Matthew Henry on Exodus 25:10-22
The first thing which is here ordered to be made is the ark with its appurtenances, the furniture of the most holy place, and the special token of God's presence, for which the tabernacle was erected to be the receptacle.
I. The ark itself was a chest, or coffer, in which the two tables of the law, written with the finger of God, were to be honourably deposited, and carefully kept. The dimensions of it are exactly ordered; if the Jewish cubit was, as some learned men compute, three inches longer than our half-yard (twenty-one inches in all), this chest or cabinet was about fifty-two inches long, thirty-one broad, and thirty-one deep. It was overlaid within and without with thin plates of gol…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 25:22
there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat--The Shekinah, or symbol of the Divine Presence, rested on the mercy seat, and was indicated by a cloud, from the midst of which responses were audibly given when God was consulted on behalf of His people. Hence God is described as "dwelling" or "sitting" between the cherubim.
Adam Clarke on Exodus 25:22
And there I will meet with thee - That is, over the mercy-seat, between the cherubim. In this place God chose to give the most especial manifestations of himself; here the Divine glory was to be seen; and here Moses was to come in order to consult Jehovah, relative to the management of the people.
Ainsworth has remarked that the rabbins say, "The heart of man may be likened to God's sanctuary; for as, in the sanctuary, the shechinah or Divine glory dwelt, because there were the ark, the tables, and the cherubim; so, in the heart of man, it is meet that a place be made for the Divine Majesty to dwell in, and that it be the holy of holies." This is a doctrine most implicitly taught by the apos…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Gill on Exodus 25:22
And there I will meet with thee,.... With Moses, and so with the high priest in later times, when he should enter into the holy of holies, and with the people of God as represented by him, when he should go in and inquire for them of the Lord:
and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim; converse with him and them about whatsoever they should apply unto him for, these being the symbols of the divine presence: hence the Lord is frequently described as "dwelling between the cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony"; that is, which cherubim are upon it, being on the mercy seat, which was the cover of it; or rather "which is upon" (s), which mer…
