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The Ark of the Covenant, also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, is a purported religious storage and relic held to be the most sacred object by the Israelites. Religious tradition describes it as a wooden storage chest decorated in solid gold accompanied by an ornamental lid known as the Seat of Mercy. According to the Book of Exodus and First Book of Kings in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, the Ark contained the Tablets of the Law, by which God delivered the Ten Commandments to Moses at Mount Sinai. According to the Book of Exodus, the Book of Numbers, and the Epistle to the Hebrews in the New Testament, it also contained Aaron's rod and a pot of manna. The biblical account relates that approximately one year after the Israelites' exodus from Egypt, the Ark was created according to the pattern that God gave to Moses when the Israelites were encamped at the foot of Mount Sinai. Thereafter, the gold-plated acacia chest's staves were lifted and carried by the Levites approximately 2,000 cubits in advance of the people while they marched. God spoke with Moses "from between the two cherubim" on the Ark's cover. Contemporary archeologists disagree about the history of the Ark's movements around the Ancient Near East and the history and dating of the Ark narratives in the Bible. There is additional scholarly debate over possible historical influences that led to the creation of the Ark. Thomas Romer, for example, sees possible Bedouin influence, while Scott Noegel regards Egyptian influence as more likely.