Studies in Comparative Religion, Vol. 5, No. 4. (Autumn, 1971). © World Wisdom, Inc.
notice the prominent mention of the Ark of the Covenant, not Ark of the Testimony.
paragraph 2:
The Temple in Jerusalem has the same fundamental meaning as the Tabernacle, its movable prototype. It is God’s “dwelling” (mishkan) or the holy place of His “indwelling” (shekhinah) in the midst of Israel. “And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. And they shall know that I am YHWH[1], their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am YHWH their God”. (Exodus, 29, 45-46). God wished to live in the “sanctuary” (miqdash) in order to be known; in it His Presence was to appear, speak, command: “There I will appear to thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the Ark of the Covenant, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel”. (Exodus, 25, 22) These words were addressed to Moses, and applied not only to the Holy of Holies within the Tabernacle, but also to that of the Temple, which Solomon called an “oracle” (d’bir), for it was here that was revealed God’s “word” or “command” (dibrah) and thus also the “prophetic message” (dibber).
paragraph 5:
The Tabernacle had provided the Presence of God with no permanent habitation, for it was set up after the model of His heavenly “vehicle” (merkabah), in which He would lead His people through the wilderness to the fixed “centre of the world”, Jerusalem. The oral tradition tells us that in the wilderness the bearers of the Ark of the Covenant were miraculously carried by it as by a vehicle. Not only did they feel no weight, but they soared with it like angels, penetrated by the light of the holy Ark and raised to prophetic vision… When God’s vehicle came to rest, it was His throne; but the true earthly image of His throne, the fixed habitation of God here below, was not the Tabernacle, but the Temple. For this reason the latter alone is called God’s “house” (beth) or His “Lower Throne”. In themselves His vehicle and His throne are one and the same universal centre; but here below it is the Temple alone which “solidifies” the latter. In it is found—according to the Talmud (Yoma, 54b)—the “foundation stone” (eben shetiyah), around which the earth was created and on which the whole world rests. Thus the Kabbala (Zohar: Terumah 157a) also says that the Holy Land is the centre of the world, Jerusalem is the centre of the Holy Land, and the Holy of Holies is the centre of Jerusalem. Onto this central point all good and all nourishment descended for distribution to the entire world.
