248. " and their prophet said to them: ` verily the sign of his kingship is that the ark of the covenant will come to you, wherein shall be a tranquility from your lord, and the relics of what the family of moses and the family of aaron have left behind, the angels bearing it. surely in that shall be a sign for you, if you are (truly) faithful." commentary: to make that group of israelites sure about the kingship of saul, their prophet told them that the ark of the covenant, /tabut/, the sacred chest of the children of israel, will be returned to them as a sign that saul was appointed by allah. " and their prophet said to them: ` verily the sign of his kingship is that the ark of the covenant will come to you, ..." the purpose of /tabut/ is the wooden chest wherein moses's mother put her baby and, by the commandment of allah, set it afloat in the water, of the nile. then, the men of pharoah took it and brought the baby unto pharoah. the chest remained safe in the court of pharoah. when moses (a.s.) was appointed to prophethood, he (a.s.) put the tablets of the torah in it and gave it to his vicegerent, yusha`-ibn-nun (joshua), and when he died, his armour and some of his belongings were put in it, too. that chest, which had been known among the children of israel as `the ark of the covenant ', remained in the hand of the very children of israel as a sacred chest, and they used to carry it before their forces in the battles. but, little by little, its sacredness wretched and the chest was taken away. but, according to the verse under discussion, their prophet, samuel, promissed them that the ark of the covenant would be returned to them soon as a sign of truthfulness of his statement. that glad tidings naturally was considered very magnificent for the children of israel, because by seeing that sacred chest, which they knew as a token of their ancient independence and glory, they thought they could regain their lost tranquivility and splendour. there are some statements about this chest mentioned in the torah, a part of which will be cited at the end of this commentary under the title of explanation. finally, at the time of the kingship of saul, allah returned that sacred chest, which was taken away, unto them through angels. that chest brought them tranquility and peace. "... wherein shall be a tranquility from your lord, and the relics of what the family of moses and the family of aaron have left behind, the angels bearing it. surely in that shall be a sign for you, if you are (truly) faithful." * * * * explanation the term ` tabut ' in this verse stands for the holy ark of chest 3 yards long and 2 yards broad with divine signs in it decipherable only by the apostles of god. this ark had divine blessings that whenever it was presented by the israelites against their enemy in the midst of a battle, the enemy forces had no other choice but to take to their heels for their lives. the israelites used to always keep the chest in front of their forces whenever any occasion of their proceeding against any enemy had occurred and they used to come out victorious. this ark passed from one apostle to another apostle of god. it is reported to contain the shoes, the rod and clothes of moses, the turban of aaron and some other sacred relics. this ark had been certainly endowed with miraculous effects. it was this ark that was brought out from shiloh to help the israelites in the war with philistines. ... " and when she (mother of moses) could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink." (ot ex. 2: 3) the following verse of the holy qur'an clears the meaning of `tabut '. the address in the following verse is to moses: 38. " and when we revealed unto thy mother what was revealed." 39. " that; put him into a chest, then cast it down into the river." (20: 38,39)