In Similitude of Covenants

The Lord led the Children of Israel out of Egypt. Once they crossed the Red Sea (near the north end of what is now known as the Gulf of Suez) and were on the Sinai Peninsula, instead of turning northeast to go directly to the Land of Canaan, the land that had been promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel for an inheritance, the Lord led them southeast, taking them down the west side of the peninsula and bringing them finally to Mt Sinai, or Horeb, a distance of about 340 miles. This was the same mountain where Moses had seen the burning bush and received his call from the Lord to deliver Israel out of Egypt earlier in the same year.

On the trip to Sinai, the Children of Israel had witnessed and been sustained by several faith promoting occurrences. Miraculous things continued at Horeb, including receiving instructions on building a tabernacle (a precursor to the temple they would eventually build in Jerusalem) and several items that were to be kept in the tabernacle. After giving instructions on building the tabernacle itself, the first artifact the Lord instructed Israel to prepare, to be kept in the tabernacle, was the Ark of the Covenant (Numbers 10:33), also known as the Ark of the Testimony (Exodus 25:22).

The Ark continued with Israel for almost 900 years, with one brief interruption in about 1070 BC when the Philistines took it during a battle with Israel but returned it later the same year. In about 586 BC, the Ark passed out of Israel's hands again when Israel was conquered by Babylon. Although there are several theories as to the Ark's current location, the two most credible place it at sites considered sacred and therefore not available for archeological exploration.

We are told that many things in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament, are types, symbols, or similitudes of Christ (2 Nephi 11:4, Mosiah 3:15). As suggested by its name, it seems to me that the Ark of the Covenant has its symbols as well. One of those is it being symbolic of the covenants we make with Christ.

The Ark was a chest of acacia or shittim wood, which is a beautiful wood.

Acacia trees are native to tropical and subtropical regions of the world, including the Middle East. It is a beautiful wood.

The wood of the Ark was overlaid with gold, 2½ cubits long, 1½ cubits broad and 1½ cubits deep. As the Lord described the manner in which the Ark was to be constructed, using the finest of materials, this seems symbolic of the nature of covenants; we are to give our finest efforts in making and keeping our covenants. They are not something to be entered into lightly, or treated lightly once made.

The handling of the Ark by Israel was a serious matter. Prayers were recited before it moved or rested (Num. 10:35–36), and during its progress it was treated with the greatest reverence. The Lord had said the Israelites were not to touch the Ark (Numbers 4:15), hence there were rings installed at the corners so that poles could be inserted and used to transport the Ark without actually touching it. There is the story of Uzziah being smitten for touching the Ark as the oxen pulling the cart it rested on stumbled (1 Chronicles 13:9-10). Likewise, our covenants are to be treated with great reverence and care.

When the Lord gave Moses the instructions on the Ark of the Covenant, He spoke of the purpose of the Ark and its role in their relationship with God. The Ark of the Covenant, or Ark of the Testimony, was the resting place of the scriptures, or record of the Word of God (Exodus 26:34, footnote b, Deuteronomy 31:26), which were kept inside the Ark, under the Mercy Seat. It is at the Mercy Seat that the Lord said He would meet us and commune with us (Exodus 25:22). This seems, to me, to be symbolic of the scriptures as a source of revelation

Israel was instructed to place the Ark within the temple, behind the veil (Exodus 26:33), which, to me, is symbolic of the sacred nature of covenants, not secret but not out on display for general view. Placing the Ark within the Holy of Holies seems akin to the additional level of preparation and worthiness required to enter the temple, a privilege reserved for those willing to make additional effort and give extra attention to qualify to enter the temple.

Another symbol the Ark represents is deliverance. After Joshua had been called to lead the Israelites they again came to a body of water that was separating them from the Land of Promise. This time it was the River Jordan. As the priests who were bearing the Ark stepped into the water, the water parted, allowing Israel to pass through on dry ground (Joshua 3:15-17). By bearing the Ark in the manner the Lord instructed, Israel was at last enabled to enter the Promised Land and possess it. Likewise, our covenants, kept as the Lord requires, will deliver us into all that the Lord has promised. 

I liked the similitude between the Ark of the Covenant and the covenants we make with the Lord. Keeping those covenants will result in some blessings, many of which are incomprehensible to me. But one of them I can understand, an eternal family. And so to help me remember the role covenants play in being able to have my family forever, I got something to remind me. Something made of acacia wood, like the Ark of the Covenant.

When John the Beloved was on the Isle of Patmos, he saw into heaven.  One of the things he saw there was the Ark of the Covenant (Revelations 11:19), resting in the temple. The message of John’s revelation is one of deliverance, of triumph, the victory of Christ. Our covenants, faithfully kept, will, by the grace of Christ, enable us to participate in that victory, and thereby I can keep my family into eternity.

Another Try

I've been reading in the news, the last little while, about a comet from the outer reaches of our solar system that is making the rounds around our sun right now.  So far out it would take it 80,000 years to make the trip.  That's a long ways.  It was discovered last January and the guy who discovered it was able to have it named after him, a guy named Greg Leonard.  Its technical name is C/2021 A1 but its short name is the Leonard Comet. It is the biggest, brightest comet of the year and, because it is supposed to be visible right now, sometimes gets called the Christmas comet.  When I first started reading of it I got the impression that it would be bright enough to be visible with the unaided eye, but, as part of an attempt to see it, saw that there have been no reports so far of anyone seeing it without some kind of magnification.  Although binoculars have been enough for a lot of people.

But it was worth a try.  So tonight we went out north of town, which is relatively free of light pollution, and gave it a shot.  The time it's visible, in our area, is short; it has to be dark enough for it to show up but before it dips below the horizon. While we never saw the comet, we got to watch a very nice sunset.  This is Venus, in the southwest sky.  The comet was supposed to be slightly below and to the left a little of Venus.  It felt a little bit like when I was trying to catch a glimpse of the Humanity Star a few years ago.  

Maybe we just didn't stay out long enough. After all, it should be visible up until just before Venus slips below the horizon. Maybe we'll try again in a couple of days and stay out until Venus goes out of sight.  Still, it was a fun evening, a nice time with Brombeere, out in the dark countryside, watching the sun set.  The comet is supposed to be visible for the rest of the year as it makes its way toward the sun.  It is not expected to survive the trip around the sun so it may or may not be back in a few months.  It's already getting dimmer and some experts think that may be because it's already starting to break up. In any case, it's expected to get ejected form its orbit around our sun and get hurled out of the solar system, never to return, if it survives that long.  But it's getting lots of attention right now.

A Tough Repair

Several years ago, not long after we moved into this house, Brombeere was out doing the local yard sales and came across a rocking cow.  That's right, not the usual rocking horse, but a rocking cow.

That was a pretty unique find so, of course, she bought it and brought it home.  It has been loved by our grandkids ever since.  Even when it wasn't getting ridden, it was always near by, always ready for a ride.

It's a fine, sturdy little rocking cow; colorful, well built, and solid.  Very creative.

Perfect in every way except for one thing: it was missing an ear.  Over the years we have searched and searched for a replacement ear.  That's not something you can just run down to the hardware store and pick up, but each time we found a friend with woodworking skills, we'd asked about getting a replacement ear made.  Unfortunately, in all the years we've been looking we were unable to find anyone willing to tackle it.  It's a unique shape and basically needed to be hand-made.

Then one day Maulbeere's husband was over visiting with her, saw it, and volunteered to give it a shot. That was amazing!  He took the remaining ear off and took it home with them.  Then, several days later, they were back with a new ear!  We knew he dabbled in woodworking, but had no idea he was up to this kind of work.

So he brought it back and put on an initial coat of stain.  There was some interesting help with that (a very interested young man), but he kept things under control quite nicely.

Once he had it stained and it had dried, he took it downstairs, along with the original ear, which he had used as a model, and put them both on the cow.

Now the little rocking cow was whole again!  We talked with him about doing some additional staining on the ear, it's not quite a good match.  But the hard part is done, the ear is made and on!

Brombeere is a happy grandma again!  The real test will be when a grandkid climbs on and takes the cow for a ride; the ears double for the handles to hang on with.  But we're halfway there, the ear is made and attached!  All is well in the world again!

Welcome Back!

For Christmas of 2012 we had an addition to our family, a wonderful pig!  Fisher Hobbs came to join our family!  A talented, meteorological pig, Mr. Hobbs was useful as well as decorative.  Unfortunately, the weather he was so good at reporting was also rather hard on him.  After only a year outside decorating the yard and reporting the weather, his finish was really showing some wear.  So when fall came around, in order to protect his finish, he went in the basement so it wouldn't get any worse.  That was quite the effort; he is made of cement, you will recall.  So, because he was so heavy, it got really easy to just leave him down there; hauling that little pig up those stairs was quite the effort.  The little porker is roughly 17" x 13" x 8" but in that compact shape he weighs 62 pounds.  Actually, I was surprised that was all.  It felt like more than that to me.  But the scale said only 62 pounds.  I'm not sure what kind of paint Erdbeere used when she first painted him but he was looking pretty sad when we brought him in.    

 Definitely showing some wear.   

But a close inspection showed it was just peeling and flaking paint, not damage to the cement.  So, after all these years, I decided it was time to spruce him up and get him back outside.  Ugh.  That meant getting serious about getting him back up those stairs.  Unfortunately, our summer last year ended up a little crazy and the oinker never made it up the stairs that year.  Had to wait until the next summer, this summer.

The first step was hauling the 62 pound porker back up the stairs.

It was actually Brombeere who brought Mr. Hobbs back up the stairs.  We had been talking about it one morning and then she suddenly appeared with him in the kitchen.  I was a little surprised.  

Once upstairs, he found a new purpose: holding down a rug we had on the deck.  The wind was forever trying to lift and move the rug across the deck but Mr. Hobbs put an end to that.  The pig's got skills!

Mr. Hobbs spent the rest of the summer on the deck, doing a mighty fine job of holding that rug down and keeping it mostly in place.  Before he went to work the wind actually blew the rug clear off the deck a time or two.  But never again, as long as Mr. Hobbs was on the job.

Another thing Mr. Hobbs did, as he was busy holding down the rug, was constantly catch our attention.  After so many years of having a dog around and letting them out the back door for potty breaks, we kept seeing Mr. Hobbs, as we'd walk through the kitchen, standing by the door.  It kept making us think we needed to let the dog back in; that's just how all the dogs have always done it: stand by the back door and wait.

Mr. Hobbs didn't get his make-over this year.  We've already had snow and the temperatures are low enough now that nobody wants to spend the time outside painting in the cold.  Besides, most paint likes to be applied when it's warmer.

The snow melted off pretty quick but still, winter has arrived and warm days would be unexpected at this point. While he will spend the winter outdoors, faithfully reporting the weather, he will not get painted this year.  That will have to wait until next year after it gets warm again.  Good thing he's a patient little pig.