# Raiders Of The Lost Ark Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 21, 2015, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-question/710464 "2015-01-21T07:44:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Winkler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/82dd89/32.png) [@The\_Winkler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Winkler)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-question/710464/1 "2015-01-21T07:44:24Z")
Pardon my ignorance and my apologies if this has been asked before. I have never really understood the ending of Raiders Of The Lost Ark. So they open the ark and it contains nothing but sand. Belloq is obviously angry. So is that to imply that it isn’t the real ark? Why would the real ark be full of sand? And since Belloq is so pissed then the ark must be a fake. And if the ark isn’t genuine, then why do spirits come out of it? A fake ark would have no power, I assume. Or is it just more evidence that Lucas was just a hack who got lucky and actually had no clue what he was doing? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-question/710464/2 "2015-01-21T07:58:23Z")
[Exodus 32:19](http://biblehub.com/nasb/exodus/32.htm) " It came about, as soon as Moses came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain. " The sand is supposed to be the broken pieces of the tablets. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-question/710464/3 "2015-01-21T08:05:29Z")
> **[Tablets of Stone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablets_of_Stone)** > > According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tablets of the Law (also Tablets of Stone, Stone Tablets, or Tablets of Testimony; Biblical Hebrew: לוּחֹת הַבְּרִית lūḥōt habbǝrīt "tablets of the covenant", לֻחֹת הָאֶבֶן luḥōt hāʾeḇen or לֻחֹת אֶבֶן luḥōt ʾeḇen or לֻחֹת אֲבָנִים luḥōt ʾăbānīm "stone tablets", and לֻחֹת הָעֵדֻת luḥōt hāʿēdut "tablets of testimony"; Arabic: أَلْوَاحُ مُوسَى āl-wāḥ Mūsā "the tablets of Moses") were the two stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments when Moses ascended Mou... > [@wikipedia](#): > > According to the Bible, there were two sets. The first, inscribed by God,[1] were smashed by Moses when he was enraged by the sight of the Children of Israel worshipping a Golden Calf;[2] and the second, later cut by Moses and rewritten by God.[3] > … > Both the first shattered set and the second unbroken set were stored in the Ark of the Covenant (the Aron Habrit in Hebrew). presumably, the unbroken stones were underneath the sand. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-question/710464/4 "2015-01-21T09:01:21Z")
If the sand is the remains of the broken tablets, or is simply covering the unbroken ones, then why is Belloq so angry at the sight of it? ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-question/710464/5 "2015-01-21T09:08:55Z")
The question should be what did Belloq expect to find inside the Ark? ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-question/710464/6 "2015-01-21T09:39:26Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > If the sand is the remains of the broken tablets, or is simply covering the unbroken ones, then why is Belloq so angry at the sight of it? I guess we are supposed to think he is too stupid to realize he is looking at the remains of the tablets. He has to of expected the tablets to be in there, I mean come on I am assuming he did read the freaking bible if he is obsessed with the ark right? So we can assume he expected tablets, and got pissed because he only saw sand being too stupid to realize what he was looking at. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-question/710464/7 "2015-01-21T09:47:39Z")
We’re supposed to believe that a professional archaeologist, who has a Ph.D. and everything, and who was hired by the German government specifically to find this artifact, was too stupid to have read the primary historical source of information on it? Even though this source is a scant few lines contained in the most printed book of all time? I’m not buying it. Either there is some other in-universe explanation for Belloq’s reaction, or this is a gaping plot hole. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-question/710464/8 "2015-01-21T09:49:33Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > We’re supposed to believe that a professional archaeologist, who has a Ph.D. and everything, and who was hired by the German government specifically to find this artifact, was too stupid to have read the primary historical source of information on it? Even though this source is a scant few lines contained in the most printed book of all time? > > I’m not buying it. Either there is some other in-universe explanation for Belloq’s reaction, or this is a gaping plot hole. But he didn’t expect sand to be in there, he expected broken tablets and intact tablets. Again he just seems stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-question/710464/9 "2015-01-21T10:16:05Z")
If he expects to find broken but still readable tablets, and discovers instead that the tablets have crumbled all the way to dust, why wouldn’t he be pissed off? It’s not that he doesn’t realise what’s happened, it’s that he had hoped (not unreasonably, they’re STONE after all) that they’d last better. A pile of sand is not an awfully impressive exhibit for the Berlin Reichsmuseum ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-question/710464/10 "2015-01-21T10:26:16Z")
My impression ever since first seeing it as a little kid, was that God turned the contents to sand because those opening the ark were not worthy. Hence all the deadly spirits after. ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-question/710464/11 "2015-01-21T10:36:22Z")
I’d assumed they’d crumbled to sand over time… …which, now that I think on it, doesn’t seem that likely, does it? I don’t suppose even soft sandstone would just collapse like that. ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-question/710464/12 "2015-01-21T10:37:40Z")
double post ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-question/710464/13 "2015-01-21T11:09:22Z")
To me, Belloq looks more befuddled or confused by the sand than angry. And then he never really has time to digest what has just happened. It is Colonel Dietrich who immediately tosses the sand away in anger or disgust. He’s the one who looks pissed. Then they look a little explodey and melty, respectively. Of course, Belloq called the Ark “a transmitter, a radio for speaking to God,” so maybe the tablet he expected to find was an iPhone 6 Plus. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-question/710464/14 "2015-01-21T11:29:38Z")
> [@galen\_ubal](#): > > I’d assumed they’d crumbled to sand over time… > …which, now that I think on it, doesn’t seem that likely, does it? I don’t suppose even soft sandstone would just collapse like that. The Ark was transported in that rickety army truck earlier in the film - maybe the tablets were rattled to dust in transit. I think their disappointment with the sand was really the same message as at the end of the Last Crusade, where the Nazi expects the Holy Grail to be a golden piece of bling - Nazis are apparently vulgar philistines who crave gold irreverently, right in God’s face. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-question/710464/15 "2015-01-21T13:46:20Z")
> [@The\_Winkler](#): > > Or is it just more evidence that Lucas was just a hack who got lucky and actually had no clue what he was doing? You wrote this OP just so you could add this last line, didn’t you? Btw, Steven Spielberg directed Raiders, and Lawrence Kasdan wrote the screenplay. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-question/710464/16 "2015-01-21T14:00:10Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > The question should be what did Belloq expect to find inside the Ark? The Ultimate Power\* _Ultimate power of the Jewish God, of course_\* \*\*Did they really think that that the Jewish God would be fine and dandy with helping out the Nazis? ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-question/710464/17 "2015-01-21T14:20:46Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > You wrote this OP just so you could add this last line, didn’t you? Btw, Steven Spielberg directed Raiders, and Lawrence Kasdan wrote the screenplay. Not that this completely absolves Lucas from any plot holes, since he came up with the story. Kasdan’s script is based on a transcript of his meetings with Lucas and Spielberg. ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-question/710464/18 "2015-01-21T14:21:17Z")
> [@The\_Winkler](#): > > Pardon my ignorance and my apologies if this has been asked before. I have never really understood the ending of Raiders Of The Lost Ark. So they open the ark and it contains nothing but sand. Belloq is obviously angry. So is that to imply that it isn’t the real ark? No, it is NOT to imply that it isn’t the real ark. They might’ve suspected that at first, but once the sand disappears and the spirits take over, it’s pretty clear that this is the “one, true ahk.” > [@The\_Winkler](#): > > Why would the real ark be full of sand? It wouldn’t. > [@The\_Winkler](#): > > And since Belloq is so pissed then the ark must be a fake. You forgot the part after the spirits take over, the one angel looks at Belloq and he screams with joy, “It’s beautiful!” He was angry at first because he thought the ark was a dud, but again, once the sand disappears and the spirits take over, it’s made very clear that it’s the real ark. > [@The\_Winkler](#): > > And if the ark isn’t genuine, then why do spirits come out of it? A fake ark would have no power, I assume. You’ve answered your own question. > [@The\_Winkler](#): > > Or is it just more evidence that Lucas was just a hack who got lucky and actually had no clue what he was doing? No, this is not more evidence that Lucas didn’t know what he was doing. The ark was genuine otherwise there would have been no spirits, no “wrath of God” and there wouldn’t have been a huge storm showing the contents of the ark being raised back to the skies, followed by the top being slammed shut. Watch it again and I’m sure your confusion will become clear: [Opening of the Ark](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0APF3SO9tqE) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-question/710464/19 "2015-01-21T14:32:48Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > \*\*Did they really think that that the Jewish God would be fine and dandy with helping out the Nazis? Antisemites believe some very strange things, including “God hates the Jews because they killed Christ” So, yes. In the Nazis’ twisted ideology God is on the side of Jew-haters. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-question/710464/20 "2015-01-21T15:25:10Z")
Actually, that makes a lot of sense. Hitler and many other Nazis were big believers in the occult, but for obvious reasons did not believe in the existence of the Jewish God. If they were convinced that something like the Ark existed, they’d probably think of it as “just” a supernatural weapon, and not something divine. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-question/710464.md?page=2)