chapter 3, seven times in chapter 4, and is referred to indirectly four more times by the use of pronouns. What is so important about the ark? The important thing is that it symbolized God’s presence among the people. The instructions for building the ark are found in Exodus 25, the first chapter in the Bible in which the ark is mentioned. From what is said there, we learn that the ark was not very big. It was a box about three feet, nine inches long and about two feet, three inches wide and high.