Tag Archives: Impulsive

Tamar

106 – Tamar

2 Samuel 13:1-39

Amnon was David’s oldest son—and his favorite. Amnon had everything he wanted, except one thing. He wanted his half-sister Tamar. She was beautiful and a virgin. He thought about her all the time. He literally got sick wishing he could go to bed with her.

He had a cousin who was known to be crafty. Once he heard how Amnon felt, he came up with a plan.  He said, “Lay in your bed as if you’re sick. When the king asks about you, tell him you want Tamar to come make some bread in your room. Tell him you want her to feed it to you.”

Amnon followed this plan, so the king asked Tamar to go help her brother with some food. While she was there, Amnon sent all the servants out of the room. As she handed him some food, he grabbed her and said, “Get in bed with me!”

She begged him, “No, please. Stop this. This is a horrible sin. You’re putting me to shame. Ask the king and he’ll give me to you. He’ll give you anything.”

But Amnon wouldn’t listen. He pulled her into bed and raped her. As soon as he was done, he no longer wanted her. In fact, he hated her. He said, “Get out of here!”

She yelled, “No! Don’t throw me away. What you’ve done is wrong, but sending me away is worse.”

He shouted for his servant. “Take this woman out of here and lock the door behind her.”

After Tamar was put out, she tore her clothes, the ones that showed she was a virgin. She put ashes on her head and cried as she walked along. 

Her brother was Absalom. As soon as he heard what happened, he vowed to kill Amnon. But he knew it had to be planned out carefully. So, he had his sister move into his house. He told her, “For now, try to put it out of your mind. Don’t say anything about it.” 

From that day on, Tamar was sad and moody, and Absalom totally stopped speaking to Amnon. The king was furious when he heard about the rape. Still he didn’t do anything about it. 

Two years later, Absalom held a sheep shearing party and invited all of David’s sons. He made sure Amnon would be there. Absalom provided a large banquet for the occasion. Everyone had plenty to eat and drink. 

Absalom told the servants to watch Amnon carefully. He said, “Wait until he’s had plenty to drink, then kill him. Don’t be afraid. You won’t get into trouble. You’re simply following my orders.”

They did exactly as they were told. When the time was right, they killed Amnon. The other sons ran for their lives. 

News of this quickly got back to the king. He was told Absalom had killed all of the king’s sons. David ripped his clothes and fell to the ground. Finally, someone told him that it wasn’t true. Only Amnon had died. They said, “Absalom has been planning this since his sister was raped.”

Finally, the other sons of David came down the road and went before the king. Everyone cried together.

Absalom ran to a neighboring country to hide from his father. David grieved for Amnon for three years.

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Bathsheba

104 – Bathsheba

II Samuel 11:1-27

When it was spring, it was time to once again attack the Ammonites. Normally David would go with his men, but he decided to stay home.

After taking a nap one afternoon, he walked along the sundeck that was on the roof of the palace. From there, he saw a beautiful woman taking a bath. He sent for a servant and asked, “Who is that woman?”

“Oh, her name is Bathsheba. She is the wife of Uriah, one of your 30 fighting men.” 

David sent for her, so she came to the palace. He slept with her that night. In time she realized she was expecting a baby, and she knew it was from the night she spent with the king.  She sent word to David that she was pregnant. 

He decided he had to hide what he had done. So he immediately sent a message to Joab. “Send Uriah to me.”

The soldier arrived and the king asked him, “How is the battle going? Is Joab well?”  After Uriah gave a report, the king told him he could go home to his wife before going back to the battle. He even sent a gift for the couple.

Uriah left the king, but didn’t go home. He slept the night at the door of the palace with all of the king’s servants. In the morning, the king called him in and asked, “Why didn’t you go home?”

“No, I wouldn’t do that. The Ark of God is on the field of battle. The army of Israel sleeps in tents. Joab and his officers are on the field. I can’t go to my house and live in ease. I can’t eat and drink with my wife while they are sacrificing for our nation.”

David said, “Stay here one more day, and then I’ll send you back to the battle.”

The king then asked Uriah to eat and drink with him. During the course of the evening, David got him drunk. Still, he didn’t go home, but slept on a cot at the palace doors.

The next morning David wrote a letter to his commander. “Put Uriah in the front where the fighting is the fiercest. At an assigned moment, have your men fall back, leaving him to die.” 

The king gave the sealed letter to Uriah, and told him to take it to Joab. He went back to the battle and gave the letter to his commander. Joab obeyed the order and put Uriah at the exact place that was the most dangerous. At the assigned moment, everyone else fell back and Uriah was killed. Bathsheba heard that her husband died in battle, and she mourned his death.

Joab continued his battle against the Ammonite capital city. Finally, he broke through and captured their water supply. He sent word to David. “Come quickly! Lead the army into the city and capture it so you’ll get the glory.”

David went and led the army to victory over the Ammonite cities. He had the Ammonite people totally tear down their walls and all of their buildings. He took everything of value, and put the people to work making bricks. 

David then went back to Jerusalem. Once Bathsheba’s time of mourning was over, he made her his wife. Soon afterwards, she gave birth to their son. Only God knew about their sin, and he was not pleased.

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Amman citadel fortifications, from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, a valuable teaching resource produced by BiblePlaces.com
Amman Citadel northern end view to northwest, from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, a valuable teaching resource produced by BiblePlaces.com
City of David excavations aerial, from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, a valuable teaching resource produced by BiblePlaces.com
City of David, Palace of David excavation area, from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, a valuable teaching resource produced by BiblePlaces.com
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Ammonites

103 – Ammonites

2 Samuel 10:1-19 I Chronicles 19:1-20:37

In all of David’s conquest, he didn’t attack the Ammonites because the king had been kind to him when he was running from Saul. One day, the king of the Ammonites died and his son ruled in his place. 

David sent a group of men with a message of comfort to the new king. When the men got there, the Ammonite leaders said to their king, “These men aren’t here to show David’s concern for you. They aren’t here to show respect for your father. They’re spying on us. They’re scouting out our city to see where we’re weak.” 

So the new king took the men and shaved off half of each man’s beard. He then cut off their robes, exposing the lower half of their bodies. The men went back to Israel deeply humiliated.

David heard about this great insult and sent word to his men. “Stay in Jericho until your beards grow back. Then return to us.”

The Ammonites finally realized what they had done. They had made David extremely angry. So they started building up their army. They even hired 33,000 soldiers from other countries.

David sent Joab and his army to fight against the Ammonites. When they were in place, the Ammonite army moved to a position where they were on one side of the Israelites, with the foreign soldiers on the other.  Joab realized he was in between the two, with front lines on both sides. Therefore he split the army. He selected his best troops to fight with him and attack the foreign soldiers. Everyone else was to fight the Ammonites under the command of his brother.

Joab said to his brother, “Both of us will be ready to help the other if there’s a need. Be brave and fight hard. We must protect our people and the cities of God. May the Lord’s will be done.”

The battle was decisive. Joab and his elite troops hit the foreign armies so hard that they turned and ran. When the Ammonites saw this, they retreated back into their walled cities. With this, Joab took his army back to Jerusalem.

The foreign army reorganized and came back to fight again. This time, David went with his men and totally defeated them, killing over 40,000 men. Those who escaped went back to their country and never returned again. David waited until spring to finish defeating the Ammonites.

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Amman Citadel fortifications, from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, a valuable teaching resource produced by BiblePlaces.com
Amman theater from above, from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, a valuable teaching resource produced by BiblePlaces.com
Amman Citadel northern wall from West, from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, a valuable teaching resource produced by BiblePlaces.com
Ammonite wall, from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, a valuable teaching resource produced by BiblePlaces.com

Running from Saul

91 – Running from Saul

1 Samuel 21:1-22:23

David escaped from Saul with only a few men to help him. They went to Ahimelech, the priest who was in charge of the Ark of God. The priest said, “Why are you here?”

“The king sent me on a special mission. He told me not to tell anyone about where I’m going. I left so fast that we don’t have anything to eat. Please give us some bread.”

Ahimelech said, “The only bread we have is the old showbread taken from the holy place. Only priests are allowed to eat it.”

This was old bread they took from the altar when they put new bread there. The priest said, “I suppose you can have the old bread, but only if your men have kept themselves clean before the Lord.”

David said, “We’re all on a mission for the king, so of course we’ve all kept ourselves holy before the Lord.”

So Ahimelech gave them the old bread. David noticed that Doeg, the Edomite, saw this whole thing. He was the chief shepherd for Saul.

David said to Ahimelech, “I left so fast that I forgot to bring my weapons. Do you have a spear or sword that I could use?”

“The only sword I have is the one you took from Goliath. You can have that one back. It’s all I have.”

David took the sword and continued his escape from Saul. He went to Gath, a city of the Philistines. There, he would be out of Saul’s reach. But people told the king of the Philistines, “This is David, the one they sing about: ‘Saul has killed his thousands, but David has killed his tens of thousands.’ ”

When David heard this, he immediately pretended like he was insane. People of that day didn’t hurt those who were insane because they were afraid there might be an evil spirit in them. David fell down and started clawing on the doorpost. He let drool flow into his beard. When the king saw this, he said, “This man is crazy. Get him out of here!”

David left Gath and hid in a cave. His brothers brought him all their relatives so they’d be safe from Saul. David took his parents to Moab and left them in the protection of the king there.

Soon men started arriving to join David. These were men who were in some kind of trouble or overwhelmed with debt. Finally there were 400 men who rallied around David, and he became their leader.

Meanwhile, Doeg, the Edomite, went to Saul and said, “I saw Ahimelech give David food and the sword of Goliath.”

Saul sent for Ahimelech and all 85 priests that were with him. “Why did you help this son of Jesse? You know he wants to kill me.”

Ahimelech said, “I thought he was your faithful servant. After all, he’s your son-in-law. I didn’t know there was trouble between you.”

Saul turned to his guards. “Kill these men, all of them. They’re on David’s side.”

The guards were shocked. They didn’t move because they weren’t about to kill the priest of the Lord.

Saul then turned to Doeg, the Edomite. “Kill all of these men and everything they own.” So, Doeg killed all of the priests, their wives, their children, and even their livestock. Only one son of Ahimelech was able to escape. He ran and told David all that happened.

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Givat Shapira, possible Nob, Iron Age fortress, from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, a valuable teaching resource produced by BiblePlaces.com
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Three Arrows

90 – Three Arrows

1 Samuel 20:1-42

David said, “Jonathan, why is your father trying to kill me? What have I done?”

He said, “The king doesn’t want to kill you. I would know about it if he did. He doesn’t hide anything from me.”

David said, “As sure as there is a God, and as sure as you’re alive, your father wants to kill me. He doesn’t tell you because he knows we’re best friends.”

Jonathan said, “What do you want me to do? Name it and I’ll do it.”

David said, “Tomorrow, I’m scheduled to go to a three-day banquet with the king. If he notices that I’m not there, tell him you gave me permission to go to Bethlehem for an annual sacrifice. Tell him it was important that I be there because it involves my entire clan.  

“If your father accepts that answer, then we’ll know all is well and he doesn’t hate me. But if he gets angry, then it will be clear to both of us that he wants to kill me.

“Jonathan, if you find out that he has good reason to hate me, then come … and kill me yourself.”

Jonathan said, “I’ll go and find out exactly what my father thinks about you. If you’re right and he wants to kill you, I’ll send you away in peace. But remember, we made a vow to each other before the Lord. If I die and God blesses you, take care of my family. Love my household as if they’re your own.

“Here’s my plan. Hide next to the big rock in the field. I’ll find out what my father thinks about you. Then I’ll come here and shoot three arrows toward the rock. I’ll send my servant to get them. As he goes, I’ll yell something to him. If I say, ‘They are on this side of the rock.’ That’s your sign that all is well and you can come back.

“But if I yell, ‘They’re on the other side of the rock,’ That’s your sign that you need to run for your life because my father is trying to kill you.”

During the first day of the banquet, Saul noticed that David was not in his place, but he didn’t say anything. On the second day, Saul said to Jonathan, “Where is that son of Jesse? He’s missed both days so far.”

“Oh, I gave him permission to go to Bethlehem. His family is having a big annual sacrifice, and his brothers insisted that he be there.”

Saul yelled at his son. “You son of a prostitute! I know what you’re doing. You’re taking his side. Don’t you realize he’s going to take away your kingdom? You’re a shame to our family. Now go get him and bring him here so I can kill him.”

Jonathan yelled back. “What has he done? Why do you want to kill him?”

Saul grabbed a spear and threw it at his son. Jonathan got up from the table and left. He didn’t eat for a whole day because he was ashamed of his father.

In the morning, he went to the field with his servant. He shot three arrows out beyond the rock. As the servant ran out to get them, Jonathan yelled, “They are on the other side of that rock. You need to hurry. Go as fast as you can.”

The servant found the arrows and brought them back. Jonathan then told him to take the equipment and go back to the city. 

After he left, David came out of hiding. The two men hugged and cried. Jonathan said, “You’re right. My father is determined to kill you. Go. But remember our pledge to one another, and between your children and my children.” With that, David left, and Jonathan went back to the city.

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Protecting David

89 – Protecting David

1 Samuel 19:1-24

Saul wanted David dead. So he told his servants and Jonathan to find him and kill him. Jonathan rushed and told David, “Go and hide. I’ll talk to my father and see if I can reason with him. I’ll let you know if I’m successful.”

Jonathan talked to his father and told him that David was a loyal servant and would do nothing to harm the king. Saul listened to his son and promised to let David live. So David went back into the king’s courts and served him. War once again broke out with the Philistines and David led the army to victory against them.

Once again the Lord allowed an evil spirit to enter the king. As David played the harp, Saul grabbed a spear and threw it at him. He jumped out of the way and ran from the room.

Saul called his guards and told them to go to David’s house in the morning and kill him. Michal heard about this and warned her husband. “You must leave tonight. They’ll be here in the morning to kill you.”

He went out the window and she helped lower him down to the ground. She placed an image in his bed and put goat hair on top of it. She then covered it with a blanket. In the morning, she told the guards, “He’s sick in bed.”

They went and told the king. He said, “Go! Bring me the bed with David in it, and I’ll kill him myself.”

When they went to the bed, they found the image with the goat hair. Saul yelled at Michal. “How could you lie to me and let my enemy get away?”

She said, “He forced me to do it. He said he would kill me if I didn’t.”

David went to Samuel and told him everything that had happened. Saul found out that David was with Samuel, so he sent guards to go get him. When they got there, they saw Samuel sitting with some prophets. Suddenly the guards sat down and started prophesying.

Saul heard about this, so he sent more guards. The same thing happened to them. They sat down and started prophesying. So Saul sent a third set of guards, and again they sat down and started prophesying.

Finally Saul went himself. When he got close to where they were, the Spirit of God came on him and he started prophesying as he walked along. When he entered the house, the king took off his clothes as he was prophesying. He then collapsed and lay naked the rest of that day, and all night.

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David Earns a Wife

88 – David Earns a Wife

1 Samuel 18:1-30

After the death of Goliath, Saul’s son, Jonathan, became a close friend to David. The love between these two men was great. Jonathan gave David everything he needed to fight on the battlefield, and also what he needed for working in the king’s court.

David was successful as a commander in the army. All the people admired him, and his men became loyal to him. One day when Saul and his army came in from battle, the women from the various cities greeted them with dancing and singing. Their song was, “Saul has killed thousands. David has killed tens of thousands.” 

This made Saul furious! He said, “Listen to them. They give him more credit than me. What will they do next? Give him the kingdom?” From that day on, Saul became more and more jealous of David.

The next day, God allowed an evil spirit to take control of Saul. He started to act crazy. It was still David’s job to go play his harp when the king was in one of these moods. As David played, Saul said to himself, “I’ll end this right now. I’ll pin him to the wall.” When the time was just right, he grabbed a spear and threw it at David. David dodged it just in time, and kept playing the harp. Saul waited, and once again when the time was just right, he grabbed another spear and threw it at David. Again David dodged it just in time.

With that, Saul realized that the Spirit of the Lord had left him and was now with David. The king’s anger turned to fear.

He put David in charge of 1,000 soldiers and sent him out to battle. David was successful in every campaign he led. This increased the love that the people had for him, but it made Saul even more afraid of him.

One of the king’s daughters, named Michal, loved David. When Saul found out about this, he got an idea. He thought of a plan where the Philistines would kill David. The king had his servants go to David and say, “The king likes you so much that he’s willing for you to become his son-in-law.”

When David heard this, he said, “I am not a rich man. I can’t offer the king anything for his daughter.”

“Oh, the king doesn’t want you to pay him money. All he wants is for you to get revenge on his enemies. He wants you to kill 100 Philistines, and bring back proof that they’re dead.”

David was pleased by these terms. So he and his men went out and killed 200 Philistines and took Saul proof that they were dead. Saul had no choice but to give his daughter Michal to David.

Even more now, Saul considered David to be his enemy. Still, the Lord gave David victory every time he went out to battle. He was more successful than all of the other military officers and his name became more and more famous.

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Jonathan’s Victory

84 – Jonathan’s Victory

1 Samuel 13-14

Continued from the previous story

Jonathan looked at the Philistines’ camp on the other side of the pass. He said to his armor bearer, “Let’s go over there and kill a few Philistines. The Lord just might help us. He’s not limited by how many of us there are.”
 
The man said, “If you go, I’ll go with you.”

Jonathan said, “Here’s my plan. We’ll go across to the rear of the Philistine camp. We’ll let them see us at the bottom of their cliffs. If they tell us to stop, we’ll come back here. But if they tell us to come up, we’ll consider that a sign from God. We’ll know that the Lord will give us victory.”

They decided not to tell the king where they were going. When they got to the cliffs, the Philistines saw them. They said, “Look, the Hebrews are coming out of their hiding places!” They yelled down to Jonathan. “Come on up, and we’ll teach you a lesson!”

Jonathan laughed, “Follow me. The Lord has given them to us.” The two men climbed up the cliffs and killed twenty Philistines.

News quickly spread through the rest of the Philistine camp. This caused panic. They said, “The Israelites have attacked us from behind.” Suddenly the earth shook, and their panic turned to terror. They ran in every direction.

Men in Saul’s camp saw this and told the king. He looked around. “Call the roll and find out who’s missing.” They found that Jonathan and his armor bearer were gone.

As Saul assembled his troops, the panic in the Philistine camp intensified. When Saul’s army marched into battle, he found that the Philistines were fighting each other. 

The Israelites that had joined the Philistines now rallied around Saul. Those who hid among rocks and caves came out and joined the battle.

 Saul wanted his men to completely focus on winning the battle, so he shouted, “I put a curse on anyone who eats food before we win this victory.” His men obeyed, but soon they became hungry and tired.

Jonathan didn’t know what his father had said. He found some honey in the forest and ate it. Others immediately told him about the king’s order. He said, “The king shouldn’t have said that. Look at me. I ate some honey, now I’m ready to fight again. Our men should eat all of this food that the Philistines have left behind. Then they would fight harder.”

Saul finally realized his army was famished! He had a meal prepared and allowed his men to eat. The king then wanted to go back into battle, but suddenly realized something was wrong. He called everyone together and said, “Something is wrong, and I’m going to find out who’s behind it. Once I know who it is, he’ll be put to death, even if he’s my own son.”

He then drew lots, and it fell on Jonathan. The king asked him, “What did you do?”

“I ate some honey. If I’m to die for that, then I’m ready to die.”

Saul said to his son, “I took an oath, therefore you must die.”

The people shouted, “Jonathan won’t die! God used him to give us victory today. As the Lord God lives, not one hair of his head will fall to the ground.

So the people saved Jonathan’s life. With that, the battle was over and the Philistines returned to their own territory.

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Failing the Test

83 – Failing the Test

1 Samuel 13:1-22

When Saul became king of Israel, the people had to go to the Philistines to buy iron farm tools. When these tools became dull, the people had to go back to the Philistines to have them sharpened since they weren’t allowed to have blacksmiths. But the Philistines wouldn’t sell weapons of war to the people of Israel. The only ones to have modern swords and spears were Saul and his son Jonathan.

As king, Saul organized an army of 3,000 men. He personally oversaw 2,000 of them, and gave 1,000 to his son. Jonathan took his men and attacked a Philistine outpost. Saul knew that this was an act of war, so he quickly tried to build his forces in preparation. 

The Philistines reacted to this attack with force. They marched into Israel with 3,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and a massive number of troops.

The men of Israel were terrified when they saw this huge army come into their land. Most of the men in Saul’s army ran for their lives. They hid wherever they could. They hid in caves, among rocks, and down in wells. Some even left the country. Others actually joined the Philistine army! 

Samuel told the king not to go into battle until they had sacrificed to the Lord. He told Saul to go to a particular place and wait for him. The king went to that place, but Samuel wasn’t there. He waited three day—four days. Still Samuel didn’t come. He waited five day—six days. Samuel didn’t come.

 Saul watched as his men continue to desert the army. Finally, on the seventh day, he felt he couldn’t wait any longer. He got the things needed for the burnt sacrifice, and offered it up.

Just as he finished, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to greet him. The prophet said, “What have you done?”

Saul said, “The Philistines are about to attack, and my army is leaving me. I didn’t know if I would have the Lord’s help. I waited for you, but you didn’t come. I had no other choice, so I decided to act on my own. I offered the burnt offering to the Lord.”

Samuel said, “Oh, you have acted like a fool! Didn’t you realize this was a test? You failed it! If you had trusted God, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. Now your kingdom won’t last long.  The Lord has already found a man after his own heart. He’ll become king and God will establish his kingdom for ever.”

Samuel then turned and left the king. Saul counted his men and found he only had 600 soldiers. The Philistines had camped on the top of a cliff so they could control the important pass that was below. So Saul took his small army and camped on top of the cliffs on the opposite side of the pass.

Continued in the next story

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Ark of God Returned

79 – Ark of God Returned

1 Samuel 5:1 – 6:21

Continued from the previous story

After the Philistines captured the Ark of God, they put it in the temple of their god. The next morning, they found their idol face down in front of the Ark. They set the idol back up, but the next morning it was on the ground again. This time, the head and hands were broken off.

Suddenly the city was overrun with mice, and the people had large tumors covering their bodies. The men said, “This is being caused by the Ark of Israel’s God.” So they moved it to another city. 

Immediately, God’s judgment hit that city. They were overrun with mice and the people developed large painful tumors. This caused the people to panic. The men sent the Ark of God to yet another city, but the people there yelled at them. “You’re trying to kill us! We don’t want that Ark in our city!”

They moved the Ark from city to city for seven months. Fear and death followed it wherever it went. Finally the Philistines asked their priests, “How can we send the Ark of the Lord back to Israel?”

They said, “If you send the Ark back to Israel, you must send a guilt offering with it. Then God will remove his hand of judgment, and you’ll be healed. Make five gold images of your tumors and five gold images of the mice that are destroying the land. Give glory to the God of Israel, and he will stop crushing you. But if you become stubborn, you’ll be like Pharaoh when these people left Egypt. He’ll send more plagues upon you until you send the Ark back to Israel.

“Here’s what to do. Prepare a new cart and place the Ark of God on it.  Put the gold objects in a box beside it. Select two milk cows that have never been in a yoke, and hitch them to the cart. Take the calves away from the cows and put them in a pen nearby. Then stand back and see what the cows do. If they ignore their calves and go up the road toward Israel, you’ll know it was the Lord who tormented us for seven months. But, if the cows go toward their calves, we’ll know that all of this was just something that happened by chance. It wasn’t God’s judgment.”

The men did exactly as they were instructed. They got two milk cows and separated them from their calves. They hitched the cows to a cart, even though they had never been in a yoke before. They put the Ark on a new cart, along with the five gold images of their tumors and the mice.

When all was ready, they stood back and watched. The cows went straight up the road toward Israel. They stayed on that road with their heads down, lowing as they went. The Philistine rulers walked behind them all the way to the territory of Israel.

The people of Israel were harvesting wheat when they saw the Ark coming toward them. They shouted for joy. As they watched, the cows pulled the cart to a field near a large rock and stopped. The people of Israel put the Ark on the rock. They then used the wood from the cart to offer the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord.  When the Philistine rulers saw this, they returned to their country.

There were 70 men from a nearby town who were curious about what was in the Ark of God, so they opened it and looked inside. All 70 men died by the hand of God.  This struck fear into the people, but it was the beginning of the nation of Israel turning their hearts back to God.

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Cart-for-ark-of-covenant-reconstruction-at-Ekron-Museum-tb031500100.jpg

Cart for the Ark of the Covenant reconstruction, from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, a valuable teaching resource produced by BiblePlaces.com

Tabernacle-model-Ark-of-the-Covenant-in-Holy-of-Holies-tb052208371

Model of the Ark of the Covenant, from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, a valuable teaching resource produced by BiblePlaces.com

Kiriath-Jearim-Mary-and-ark-statue-from-below-tb110602104

Mary and the Ark of the Covenant atop a church at Kiriath Jearim, from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, a valuable teaching resource produced by BiblePlaces.com