3. The container made of acacia wood in which the second set of stone tablets of the Law given Moses on Mount Sinai were temporarily kept until the ark of the testimony was constructed some months later. (De 10:1-5) The Hebrew word ʼarohnʹ, rendered “ark” in Deuteronomy 10:1-5, is elsewhere rendered “coffin” (Ge 50:26) and “chest.”​—2Ki 12:9, 10, ftn; 2Ch 24:8, 10, 11.

Inauguration and Use. Bezalel and the wisehearted ones assisting him followed the plans explicitly, constructing the Ark from the materials contributed by the people. (Ex 35:5, 7, 10, 12; 37:1-9) When the tabernacle was completed and set up a year after the Exodus, Moses took the two stone tablets of the Law and put them into the Ark. (Deuteronomy 10:1-5 indicates that a temporary ark made of acacia wood housed the tablets during only the few months’ interval from the time Moses received them in the mountain until they were transferred to the Ark made by Bezalel.) Next, Moses inserted the poles in the rings of the Ark, laid the cover on, brought it into the tent, and put up the screen that was to separate the Holy from the Most Holy. Then, as part of the inauguration ceremony, Moses anointed the Ark and all other furnishings with oil. From then on, when the priests disassembled the tabernacle to move camp, the same dividing screen, together with additional sealskins and blue cloth, was used to cover the Ark to prevent the people from looking upon it ‘for the least moment of time, lest they die.’​—Ex 40:3, 9, 20, 21; Nu 3:30, 31; 4:5, 6, 19, 20; 7:9; De 10:8; 31:9; see TABERNACLE.