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The Ark of the Covenant (ארון הברית in and some Midrashim suggest that there were two arks - a temporary one made by Moses and a later one made by Bezalel (Hertz 1936). During the journeys of the Israelites, the Ark was carried by the priests in advance of the host (s who carried it. TERMINOLOGY The 9:4), "Ark of the Testimony" (Ex. 25:22). The Ark is referred to by several names in the Bible. The following is a list of common references to the Ark:
DESCRIPTION ).]] The Bible describes the Ark as made of Acacia or Shittah-tree wood. It was a Cubit and a half broad and high and two cubits long (about 130 × 80 × 80 cm). The Ark was covered all over with the purest Gold . Its upper surface or lid, the Mercy Seat , was surrounded with a rim of gold. On each of the two sides were two gold rings, wherein were placed ," and was placed so that one end of the carrying poles touched the veil separating the two compartments of the tabernacle (1 Kings 8:8). Contents According to the Bible, the two tablets of stone constituting the "testimony" or evidence of God's also put the fragments of the broken tablets of the Law into the Ark (Hertz 1936). Sanctity and consecration Even Aaron, brother of Moses and the , son of Uri of the Tribe Of Judah , and by Aholiab , the son of Ahisamach of the Tribe Of Dan (Ex. 31:2-7). These instructions Moses carried out, calling upon "every wisehearted" one among the people to assist in the work (Ex. 35:10-12). Bezaleel the artist made the Ark (Ex. 37:1); and Moses approved the work, put the testimony in the Ark, and installed it. In Deut. 10:1-5 a different account of the making of the Ark is given. Moses is made to say that he constructed the Ark before going upon Mount Sinai to receive the second set of tablets. The charge of carrying the Ark and the rest of the holy implements was given to the family of Kohath (of the Tribe Of Levi ). They, though, were not to touch any of the holy things that were still uncovered by Aaron (Num. 4:2-15). PROPHETS' MENTIONS The Ark of the Covenant is mentioned by Prophet s in both the Bible and the Qur'an . In the Bible The only mention of the Ark in the books of the prophets is the reference to it by , the Ark is twice referred to. In Ps. 78:61 its capture by the Philistines is spoken of, and the Ark is called "the strength and glory of God"; and in Ps. 132:8, it is spoken of as "the ark of the strength of the Lord." The Ark is mentioned in one passage in the 12). In the Qur'an There is only a brief mention of the Ark of the Covenant in the Qur'an : : ''Their prophet said to them, "The sign of his kingship is that the Ark of the Covenant will be restored to you, bringing assurances from your Lord, and relics left by the people of Moses and the people of Aaron. It will be carried by the angels. This should be a convincing sign for you, if you are really believers."'' '''' According to some Muslim scholars, the Ark of the Covenant does not have a religious basis in Islam and Islam does not give it any special significance while others believe that it will be found by Mahdi near the End Of Times . These Islamic scholars believe inside there will be relics left by the people of Moses and the people of Aaron . There might be the Sceptre s of Moses (eg., Nehushtan ), Aaron's rod, Plates of the Torah , and Aaron's turban. HISTORY Mobile vanguard In the march from Sinai, and at the crossing of the were taken from the Jordan at the place where the priests had stood (Josh. 4:1-9). The Ark was carried into battle, such as in the and Mount Ebal , they stood on each side of the Ark. The Ark was again set up by Joshua at Shiloh ; but when the Israelites fought against Benjamin at Gibeah , they had the Ark with them, and consulted it after their defeat. Captured by the Philistines The Ark is next spoken of as being in the , the Israelites had the Ark brought from Shiloh, and welcomed its coming with great rejoicing. In the second battle, the Israelites were again defeated, and the Philistines captured the Ark (1 Sam. 4:3-5, 10, 11). The news of its capture was at once taken to Shiloh by a messenger "with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head." The old priest, Eli, fell dead when he heard it; and his daughter-in-law, bearing a son at the time the news of the capture of the Ark was received, named him Ichabod —explained as "Where is glory?" in reference to the loss of the Ark (1 Sam. 4:12-22). The Philistines took the Ark to several places in their country, and at each place misfortune resulted to them (1 Sam. 5:1-6). At and of Ekron , whither the Ark was successively removed (1 Sam. 5:8-12). After the Ark had been among them seven months, the Philistines, on the advice of their diviners, returned it to the Israelites, accompanying its return with an offering consisting of golden images of the boils and mice wherewith they had been afflicted. The Ark was set in the field of Joshua the . In the days of King David At the very beginning of his reign, David removed the Ark from Kirjath-jearim amid great rejoicing. On the way to Zion , Uzzah , one of the drivers of the cart whereon the Ark was carried, put out his hand to steady the Ark, and was smitten by the Lord for touching it. David, in fear, carried the Ark aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite , instead of carrying it on to Zion, and here it stayed three months (2 Sam. 6:1-11; 1 Chron. 13:1-13). On hearing that the Lord had blessed Obed-edom because of the presence of the Ark in his house, David had the Ark brought to Zion by the Levites, while he himself, "girded with a linen Ephod ," "danced before the Lord with all his might"—a performance for which he was despised and scornfully rebuked by Saul's daughter Michal (2 Sam. 6:12-16, 20-22; 1 Chron. 15). This unjustified derision on her part resulted in the permanent loss of her fertility. In Zion, David put the Ark in the tabernacle he had prepared for it, offered sacrifices, distributed food, and blessed the people and his own household (2 Sam. 6:17-20; 1 Chron. 16:1-3; 2 Chron. 1:4). Levites were appointed to minister before the Ark (1 Chron. 16:4). David's plan of building a temple for the Ark was stopped at the advice of God (2 Sam. 7:1-17; 1 Chron. 17:1-15; 28:2, 3). The Ark was with the army during the siege of 's conspiracy, the Ark was carried along with him until he ordered Zadok the priest to return it to Jerusalem (2 Sam. 15:24-29). In Solomon's temple When , a Holy of Holies was prepared to receive the Ark (1 Kings 6:19); and when the Temple was dedicated, the Ark -- containing nothing but the two Mosaic tables of stone -- was placed therein. When the priests emerged from the holy place after placing the Ark there, the Temple was filled with a cloud, "for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord" (1 Kings 8:10-11; 2 Chron. 5:13, 14). When Solomon married Pharaoh's daughter, he caused her to dwell in a house outside Zion, as Zion was consecrated because of its containing the Ark (2 Chron. 8:11). King Josiah had the Ark put into the Temple (2 Chron. 35:3), whence it appears to have again been removed by one of his successors. The Babylonians and afterwards When the Babylonia ns destroyed Jerusalem and plundered the temple, the Ark entered the domain of legend. Many historians suppose that the ark was probably taken away by Nebuchadnezzar and destroyed. The absence of the ark from the Second Temple was acknowledged. To Roman Catholics, typologically, the Ark appears in the New Testament as Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. Like the Ark, Mary goes to Judea and remains for three months. Upon her return, Elizabeth asks "How is it that the Mother of my Lord comes to me?" This is a repeat of David's "how is that the Ark of my Lord should come to me?" Finally, like David danced in the presence of the Ark, the baby John the Baptist (son of Elizabeth) dances in the presence of Mary. FATE OF THE ARK In contrast to the general consensus of historians (that supposes that the ark was taken away and destroyed), variant traditions about the ultimate fate of the Ark include the intentional concealing of the Ark under the Temple Mount , the removal of the Ark from Jerusalem in advance of the Babylonians (this variant usually ends up with the Ark in Ethiopia ), the removal of the Ark by the Ethiopian prince Menelik I (purported son of King Solomon and the Queen Of Sheba ), removal by Jewish priests during the reign of Manasseh Of Judah , possibly taken to a Jewish temple on Elephantine in Egypt, and the miraculous removal of the Ark by divine intervention (C.f. 2 Chronicles). Concealment Some believe that the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle of the Lord was hidden. This is referenced by four separate sources: # the Mishnayot of Rabbi Hertz # the Marble Tablets of Beirut # the Copper Scroll # the ancient Ben Ezra Synagogue sacred texts. Mishnayot The Mishnayot introduction included ancient records that Rabbi Hertz called the "'' Mishnayot ''". Hertz used the term "Mishnayot", since the text of the ''Mishnayot'' is missing from the Mishnah (''Mishna''), which is the first section of the Talmud , a collection of ancient Rabbinic writings including also the Gemara , "the summary", and containing the Jewish Religious Law . Mock, Robert, "'' The Hiding of the Ark ''". The "missing" Mishnaic text in the Mishnayot is called the '' Massakhet Keilim '', written in twelve chapters. Each chapter of the Mishnayot describes vessels which were hidden under the direction of Jeremiah the Prophet by five holy men ( Shimor HaLevi , Chizkiah , Tzidkiyahu , Haggai the Prophet and Zechariah the Prophet), seven years prior to the destruction of Solomon's First Temple, because the dangers of Babylonian conquest were imminent. The Mishnayot describing this hiding was then written in Babylon during the Babylonian Captivity. The first chapter of the Mishnayot describes the vessels that were hidden - including the ''Ark of the Covenant'' and the Tabernacle of the Lord, i.e. the Mishkan, the Tablets of Moses , the altar (with cherubim) for the daily and seasonal sacrifices (the ushebtis), the Menorah (candelabra), the Qalal (copper urn) containing the Ashes of the Red Heifer (ashes from a red cow sacrificed under Moses, necessary for ritual purification of the priests), and numerous vessels of the Kohanim (priests). The second chapter of the Mishnayot states that a list of these treasures was inscribed upon a copper tablet. This is the Copper Scroll found at Qumran . Marble tablets of Beirut In 1952 two large marble tablets were found in the basement of a museum in Beirut , stating they were the words of Shimor HaLevi, the servant of HaShem, and the writing on the tablets is the entire missing text of "Massakhet Keilim" (''Mishnayot'') including reference to the Copper Scroll. Copper scroll The first of the Dead Sea Scrolls was discovered in 1947, and the famed Copper Scroll - made of pure copper - was found at Qumran in 1952. The Copper Scroll is an inventory - written in Hebrew - of treasures, thought by some to be from Solomon 's First Temple, hidden before the destruction of that temple by the Babylonians and treasures which have not been seen since. The Copper Scroll states that a silver alabaster? chest, the vestments of the Cohen Gadol ( Hebrew High Priest ), gold and silver in great quantities, the Tabernacle Of The Lord (perhaps the Mishkan ) and many treasures were hidden in a desolate valley - under a hill - on its east side, forty stones deep. The Mishkan was a "portable" Temple for the ''Ark of the Covenant''. The writings in the Copper Scroll were confirmed 40 years later in the 1990s through an ancient text found in the introduction to ''Emeq HaMelekh'' ("Valley of the King(s)") -- a book published in 1648 in Amsterdam, Holland, by Rabbi Naftali Hertz Ben Ya’acov Elchanon (Rabbi Hertz). Ben Ezra synagogue texts Work in the 1990s showed that in 1896, almost one hundred years previous, Solomon Schechter at Cambridge University in England had acquired 100,000 pages of ancient Hebrew texts from the Genizah (repository for aged sacred Jewish texts) of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo , Egypt . A copy of the " Tosefta " (supplement to the Mishnah) was found in these texts, included among the text on Keilim (vessels). This "Tosefta" is the same text as cited by Rabbi Hertz as his source for the Mishnayot. PRESENT LOCATION Some have claimed to have possession or discovered the Ark. Middle East In 1989, the late Ron Wyatt claimed to have broken into a chamber while digging underground beneath Mount Moriah, also known as The Temple Mount. He claimed to have seen the ark and taken photographs. All photos came out blurry (leading to skepticism of the claim). According to Wyatt the excavations were closed off (because of private property concerns) and, to the extent of knowledge, no one has seen the ark since. Ron Wyatt was widely seen in the Biblical archeology community as an attention seeker, often announcing he had found Biblically important objects with little or no hard evidence to back up his claims. Vendyl Jones claimed to have found the entrance to the chamber in the cave of the Column - Qumran . Here, he stated, is where the Ark was hidden prior to the destruction of the First Temple. Arutz Sheva quoted Jones stating he would reveal the ark on Tisha B'Av ( August 14 , 2005 ), the anniversary of the destruction of both the First and Second Temples. Robins, Gerard, "'' Vendyl Jones and the Ark of the Covenant ''". Jewish Herald Voice Newspaper, Houston, TX. May 2000. ( mirror site ). However, this did not occur. On Jones' website he states that he was misquoted and actually said it would be appropriate if he discovered the ark on Tisha B'Av. Jones is waiting for funding to explore the cave. Modern excavations near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem have found tunnels, but digging beneath the Temple Mount is somewhat restricted. One of the most important Islamic shrines, the Dome Of The Rock , sits in the location where the Temple Mount in Jerusalem once stood. Ron Wyatt claimed he felt it unwise to fully excavate the Ark for a variety of reasons, including bloody ownership disputes and divine inspiration. Africa Some sources suggest that during the reign of King Manasseh (2 Chron 33) the Ark was smuggled from the temple by way of the Well Of Souls and taken to Egypt, eventually ending up in Ethiopia. There are some carvings on the Cathedral Of Chartres that may refer to this. allegedly houses the original ''Ark of the Covenant''.]] Ethiopian Orthodox Church The Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Axum, Ethiopia claims to still possess the Ark of the Covenant. Local tradition maintains that it was brought to Ethiopia by Menelik I following a visit to his father King Solomon. Although it was once paraded before the town once each year, it is now kept under constant guard in a "treasury" near the Church Of Our Lady Mary Of Zion , and only the head priest of the church is allowed to view it. Most Western historians are skeptical of this claim. Dr Bernard Leeman, in his 2005 book "Queen of Sheba and Biblical Scholarship" (Queensland Academic Press) accepts the Ethiopian traditions. He argues that the Ge'ez narrative of the Sheba-Menelik Cycle of the Kebra Nagast supports the case that ancient Judah was in west Arabia not Palestine and that Menelik's escape with the Ark follows landmarks and place names in Asir,Yemen, and Eritrea. Secondly Leeman draws attention to the Ark culture of Arabia (detailed in Munro-Hay and Grierson's works), the "Hebrewisms" in the Ancient West Arabian language, the word for Ark in Ge'ez (which is taken from pre-Babylonian captivity Hebrew), inscriptions in Sabaean near Mekele that speak of Hebrew resident there ca. 800 B.C. ruled by three queens of Sheba, and the continued presence in the region of a Hebraic remnant group, the Ibro (or Yibir) of northern Somalia. Valley of Kings Andis Kaulins claims that the hiding place of the ark, said specifically by ancient sources (such as the Mishnayot ), to be : "''a desolate valley under a hill - on its east side, forty stones deep''". Today, it is believed by some that this refers to the Tomb of Tutankhamun (east side of the Valley of Kings, ca. forty stones deep). Some believe that what was found there are the described treasures, including the Mishkan and the Ark of the Covenant.Kaulins, Andis, "'' Mishnayot ''". MEDIA REFERENCES The Ark of the Covenant was the focus of the highly popular 1981 adventure film '' Raiders Of The Lost Ark ''. The plot suggests that Adolf Hitler , deeply interested in supernatural power and the Occult , wants to acquire the Ark in order to rule the world. The Ark's location in the movie is Tanis, Egypt . Intrepid archaeologist Indiana Jones opposes the Nazis and succeeds in keeping it from them. The Ark is shown to be extremely powerful, and dangerous to those who do not understand it. Jones wants to study the Ark, but it is last seen being boxed up and stored in a vast U.S. Government Warehouse - presumably never to be seen again. A first season episode of the television series '''' uses the Ark as a Plot Device . In "The Royal Couple of Thieves", Xena recruits the King Of Thieves to assist her in stealing the Ark from a profiteering warlord. Xena returns it to its rightful people. SEE ALSO List Of Ancient Mysteries ''', Solomon's Temple , Sanctuary , Shittah-tree , Cherub , History Of Ancient Israel And Judah , Tabernacle , Jewish Symbolism , Book Of Judges , Books Of Chronicles , Exodus , Idolatry , Documentary Hypothesis . ''', Ashdod , Israel , Philistines , 1050s BC , Axum , Tewahedo Church "''''', Baghdad Battery , Shittah-tree , Ley Line ''' Rastafari Movement People: Joshua , Samuel , Solomon , Menelik I , Theodulf Other: Acacia , Foucault's Pendulum (book) , Rennes-le-Château , Lost History FURTHER READING
The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant''". Touchstone Books, 1993. ISBN 0671865412
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