In Exodus 25:10-22, God gives Moses the instructions for building the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark was a wooden box, overlayed inside and out with pure gold. The corners of the box had gold rings attached to it which held poles that could be used to transport the Ark. On top of the box, the Israelites were commanded to build a golden lid for the Ark, called the "atonement lid", with two golden statues of cherubim on top. The cherubim were placed on the end of the lid, facing each other with wings spread upward. The section ends with the following verses:
21 You are to put the atonement lid on top of the ark, and in the ark you are to put the testimony I am giving you. 22 I will meet with you there, and from above the atonement lid, from between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will command you for the Israelites.
Reading between the lines, we can see that the Ark wasn't just a holy box used to hold precious items. No, it was much more than that! The passages tell us it was the place where God would decend from heaven and appear to Moses so he could audibly speak with him.
The Ark, my friends, is a throne! Some Bible translations, in other parts of the Bible (like the NET translation of Hebrews 9:5), refer to the atonement lid as the "mercy seat" further confirming the idea of God sitting on the throne, in-between the cherubim, talking with Moses.
The ark rested in the Holy of Holies, inside the template, which is the exact right place for God's throne to be since the temple was the dwelling place of God:
Exodus 25:8-9 “And let them make me a sanctuary [i.e temple], that I may dwell in their midst.”
And this means that when the Israelites carried the Ark of the Covenant into battle, like they did during the Battle of Jericho (Joshua 6:6-20), they would have been carrying the Throne of God with them, and not just a holy box.