Thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee , [ haa`eedut ] - that is, the two tables of stone containing the Ten Commandments, and called "the Testimony," because by it God did testify His sovereign authority over Israel as His people, His selection of them as the guardians of His will and worship, and His displeasure in the event of their transgressing His laws; while on their part, by receiving and depositing this law in its appointed place, they testified their acknowledgment of God's right to rule over them, and their submission to the authority of His law. [Septuagint, ta marturia (cf. Exodus 31:18; Exodus 34:29; 1 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 17:15; Nehemiah 9:34; Psalms 19:7).]
'ln all these passages,' says Gesenius, 'the Septuagint have marturion, testimony, marturia, testimonies, according to the common etymology, but against the context, which requires precepts, or, collectively, law; hence, he translates this passage, 'In the ark thou shalt put the law-the decalogue' (see the note at Exodus 24:12 : cf. Exodus 40:20; Deuteronomy 10:5). Kurtz ('History of the Old Covenant,' 3:, p. 121) agrees with Gesenius, considering that the proper meaning of the word is 'attestation of the divine will to the people;' while Hengstenberg ('Pentateuch,' 2:, p. 319) adheres to the common interpretation of the word, maintaining that the name "Testimony" is to be traced directly to the great purpose of the Decalogue (Deuteronomy 31:26) - that of serving as a witness against the transgressor.
May not the word be taken in a wider sense, to include the other things deposited in the ark along with the law, as forming "the testimony" which God gave of His presence and favour to Israel (cf. Exodus 16:33-34; Numbers 17:10 with Hebrews 9:4 : see the note at 1 Kings 8:9). For although the Decalogue was the basis of the covenant (Deuteronomy 4:13; Deuteronomy 9:9), and the divinely-engraven copy of it on the two stone tables was placed in the ark, it is unwarrantable to restrict [ haa`eedut ], the law to it exclusively; for it is expressly said the covenant embraced not only that portion of the law which Yahweh spoke publicly, but that also which He communicated to Moses in private (cf. Exodus 25:22; Exodus 34:27).
This direction, then, to 'put into the ark the testimony which should be given to him' must be viewed as extending to all the divine communications, embracing not only the precepts and counsels contained in Exodus 20:22-26; Exodus 21:1-36; Exodus 22:1-31; Exodus 23:1-33, which Moses had already written (Exodus 24:4), but most of the remainder of this book, the whole of Leviticus, and the greater part of Numbers; because all these are included in "the testimony" (Exodus 25:16), and were among the 'things which God gave Moses in commandment unto the children of Israel' (Deuteronomy 31:26; 2 Chronicles 34:11).
The ark itself is called "the ark of the testimony" (Exodus 30:6), and in an abbreviated form, "the testimony" (Exodus 16:34). From the description here given of the form and dimensions of the ark, it appears to have been the exact counterpart of an ark carried after the statue of the god Chem, or Khem, in a painting of the time of Rameses III. The Egyptians carried an ark or shrine in procession, and their mode of doing so was that adopted by the Israelites, (Hawks' 'Mon. of Egypt,' pp. 237, 238; Wilkinson's 'Ancient Egypt,' Second Series, vol. 1:, ch. 13:) But although, in form and general structure, the Hebrew bore resemblance to the Egyptian ark, it was entirely purified from all superstitious accompaniments, and devoted to purposes of the true religion. It was a precious and sacred coffer; but it was not the gold that sanctified it: it was the invaluable treasure it contained. The superb and elaborate style of the ark that contained "the testimony" was emblematic of the great treasure it held-in other words, the incomparable value and excellence of the Word of God; while its being placed in this chest further showed the great care which God has ever taken for preserving it.
The parallelism that has been traced between the shrine processions of the Egyptians (Wilkinson, Second Series, vol. 2:, p. 271) and the ark of the tabernacle is only apparent, for, on a close examination, there are few or no points of resemblance beyond the fact of there being a sacred chest. For in the ark of the tabernacle there was no figure or material representation of the object of worship. It served only as a repository of His holy law; and as that law was the basis of the national covenant of Israel, the sacred deposit was a witness whether, by the keeping of the divine commandments, they were entitled to participate in its promised blessings, or their national election was at an end. The ark or sacred chests of the Hebrews and Egyptians, therefore, were associated with totally different ideas in the minds of those respective peoples.