THE TESTIMONY — the tablets, and by extension the ark that holds them and the tent that houses it. From the same root as edah, the congregation: both come from a root about appointing and bearing witness, so the community and the document are named by the same idea. ⚠ It is the technical term for where a thing is stored when it is stored as EVIDENCE: Numbers 17:19, 25 lays the twelve rods 'before the testimony', and afterwards Aaron's rod alone is put back there and kept — l'mishmeret l'ot, as a keeping, for a sign. Hebrews 9:4 (not yet on these pages) remembers it as one of three objects inside the ark, with the jar of manna and the tablets: a piece of food, a piece of writing, and a stick that flowered. → first discussed at Num 17:19