ARK OF THE COVENANT - WHERE IS IT? - NYOBS 16.31

RABBIT TRAIL FROM NYOBS 16 - THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

WHERE IS THE ARK

• From the Apocrypha – 2nd Maccabees 2:4-10; “The Jeremiah Letter” – Jeremiah came and found a cavern in the rock, and there he brought in the (tent) Tabernacle, and the Ark, and the Alter of Incense; and he made fast the door – “Yea, and the place shall be unknown until God gather the people again together, and mercy comes; and then shall the Lord disclose theses things”. – The glory of the Lord and the cloud shall appear, as they were shown before Moses and Solomon.
• The Dead Sea Scrolls are the final reference to the Ark of the Covenant and its location.  Other writing not found in the Bible suggest that Solomon, concerned about an invading army, built a replica of the Ark of the Covenant for protection and that the real Ark was sent to Ethiopia for safe keeping with his son that he fathered with the Queen of Sheba and is under guard there even today awaiting its return.
• More – June 26, 2009, Abune Paulos, the patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia attested that the Ark is being kept safe and secure in a church in Axum, Ethiopia.
• The Temple Society, according to reports that surfaced years ago, claim that they are now in possession of the Ark of the Covenant.
• In Rome they say the Ark was lost when the basilica burned.
• Here’s more – A replica was discovered in 1940 in a cave in East Africa that was made by the Lemba priest – It was carbon dated to about 1350. – Writings say the original was burned up, but the core was used in the reconstruction.
• The Apocrypha also mentions the Ark being carried away to Babylon. – This is disputed saying the real Ark was hidden. – Indiana Jones is the only one who actually knows where the Ark is.
• After the Babylonian captivity, many synagogues made replicas of the Ark. It was placed behind a curtain in the side wall of the synagogue toward Jerusalem. - Inside was a copy of the Torah and other sacred books.

1 Kings 10:13 – Commentaries say - She desired a son

13 King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for, besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country. NIV

Isa 18:1 – The Ark is in Ethiopia

18:1 Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia KJV

Isa 18:3 – The Ark will be lifted up for all to see

3 All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifts up an ensign on the mountains; and when he blows a trumpet, hear ye. KJV

Isa 18:7 – God will bring His people back.

7 In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion. KJV

1 Esdras 1:54 (Apocrypha) – Carried off to Babylon

54 Babylonians took all the holy vessels of the Lord, both great and small, and the ark of God, and the King’s treasures and carried them away into Babylon.