The Staves

The staves by which the ark was carried are next mentioned (Ex. 25:12-15). These were made of the same materials as the ark itself and would therefore symbolize Christ again. These staves were not to be taken from their rings in the ark. This gives a most comforting thought, for it speaks of the presence of the Lord with the children of Israel in all their wilderness wanderings. It was Jehovah Himself who led them “in fire by night” and “in a cloud by day” that they might know the way they should go (Deut. 1:33). This is seen again in Numbers 10:33 where the ark went before them to search out a resting place for them, and it is blessedly true now that Christ accompanies His people in all their path. “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” May we follow Him, even as Israel followed the cloud, moving when it moved, and resting when it rested. When, for Israel, the settled place for rest in the promised land was reached, the staves were drawn out of their rings because their journeyings were ended. We learn from 2 Chronicles 5:9 that the staves when drawn out were left in “the holy of holies,” and so were not seen from without. Rest was obtained, but the remembrance of the wilderness was still before them.