Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
again, Acts 27:2 On his voyage to Rome. We trace him afterwards as St. Paul’s fellow prisoner in
(Colossians 4:10) and Phle 1:24 Tradition makes him bishop of Apamea.
Aristobulus
(the best counsellor), a resident at Rome, some of whose household are greeted in (Romans
16:10) Tradition makes him one of the 70 disciples and reports that he preached the gospel in
Britain.
Ark Of Moses
A small boat or basket made of the papyrus, a reed which grows in the marshes of Egypt. It
was covered with bitumen to make it water tight.
Ark Of The Covenant
The first piece of the tabernacle’s furniture, for which precise directions were delivered. Exod
25. I. Description.— It appears to have been an oblong chest of shittim (acacia) wood, 2 1/2 cubits
long by 1 1/2 broad and deep. Within and without gold was overlaid on the wood, and on the upper
side or lid, which was edged round about with gold, the mercy-seat was placed. The ark was fitted
with rings, one at each of the four corners, and through these were passed staves of the same wood
similarly overlaid, by which it was carried by the Kohathites. (Numbers 7:9; 10:21) The ends of
the staves were visible without the veil in the holy place of the temple of Solomon. (1 Kings 8:8)
The ark, when transported, was enveloped in the “veil” of the dismantled tabernacle, in the curtain
of badgers’ skins and in a blue cloth over all, and was therefore not seen. (Numbers 4:5,20) II. Its
purpose was to contain inviolate the divine autograph of the two tables, that “covenant” from which
it derived its title. It was also probably a reliquary for the pot of manna and the rod of Aaron. III.
History .—Before David’s time its abode was frequently shifted. It sojourned among several,
probably Levitical, families, (1 Samuel 7:1; 2 Samuel 6:3,11; 1 Chronicles 13:13; 15:24,25) in the
border villages of eastern Judah; and did not take its place in the tabernacle, but dwelt in curtains,
i.e. in a separate tent pitched for it in Jerusalem by David. Subsequently the temple, when completed,
received, in the installation of the ark in its shrine, the signal of its inauguration by the effulgence
of divine glory instantly manifested. It was probably taken captive or destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar,
2 Esdr. 10:22, so that there was no ark in the second temple.
Ark, Noahs
[Noah]
Arkite, The
from Arka, one of the families of the Canaanites, (Genesis 10:17; 1 Chronicles 1:16) and from
the context evidently located in the north of Phoenicia. The site which now bears the name of ’Arka
lies on the coast, 2 to 2 1/2 hours from the shore, about 12 miles north of Tripoli and 5 south of the
Nahr el-Kebir .
Armageddon
(the hill or city of Megiddo). (Revelation 16:16) The scene of the struggle of good and evil is
suggested by that battle-field, the plain of Esdraelon, which was famous for two great victories, of
Barak over the Canaanites and of Gideon over the Midianites; and for two great disasters, the deaths
of Saul and Josiah. Hence it signifies in Revelation a place of great slaughter, the scene of a terrible
retribution upon the wicked. The Revised Version gives the name as Har-Magedon, i.e. the hill (as
Ar is the city) of Megiddo .—ED.)
Armenia
57
William Smith