Bible Studies

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Hebrews 9: 2-5a
For a tabernacle was prepared; the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary [Holy Place]; and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were (1) the golden pot that had the manna, (2) Aaron’s rod that budded, and the (3) tablets of the covenant; and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat.

Exodus 16: 33
And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a pot and put an omer of manna in it, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations.”

NOTE: There is no mention about a golden pot containing manna being put into the ark.

Exodus 25: 10a, 11, 16
And they shall make an ark of acacia wood. And you shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and shall make on it a molding of gold all around. And you shall put into the ark the Testimony which I will give you.

Exodus 31: 18
And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God (Cp. Exodus 32: 15).

Exodus 40: 20a
He took the Testimony and put it [them] into the ark.

Numbers 17: 8, 10a
Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses went into the tabernacle of witness, and behold, the rod of Aaron, of the house of Levi, had sprouted and put forth buds, had produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds. And the LORD said to Moses, “Bring Aaron’s rod back before the Testimony, to be kept as a sign against the rebels. . .”

NOTE: There is no mention about Aaron’s rod that budded being placed into the ark, also.

Deuteronomy 10: 5a
Then I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made.

1 Kings 8: 4, 9a
Then they brought up the ark of the LORD, the tabernacle of meeting, and all the holy furnishings that were in the tabernacle. The priests and Levites brought them up. Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb (Cp. 2 Chronicles 5: 10).

COMMENTARY: Outside of the Ark of the Covenant [Testimony] containing the tablets of stone, there is no writing in the Tanach [including the Torah] which mentions Aaron’s rod and the golden pot containing manna being located inside this chest [ark], which the author of Hebrews says it did. In fact, the Book of Kings, which was written perhaps hundreds of years after the time of Moses, reveals that only the tablets of stone [the Testimony] was in the ark and nothing else, so if these other items were there formerly, then what happened to them, and if taken, then by whom?


Robert Randle
776 Commerce St. #B-11
Tacoma, WA 98402
April 8, 2011
[email protected]

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