one towards the other:  and over the ark was a table, called the “propitiatory,” raised above the wings of the cherubim, as though it were held up by them; and appearing, to the imagination, to be the very seat of God.  For this reason it was called the “propitiatory,” as though the people received propitiation thence at the prayers of the high-priest.  And so it was held up, so to speak, by the cherubim, in obedience, as it were, to God:  while the ark of the testament was like the foot-stool to Him that sat on the propitiatory.  These three things denote three things in that higher world:  namely, God Who is above all, and incomprehensible to any creature.  Hence no likeness of Him was set up; to denote His invisibility.  But there was something to represent his seat; since, to wit, the creature, which is beneath God, as the seat under the sitter, is comprehensible.  Again in that higher world there are spiritual substances called angels.  These are signified by the two cherubim, looking one towards the other, to show that they are at peace with one another, according to Job 25:2:  “Who maketh peace in . . . high places.”  For this reason, too, there was more than one cherub, to betoken the multitude of heavenly spirits, and to prevent their receiving worship from those who had been commanded to worship but one God.  Moreover there are, enclosed as it were in that spiritual world, the intelligible types of whatsoever takes place in this world, just as in every cause are enclosed the types of its effects, and in the craftsman the types of the works of his craft.  This was betokened by the ark, which represented, by means of the three things it contained, the three things of greatest import in human affairs.  These are wisdom, signified by the tables of the testament; the power of governing, betokened by the rod of Aaron; and life, betokened by the manna which was the means of sustenance.  Or else these three things signified the three Divine attributes, viz. wisdom, in the tables; power, in the rod; goodness, in the manna—­both by reason of its sweetness, and because it was through the goodness of God that it was granted to man, wherefore it was preserved as a memorial of the Divine mercy.  Again, these three things were represented in Isaias’ vision.  For he “saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and elevated”; and the seraphim standing by; and that the house was filled with the glory of the Lord; wherefrom the seraphim cried out:  “All the earth is full of His glory” (Isa. 6:1, 3).  And so the images of the seraphim were set up, not to be worshipped, for this was forbidden by the first commandment; but as a sign of their function, as stated above.