Exodus 16:34 - Does it state that there were more than just the two tablets of testimony in the Ark of the Covenant?

Question

In Exo. 16:34, it is written,

Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded Moses. He eventually placed it in the Ark of the Covenant—in front of the stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant. (New Living Translation/NLT)

The scripture states that Aaron placed the jar of manna (cp Exo. 16:33) "in the Ark of the Covenant." Does this scripture prove that there were more items other than just the "tablets" inside the Ark of the Covenant?

Answer 1

The Hebrew text states,

כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יהוה אֶל מֹשֶׁה וַיַּנִּיחֵהוּ אַהֲרֹן לִפְנֵי הָעֵדֻת לְמִשְׁמָרֶת

which is translated as,

As Yavheh commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before/in front of/in the presence of the testimony, to be kept.

The preposition לִפְנֵי means "before, in front of, in the presence of."

Gesenius, p. 680, wrote,

It does not mean "in." The Hebrew text does not even mention the "Ark of the Covenant," so there's no basis for the New Living Translation of "in the Ark of the Covenant," which would have required the phrase בָּאָרוֹן בְּרִית. However, this doesn't mean that the jar of manna was not "before/in front of/in the presence of" the tablets inside the Ark of the Covenant. My point was that the Hebrew text does not state "in the Ark of the Covenant."

---

References

Gesenius, Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm. Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures. Trans. Tregelles, Samuel Prideaux. London: Bagster, 1857.