sym- bolizing its central significance in Israel. When the high priest, once each year (Lev. 16:15; Heb. 9:7), penetrated to the innermost shrine, he came into the very presence of the God of Israel (Exod. 30:6; Lev. 16:1-2). That presence, however, was not visibly expressed in any image form (Deut. 4:12), but by the presence of the law of the Lord, that is, the stone tablets and the atonement cover (“mercy seat”) that was over them. In other words, the ark by its contents declared the divine holiness by which all stand condemned and by its form (spe- cifically the atonement cover) declared the divine redeeming mercy through the shed blood.

ark of the testimony. See ark of the cov-

enant.

arm. In the Bible, the upper human limb is often

used as a figure for personal, active power. Thus the Lord lays “bare his holy arm” (Isa. 52:10), rather as we might say of someone about to undertake some task, “he rolled up his sleeves.” The Lord’s arm (53:1) is figurative of his personal intervention. In particular, the figure of the “arm” looks back to what the Lord did at the exodus (Exod. 6:6; Deut. 4:34; 5:15; Isa. 51:9-11).

Armageddon. ahr´muh-ged´uhn (Gk. Harma- gedōn G762, usually derived from Heb. har H2215

and me˘giddô H4459, “mountain[s] of Megiddo”). Also Har-magedon. A name found only in Rev. 16:16 for the final battleground between the forces of good and the forces of evil. The Valley of Jez- reel (Plain of Esdraelon) at the foot of Mount Megiddo was the scene of many decisive incidents in the history of Israel: the victory over Sisera sung by Deborah and Barak ( Jdg. 5:19-20); Gideon’s defeat of Midian (6:33); Saul’s death at the hands of the Philistines (1 Sam. 31; cf. 2 Sam. 4:4); Josiah’s death in battle with Pharaoh Neco (2 Ki. 23:29-30); Ahaziah’s death when he fled there (9:27). The town of Megiddo guarded the pass that formed the easiest caravan route between the Plain of Sharon and the Valley of Jezreel, and the low mountains around were silent witnesses of perhaps more bloody encounters than any other spot on earth, continuing down to recent times. Hence the appropriateness of this place for the vast conflict pictured in Rev. 16.

Armenia. ahr-mee´nee-uh. An upland region in

western Asia (SE of the Black Sea and SW of the Caspian Sea), earlier occupied by the kingdom of Urartu (see Ararat). “Armenia” is used by the KJV to render Hebrew ,ărārat. H827 (only 2 Ki. 19:37 = Isa. 37:38), referring to the place where the two sons of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, escaped after murdering their father.

armlet. An ornamental band circling the upper

arm, as a bracelet would do on the lower arm or wrist. The English term is used by some versions

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