Ishodad of Merv, on 1Kgs 8:9

“Now in the ark there was nothing else but the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.”

“The words "there was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone" does not mean that the author did not know that there were also the jar [containing the manna], the staff [of Aaron], and so forth. He simply wants to signify all the rest by mentioning the most important part, because he writes for the Jews who already knew the other objects.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.