The ark having gone into captivity, Israel's whole religious system lay in ruins. The ark was the visible symbol of the Lord dwelling in grace in the midst of His people. No more expressive type of the promised Christ existed in Old Testament days. The materials of which it was made spoke of His Person, the shittim wood of His incorruptible humanity and the gold of His deity. The mercy-seat spoke of His great propitiatory sacrifice accepted by God, for the atoning blood was never absent from it, and the contents of the ark—the budding rod, the pot of manna, and the tables of the Covenant—spoke of the various offices which He is graciously pleased to fill. When the tabernacle became arkless, it might justly be said that the Lord had departed. The proper ministry of the priesthood became impossible. How could the ordinances of the Day of Atonement be observed, seeing that the throne of the Lord was no longer in the sanctuary to receive the sprinkled blood? Yet this was the basis of all God's dealings with His people. The foundations were now truly out of course, to the intense grief of every pious soul in the nation.