I’ve done some resarch on the Arc of the Covenant, after catching a documentary on it on the History Channel.
Apparently the Ethiopian Orthadox Church claims that they have the original biblica arc, which they are keeping in a remote shrine at the Church Of Saint Marry Zion.
Of course, there’s no way of validating this, because they don’t generally let people see it. However, based on the history of the region and the stories and known facts about Isralie history, it doesn’t seem impossible that it could have made its way to Ethiopia. Ethiopia actually has some well established historical ties with the ancient Isralie civilization and to this day there are Jews in Ethiopia who claim direct liniage to the tribes of Israel.
Apparently, a preist was allowed to catch a glimpse of the reputed arc a while ago and said that it was either real or “a convincing replica.” It’s not impossible that it is a replica either, as apparently in ancient times many replicas were made of the arc. They were not portrayed as the actual arc, but were worshipped as representations of it.
So my question is this: Since there is at least a chance that they may have the arc, has there been any interest on the state of Israel or the World Jewish Congress or any Jewish organizations to try to establish whether it is real and if so, to have it returned?
Presumably, the modern Jews would have some validity to a claim for it, since it was supposedly taken out of their country to protect it when the area was overrun and now they have reestablished control of Israel.
I know there have been projects to look for the real arc in underground passanges in Jeruselum, but considering that there is a group which claims that they have it, it seems logical that those looking for the arc would want to at least check out the reputed arc in Ethiopia.
Yes, I realize that the Ethiopian tradition which says that they have the arc is not generally accepted as historical fact and I’m not saying that it’s true or even that it’s probably true.
However, an analogy might be this: When a search is underway for a missing person and someone viemently claims that they know the location of that person, it’s pretty well accepted that their lead ought to be checked out, even if it seems far fetched.
Considering that there the story hasn’t been disproved, it seems like it’s worth at least checking out.
I realize that the keepers of the supposed arc don’t let anybody see it in general, but has the request ever been made to see it by the state of Israel or by a high ranking Rabbi? It seems like it might be worth at least giving some deplomacy a shot, on the chance that they may be persuaded.
WAG It’s stored under NORAD’s Mountain somewhere in the Rocky Mountain chain.
Left there by Indiana Jones a few years back. Top Secret, hush hush, for safe keeping, and all that.
It is in safe storage untill Solomon’s Temple is rebuilt on Mount Moria and the Temple Worship is reestablished!
Their prophet said to them, “The sign of his kingship is that the Ark of the Covenant will be restored to you, bringing assurances from your Lord, and relics left by the people of Moses and the people of Aaron. It will be carried by the angels. This should be a convincing sign for you, if you are really believers.”
002:248
He needs to invade Ethiopia, take the ark, stradle it and fly it in on an apache.
The priests of the shrine are never going to cooperate with any official requests to examine the Ark. Consider it from their point of view: if someone examines the Ark, and it turns out to be fake, then you and all your predecessors have been wasting your time guarding a replica. Major bummer. OTOH, if the Ark is proven to be legitimate, then the shrine will be immediately overrun by a bazillion pilgrims. In addition to the pilgrims, they’ll be besieged by requests to turn the Ark over to a museum. Isreal will demand the return of the Ark to their country, if they don’t just send in a commando team to take it. Having the Ark be proven to be legitimate could, arguably, be worse than having it be proven to be fake.
It’s a replica, I am sure. Personally, I think that the real Ark of the Covenant is buried somewhere near Jerusalem, assuming it wasn’t melted down by invaders.
And you know- speaking of the other Ark- the fact that dudes keep seeing “something” on Mt Ararat could simply mean that some early Christian (or even earlier Jewish) group made a replica up there in the hills.
Well apparently the Ark is in Jerusalem - ‘Ron Wyatt is an archeologist who has been led by the Lord to discover the location of the Ark of the Covenant.’
And it’s in Utah too! - ‘Bible code hints that Lehi brought the Ark of the Covenant to the Americas. Alphabetics code hints that it now hidden in Sanpete Valley.’
Local superstitions aside, the Ethiopian Ark claim is simply not taken seriously by historians, archaeologists or Israel. Your query makes a lot of assumptions which have little or no historical support, starting with the assumption that the Ark ever existed at all. Since the entire story of Moses and the Exodus has been thrown into doubt (to say the least) by archaeological evidence (to put it bluntly, the Exodus is now almost universally believed by archaeologists and ME historians to be a mythic invention), it stands to reason the story of Moses receiving tablets at Sinai and building an ark to tote them around in (while Yahjweh rode on top) are fictional events, not historical ones. We have never found any evidence that Solomon existed. We have never found any remains of the first Temple. We don’t know who the Queen of Sheba was, where she was from or if she existed at all. The claim that Solomon and Sheba had a son (or even that they had an affair) is not in the Bible. There are some who even argue that neither Solomon, nor the first Temple nor the Ark ever existed- that these are all just elements of a mythic history invented after the Babylonian exile.
In short, there is a whole lot of other stuff to prove before it makes any sense to discuss the authenticity of an Ark in Ethiopia. My WAG (for what it’s worth) is that the Ethiopians have some sort of replica or perhaps an old Egyptian ark (the Egyptians and Babylonians used to build their own arks for their Gods, complete with carved cherubim, that were kept in special chambers and contained sacred relics) upon which they have built their legend.
If there ever was a real ark built for the first temple, it was most likely looted or destroyed by the Babylonians.
