Hebrews 9:5

Hebrews 9:5. And up over it (the ark) cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy-seat. These ‘cherubim' were connected with the Shekinah, the visible glory of God. They were two in number, one at each end of the mercy-seat, and were beaten out of the same mass with it. A wing of each stretched over the mercy-seat till both met in the middle; their faces were opposite each other, and they looked downwards on the mercy-seat between them (Exodus 25:18-20). The mercy-seat was the lid or cover of the ark. On this the Divine glory rested as on a throne. It was by sprinkling the blood on and before this covering that the atonement for the nation was completed (Leviticus 16:14-15): and it was there that God manifested His presence and revealed His will (Exodus 25:22), and showed his favour (Psalms 80:1). The glory above, the tables of the covenant, called also of testimony below, and the place of propitiation between, with all the vessels of the service, had each its lessons, but the writer cannot now discuss them.

Of which one cannot now speak severally in detail. Everything was made under Divine direction (Exodus 25:8-9), everything had significance. Some are explained elsewhere. But the writer hastens on to the ordinances of worship, and above all to the superiority of the great atoning work of the new economy.