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Ten Commandments
79
Moses beyond a reasonable doubt, even
though
they have been inaccessible
for nearly three
thousand
years.31) They were
transported in a
wooden box, which was
2.5 cubits long, 1.5 cubits
wide, and 1.5
cubits high (Exodus 37, 1).32) Any
reconstruction of
the tablets can be tested by
whether
it fits into this box. During
transportation
the tablets were lying side by
side on the bottom
of the box with
their length fitting tightly into
the width of
the box. Hence 15 letter-units are
1.5
cubits, so that the tablets were one
cubit
––––––––––––––––
31) After the abolishment of the ancient
Israelite republic its constitution was
buried, as it were, by depositing
the box
with the Tablets of
the Law in a dark and
inaccessible room
known as the Holy of
Holies of the temple built by King
Solomon
in Jerusalem (1. Kings 8, 6–12),
see TORAH OF THE ALPHABET
(N. 1)
pp. 18 and 103. Before the destruction
of the First Temple
in 586 B. C.
E. the Ark of the Covenant, as
the box is called,
and the Tablets of
the Law as well as the broken
tablets were
hidden in a cave
by King Josiah, so that
they may still be
waiting to
be found in a Genizah,
cf. Ed Metzler, Mosaical
Metrology (N. 9) p. 19.
32) The measurements of the box are
an empirical fact
of great reliability. They
are given twice (also in Exodus 25,
10)
in exactly the same
words. For more than four hundred
years
the ark was open to
inspection. As a young man Joshua,
the
apprentice and successor of Moses,
always stayed near it (Exodus
33, 11).
When Samuel held the same position
with Eli, he slept
where the ark
was (1. Samuel 3, 3). Its measurements
have been
carefully handed down by
historical tradition (cf. Note 4 supra).
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