THE ARK STORY AS A TYPE AND SHADOW
In
the following chart, I list the elements of the ark story on the left. On the
right, I list the same elements, with minor word changes. (For example, I
substitute gospel for ark and Gentiles for Philistines, changes indicated in
boldface in the right-hand column.) Looking at these vents in this parallel
form, we can see that the ark story bears striking resemblance to a much larger
story—a story that is not obvious on the surface. There may be more going on in
First Samuel 4 through 6 than at first meets the eye. . . .
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LOSS AND RETURN OF THE ARK |
LOSS AND RETURN OF THE GOSPEL |
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1. Israel loos to the ark as a power that will deliver a
political/military victory |
1. Israel looks for a Messiah who will deliver a political/military
victory |
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2. The ark is lost from Israel |
2. The gospel is lost from Israel |
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3. The temple is therefore lost from Israel |
3. The temple is therefore lost from Israel |
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4. The ark of the God of Israel overcomes the gods of the Philistines |
4. The gospel of the God of Israel overcomes the gods of
the Gentiles |
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5. The ark afflicts the Philistines |
5. The gospel afflicts the Gentiles |
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6. The Philistines come to believe in the power of the God of
Israel |
6. The Gentiles come to believe in the power of the God
of Israel |
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7. The Philistines repent of their wrongdoing |
7. The Gentiles repent of their wrongdoing |
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8. The Philistines take the ark back to Israel |
8. The Gentiles take the gospel back to Israel |
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9. The Israelites who don’t treat the ark with proper respect
lose the ark again and are destroyed |
9. The Israelites who don’t treat the gospel with proper
respect lose the gospel again and are destroyed |
|
10. The return of the ark leads the Israelites to mourn and seek
after the Lord |
10. The return of the gospel leads the Israelites to
mourn and seek after the Lord |
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11. The Israelites repent and put away false gods. |
11. The Israelites repent and put away false gods |
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12. The Israelites put their trust in the Lord when being
attacked by their enemies |
12. The Israelites put their trust in the Lord when being
attacked by their enemies |
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13. The Lord provides a military victory |
13. The Lord provides a military victory |
|
14. Israel looks for a temporal king |
14. The Lord is established as King over Israel |
Seen this way, the ark story becomes a “type” of a
much larger story: It can be viewed as a grand prophecy of the gloss of the gospel
from Israel and the latter-day restoration of that gospel through the Gentiles.
Just as the Israelites looked to the ark for political
or military deliverance and missed the spiritual dimension of the ark and its
source of power, so too at the time of Christ “they were too busy starting in
search of a political liberator and missed the Messiah.” (Neal A. Maxwell, Things
As They Really Are [Deseret Book, 1978[, 54) In missing the Messiah, they missed
his gospel, and without that gospel, the fulness of the priesthood and the
ordinances of the temple remained hidden from them.
Just as the ark became possessed by the Philistines,
after Israel’s rejection of the Lord, the gospel was revealed to the Gentiles. “For
thus it behooveth the father that it should come forth from the Gentiles, that
he may show forth his power unto the Gentiles.” (3 Nephi 21:6) Just as the ark
overcame the gods of the Philistines, the restored gospel will overcome the gods
of the Gentiles, rolling forth as a stone cut out of a mountain without hands.
(See Daniel 234-35) One by one, man will be brought by that gospel to a
knowledge of their sins—and it will afflict them the way the ark afflicted by
the Philistines. . . . after the Gentiles in the latter days come to the knowledge
of the gospel and turn to Christ, they will be the instruments through whom the
Lord restores the fulness of the gospel to the house of Israel: “in the latter
days . . . shall the fulness of the gospel of the Messiah come unto the
Gentiles, and from the Gentiles unto [Israel].” (1 Nephi 15:13) And the last
shall be first, and the first shall be last.” (1 Nephi 13:42) Just as the
Philistines brought the ark to Israel, so too in the latter days the Gentiles
will bring the gospel back to Israel.
As in the ark story, when the gospel is restored to
Israel, “as many of the Jews as will not repent shall be cast off.” (2 Nephi
30:2) Nevertheless, the restoration will lead many Israelites to mourn and seek
after the Lord, (See Zechariah 12:10-11) and then to repent and put away false
gods. (See Zechariah 13:1-2) After they repent they will turn to the Lor for deliverance.
(See Zechariah 13:9) And when they do, the Lord will provide them a great
military victory: “Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations,
as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day
upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount
of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the
west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall
remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to
the valley of the mountains . . . and the Lord my God shall come, and all the
saints with thee.” (Zechariah 14:3-5)
Completing the parallelism, after this great victory, “the
Lord shall be king over all the earth.” (Zechariah 14:9)
We can see that from start to finish, the ark story matches the larger gospel story. The parallelism is striking. (James L. Farrell, The Hidden Christ: Beneath the Surface of the Old Testament [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2009], 152-55