There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put therein at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt. (2 Chronicles 5:10)
The law of God was the basis of the old covenant that God made with Israel at Horeb when they came out of Egypt (Ex. 19:5-8; 34:27, 28); and it was also the basis of the new covenant under which He promised to write His law upon the heart (Jer. 31:33, 34).
Nothing in the ark.
Only the two tables of stone containing the law of God were in the ark proper. The pot of manna and Aaron’s rod were no longer there (see on 1 Kings 8:9).