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The Sign and the Seal

Ark of the Covenant

THE SIGN AND THE SEALby Graham Hancock

It was growing dark and the air of the Ethiopian highlands was chill when themonk appeared. Stooped and leaning on a prayer stick he shuffled towards me

from the doorway of the sanctuary chapel and listened attentively as I wasintroduced to him. Speaking in Tigrigna, the local language, he then sought

clarification through my interpreter about my character and my motives: fromwhich country had I come, what work did I do there, was I a Christian, what was it

that I wanted from him?

Initiation: 1986

I answered each of these questions fully, squinting through the gloom as Italked, trying to make out the details of my inquisitor's face. Milkycataracts veiled his small sunken eyes and deep lines furrowed his blackskin. He was bearded and probably toothless - for although his voice wasresonant it was also oddly slurred. All I could be sure of, however, was thathe was an old man, as old as the century perhaps, that he had his witsabout him, and that he did not seem to be seeking information about meout of idle curiosity. Only when he was satisfied with everything that I hadsaid did he condescend to shake hands with me. His grip was dry anddelicate as papyrus and from the thick robes that he wore, faint butunmistakable, arose the holy odour of frankincense.

Now that the formalities were over I got straight to the point. Gesturing inthe direction of the building that loomed in shadowy outline behind us, Isaid: 'I have heard of an Ethiopian tradition that the Ark of the Covenant is

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kept here... in this chapel. I have also heard that you are the guardian ofthe Ark. Are these things true?'

'They are true.'

'But in other countries nobody believes these stories. Few know aboutyour traditions anyway, but those who do say that they are false.'

'People may believe what they wish. People may say what they wish.Nevertheless we do possess the sacred Tabot, that is to say the Ark of theCovenant, and I am its guardian...'

'Let me be clear about this,' I interjected. 'Are you referring to the originalArk of the Covenant - the box made of wood and gold in which the TenCommandments were placed by the prophet Moses?'

'Yes. God Himself inscribed the ten words of the law upon two tablets ofstone. Moses then placed these tablets inside the Ark of the Covenant -which afterwards accompanied the Israelites during their wanderings inthe wilderness and their conquest of the Promised Land. It brought themvictory wherever they went and made them a great people. At last, whenits work was done, King Solomon placed it in the Holy of Holies of theTemple that he had built in Jerusalem. And from there, not longafterwards, it was removed and brought to Ethiopia...'

'Tell me how this happened,' I asked. 'What I know of your traditions isonly that the Queen of Sheba is supposed to have been an Ethiopian

monarch. The legends I have read say that when she made her famousjourney to Jerusalem she was impregnated by King Solomon and borehim a son - a royal prince - who in later years stole the Ark...'

The monk sighed. 'The name of the prince you are speaking of wasMenelik - which in our language means "the son of the wise man".Although he was conceived in Jerusalem he was born in Ethiopia wherethe Queen of Sheba had returned afterdiscovering that she was carryingSolomon's child. When he had reachedthe age of twenty, Menelik himself

travelled from Ethiopia to Israel andarrived at his father's court. There hewas instantly recognized and accordedgreat honour. After a year had passed,however, the elders of the land became

jealous of him. They complained thatSolomon showed him too much favourand they insisted that he must go back

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to Ethiopia. This the king accepted on the condition that the first-born sonsof all the elders should also be sent to accompany him. Amongst theselatter was Azarius, son of Zadok the High Priest of Israel, and it wasAzarius, not Menelik, who stole the Ark of the Covenant from its place inthe Holy of Holies in the Temple. Indeed the group of young men did not

reveal the theft to Menelik until they were far away from Jerusalem. Whenat last they told him what they had done he understood that they could nothave succeeded in so bold a venture unless God had willed it. Thereforehe agreed that the Ark should remain with them. And it was thus that itwas brought to Ethiopia, to this sacred city... and here it has remainedever since.'

'And are you telling me that this legend is literally true?'

'It is not a legend. It is history.'

'How can you be so sure of that?'

'Because I am the guardian. I know the nature of the object that has been placedin my care.'

We sat in silence for a few moments while I adjusted my mind to the calm andrational way in which the monk had told me these bizarre and impossible things.Then I asked him how and why he had been appointed to his position. He repliedthat it was a great honour that he should have been chosen, that he had beennominated with the last words of his predecessor, and that when he himself layon his death-bed his turn would come to nominate his own successor.

'What qualities will you look for in that man?'

'Love of God, purity of heart, cleanliness of mind and body.'

'Other than you,' I asked next, 'is anyone else allowed to see the Ark?'

'No. I alone may see it.'

'So does that mean that it is never brought out of the sanctuary chapel?'

The guardian paused for a long while before answering this question. Then,finally, he told me that in the very distant past the relic had been brought outduring all the most important church festivals. More recently its use in religiousprocessions had been limited to just one occasion a year. That occasion was theceremony known as Timkat which took place every January.

'So if I come back next January will I have a chance of seeing the Ark?'

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The monk looked at me in a way that Ifound strangely disconcerting and thensaid: 'You must know that there is turmoiland civil war in the land... Our governmentis evil, the people oppose it, and the

fighting comes closer every day. In suchcircumstances it is unlikely that the true Arkwill be used again in the ceremonies.

We cannot risk the possibility that anyharm might come to something so precious... Besides, even in time of peace you

would not be able to see it. It is my responsibility to wrap it entirely in thick clothsbefore it is carried in the processions...'

'Why do you wrap it?'

'To protect the laity from it.'

I remember asking my interpreter to clarify the translation of this last puzzlingremark: had the monk really meant 'to protect the laity from it'? Or had he meant'to protect it from the laity'? It was some time before I got my answer. 'To protectthe laity from it. The Ark is powerful.'

A great mystery of the Bible

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In early Old Testament times the Ark of the Covenant was worshipped bythe Israelites as the embodiment of God Himself, as the sign and the sealof His presence on earth, as the stronghold of His power, and as theinstrument of His ineffable will. Built to contain the tablets of stone uponwhich the Ten Commandments had been written, it was a wooden chest

measuring three feet nine inches long by two feet three inches high andwide. It was lined inside and out with pure gold and was surmounted bytwo winged figures of cherubim that faced each other across its heavygolden lid.

Biblical and other archaic sources speak of the Ark blazing with fire andlight, inflicting cancerous tumours and severe burns, levelling mountains,stopping rivers, blasting whole armies and laying waste cities. The samesources also leave no doubt that it was, for a very long time, thecornerstone of the evolving Jewish faith: indeed when King Solomon builtthe First Temple in Jerusalem his sole motive was to create 'an house of

rest for the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord'. At some unknown datebetween the tenth and the sixth century BC, however, this uniquelyprecious and puissant object vanished from its place in the Holy of Holiesof that Temple, vanished without song or lamentation in the Scriptures -almost as though it had never existed at all. The evidence suggests that itwas already long gone when the armies of Nebuchadnezzar burnedJerusalem in 587 BC. Certainly it was not in the Second Temple whichwas built over the ruins of the First after the Jews had returned from theirexile in Babylon in 538 BC. Neither does it seem to have been taken asbooty by the Babylonians.

Writing in 1987, Richard Elliott Friedman, Professor of Hebrew andComparative Religion at the University of California, expressed a viewshared by many scholars when he described the disappearance of thesacred relic as 'one of the great mysteries of the Bible':

There is no report that the Ark was carriedaway or destroyed or hidden. There is noteven any comment such as 'And then theArk disappeared and we do not know whathappened to it' or 'And no one knowswhere it is to this day'. The most important

object in the world, in the biblical view,simply ceases to be in the story.'

Indeed so. A close reading of the OldTestament reveals more than twohundred separate references to theArk of the Covenant up until the time

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of Solomon (970-931 BC); after the reign of that wise and splendid king itis almost never mentioned again. And this, surely, is the central problem,the real historical enigma: not, human nature being what it is, that animmensely valuable golden chest should go missing, but - given itssupreme religious significance - that it should go missing amidst such a

deafening, improbable silence. Like a black hole in space, or a negativephotographic image, it is identifiable in the later books of the OldTestament only by what it is not - it is, in short, conspicuous only by itsabsence.

From this it seems reasonable to suggest that some sort of cover-up mayhave taken place - a cover-up devised by priests and scribes to ensurethat the whereabouts of the sacred relic would remain forever a secret. Ifso then it is a secret that many have tried to penetrate - a secret that hasinspired several treasure-hunting expeditions (all of which have failed) andalso one enormously successful Hollywood fantasy, Raiders of the Lost

Ark, which was first released in the USA and Europe in 1981 with HarrisonFord in the starring role as Indiana Jones.

I was living in Kenya at the time and had no opportunity to see the filmuntil it finally arrived in Nairobi's cinemas early in 1983. I enjoyed thecombination of action, adventure and archaeology and I rememberthinking what a sensation it would be if someone were really to find theArk. Then, only a few months later, I made an extended visit to Ethiopiaduring which I travelled to the north-west of the war-torn province ofTigray. It was there, in Axum - the so-called 'sacred city of the Ethiopians'- that I had my encounter with the guardian monk reported earlier in this

chapter.

Palaces, catacombs and obelisks

Our work began the moment that we arrived. Waiting to greet us as westepped down from the plane was an elderly Abyssinian gentleman

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wearing a slightly threadbare three-piece suit and a most splendidpatriarchal beard. In quaint but excellent English, he introduced himself asBerhane Meskel Zelelew and explained that he had been contacted byradio from Addis Ababa and ordered to guide us and act as our interpreter.He was employed, he said, by the Ministry of Culture 'to keep an eye on

the antiquities of Axum'. In this capacity he had helped the archaeologistsfrom the British Institute in Eastern Africa whose excavations of some ofthe city's most interesting ruins had been interrupted by the revolution of1974. 'It's so nice to see other British people here after such a long time,'he exclaimed as we introduced ourselves.

We climbed into a vintage Land Rover with a lime-green paint job and twoneat bullet holes in the front windscreen. 'Fortunately no one was killed,'Zelelew reassured us when we asked him about these. Laughingnervously as we drove away from the airfield, I then explained what wehad come to do, listed the historic sites that we wanted to visit, and told

him that I was particularly intrigued by Axum's claim to be the last restingplace of the Ark of the Covenant.

Do you believe that the Ark is here?' I asked.

'Yes. Certainly.'

'And where is it exactly?'

'It is deposited in a chapel near the centre of the city.'

'Is this chapel very old?'

"Makeda travelling by land to see the wisdom of Solomon"

'No. Its construction was ordered by our late Emperor... in 1965 I think.Before that the relic had rested for many hundreds of years within the Holy

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of Holies of the nearby church of Saint Mary of Zion...' Zelelew paused,then added: 'Haile Sellassie had a special interest in this matter, by theway... He was the two hundred and twenty-fifth direct-line descendant ofMenelik, son of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. It was Menelikwho brought the Ark of the Covenant to our country...'

I was all for visiting the chapel at once, but Zelelew persuaded me thatthere was little point in hurrying: 'you will not be allowed anywhere nearthe Ark. Where it rests is holy ground. The monks and the citizens of Axumprotect it and they would not hesitate to kill anyone who tried to break in.Just one man is allowed to enter and he is the monk responsible forguarding the Ark. We will try to meet him later today, but first let us go andsee the Queen of Sheba's palace.'

After we had assented to this attractive proposition we turned on to abumpy, potholed road that - had we been able to follow it all the way -

would eventually have led us hundreds of miles south-west, through thegigantic peaks and valleys of the Simien mountains, to the city of Gondarnear Lake Tana. In open country barely a mile from the centre of Axum,however, we stopped within sight of an extensively fortified military postwhich, Zelelew explained, marked the limit of the government controlledsector. He waved expressively at the nearby hills: 'Everything else TPLF,so we cannot go. It's a pity. There are so many interesting things to see . .. There, just around that corner in the road, are the granite quarries whereall the stelae were cut. One still remains partially unexcavated from therock. And there is a beautiful carving of a lioness. It is very ancient. It wasput there before the coming of Christianity. But unfortunately we cannot

reach it.' '

"Makeda meets Solomon and presents him...

How far is it exactly?' I asked, tantalized.

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'Very close, less than three kilometres. But the military will not let us pastthe checkpoint and if they did we would certainly be taken by the guerillas.Even here we should not stand around for too long. Your foreign faces willbe noticed by the TPLF snipers. They might think you are Russians anddecide to shoot at you...' He laughed: 'That would be highly undesirable,

would it not? Come, follow me.'

He led the way into fields to the north of the road and we quickly began tostumble across the remains of what must, once, have been an imposingbuilding. 'This was the Queen of Sheba's palace,' Zelelew announcedproudly. 'According to our traditions her name was Makeda and Axum washer capital. I know that foreigners do not accept that she was an Ethiopianat all. Nevertheless no other country has a stronger claim than ours.'

I asked whether any archaeology had ever been done on the site to testthe legends.

'Yes, in the late 1960s the Ethiopian Institute of Archaeology conductedsome excavations here... I helped on the dig.'

'And what was discovered?'

Zelelew made a mournful face. 'The opinion was that the palace was notsufficiently old to have been the residence of the Queen of Sheba.'

What the archaeologists had unearthed, and what we now spent sometime exploring, were the ruins of a great and well built edifice with finely

mortared stone walls, deep foundations and an impressive drainagesystem. We saw a still-intact flagstone floor - which Zelelew claimed was alarge throne room - and a number of stair-wells which hinted at theexistence of at least one upper storey. There were also private bathingareas of sophisticated design and a well-preserved kitchen dominated bytwo brick ovens.

Across the road, in a field facing the palace, we then inspected a numberof rough-hewn granite stelae, some standing more than fifteen feet high,some fallen and broken. Most were undecorated but one, the largest, wascarved with four horizontal bands, each band topped by a row of circles in

relief - like protruding beam ends in a building made of wood and stone.This crude obelisk Zelelew told us, was thought by the townspeople tomark the grave of the Queen of Sheba. No excavation work had beencarried out beneath it, however, and the field was now entirely given overto farmers who grew crops for the Axum garrison. Even as we talked wesaw two peasant boys approach with an ox, which they harnessed to awooden plough. Oblivious to the history that lay all around them, andapparently indifferent to our presence as well, they began to till the soil.

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After we had finished taking pictures and notes we drove back into thecentre of the city and then out again to the north-east to another palacecomplex, this one on a hill-top with commanding views of the whole area.Square in plan, the structure measured about two hundred feet on each

side. The walls, which had long since crumbled, showed signs of havingoriginally been projected at the corners to form four towers - possibly thevery towers which, in the sixth century, the monk Cosmas had describedas being adorned with brass unicorns.

"Menelik travelling by sea with the Holy Ark of the Covenant"

Beneath the fortress Zelelew then led us down steep stone stairways intoa number of underground galleries and chambers which were roofed and

walled with massive dressed granite blocks that fitted precisely againstone another without any mortar in the joints. Local tradition, he said,identified this cool dark warren as the treasury used by Emperor Kaleb(AD 514-542) and also by his son Gebre-Maskal. With the aid of aflashlight we saw the empty stone coffers which lay within coffers believedto have once contained great riches in gold and pearls. Further rooms, asyet unexcavated, extended into the hillside from there, blocked off behindthick granite walls.

Eventually we left the hill-top fortress and made our way down into thecentre of Axum on a gravel road. Near the bottom of the gradient, to ourleft, we paused to photograph a large, open deep-water reservoir dugdown into the red granite of the hillside and approached by means ofrough-hewn stairways. Known as the Mai Shum, it seemed to us very old -an impression that Zelelew confirmed when he remarked that it wasoriginally the Queen of Sheba's pleasure bath: 'At least so our peoplebelieve. Since the beginning of Christian times it has been used forbaptismal ceremonies to celebrate the Holy Epiphany, which we callTimkat. And of course the peasants still come here every day to draw their

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water.' As though to confirm this last observation he pointed to a group ofwomen carefully descending the time-worn steps bearing gourds on theirheads.

By now, without any of us really noticing how the time had passed, it was

already well past the middle of the afternoon. Zelelew urged us to hurry,pointing out that we were scheduled to fly back to Asmara at first light thenext day and that we still had much to see.

Our next destination was close by, the so-called 'Park of the Stelae' -certainly the focal point of Axum's archaeological interest. Here weexamined and photographed a remarkable series of giant obelisks carvedfrom slabs of solid granite. The most massive of these, a tumbledfractured ruin, was believed to have fallen to the ground more than athousand years previously. In its heyday, though, it had stood one hundredand ten feet tall and must have dominated the entire area. I remembered

from the reading I had done on the flight that its weight was estimated toexceed five hundred tons. It was thought to be the largest single piece ofstone ever successfully quarried and erected in the ancient world.

"Menelik arrives at Axum with the Holy Ark of the Convenant"

This fallen stele was painstakingly hewn to mimic a high, slender buildingof thirteen storeys - each storey complete with elaborate representationsof windows and other details, and demarcated from the next by a row ofsymbolic beam-ends. At the base could be discerned a false doorcomplete with a knocker and lock, all perfectly carved in stone.

Another fallen - but much smaller and unbroken - obelisk, Zelelew told us,had been stolen during the Italian occupation of 1935-41, transported withenormous difficulty to Rome by Mussolini, and re-erected near the Arch ofConstantine. Since it, too, was elaborately carved - and therefore of greatartistic value - the Ethiopian government was campaigning for its return. Inthe meantime, however, it was fortunate that a third decorated monolithstill remained in situ in the stelae park.

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With a flourish our guide now pointed to this towering stone needle, morethan seventy feet high and topped with a curved headpiece shaped like ahalf- moon. We strolled over to examine it properly and found that, like itshuge neighbour, it had been carved to resemble a conventional built-up

structure - in this case a nine-storey building in the fashion of a tower-house. Once again, the main decoration on the front elevation wasprovided by the semblance of windows and of beams of timbersupposedly inserted horizontally into the walls. The intervals betweeneach of the floors were defined by rows of symbolic log-ends, and thehouse-like appearance was further enhanced by the presence of a falsedoor.Several other stelae of varying sizes were ranged around this refinedmonument - all of them clearly the products of an advanced, wellorganized and prosperous culture. Nowhere else in sub-Saharan Africa

had anything even remotely similar been built and, for this reason, Axumwas a mystery - its antecedents unknown, the sources of its inspirationunremembered.

The sanctuary chapel

Across the road, directly opposite the park of the stelae, stood a spaciouswalled compound containing two churches - one old and the otherobviously much more recent. These, Zelelew told us, were both dedicatedto Saint Mary of Zion. The new one, which had a domed roof and a loftybell- tower in the shape of an obelisk, had been built by Haile Selassie inthe 1960s. The other dated back to the mid-seventeenth century and was

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the work of Emperor Fasilidas - who, like so many Ethiopian monarchsbefore and since, had been crowned in Axum and had venerated thesacred city despite making his capital elsewhere.

We found Haile Selassie's pretentious modern 'cathedral' as unpleasant

as it was uninteresting. We were attracted, however, to the Fasilidasconstruction which, with its turrets and crenellated battlements, seemed tous 'half church of God, half castle' - and thus to belong to a truly ancientEthiopian tradition in which the distinctions between the military and theclergy were often blurred.

In the dimly lit interior I was able to study several striking murals includingone depicting the story of the life of Mary, another that of the Crucifixionand Resurrection of Christ, and a third the legend of Saint Yared - thesupposed inventor of Ethiopia's eerie church music. Faded with age, thislatter work showed Yared performing before King Gebre-Maskal. The

saint's foot had been pierced by a spear dropped from the monarch's handbut both men were so entranced by the music of sistrum and drum thatthey had not noticed.

Not far from the old church were the ruins of a building that must oncehave been very extensive but was now reduced to little more than itsdeeply entrenched foundations. These, Zelelew explained, were theremains of the original Saint Mary of Zion which had been built in thefourth century AD at the time of the conversion of the Axumite kingdom toChristianity. Some twelve hundred years later, in 1535, it had been razedto the ground by a fanatical Muslim invader, Ahmed Gragn ('the left-

handed'), whose forces swept across the Horn of Africa from Harar in theeast and, at one time, threatened the complete extinction of EthiopianChristendom.

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Shortly before its destruction, this 'first Saint Mary's' - as Zelelew called it -was visited by an itinerant Portuguese friar named Francisco Alvarez. Ilater looked up his description of it - the only one that survives:

It is very large and has five naves of a good width and of a great length,vaulted above, and all the vaults are covered up, and the ceiling and sidesare all painted; it also has a choir after our fashion ... This noble churchhas a very large circuit, paved with flagstones, like gravestones, and it hasa large enclosure, and is surrounded by another large enclosure like thewall of a large town or city.

Zelelew rightly dated the start of construction works on the first SaintMary's at AD 372 - which meant that this was quite possibly the earliestChristian church in sub-Saharan Africa. A great five-aisled basilica, it wasregarded from its inauguration as the most sacred place in all Ethiopia.This was so because it was built to house the Ark of the Covenant - which,if there was any truth to the legends, must have arrived in the country longbefore the birth of Jesus and must then have been co-opted by theChristian hierarchy at some point after the new religion had been officiallyadopted by the Axumite state.

When Alvarez visited Saint Mary's in the 1520s - becoming, in theprocess, the first European to document the Ethiopian version of thelegend of the Queen of Sheba and the birth of her only son Menelik - the

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Ark was still in the Holy of Holies of the ancient church. It did not staythere for very much longer, however. In the early 1530s, with the invadingarmies of Ahmed Gragn drawing ever closer, the sacred relic wasremoved 'to some other place of safekeeping' (Zelelew did not knowwhere). It thus escaped the destruction and looting that the Muslims

unleashed upon Axum in 1535.

A hundred years later, with peace restored throughout the empire, the Arkwas brought back in triumph and installed in the second Saint Mary's -built by Fasilidas beside the razed remains of the first. And thereapparently it stayed until 1965 when Haile Selassie had it moved to thenew and more secure chapel put up at the same time as his owngrandiose cathedral but annexed to the seventeenth-century church.

It was in the grounds of Haile Sellassie's chapel that the guardian monktold me his astonishing story about the Ark and warned me that it was

'powerful'.

'How powerful?' I asked. 'What do you mean?'The guardian's posture stiffened and he seemed suddenly to grow morealert. There was a pause. Then he chuckled and put a question to me:'Have you seen the stelae?'

'Yes', I replied, 'I have seen them.'

'How do you think they were raised up?'

I confessed that I did not know.

'The Ark was used,' whispered the monk darkly, 'the Ark and the celestialfire. Men alone could never have done such a thing.'

On my return to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, I took the opportunityto conduct some research into the historical merits of the legend that theguardian had related to me. I wanted to find out whether there was anypossibility at all that the Queen of Sheba could have been an Ethiopianmonarch. And if there was, then could she really have journeyed to Israelin the time of Solomon - around three thousand years ago? Could she

have been impregnated by the Jewish kin? Could she have borne him ason named Menelik? Most importantly, could that son have made his wayto Jerusalem as a young man, spent a year there at his father's court, andthen returned to Axum with the Ark of the Covenant?

*** Graham Hancock was the East Africa correspondent for The Economist andis the author of several previous books on Africa and the Third World. He lives in

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Devonshire, England. Part fascinating scholarship and part entertainingadventure yarn, tying together some of the most intriguing tales of all time -- fromthe Knights Templar and Prester John to Parsival and the Holy Grail -- Hancock'sbook, The Sign and the Seal will appeal to anyone fascinated by the revelation ofhidden truths, the discovery of secret mysteries.

"The Sign and The Seal" Graham Hancock, All Rights Reserved - PhotoCredits, L.Jauregui - Web Production and Design, OneWorld Magazine. -OneWorld Magazine is hosted by The EnviroLink Network - OneWorld WWWSite OneWorld Magazine - All Rights Reserved.

Where is the Ark of the Covenant?

Does Sheshonq I take the Ark to Tanis?

Some think that the Ark of the Covenant was taken to Egypt by Shishak when he attacked

Jerusalem. I Kings 14:25-26 says, "In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of

Egypt attacked Jerusalem. He carried off treasures of the temple of the Lord and thetreasures of the royal palace. He tookeverything, including all the gold shields Solomon

had made" (NIV). II Chronicles 12:2-4,9 says, "Because they had been unfaithful to the

Lord, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam.

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With twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen and the innumerable troop ofLibyans, Sukkites and Cushites that came with him from Egypt, he captured fortified

cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem...When Shishak king of Egypt attacked

Jerusalem, he carried off the treasures of the temple of the Lord and the treasures of theroyal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields Solomon had made" (NIV).

The Hebrew name Shishak matches the Egyptian name of Sheshonq I in Egyptian history.

Sheshonq is the founder of the 22nd Dynasty of Egypt. Sheshonq I ruled from 945-924

BC. He was from a Libyan tribe who became commander-in-chief, then King. He was astrong leader who reunited Egypt. 2 Chronicles 12:3-4 says, "With 1200 chariots and

60,000 horsemen and the innumerable troops of Libyans, Sukkites (mercenary Libyan

soldiers) and Cushites (Upper Egypt) that came with him from Egypt, he captured the

fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem" (NIV). Note the many troops fromLibya. Thutmose III nor Rameses II would not have had an army composed of mainly

outsiders, but Egyptians. There are inscriptions of Sheshonq's campaign into Palestine on

the wall of the temple of Amon in Karnak. ANET, 263; ANEP, 349; ANE 1, fig.94. It says

that Sheshonq I went as far as Megiddo where a victory stele was erected. ANET 242-3has a list the the cities he captured. For more information on the list seeHandbook for theStudy of Egyptian Topographical Lists Relating to Western Asia by J. Simons, Leiden1937 (pp.90-101,178-186: see also Breasted,Ancient Records of Egypt, Vol. 4, paragraph

709). For more information on Sheshonq see What evidence has been found of the

Egyptian king, Shishak?

Sheshonq I established Tanis as the capitol of Egypt. If indeed all the treasures of theTemple were taken by Sheshonq I, then the Ark was taken back to Tanis. Part of the loot

was usually given to the temples in Egypt especially the god the pharaoh worshipped in

thanks for their great military victory. There is a fragmentary inscription of Sheshonq

delivering tribute from Palestine to the god Amon (See Breasted, Vol.4, paragraph 723).Sometimes they would melt down the metals and remake what they wanted. So the Ark

of the Covenant may be somewhere in Egypt. In the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark

Indiana Jones looks for the Ark in Tanis. However, other legends say that the Jews hid theArk, and did not give it to Sheshonq I.

One legend says that Solomon had a son named Menelik by the Queen of Sheba who

took the Ark back to Ethiopia. Supposedly, King Solomon had this son by the Queen ofSheba when she came to visit Solomon (I Kings 10:1-13; 2 Chronicles 9:1-12). When he

grew up Menelik returned to Jerusalem for a copy of the Ark of the Covenant which

Solomon gave to him. But Menelik secretly switched the real Ark with the replica.

Menelik took the real Ark back to Ethiopia. Traditionally, Sheba is located in SaudiArabia not Ethiopia (more details about this below).

The Ark is mentioned later in the days of Josiah. 2 Chronicles 35:3 states, "He (Josiah)

said to the Levites, who instructed all Israel and who had been consecrated to the Lord:

'Put the sacred ark in the temple that Solomon son of David king of Israel built. It is notto be carried about on your shoulders" (NIV). The Book of the Law was found by Hilkiah

the priest in the Temple. Josiah sets up reforms.

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Does Nebuchadnezzar take the Ark to Babylon?

Some think that the Ark of the Covenant was taken by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon when

he captured and destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC. 2 Kings 25:13-15 says, "TheBabylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were

at the temple of the Lord and they carried the bronze to Babylon. They also took away

pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service.The commander of the imperial guard took away the censers and sprinkling blows-all that

were made of pure gold or silver " (NIV; see also Jeremiah 52:17-22). However, notice

that there is no mention of the Ark of the Covenant. The parallel account given in 2Chronicles 36:17-19 probably written by Ezra says, "God handed all of them over to

Nebuchadnezzar. He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both

large and small, and the treasures of the Lord's temple and the treasures of the king andhis officials. They set fire to God's temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; they

burned all the places and destroyed everything of value there" (NIV).

The Fourth Book of Ezra 10:19-22 states, "So I spoke again to her, and said, 'Do not say

that, but let yourself be persuaded because of the troubles of Zion, and be consoledbecause of the sorrow of Jerusalem. For you see that our sanctuary had been laid waste,

our altar thrown down, our temple destroyed; our harp had been laid low, our song has

been silenced, and our rejoicing had been ended; the light of our lampstand had been put

out, the ark of our covenant has been plundered, our holy things have been polluted,and the name by which we are called has been profaned; our free men have suffered

abuse, our priests have been burned to death, our Levites have gone into captivity"

(Charlesworth 1983, 546-7). According to the Fourth Book of Ezra the Ark of theCovenant was taken to Babylon.

Did Jeremiah Hide the Ark in a Cave?

In 2 Maccabees 2:4-6 Jeremiah is told to hide the Ark in a cave in Mt. Nebo. 2Maccabees 2:4-6 says, "It was also contained in the same writing, how the prophet

(Jeremiah), being warned by God, commanded that the tabernacle and the ark should

accompany him, till he came forth to the mountain where Moses went up and saw theinheritance of God (Mt. Nebo). And when Jeremias came thither he found a hollow cave:

and he carried in thither the tabernacle and the ark and the altar of incense and so stopped

the door. Then some of them that followed him came up to mark the: but they could notfind it. And when Jeremias perceived it he blamed them saying: The place shall be

unknown till God gather together to congregation of the people and receive them to

mercy" (Douay).

According to 2 Baruch 6:5-9 an angel came down from heaven into the Holy of Holiesand took "the veil, the holy ephod, the mercy seat, the two tables, the holy raiment of the

priest, the altar of incense, the forty-eight precious stones with which the priests were

clothed, and all the holy vessels of the tabernacle" (Charlesworth 1983, 623). These arestories that the Ark was hidden.

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After Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon, he issued a decree for the temple at Jerusalemto be rebuilt in 538 BC. The Jews could now return to Jerusalem. Ezra 1:7 says,

"Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the LORD,

which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple ofhis god" (NIV note: "It was the custom for conquerors to carry off the images of the gods

of conquered cities.). The inventory in Ezra 1:9-11 lists gold and silver dishes, silverpans, gold and silver bowls, and other articles for a total of 5,400 items. The Ark of the

Covenant is not specifically listed.

Did Antiochus Epiphanes take the Ark to Syria?

I Maccabees 1:21-24, 57 states, "And after Antiochus had ravaged Egypt in the hundredand forty-third year, he returned and went up against Isreal. And he went up to Jerusalem

with a great multitude. And he proudly entered into the sanctuary and took away the

golden altar and the candlestick of light and all the vessels thereof and the table ofproposition and the pouring vessels and the vials and the little mortars of gold and the

veil and the crowns and the golden ornament that was before the temple: and he broke

them all in pieces. And he took the silver and gold, and the precious vessels: and he tookthe hidden treasures which he found. And when he had taken all away he departed into

his own country...On the fifteenth day of the month Casleu, in the hundred and forty-fifth

year, king Antiochus set up the abominable idol of desolation upon the altar of God"

(Douay). It seems that the furniture of the Temple was broken into pieces, and thencarried back to Syria. There is no mention of the Ark of the Covenant.

Did Titus take the Ark to Rome?

The Romans captured the city of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Titus took the vessels from the

Temple and brought them to Rome. There is a carving of the lampstand or Menorah, the

Table of Shewbread, and ritual trumpets on the Triumphant Arch of Titus in Rome. There

is no carving of the Ark of the Covenant. Josephus in theJewish Warwrites, "Most of thespoils that were carried were heaped up indiscriminately, but more prominent than all the

rest were those captured in the Temple at Jerusalem-a golden table weighing several

hundredweight, and a lampstand, similarly made of gold but differently constructed fromthose we normally use...After these was carried the Jewish Law, the last of the

spoils...Vespasian made up his mind to build a temple of Peace...There too he laid up the

golden vessels from the Temple of the Jews, for he prided himself on them; but their Lawand the crimson curtains of the Inner Sanctuary he ordered to be deposited in the Palace

for safe keeping" (Book VII, Chp.V, 5-6; Translation by G.A. Williamson, New York:

Dorset, 1959, 385-6).

About these temple vessels in Rome G. A. Williamson comments, "They were seized bythe Vandals and taken to North Africa in 455, recovered and removed to Constantinople,

the capital of the eastern empire in 534, and then, reputedly, sent to a church in

Jerusalem, where they remained till the seventh century. They disappeared at an unknownlater date" (Ibid, 456). With the conquest of Islam the vessels could have been taken any

where under their control.

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In Josephus' description of the Temple, there is no mention of the Ark of the Covenant.The Holy of Holies was empty. Josephus states, "The innermost chamber measured 30

feet and was similarly separated by a curtain from the outer part.Nothing at all was keptin it; it was unapproachable, inviolable, and invisible to all, and was called the Holy ofHolies" (Book V, Chp. V, 5; Williamson, 304). It seems that there was no Ark of the

Covenant in the Second Temple.

Other Claims about the Ark!

Certain Rabbis claim to have seen the Ark in a tunnel under the Temple ground in

Jerusalem. The Israeli government sealed the entrance with cement because of protests

from the Arabs, because it was near the Dome of the Rock. There is no proof that the Arkis there.

Ron Wyatt claims to have found the Ark in a tunnel in a quarry in Mt. Moriah where

Christ was crucified, but there is no proof. He claims to have scraped the blood of Jesus

off the mercy seat which had dripped down through a crack in the rocks right underwhere Christ was crucified. He claims the blood has only 24 chromosomes instead of the

normal 46, but where are the laboratory tests on the blood? He has no proof. His web site

is at http://www.wyattarchaeology.com/ark.htm.

Some claim the ark is in a church in Axum, Ethiopia. This view has been popularized by

Graham Hancock's bookThe Sign and the Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of theCovenant. There was also a special TV program about this, but there is no proof. If there

is, it might be a replica from Elephantine. There is suppose to be a replica of the ark inevery Ethiopia church. The real Ark is supposedly in the Sanctuary Chapel in Saint Mary

of Zion's Church in Axum, Ethiopia.

Supposedly, King Solomon had a son by the Queen of Sheba named Menelik. When he

grew up Menelik returned to Jerusalem for a copy of the Ark of the Covenant whichSolomon gave to him. But Menelik secretly switched the real Ark with the replica.

Menelik took the real Ark back to Ethiopia. Traditionally, Sheba is located in Saudi

Arabia not Ethiopia.

There was a Jewish community in Elephantine, Egypt that built a replica of the temple of

the Lord (Yaho). They requested help from Jerusalem to rebuild the temple because it

was destroyed in the 14th year of Darius (410 BC). The Petition For Authorization To

Rebuild the Temple of Yaho states, "Nefayan thereupon led the Egyptians with other

troops. Coming with their weapons to the fortress of Elephantine, they entered the templeand razed it to the ground...As for the basins of gold and silver and other articles that

were in that temple, they carried all of them off and made them their own.-Now, ourforefathers built this temple in the fortress of Elephantine back in the days of the

kingdom of Egypt, and when Cambyses came to Egypt he found it built. They knocked

down all the temples of the gods of Egypt, but no one did any damage to this temple...Leta letter be sent from you to them concerning the temple of the god Yaho to build it in the

fortress of Elephantine as it was built before; and the meal-offering, incense, and burnt

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offering will be offered in your name" (ANET, 492; ANE vol.1, 279-281). The governorsof Judah send a reply with permission to rebuild the temple (ANET, 492; ANE vol.1,

281).

There is a temple of the Samaritans on Mt. Gerizum that may be a close replica of the

temple in Jerusalem. They may have had a replica of the Ark. According to Josephusduring the Greek period Manasseh, the brother of Jaddua the high priest had married

Nicaso, a foreign woman. The priests demanded that Manasseh divorce his wife or not

approach the altar. Sanballat II (different from the one mentioned in Nehemiah) hisfather-in-law told Manasseh that he would build him a temple on Mount Gerizum just

like the one at Jerusalem if he would not divorce his wife. Alexander the Great gave

Sanballat, a general in his army, permission to build the temple (Antiquities of the Jews

Book XI, 8:2-4). Some Two hundred years later Hyrcanus destroyed the temple on MountGerizum (Antiquities of the Jews Book XIII, 9:1).

Vendyl Jones thinks he has found the resting place of the Ark in a cave by the Dead Sea

near Qumran. He claims the Copper Scroll tells the location of the Ark, but his translationof the Copper Scroll is very questionable. Scholars translate it differently. When He dung

in the cave, no Ark was found.

Tom Croster claims he has found the Ark in a cave on Mt. Nebo where Jeremiah hid it.

He was guided by the work of Antonia Frederick Futterer who searched for the Ark in the1920's. With Futterer's sketch Tom Croster left for Jordan in October 1981. On Mt.

Pisgah Tom found an opening that led to a passageway that led to what he thinks was the

Ark of the Covenant. He took pictures which he refused to release. Siegfried H. Horn was

invited to see the photos. Horn concluded, "I do not know what the object is, but thepictures convinced me that it is not an ancient artifact but of modern fabrication with

machine-produced decorative strips and an underlying metal sheet" (BiblicalArchaeology Review May/June 1983, 66-69).

Michael Sanders believes that the Ark is in the village of Djaharya in Israel. There is

suppose to be a TV special on NBC soon about this. I think that his chronology and

interpretation of Egyptian texts are off. The location at Djaharya sounds similar to

Egyptian words, but similar sounds do not mean they are the same. I think Rohl in hisbooks also assumes that similar sounding words must be the same. Djahi is a general area

for part of Palestine and Phoenicia (SeeA Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian by

Raymond O. Faulkner 1991, 319). I looked up all the occurrences of Djahi in ANET, andthey do not seem to fit the location of Djaharya. Pekanan is literally "the Canaan"

according to Breasted. The "Pe" is the article "the" plus "Canaan." (This is what Iremember from taking Egyptian Hieroglyphics) Djahi and Pekanan are two differentEgyptian words, that are general geographic terms, and should not be put together to form

a new word Djahi Pakaanan. These two words seem to be used in parallel. There were a

number of Egyptian Temples in Canaan not just in Djaharya. For more information see

his Website at Ark of the Covenant - Part I, II & III.

What does the Ark of the Covenant look like?

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There are pictures of Egyptian Camp sites that look very similar to the Tabernaclepicturing an ark with winged creatures on top. (See The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands

by Yigael Yadin, 1963, 237, also 107-9).

There is a stone carving of a wagon on a lintel at a late second to early third century

synagogue at Capernaum that may be a picture of the Ark of the Covenant (See Harper's

Bible Dictionary, 64).

Dr. Ralph Wilson thinks the Ark of the Covenant is actually a throne chair for God (I

Samuel 4:4). He has pictures of what cherubim probably look like atNear EasternThrones and the Ark of the Covenant.

There are several carvings of what seems to be cherubim that have been found (BAR

21:4, pp.36-41). See Below:

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Cherub throne Cherub ivory

Cherub? Metro Ivory Cherub? U of Penn.

Ritmeyer believes the Ark of the Covenant sat on the large rock under the Dome of theRock on the Temple Mount. There is a rectangle carved into the rock that supposedly

matches the measurements of the Ark, but this is questionable. See Where has the lost

Ark of the Covenant been?

The exact description on how to build the Ark is in Exodus 25:10-22:

Have them make a chest of acacia wood-two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a halfwide, and a cubit and a half high. (Note m: 3 feet long by 2 feet wide and high.)

Overlay it with pure gold, both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it. Cast

four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and tworings on the other. Then make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. Insert

the poles into the rings on the sides of the chest to carry it. The poles are to remain in the

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rings of this ark; they are not to be removed. Then put in the ark the Testimony, which Iwill give you.

Make an atonement cover of pure gold-two and half cubits long and a cubit and a half

wide. And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. Make one

cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piecewith the cover, at the two ends. The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward,

overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other. Looking

toward the cover. Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the Testimony,which I will give you. There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the

ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the

Israelites" (NIV).

Conclusion

There may have been several replicas of the Ark of the Covenant made. We do not know

for sure where the real Ark of the Covenant is.

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Ark of the Covenant found?where? how?

With Christ's Most Precious Bloodatop the Mercy Seat?

Some think the Ark of the Covenant was the doorway to Heaven

Imagined Replica

Jewish Tradition - whereabouts of the ArkAfter all, we are living in the Last Days. The coming of the Messiah is notfar off. And many Jews and Christians alike believe that before the Saviorcomes, the Temple must be rebuilt (Zechariah 1:16; 2Thess 2:4;Revelations 11:1). If this happens, the Temples sacred vessels hidden

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since the destruction of the First and Second Temples could also berestored. But where are these vessels? And where is the most sacredprize of all the Ark of the Covenant?

There were, in fact, two sets of sacred vessels used in the Biblical worship

of God. The first were used in the Tabernacle, after God showed Moseshow to make the Ark of the Covenant and other holy vessels. In about1446 B.C. Moses instructed Bezalel (Bezaleel ben Uri) to build everythingexactly as God commanded. Bezalel's name appropriately means, "In theShadow of El (God), the Son of my Light". The original vesselsdisappeared when King Solomon made new, more ornate ones for theFirst Temple.

These vessels were carried off to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar after hedestroyed the First Temple in 586 BC, but were later restored to theSecond Temple. But in 70 AD, the vessels were stolen by the Romans

when Titus destroyed the Second Temple. This was documented on theArch of Titus in Rome, which showed Roman soldiers carrying away theseven-branched candelabra and other Temple vessels. Some scholarsbelieve that the Temple objects taken by the Romans lie in the catacombsof the Vatican. The Vatican denies they are holding any of these.

As for the Ark of the Covenant, it disappeared before the destruction of theFirst Temple. It was hidden by priests who foresaw the coming desolation,and its mysterious whereabouts have been the source of myth and legendever since. We know from 2 Chronicles 35:3 that King Josiah had the Arkput into Solomon's Temple in about 623 B.C. Previous to this the Ark was

hidden because of turbulent times Israel had gone through; probably fromaround 950-623 B.C.

3 And said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, which were holy unto theLORD, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king ofIsrael did build; it shall not be a burden upon your shoulders: serve now theLORD your God, and his people Israel,

Is the Ark in Ethiopia, beneath Mt Moriah, in Ireland,melted by Ramses III, or in a Cave at/near Mt Nebo/Pisgah

(Jordan)?

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Picture of Mt Nebo (aka: Mt Pisgah) in Jordan

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2nd Picture from Mt Nebo (aka: Mt Pisgah) in Jordan Wouldn'tit be amazing if the tomb of Moses is where the Ark really is; and both getfound? Jeremiah just may have known where Moses was buried!

For the Biblical answer to the whereabouts of the Ark we look at II

Maccabees 2:4-8. Here we find that Jeremiah "being warned of God,commanded the tabernacle and the ark to go with him." He did nottake it to Egypt. On the contrary, "went forth into the mountain, whereMoses climbed up, and saw the heritage of God" (Mount Pisgah/Nebo).When Jeremiah reached the mountain, "he found an hollow cave,wherein he laid the tabernacle, and the ark, and the altar of incense,and so stopped the door" (II Maccabees 2:4-6). Here is soliddocumentary evidence of where the Ark was placed, possibly in about 605B.C. Several of Jeremiah's followers returned to mark the site but couldnot find it, but 'when Jeremiah learned of this he reprimanded them. "itshall be unknown until the time that God gather his people again

together, and receive them unto mercy. Then shall the Lord shewthem these things, and the glory of the Lord shall appear, and thecloud also, as it was shewed under Moses".

Mount Nebo is a prominent peak of the Abarim Range that parallels theeastern shore of the Dead Sea (Deut 32:49; 34:1). This line of mountainsis also referred to as Pisgah (Deut 3:17, 27; 4:49; Josh 12:3; 13:20).

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Mount Nebo rises 2700 feet above sea level. The drop down to the DeadSea at 1300 feet below sea level measures some 4,000 feet.

Pisgah also refers to a particular peak associated with Mount Nebo (Deut

34:1).

Here God's word says that the whereabouts of the Ark would be hiddenuntil the Last Days. Through the word of God, through Jeremiah, we knowthat the Ark was not taken by him to Egypt...but was buried in a cave onthe top of Mount Pisgah. This was the point from which the Lord showedMoses the Promised Land, saying to him, 'I have let you see it with yourown eyes, but you shall not cross over into it' (Deuteronomy 34:4 NEB).

Was the Ark moved from Mt Nebo back to the Temple Mount? Is itunderneath the Temple Mount?

According to ancient writings dating back to the First Temple period, KingSolomon built a secret subterranean tunnel under a small wooden room inthe Temple where the wood for the sacrificial fire was stored. The priestswere instructed to hide the Ark of the Covenant there should Jerusalemcome under siege. That may be why the Ark of the Covenant was not inthe Temple when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem.

According to a theory circulating among scholars and archaeologists, theArk of the Covenant and the sacred vessels of the Tabernacle may behidden in a secret tunnel between the Temple Mount and Qumran, where

the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. Military aircraft with state-of-the-artsensors flew over this 12 square mile area and examined it withradiographic equipment. The examination revealed an anomaly something is there that is not indigenous to the topography. Could it be theArk and sacred vessels?

God's special Shekinah glory dwelt on the Mercy Seat atop the Ark of theCovenant. According to the prophet Jeremiah (3:15-17) the Ark of theCovenant will play an important future role. The ark is said to have beenbuilt shortly after the Exodus occurred, therefore the craftsmen who were

commissioned to build the Ark would have learned their craft in Egypt; withthis in mind it is highly likely the conventions and imagery used to build theArk would have been totally consistent with conventions used in Egyptianart on or before 1220 B.C.

The Ark of the Covenant was made of acacia wood and covered outsideand inside in pure gold. It was 45 inches 27 inches by 27 inches. Threesacred things were placed inside the Ark of the Covenant. Inside were

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Aaron's sacred rod, which was used to perform miracles in front ofPharoah; manna, which God gave the Israelites to eat in the wilderness;and, the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone.

A golden box with the power to strike men dead; to the ancient Hebrews,

the Ark was both a divine manifestation and a talisman so powerful thatthey carried it with them into battle a weapon of God.

It came to occupy the most revered spot in Jerusalem, the Holy of Holiesat the Temple of Solomon.

The true whereabouts of the ark of the Covenant remains a mystery!

Six centuries before the birth of Christ it mysteriously disappeared.

Some suggest the Ark is hidden somewhere near the Dead Sea, on the

Jordan's west bank. According to one tradition, Jeremiah was the last tosee the Ark and hid it in Mount Nebo on the Jordan River's east bank (nowJordan). According to another tradition it was taken to Egypt forsafekeeping during the reign of Josiah. But a great many Jewish scholarsthink it is in a secret vault below the Temple Mount.

There are about 18 miles of tunnels leading from under the Temple Mountinto the Judean hills. Those just may be where the ark actually wasdeposited for safe keeping. Or, alternatively - in Jordan - on MountPisgah/Nebo???...

The Israeli Temple Institute, an Ultra-Orthodox organization dedicated torebuilding the Jewish Temple, is reported to have said; "the Ark is underthe temple mountand will be revealed at the proper time - when thetemple is rebuilt".

According to Scripture, the Messiah (Jesus) cannot come (2nd time) untilthe Temple is rebuilt in Jerusalem. The Temple would be unfinishedwithout both the real Ark of the Covenant and ashes of the Red Heifer.And, the Lord will not come until Israel has a "spiritual awakening".

Or, have the pagan Mason's captured the Ark of the Covenant?

The earliest written copies of Masonic ritual state unequivocally that theancient masons found the Ark of the Covenant hidden in a cave under thesite of King Solomon's temple. The Knights Templar's quartered in the AlAqsa mosque on Temple Mount. There are many stories told that theTemplar's spent the first 10 years or so of their existence digging underTemple Mount.

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Reports it is in a Cave in northernEthiopia

The Ethiopianmonarch is the oldest continuous monarchy in history. It began with theQueen of Sheba. She and King Solomon of Israel had a son who wasMenelik the First of Ethiopia.

The ancient Church of St. Mary of Zion is located in northern Ethiopia inAksum. Aksum is the same city the Queen of Sheba is from. Deep belowthis church is a maze of underground passages. These tunnels have beenprotected by priestly guards of the ancient Ethiopian Jewish monarchy.Only the highest priests and the Emperor can enter deep within thesetunnels. The secret Holy of Holies Room is located within the innermostrings. Ethiopians claim that the Ark of the Covenant has lain within thistunnel for thousands of years. Only one person--the Guardian of the Arkcan enter into the actual Holy of Holies Room. Chosen at the age ofseven, this Guardian guards over the Ark for the rest of his life--never

seeing the light of day. Ethiopian history says that before it was moved tothe tunnels beneath St. Mary's of Zion that it was housed in a tent for 800years (4th century BC to 4th century AD) on the island of Tana Kirkos onLake Tana in northern Ethiopia.

This above Ethiopian whereabouts story was partly spread by BlackEthiopian Jews. Remember, these black Africans who practice an ancientform of Judaism, were airlifted by an Israeli military action team to freedom

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from political persecution in 1976.

In the September, 1935 issue of the National Geographicmagazine, anarticle appeared regarding interviews with different priests in various parts

of Ethiopia. These priests consistently stated that when the Queen ofSheba visited King Solomon in Jerusalem, she had a child by him calledMenelik I.

According to the priests author L. Roberts interviewed, Solomon educatedthe young boy in Jerusalem until he was nineteen years of age. The youngman then returned to Ethiopia with a large group of Jews, taking with himthe TRUE ARK OF THE COVENANT. As the story goes, King Solomonwanted to give Menelik a REPLICA of the Ark to take with him since thedistance between Jerusalem and Ethiopia was such that Menelik would beprevented from ever again worshipping at the Temple.

"However, Prince Menelik was concerned with the growing APOSTASY ofIsrael and the fact that his father, Solomon, was now allowing idols to beplaced in the Temple to please his pagan wives. King Solomon gave theprince a going-away banquet and after the priests were filled with wine,Menelik and his loyal associates SWITCHED ARKS AND LEFT THEREPLICA in its place in the Holy of Holies."

Some who have gained access to this Ethiopian vault report that theEthiopians are guarding only an "altar stone".

Then reports that the Israeli's had taken the Ark from Ethiopia toIsrael began surfacing. Recently, reports from Jerusalem that Muslimsare doing "digs" in the Temple Mount (for what?)(see Temple MountFuror). When will the Israeli's stop them from digging up Mt Moriah?

Stop.......

Was the Ark carried to heaven?

A Jewish tradition is that the Ark was miraculously transported to heaven

when Nebuchadnezzar captured the temple. And that the ark will berestored when the Messiah comes. If you think this is odd, what does onemake of Revelation 11:19? In 11:19 John is declaring the ark is inheaven. "And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there wasseen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, andvoices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail." Is this theark that Moses had built? Or, is this another heavenly Ark?

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When Jesus returns will the Ark have any significance at all?The Ark of the covenant which had been the special manifestation ofJehovah will be forgotten, because Yeshua (Jesus) (Jehovah) theMessiah will fill the whole city of Jerusalem with His presence...

Jeremiah 3:16-17 -16And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in thosedays, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD:neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it;neither shall that be done any more.

17At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shallbe gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk anymore after the imagination of their evil heart.

Was all the above about the Ark in Ethiopian a ruse ? Did Israeli

Jews plant a copy of the Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia--and place aguard over it all these centuries? Or, was a copy planted underGolgotha? Was this all carried out to confuse & protect the real ARKby Solomon? Why couldn't the Crusaders find the "Holy Grail" rightunder their eyes and in a most prominent place? Has the real Arkbeen buried beneath Golgotha all these centuries? MORE AMAZING--did the Mercy Seat capture the blood of Christ as it spilled from thecross and seeped down through the rocks? The Jewish sageMaimonides, in an account called The Laws of God's Chosen House,gives this remarkable story: "When Solomon built the Temple, hewas aware that it would ultimately be destroyed. He constructed a

chamber in which the Ark could be entombed below the Temple indeep, maze-like vaults. King Josiah commanded that the Ark beentombed in the chamber built by Solomon, as it is said (2Chronicles 35:3), 'And he said to the Levites who were enlightenedabove all of Israel, Place the Holy Ark in the chamber built bySolomon, the son of David, King of Israel. You will no longer carry iton your shoulders. Now, serve the Lord, your God.' When it wasentombed, Aaron's staff, the vital manna, and the oil used foranointing were entombed with it. All these sacred articles DID NOTreturn to the Second Temple." (Hilchos Bais HaBechinah).

Also Note:Ancient Irish tradition says that the prophetJeremiah arrived in Ireland (583-585 B.C.) with the HebrewPrincess Tea-Tephi (daughter of Zedekiah) and someremarkable things, including a harp, AN ARK, and a

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wonderful stone called "Lia-Fail," or the "Stone of Destiny."

STOP-WHOOOO!

Was Ramses III "Shishak"??

Bible Scholar Mike Sanders thinks so......

Bible Probe thinks Mike's answer is the most plausible!

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1 Kings 14 Read This Chapter

14:25In the fifth year of King Rehoboam's reign, King Shishak of Egypt came up andattacked Jerusalem.

14:26He ransacked the Temple of the LORD and the royal palace and stoleeverything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made.

2 Chronicles 12 Read This Chapter

12:2Because they were unfaithful to the LORD, King Shishak of Egypt attackedJerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam's reign.

12:3He came with twelve hundred chariots, sixty thousand horsemen, and acountless army of foot soldiers, including Libyans, Sukkites, and Ethiopians.

12:4Shishak conquered Judah's fortified cities and then advanced to attack

Jerusalem.12:5

The prophet Shemaiah then met with Rehoboam and Judah's leaders, who hadall fled to Jerusalem because of Shishak. Shemaiah told them, "This is what theLORD says: You have abandoned me, so I am abandoning you to Shishak."

12:6The king and the leaders of Israel humbled themselves and said, "The LORD isright in doing this to us!"

12:7When the LORD saw their change of heart, he gave this message to Shemaiah:"Since the people have humbled themselves, I will not completely destroy themand will soon give them some relief. I will not use Shishak to pour out my angeron Jerusalem.

12:8But they will become his subjects, so that they can learn how much better it is toserve me than to serve earthly rulers."

12:9So King Shishak of Egypt came to Jerusalem and took away all thetreasures of the Temple of the LORD and of the royal palace, including allof Solomon's gold shields.

Mike Sanders, who runs "BibleMysteries.com" is a biblical scholar,

researcher, and investigator of the first order. Mike looks to the Bible for the

tough questions and he jusy may be onto something here. Just perhaps the

Ancient Jews knew Ramses III, the Pharoah of Egypt as "Shishak" who was

mentioned above as the king who attacked Judah and went off with all its

treasures.

Mike has traced "Shishak" down all over the middle east and has createdan exciting VHS video where you can watch him stand in front of a stonerelief depicting Ramses III carrying off treasures from Judah (showing agolden "box" on two golden poles). Mike went even further and found anancient building which Shikshak (Ramses III) could have built as a Templeto honor his god(s) for his defeat of the Jews. This building is in the West

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The Ark of the Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant was crucial to the success of the Exodus of Moses. It was not just aceremonial figurehead, it was used as a weapon and possibly a source of food (It is thought bysome to have been involved in the production of the manna.).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ark_of_the_Covenant

At the moment it is located at the Ethiopian Orthodox Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in thetown ofAxum -- 623 km. north of Addis Ababa. (Bible code here)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Our_Lady_Mary_of_Zion(See the pictures ofAxum - Pics 1 - Pics 2- Pics 3-Pics 4 -Pics 5 - view from space.

There are some other theories about the current location so I have provided some links to otheronline sources on my Ark links page.

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Ark should look something like this according to the Bible. The Seraphim on the lid of the Ark are probably similar to these Tutankhamun's tomb.

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St Mary of Zion Church,Axum, Ethiopia.

The building where the Ark of the Covenant is kept.

Axum is deep within a large area of mountains, I believe these are the mountains that we shouldflee to, and the Ark is our beacon. The Book of Enoch says we shall be given asword at the timeof the second end - I suspect this means the Ark.There is also:Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them,and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them, and be their God.'Esseneversion of Revelation

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The Tabernacle where the Ark was kept before the Temple was built.

The story of the Ark, how it was used by Moses, how it got to Ethiopia, and many otherdetails are covered in a very readable and inexpensive book by Graham Hancock - "TheSign and the Seal" http://www.grahamhancock.com/

The following was copied from another website (which seems to have disappeared):

The Ark of the Covenant -- considered the most holy of Christian artifacts -- has been located inEthiopia, after having disappeared in the reign of Biblical King Solomon more than 3,000 yearsago. According to the Kebre Negast, the Ethiopian "bible", it was taken to Ethiopia by Menelik I,the son of Solomon's union with the legendary Queen Makeda of Ethiopia (better known as theQueen of Sheba) and has been in Ethiopia ever since. However, this location has been disputedin modern times, and many individuals and countries have tried to find the Ark.

According to an article in Canada's "Sunday Sun" newspaper by journalist Kaye Corbett, a three-year search has positively located "the most important archaeological, historical and religious

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object in man's history" buried in the bowels of the Ethiopian Orthodox St. Mary of Zion Church inAksum -- a holy city 623 km. north of Addis Ababa.

Corbett promises to reveal his findings in a soon-to-be-published book co-authored with H.R.H.Stephen Mengesha, a great grandson of Emperor Haile Selassie. He writes that the Jewish Stateof Israel will soon make a claim on this most valued relic, prior to building a new Temple to housethe Ark on Temple Mount in Jerusalem -- the controversial site presently occupied by the Muslim'sDome of the Rock shrine. Corbett states that such a claim would have a dramatic effect on theJewish state and the world.

That is putting it mildly. The effect of any attempt to relocate the Ark of the Covenant may well bethe Third World War.

It is believed that the Jews will base their claim on the fact that thousands of Ethiopian Jews,called Falashas, have been resettled in Israel in recent years and therefore would bolster a claimfor the Ark to be held by descendants of the original Jews, despite the problem of religiouscontroversy, language and racism which the Falashas have encountered.

On the other hand, Ethiopians, Christians and Africans in the Disapora point to the fact thatEthiopia is the only nation which can produce living descendants of Solomon as heirs to histhrone and dynasty. Indeed, Emperor Haile Selassie was the 225th descendant of King Solomon,as well as being a member of Solomon's Tribe of Judah. Therefore, they claim, the Ark hasrightfully rested in Ethiopia all these centuries, and should continue to do so.

Corbett's article continues: "In Aksum today there seems little doubt it rests in a secretcompartment beneath a small chapel next to the new St. Mary of Zion Church, and it issupposedly still guarded by a specially-picked priest who maintains his vigil from the age of sevenuntil he dies.

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The Ark in some early pictures (see below)

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Ark inTemple

Ark inBattle ofEben-ezer

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Ark inthe Landof thePhilistines

The images above are from Dura Europus, the site of an early synagogue. The images of the Arkare consistant with each other but may not be accurate. There is a lot of Greek influence in thesepictures and the artist may have been guessing about the actual appearance of the Ark.Another guess based on the description in the Bible is below:

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On the trail of the arkBy Raymond Matthew Wray

"He says you must go now," my translator told me. I looked from him to the official standingacross from the old church ruins. "I thought I could stay until six o'clock?" I protested. He

shrugged and got up to lead me out.

While we were leaving!, three more visitors entered the compound. I pointed this out to him,waving my entrance ticket in the air. Finally, he opened up: "In the past, they have had sometrouble with people here." In other words, I'd overstayed my welcome. I was being thrown out.

My departure had less to do with how much time I'd spent there than with my taking pictures.After all, this was my second visit of the day-my third if you count the time I came while it wasclosed. The official who insisted I leave was the same man who asked that I come back when thechurch compound was open. And he was the same man who watched me take six rolls of film ofthe Saint Mary of Zion Chapel. This is only one of three churches of interest within the compound,and I could tell he grew suspicious when I ignored the others.

It wasn't that the chapel of Saint Mary of Zion was that impressive, or even that beautiful. No, itwasn't the chapel itself that had brought me to Ethiopia. I was much more interested in what wasconcealed within.

I had come to see the Ark of the Covenant.

The Bible tells us that the Ark is a "chest of acacia wood" overlaid with pure gold "both inside andout." Wooden poles pierce rings on each side and are used to carry the heavy box. On top, a pairof golden cherubim face one another, their wings outstretched.

In the Old Testament, God Himself appeared as a swirling mist between the golden figures; it wascalled the shekinah, or "presence."

The Ark was constructed as a carrying case for the tablets of the !Ten Commandments-the sametablets that Moses carried down from the mountain. There's no record that they were everremoved from the chest. Indeed, it seems likely that wherever the Ark is, the Ten Commandmentsare still inside.

If you've seen Raiders of the Lost Ark, you know the chest of the Old Covenant has a dark side.No one but the high priest could approach it, and those foolish enough to touch it died instantly.The Ark was carried into battle, leaving bloodshed and devastation in its path. In his book, TheSign and the Seal, British journalist Graham Hancock elaborates:

Biblical and other archaic sources speak of the Ark blazing with fire and light, inflicting canceroustumors and severe burns, leveling mountains, stopping rivers, blasting whole armies and layingwa!ste cities.

This is the Ark of the Covenant. And according to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, it now sits inthe chapel of Saint Mary of Zion in Aksum, Ethiopia.

There are two different explanations of how the Ark arrived in Ethiopia. The first is based on thelegend of the Kebra Nagast (The Glory of Kings). The Kebra Nagast is a 13th-century manuscript

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drawing on the Old and New Testaments, as well as the apocryphal Book of Enoch and the Bookof Pearl. Edward Ullendorf in The Ethiopians: An Introduction to Country and People points outthat the Kebra Nagast also borrows generously from the "christological and patristic writings in !Coptic, Syriac Arabic, and Greek, from the Testamentum Adami, from Rabbinical literature as wellas the Koran."

But the Kebra Nagast isn't a doctrinal work. It's a love story. And it's the Ethiopians' version ofhow they came to possess the Ark of the Covenant. Drawing on 1 Kings 10:1-13, the legenddescribes how the queen of Sheba first learned of King Solomon when her servant Tmrnreturned from Jerusalem. Hearing Tmrn's report about Solomon, the queen was smitten: "I lovehim merely on hearing."

Sheba journeyed to Jerusalem to see him and remained there for six months. As she prepared toreturn to her own country, Solomon ordered a royal meal for them where they both made an oathnot to take anything from each other by force. Solomon's interests in the queen were apparentlymore than just diplomatic. The King intentionally left his bowl of! water next to the queen's bed, sothat when she awoke she would take a drink, thereby "taking" what was rightfully the king's andbreaking the oath. While a small thing in itself, the result had a profound effect.

When Sheba realized the gravity of what occurred, she said to Solomon: "I have sinned againstmyself, and thou art free from [thy] oath." The Kebra Nagast continues: "He permitted her to drinkwater, and after she had drunk water he worked his will with her and they s

3860049 Ark of the Covenant

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