Links for today’s readings:
Read: Exodus 37 Listen: (3:14) Read: Luke 19 Listen: (5:29)
Scripture Focus: Exodus 37:8-9
8 He made one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; at the two ends he made them of one piece with the cover. 9 The cherubim had their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim faced each other, looking toward the cover.
Reflection: Overshadowing as Mercy
By Erin Newton
To overshadow the ark is not to darken the mercy seat.
The cherubim stand facing inward, wings touching. The wings create a hedge along the edge of the ark’s lid. In protective fashion, the “overshadowing” cherubim stand in service to God, holding the space where his glory will dwell.
The cherubim have been in a protective stance before at Eden. When Adam and Eve sinned and were cast from the garden, the cherubim stood to guard the way to the tree of life (Gen 3:24).
But what needs protection on the ark? Are the wings to keep us out or God’s glory in?
Cherubim not only guard and protect, in another passage they spread their wings like a throne for God. He rules the world from atop the cherubim-carried throne (Ps 80:1).
Is the ark the throne of God? Or is it something to be guarded?
I think what you have in this image is both. Numbers 7 reveals how the voice of God would bellow forth from atop the ark instructing Moses. When God chose to dwell with his people, the cherubim overshadowed where his glory dwelled. They were a veil for those who were in his presence. For no one can see God and live (Exod 33:20). The tree of life was also where God had dwelled with his people. Now tainted with sin, it is God’s act of mercy to provide a veil to the tree and a veil around his glory. To eat of the tree of life while under the burden of sin would be a fate worse than death.
The surrounding wingspan of the cherubim also represents the throne of God. As he dwells among Moses and the people, it is on earth as it is in heaven. There is no place that God does not rule.
When we think about the cherubim guarding the tree and overshadowing the ark, it is tempting to focus on how much people were separate from God. But when we see the cherubim as providing a safe space for us to commune with God, the veil is an act of mercy.
Since the death of Christ, the veil has been removed. No longer is there a need for protection from God’s presence. Why? Because of the indwelling of his Spirit. We are one with Christ. We no longer need to fear the presence of God in our lives.
Divine Hours Prayer: The Morning Psalm
Proclaim the greatness of the Lord our God and fall down before his footstool; he is the Holy One.
Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those who call upon his Name, they called upon the Lord, and he answered them.
He spoke to them out of the pillar of cloud; they kept his testimonies and the decree that he gave them.
O Lord our God, you answered them indeed; you were a God who forgave them, yet punished them for their evil deeds.
Proclaim the greatness of the Lord our God and worship him upon his holy hill; for the Lord our God is the Holy One. — Psalm 99.5-9
– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.
Read more: At The Mercy Seat
Instead of a gold-covered lid, Christ’s mercy seat is a blood-soaked hilltop. Instead of hovering between angels’ wings, Jesus hung between two thieves.
Read more: Unveiled
Paul describes believers as those with “unveiled faces”…If Moses’ face glowed, ours should be incandescent.