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•ARIMATHEA a “city of the Jews” (Luke 23:51), the birth-place of Joseph in whose sepulchre our Lord was laid (Matthew 27:57, 60; John 19:38). It is probably the same place as Ramathaim in Ephraim, and the birth-place of Samuel (1 Samuel 1:1, 19). Others identify it with Ramleh in Dan, or Rama (q.v.) in Benjamin (Matthew 2:18).
•ARIOCH lion-like, venerable. (1.) A king of Ellasar who was confederate with Chedorlamer (Genesis 14:1,9). The tablets recently discovered by Mr. Pinches (see CHALDEA) show the true reading is Eri-Aku of Larsa. This Elamite name meant “servant of the moon-God.” It was afterwards changed into Rimsin, “Have mercy, O moon-God.” (2.) Daniel 2:14.
•ARISTARCHUS best ruler, native of Thessalonica (Acts 20:4), a companion of Paul (Acts 19:29; 27:2). He was Paul’s “fellow-prisoner” at Rome (Colossians 4:10; Philemon 1:24).
•ARISTOBULUS a Roman mentioned in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (16:10), whose “household” is saluated.
•ARK Noah’s ark, a building of gopher-wood, and covered with pitch, 300 cubits long, 50 cubits broad, and 30 cubits high (Genesis 6:14-16); an oblong floating house of three stories, with a door in the side and a window in the roof. It was 100 years in building (Genesis 5:32; 7:6). It was intended to preserve certain persons and animals from the deluge which God was about to bring over the earth. It contained eight persons (Genesis 7:13; 2 Peter 2:5), and of all “clean” animals seven pairs, and of “unclean” one pair, and of birds seven pairs of each sort (Genesis 7:2, 3). It was in the form of an oblong square, with flat bottom and sloping roof. Traditions of the Deluge, by which the race of man was swept from the earth, and of the ark of Noah have been found existing among all nations.
The ark of bulrushes in which the infant Moses was laid (Exodus 2:3) is called in the Hebrew teebah, a word derived from the Egyptian teb, meaning “a chest.” It was daubed with slime and with pitch. The bulrushes of which it was made were the papyrus reed.
The sacred ark is designated by a different Hebrew word, ’aron’, which is the common name for a chest or coffer used for any purpose (Genesis 50:26; 2 Kings 12:9, 10). It is distinguished from all others by such titles as the “ark of God” (1 Samuel 3:3), “ark of the covenant” (Joshua 3:6;
Hebrews 9:4),
“ark of the testimony” (Exodus 25:22). It was made of acacia or shittim wood, a cubit and a half broad and high and two cubits long, and covered all over with the purest gold. Its upper surface or lid, the mercy-seat, was surrounded with a rim of gold; and on each of the
ARK OF THE COVENANT two sides were two gold rings, in
which were placed two gold-covered poles by which the ark could be carried (Numbers 7:9; 10:21; 4:5,19, 20; 1 Kings 8:3, 6). Over the ark, at the two extremities, were two cherubim, with their faces turned toward each other (Leviticus 16:2; Numbers 7:89). Their outspread wings over the top of the ark formed the throne of God, while the ark itself was his footstool (Exodus 25:10-22; 37:1-9). The ark was deposited in the “holy of holies,” and was so placed that one end of the poles by which it was carried touched the veil which separated the two apartments of the tabernacle (1 Kings 8:8). The two tables of stone which constituted the “testimony” or evidence of God’s covenant with the people (Deuteronomy 31:26), the “pot of manna” (Exodus 16:33), and “Aaron’s rod that budded” (Numbers 17:10), were laid up in the ark (Hebrews 9:4). (See TABERNACLE) The ark and the sanctuary were “the beauty of Israel” (Lamentations 2:1). During the journeys of the Israelites the ark was carried by the priests in advance of the host (Numbers 4:5, 6; 10:33-36; Psalm 68:1; 132:8). It was borne by the priests into the bed of the Jordan, which separated, opening a pathway for the whole of the host to pass over (Joshua 3:15, 16; 4:7, 10, 11, 17, 18). It was borne in the