K
Kirsten
Guest
[Illuminati, Freemason, Lucifer, satan, 666, NWO, Skull and Bones]
Subject: THE ARK OF THE COVENANT
Title: The New World Order Files
Author: David Allen Rivera
The purpose of building the Temple, was to house the Ark of the
Covenant, so the discovery of the most sacred item in Jewish history may
be all that is needed to initiate the rebuilding of the Temple. However,
Jeremiah 27:22 seems to indicate a connection between the Temple
treasures, and the existence of the Temple. According to Ezra, after the
first Temple was destroyed, the Temple vessels had to be returned or
refabricated before the Temple could be rebuilt. Thus, only the
existence of the Temple vessels may be all that is needed to rebuild the
Temple, since it is believed that the Ark was not in the second Temple.
The Ark was a rectangular box four feet long, and two feet high, made
of acacia wood (distinguished as a type of wood that does not decay),
and covered with gold; with two cherubs (a rank of angels) looking down
and facing each other on its lid with outstretched wings, which was
known as the mercy seat. It was constructed at Mount Sinai by Bezalel,
according to the instructions Moses received from God. Inside was placed
the rod of Aaron, a pot of manna (which had been sent by God to feed the
Israelites during their time of wandering in the wilderness), and the
two tablets of the Law given to Moses (known as the Ten Commandments).
Some sources also claim that it contains the original Books of Moses. It
represented the divine presence of God, and was the point where the
literal manifestation of God on this Earth took place. Just looking at
it was known to cause death. The Bible tells us of the power it
possessed. It caused the Jordan River to part (Joshua 3:8 - 4:11), aided
in the destruction of Jericho (Joshua 6:4-21/), /and brought about
numerous military victories when it was present. Needless to say, it
developed quite a mystique.
Inside the Temple, the Ark was placed in a dark, windowless room known
as the Holy of Holies. A vale was placed around the Ark, and only once a
year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest was allowed to enter.
Even then, he was to carry a container of burning incense, which filled
the room with smoke, thus obscuring his view of the Ark. He would
sprinkle the blood of a bullock on the ground in front of the Ark, and
on the mercy seat, as atonement for the sins of the priests; and then
the blood of a goat, as a symbolic atonement for the sins of the people.
A rope would be tied around his waist, so if for some reason he
accidently touched the Ark and was killed, he could be pulled out
without risk by the other priests.
In the Bible, there are 200 references to the Ark of the Covenant up to
the time of Jeremiah, but nothing afterward. It has since disappeared,
and nobody is really sure where it's at. The common belief is that the
Temple will not be rebuilt unless the Ark is found.
The Ark had not been removed from the Temple during or after the reign
of King Josiah, which had begun in 640 BC, and it was in place in the
Holy of Holies in 701 BC, which leaves 61 years in which it could have
disappeared. It is unlikely that Hezekiah (716-687 BC) would have
allowed the Ark to be taken away. Between the time of his death, and
Josiah's reign, there were two other rulers, Manasseh (687-642 BC) and
Amon (642-640 BC). Amon discovered that Manasseh had been involved in a
form of Baal worship, and had erected an image of Astarte (Asherah) in
the Temple(2 Kings 21:4-7, 2 Chronicles 33:7), and it is believed that
he would have ordered the Levites to remove the Ark. The Ark reappeared
in 622 BC (2 Kings 22:1-7, 2 Chronicles 34:8-33, 2 Chronicles 35:3),
during the reign of Manasseh's grandson, King Josiah, who vanquished
idolatry, repaired and purified the Temple.
However, idolatry took root again, and the actions of Rehoboam,
Solomon's son, caused the kingdom to be divided, with Judah (Judea) in
the south, and Israel to the north. Judgment came upon the Northern
Kingdom in 721 BC when the Assyrians attacked them; and the Southern
Kingdom paid the price for they idolatry when the armies of
Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, swept through the land in 606 BC,
and then again in 597 BC. During the second invasion, 2 Kings 24:13 says
that "all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasure of
the king's house" were taken, and "all the vessels of gold which Solomon
king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord" had been cut in
pieces. The original Temple was destroyed in 586 BC by the Babylonian
commander, Nebuzaradan (2 Kings 25:8-9), and the rest of the treasures
were plundered and taken to a Babylonian temple at Shinar (Daniel 1:2),
which has led some to theorize that what was taken previously came from
the Temple treasury, since Nubuchadnezzar's initial action against Judah
was in response to them not paying tribute to him.
Through all of this, the Ark was not mentioned. Lists of Temple items
(2 Kings 25:13-17, Jeremiah 52:17-23) do not refer to any Temple
treasures from the Holy of Holies, and it is this silence that could
indicate that it wasn't captured, since there is a Biblical record of
the time when the Philistines captured the Ark. In addition, Ezra 1:7-11
states that all the captured items were later returned by the Persians,
but the Ark was not discussed. So, either the Ark was destroyed along
with the Temple (possibly indicated by the destruction of the "goodly
vessels" in 2 Chronicles 36:19), or the Ark was hidden before it could
be found.
When Rome invaded Judea in 63 BC, and the Roman General Pompey swept
through Jerusalem, entering the Temple, and the Holy of Holies, it was
empty. Jewish history records the high priest making his offering upon
the foundation stone of the Holy of Holies, and not the Ark. After Titus
returned to Rome with some of the Temple treasure, the Arch of Triumph
(or Arch of Titus) was built in 81 AD at the entrance to the Forum, in
the Palatine section of Rome, to commemorate his victory. It depicted
the seven-branched candelabra known as the menorah (with an octagonal
base, rather than a three-legged stand, which it actually has; which
could indicate that it was a duplicate kept in the Treasury), the golden
table of the showbread, and the seven trumpets of the Jubilee. The Ark
is not pictured, thus adding to the evidence that the Ark was not in the
second Temple, and has been hidden.
According to the Mishnah (Sotah 9a), after the Temple was built, the
Tabernacle was stored under the "crypts of the Temple." It is believed
that King Solomon constructed a secret chamber in the recesses of the
Temple Mount to hide the Ark, which is where it was placed during the
reign of Manasseh. Jewish tradition has held that the Ark and the Altar
of Incense were hidden in a secret location under a woodshed on the
western side of the Temple, near the Holy of Holies.
This is not such a far-fetched idea when you realize that under the
city of Jerusalem there is an underground city consisting of a number of
tunnels, chambers, and cisterns; which were created to establish a water
storage system, as quarters for guards, chambers to hold sacrificial
animals, rooms containing ritual bathing areas, prison cells, and
storage areas for Temple treasures. The best known of these subterranean
areas is Hezekiah's Tunnel, which was constructed to make sure Jerusalem
would have fresh water in case the city was attacked. It started at
Gihon Spring, and ran for a third of a mile, through solid rock,
spilling into the Pool of Siloam. An escape tunnel used by King Zedekiah
ran from the Tower of Antonia, to a point near the Eastern Gate,
emerging outside the walls of the city, covering a distance of over
8,000 feet.
The nine original members of the Knights Templar were received by King
Baldwin I (Baudouin) in Jerusalem in 1119, and they established their
headquarters in a wing of the al-Aqsa Mosque, which had been converted
to a palace. They were given complete access to the palace and various
outbuildings which were on the site where Solomon's Temple originally
stood, which was adjacent to the Dome of the Rock. Although their goal
was "to keep the road from the coast to Jerusalem free from bandits,"
for nine years they rarely left the palace grounds. It was an
unrealistic pledge, because it would have been difficult for the nine to
patrol this fifty mile road; besides, a military order known as the
Knights of Saint John were already performing that task before the
Templars showed up. It is now known that they had some knowledge about
the Temple treasures, because there is evidence which indicates that
they were engaged in a massive excavation project.
Vast arched subterranean rooms were used by Knights during the Crusades
to keep horses, and were known as "Solomon's Stables." The Templars were
aware of these hidden areas underneath the Temple grounds, and believed
that the Ark would be found there. They mounted an operation to plunder
whatever treasurers they could find. Although it is questionable that
they found the Ark, it is believed that they discovered treasure, relies
and ancient manuscripts dating back to the time of Moses. Israeli
archaeologists, engaged in excavations on the southern side of the
Mount, found the exit point of a tunnel which had been dug by the
Templars. It lead inward about 30 yards, where it was blocked by stone
and debris.
There has been many stories concerning the location of the Ark of the
Covenant. Some believe it is still buried in a secret chamber on the
Temple Mount. Jewish historian Eupolemus wrote that many of the Temple
treasurers had been plundered by Babylon, "except for the Ark and the
tablets in it. This Jeremiah preserved." According to the apocryphal
Second Book of Maccabees 2:4-8, which has been dated to 163 BC, the
prophet Jeremiah had concealed the Ark (as well as the Tabernacle, and
the Altar of Incense) in a cave on "the mountain where Moses went up and
beheld the heritage of God." Many researcher believe that this could
refer to either Mount Sinai or Mount Nebo, which is located in what is
now the country of Jordan, and is the traditional burial place of Moses.
The contention was made, that since these articles were made under the
leadership of Moses, they may have been deposited at the site of his
burial. Various archaeological expeditions had failed to turn up
anything there.
During the 1920's, American explorer, Antonio Frederick Futterer,
searched various locations in Jordan for the Ark, based on the clues in
2 Maccabees, and believed the location to be on Mount Pisgah, the
highest peak on the Mount Nebo range. He claimed to have found an
inscription on the sealed entrance of a tunnel which said: "Herein lies
the golden Ark of the Covenant." In 1981, while following Futterer's map
of Mount Pisgah, a gully was discovered by Tom Crotser, an American
explorer, which led to a 4' X 7' tunnel that plunged 600 feet into the
ground, ending at a wall, which when broken down, revealed a 10' X 12'
crypt which held a rectangular chest 62" long, 37" high and 37" wide,
wrapped in a blue cloth, which he believed to be the Ark. Beside it was
another bundle, which he thought contained the carrying poles, the
cherubim which had been mounted on the top, and the legs. The cave is
located near the Church of the Franciscan Fathers of Terra Santa, and is
under a building which contains the remains of an old Byzantine church.
He didn't disturb the find, thus he doesn't know for sure what he saw.
He reported it to the media, and he claimed that God told him to send
the photographs he took to London banker David Rothschild, who some
people have claimed is a direct descendant of Jesus, and has been chosen
to build the third Temple. Rothschild refused to accept the pictures,
and they were returned to Crotser. Noted archaeologist Siegfried Horn
visited his home in Winfield, Kansas to see the pictures. Only two had
any images at all- one is fuzzy, but does show a chamber with a yellow
box in the center. His opinion was that it was "not an ancient artifact
but of modern fabrication..."
In January, 1979, archaeologist Ronald Wyatt, while sightseeing near
the Damascus Gate, felt that the location of Jeremiah's Grotto was near
an ancient stone quarry on the northern extension of Mt. Moriah, that is
sometimes referred to as the "Calvary Escarpment" (because it contains
the skull face configuration that has been connected to the Golgotha).
He believed that during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem from 587-586
BC, when the city was surrounded, it would have been impossible to
remove the Ark, so it had to be there. With the permission of the
landowner, and a permit from Israeli officials, he excavated the area.
On January 6, 1982, he entered a chamber that contained the Ark, and
other artifacts from the first Temple, which had been hidden there by
Jeremiah. The 22-foot long cave is actually located directly beneath the
area where Christ was crucified. According to Wyatt's research, when
Jesus was crucified, his blood flowed down to the ground, through a
split in the rock, and onto the Ark.
Most serious researchers doubt his claim, saying that, as far back as
the first Temple, the area of Mt. Calvary was used as burial grounds, so
it is highly unlikely that the Ark would have been placed on defiled
ground. Scholars have questioned his lack of archaeological training,
and his techniques; yet Wyatt's work gained more acceptance because of
other discoveries, such as the true Mt. Sinai, the location on the Red
Sea crossing, Noah's Ark, the 12 altars erected by Moses, Sodom and
Gomorrah, and Abraham's family tomb in Hebron. Plus, his work has
produced the most information on the Ark, all of which seems to be
compatible with Scripture.
Dr. Gary Collett believes that Maccabees actually refers to Qumran, and
says that the layout of Cave IV is similar to the Temple, and that its
lower level may have been the containment room used by Jeremiah to
temporarily protect the Ark. In 1992, two scientists from the Department
of Geophysics and Planetary Science at Tel-Aviv University used a
ground-breaking radar known as a molecular frequency analyzer and a
seismic-reflection device near two caves at the Wadi la-Chippah ("the
dome of the bridge") which indicated the presence of a room containing
the same sort of pottery known to contain scrolls. Preliminary trenches
dug in 1993/ /failed to turn up anything substantial.
Once Christianity became the official religion of Rome, the treasures
plundered by its legions fell into the possession of the Catholic
Church. Nelson Canode, of Amarillo, Texas, a former Benedictine monk at
a monastery at Subiaco, Italy, about 30 miles from Rome, said that he
was taken to a cave, four levels below the monastery, where ancient
artifacts were being shuttled from there to the underground vaults of
the Vatican, and included the Ark and the disassembled Tabernacle. There
are many who believe that once Jerusalem becomes an international city,
the Vatican will return all Temple items in their possession.
Because of the research done by Graham Hancock for his book _The Sign
and the Seal_, some people think the Ark may be in Ethiopia. Menelik I,
the royal son of King Solomon, returned to Ethiopia, after his mother,
the Queen of Sheba, died. When he was twenty years old, he returned to
Israel, and Solomon treated him with so much favor, that the elders were
jealous and wanted him to return home. Solomon agreed to send him home,
on the condition that the first born sons of all the elders would go
with him. Solomon wanted to give him a replica of the Ark to take with
him. However, Azarius, the son of Zadok, the High Priest, worried about
the idol worship which was flourishing, switched the Arks, and took the
real one.
The Ark was taken to Egypt, on the island of Elephantine in the middle
of the Nile, near Aswan, where a temple was built to protect it. It
remained there for 200 years, until the temple was destroyed. The Ark
was carried along the Nile, and the Takazze tributary into Ethiopia.
They arrived at Lake Tana, which was considered a holy place. The Ark
stayed on the island of Tana Kirkos for 800 years, where it was taken to
the Church of St. Mary of Zion, which had been built in 372 to hold the
Ark. During the 1530's, when the Muslims attacked, it was moved to
safety, but returned a hundred years later to a rebuilt St. Mary's,
which had been constructed on the ruins of the first. It remained there
until 1965, when Emperor Haile Selassie (who called himself the
"Conquering Lion of Judah" and claimed to be a direct descendent of King
Solomon) moved it to the Church of Zion near the center of Aksum (Axum),
in northern Ethiopia. Though the communists overthrew the monarchy in
1974, killed Selassie, and imprisoned much of the Royal family, the Ark
remained safe because of its reputation for possessing an awesome amount
of power, which has generated enough superstition to prevent people from
trying to get to it. During all these years, the Ark has been guarded by
Menelik's descendents, and the descendents of those who accompanied him,
who became known as "Falasha" (exile) Jews, or the "Black Jews" This
area became part of the independent nation of Eritrea in 1993.
It was alleged, that when Israel became a nation, an appeal was made to
Emperor Salassie to return the Ark. He said: "In principle, I agree that
the Ark should be returned to the Temple, but the correct time has not
yet come." Many researchers believe that the Ark is at the chapel at
Aksum, although it has never been seen.
Is Israel waiting for the discovery of the Ark, so they can rebuild the
Temple; or are they waiting for the time when they can freely rebuild
their Temple, so they can retrieve the Ark and place it in the Holy of
Holies? There are some who share the suspicion, that Israel already
knows where the Ark is, but also know that the political climate of
their homeland is too volatile to take a chance on revealing its
location until the right time.
Unlike the Temple, the Ark is not mentioned in Biblical prophecy. As we
have discovered, the Ark was not in the second Temple, so the existence
of the Ark is not necessary for the Temple to be rebuilt. However, if
you turn on the 6 o'clock news, and you see that Israel is announcing
the discovery of the Ark of the Covenant, this certainly will have a
bearing on the prophetic timetable.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order
to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for
patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword.
It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind.
And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch
and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed,
the leader will have no need in seizing the rights
of the citizenry.
Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear
and blinded by patriotism,
will offer up all of their rights unto the leader
and gladly so.
How do I know?
For this is what I have done.
And I am Caesar."
--- Julius Caesar
Subject: THE ARK OF THE COVENANT
Title: The New World Order Files
Author: David Allen Rivera
The purpose of building the Temple, was to house the Ark of the
Covenant, so the discovery of the most sacred item in Jewish history may
be all that is needed to initiate the rebuilding of the Temple. However,
Jeremiah 27:22 seems to indicate a connection between the Temple
treasures, and the existence of the Temple. According to Ezra, after the
first Temple was destroyed, the Temple vessels had to be returned or
refabricated before the Temple could be rebuilt. Thus, only the
existence of the Temple vessels may be all that is needed to rebuild the
Temple, since it is believed that the Ark was not in the second Temple.
The Ark was a rectangular box four feet long, and two feet high, made
of acacia wood (distinguished as a type of wood that does not decay),
and covered with gold; with two cherubs (a rank of angels) looking down
and facing each other on its lid with outstretched wings, which was
known as the mercy seat. It was constructed at Mount Sinai by Bezalel,
according to the instructions Moses received from God. Inside was placed
the rod of Aaron, a pot of manna (which had been sent by God to feed the
Israelites during their time of wandering in the wilderness), and the
two tablets of the Law given to Moses (known as the Ten Commandments).
Some sources also claim that it contains the original Books of Moses. It
represented the divine presence of God, and was the point where the
literal manifestation of God on this Earth took place. Just looking at
it was known to cause death. The Bible tells us of the power it
possessed. It caused the Jordan River to part (Joshua 3:8 - 4:11), aided
in the destruction of Jericho (Joshua 6:4-21/), /and brought about
numerous military victories when it was present. Needless to say, it
developed quite a mystique.
Inside the Temple, the Ark was placed in a dark, windowless room known
as the Holy of Holies. A vale was placed around the Ark, and only once a
year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest was allowed to enter.
Even then, he was to carry a container of burning incense, which filled
the room with smoke, thus obscuring his view of the Ark. He would
sprinkle the blood of a bullock on the ground in front of the Ark, and
on the mercy seat, as atonement for the sins of the priests; and then
the blood of a goat, as a symbolic atonement for the sins of the people.
A rope would be tied around his waist, so if for some reason he
accidently touched the Ark and was killed, he could be pulled out
without risk by the other priests.
In the Bible, there are 200 references to the Ark of the Covenant up to
the time of Jeremiah, but nothing afterward. It has since disappeared,
and nobody is really sure where it's at. The common belief is that the
Temple will not be rebuilt unless the Ark is found.
The Ark had not been removed from the Temple during or after the reign
of King Josiah, which had begun in 640 BC, and it was in place in the
Holy of Holies in 701 BC, which leaves 61 years in which it could have
disappeared. It is unlikely that Hezekiah (716-687 BC) would have
allowed the Ark to be taken away. Between the time of his death, and
Josiah's reign, there were two other rulers, Manasseh (687-642 BC) and
Amon (642-640 BC). Amon discovered that Manasseh had been involved in a
form of Baal worship, and had erected an image of Astarte (Asherah) in
the Temple(2 Kings 21:4-7, 2 Chronicles 33:7), and it is believed that
he would have ordered the Levites to remove the Ark. The Ark reappeared
in 622 BC (2 Kings 22:1-7, 2 Chronicles 34:8-33, 2 Chronicles 35:3),
during the reign of Manasseh's grandson, King Josiah, who vanquished
idolatry, repaired and purified the Temple.
However, idolatry took root again, and the actions of Rehoboam,
Solomon's son, caused the kingdom to be divided, with Judah (Judea) in
the south, and Israel to the north. Judgment came upon the Northern
Kingdom in 721 BC when the Assyrians attacked them; and the Southern
Kingdom paid the price for they idolatry when the armies of
Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, swept through the land in 606 BC,
and then again in 597 BC. During the second invasion, 2 Kings 24:13 says
that "all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasure of
the king's house" were taken, and "all the vessels of gold which Solomon
king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord" had been cut in
pieces. The original Temple was destroyed in 586 BC by the Babylonian
commander, Nebuzaradan (2 Kings 25:8-9), and the rest of the treasures
were plundered and taken to a Babylonian temple at Shinar (Daniel 1:2),
which has led some to theorize that what was taken previously came from
the Temple treasury, since Nubuchadnezzar's initial action against Judah
was in response to them not paying tribute to him.
Through all of this, the Ark was not mentioned. Lists of Temple items
(2 Kings 25:13-17, Jeremiah 52:17-23) do not refer to any Temple
treasures from the Holy of Holies, and it is this silence that could
indicate that it wasn't captured, since there is a Biblical record of
the time when the Philistines captured the Ark. In addition, Ezra 1:7-11
states that all the captured items were later returned by the Persians,
but the Ark was not discussed. So, either the Ark was destroyed along
with the Temple (possibly indicated by the destruction of the "goodly
vessels" in 2 Chronicles 36:19), or the Ark was hidden before it could
be found.
When Rome invaded Judea in 63 BC, and the Roman General Pompey swept
through Jerusalem, entering the Temple, and the Holy of Holies, it was
empty. Jewish history records the high priest making his offering upon
the foundation stone of the Holy of Holies, and not the Ark. After Titus
returned to Rome with some of the Temple treasure, the Arch of Triumph
(or Arch of Titus) was built in 81 AD at the entrance to the Forum, in
the Palatine section of Rome, to commemorate his victory. It depicted
the seven-branched candelabra known as the menorah (with an octagonal
base, rather than a three-legged stand, which it actually has; which
could indicate that it was a duplicate kept in the Treasury), the golden
table of the showbread, and the seven trumpets of the Jubilee. The Ark
is not pictured, thus adding to the evidence that the Ark was not in the
second Temple, and has been hidden.
According to the Mishnah (Sotah 9a), after the Temple was built, the
Tabernacle was stored under the "crypts of the Temple." It is believed
that King Solomon constructed a secret chamber in the recesses of the
Temple Mount to hide the Ark, which is where it was placed during the
reign of Manasseh. Jewish tradition has held that the Ark and the Altar
of Incense were hidden in a secret location under a woodshed on the
western side of the Temple, near the Holy of Holies.
This is not such a far-fetched idea when you realize that under the
city of Jerusalem there is an underground city consisting of a number of
tunnels, chambers, and cisterns; which were created to establish a water
storage system, as quarters for guards, chambers to hold sacrificial
animals, rooms containing ritual bathing areas, prison cells, and
storage areas for Temple treasures. The best known of these subterranean
areas is Hezekiah's Tunnel, which was constructed to make sure Jerusalem
would have fresh water in case the city was attacked. It started at
Gihon Spring, and ran for a third of a mile, through solid rock,
spilling into the Pool of Siloam. An escape tunnel used by King Zedekiah
ran from the Tower of Antonia, to a point near the Eastern Gate,
emerging outside the walls of the city, covering a distance of over
8,000 feet.
The nine original members of the Knights Templar were received by King
Baldwin I (Baudouin) in Jerusalem in 1119, and they established their
headquarters in a wing of the al-Aqsa Mosque, which had been converted
to a palace. They were given complete access to the palace and various
outbuildings which were on the site where Solomon's Temple originally
stood, which was adjacent to the Dome of the Rock. Although their goal
was "to keep the road from the coast to Jerusalem free from bandits,"
for nine years they rarely left the palace grounds. It was an
unrealistic pledge, because it would have been difficult for the nine to
patrol this fifty mile road; besides, a military order known as the
Knights of Saint John were already performing that task before the
Templars showed up. It is now known that they had some knowledge about
the Temple treasures, because there is evidence which indicates that
they were engaged in a massive excavation project.
Vast arched subterranean rooms were used by Knights during the Crusades
to keep horses, and were known as "Solomon's Stables." The Templars were
aware of these hidden areas underneath the Temple grounds, and believed
that the Ark would be found there. They mounted an operation to plunder
whatever treasurers they could find. Although it is questionable that
they found the Ark, it is believed that they discovered treasure, relies
and ancient manuscripts dating back to the time of Moses. Israeli
archaeologists, engaged in excavations on the southern side of the
Mount, found the exit point of a tunnel which had been dug by the
Templars. It lead inward about 30 yards, where it was blocked by stone
and debris.
There has been many stories concerning the location of the Ark of the
Covenant. Some believe it is still buried in a secret chamber on the
Temple Mount. Jewish historian Eupolemus wrote that many of the Temple
treasurers had been plundered by Babylon, "except for the Ark and the
tablets in it. This Jeremiah preserved." According to the apocryphal
Second Book of Maccabees 2:4-8, which has been dated to 163 BC, the
prophet Jeremiah had concealed the Ark (as well as the Tabernacle, and
the Altar of Incense) in a cave on "the mountain where Moses went up and
beheld the heritage of God." Many researcher believe that this could
refer to either Mount Sinai or Mount Nebo, which is located in what is
now the country of Jordan, and is the traditional burial place of Moses.
The contention was made, that since these articles were made under the
leadership of Moses, they may have been deposited at the site of his
burial. Various archaeological expeditions had failed to turn up
anything there.
During the 1920's, American explorer, Antonio Frederick Futterer,
searched various locations in Jordan for the Ark, based on the clues in
2 Maccabees, and believed the location to be on Mount Pisgah, the
highest peak on the Mount Nebo range. He claimed to have found an
inscription on the sealed entrance of a tunnel which said: "Herein lies
the golden Ark of the Covenant." In 1981, while following Futterer's map
of Mount Pisgah, a gully was discovered by Tom Crotser, an American
explorer, which led to a 4' X 7' tunnel that plunged 600 feet into the
ground, ending at a wall, which when broken down, revealed a 10' X 12'
crypt which held a rectangular chest 62" long, 37" high and 37" wide,
wrapped in a blue cloth, which he believed to be the Ark. Beside it was
another bundle, which he thought contained the carrying poles, the
cherubim which had been mounted on the top, and the legs. The cave is
located near the Church of the Franciscan Fathers of Terra Santa, and is
under a building which contains the remains of an old Byzantine church.
He didn't disturb the find, thus he doesn't know for sure what he saw.
He reported it to the media, and he claimed that God told him to send
the photographs he took to London banker David Rothschild, who some
people have claimed is a direct descendant of Jesus, and has been chosen
to build the third Temple. Rothschild refused to accept the pictures,
and they were returned to Crotser. Noted archaeologist Siegfried Horn
visited his home in Winfield, Kansas to see the pictures. Only two had
any images at all- one is fuzzy, but does show a chamber with a yellow
box in the center. His opinion was that it was "not an ancient artifact
but of modern fabrication..."
In January, 1979, archaeologist Ronald Wyatt, while sightseeing near
the Damascus Gate, felt that the location of Jeremiah's Grotto was near
an ancient stone quarry on the northern extension of Mt. Moriah, that is
sometimes referred to as the "Calvary Escarpment" (because it contains
the skull face configuration that has been connected to the Golgotha).
He believed that during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem from 587-586
BC, when the city was surrounded, it would have been impossible to
remove the Ark, so it had to be there. With the permission of the
landowner, and a permit from Israeli officials, he excavated the area.
On January 6, 1982, he entered a chamber that contained the Ark, and
other artifacts from the first Temple, which had been hidden there by
Jeremiah. The 22-foot long cave is actually located directly beneath the
area where Christ was crucified. According to Wyatt's research, when
Jesus was crucified, his blood flowed down to the ground, through a
split in the rock, and onto the Ark.
Most serious researchers doubt his claim, saying that, as far back as
the first Temple, the area of Mt. Calvary was used as burial grounds, so
it is highly unlikely that the Ark would have been placed on defiled
ground. Scholars have questioned his lack of archaeological training,
and his techniques; yet Wyatt's work gained more acceptance because of
other discoveries, such as the true Mt. Sinai, the location on the Red
Sea crossing, Noah's Ark, the 12 altars erected by Moses, Sodom and
Gomorrah, and Abraham's family tomb in Hebron. Plus, his work has
produced the most information on the Ark, all of which seems to be
compatible with Scripture.
Dr. Gary Collett believes that Maccabees actually refers to Qumran, and
says that the layout of Cave IV is similar to the Temple, and that its
lower level may have been the containment room used by Jeremiah to
temporarily protect the Ark. In 1992, two scientists from the Department
of Geophysics and Planetary Science at Tel-Aviv University used a
ground-breaking radar known as a molecular frequency analyzer and a
seismic-reflection device near two caves at the Wadi la-Chippah ("the
dome of the bridge") which indicated the presence of a room containing
the same sort of pottery known to contain scrolls. Preliminary trenches
dug in 1993/ /failed to turn up anything substantial.
Once Christianity became the official religion of Rome, the treasures
plundered by its legions fell into the possession of the Catholic
Church. Nelson Canode, of Amarillo, Texas, a former Benedictine monk at
a monastery at Subiaco, Italy, about 30 miles from Rome, said that he
was taken to a cave, four levels below the monastery, where ancient
artifacts were being shuttled from there to the underground vaults of
the Vatican, and included the Ark and the disassembled Tabernacle. There
are many who believe that once Jerusalem becomes an international city,
the Vatican will return all Temple items in their possession.
Because of the research done by Graham Hancock for his book _The Sign
and the Seal_, some people think the Ark may be in Ethiopia. Menelik I,
the royal son of King Solomon, returned to Ethiopia, after his mother,
the Queen of Sheba, died. When he was twenty years old, he returned to
Israel, and Solomon treated him with so much favor, that the elders were
jealous and wanted him to return home. Solomon agreed to send him home,
on the condition that the first born sons of all the elders would go
with him. Solomon wanted to give him a replica of the Ark to take with
him. However, Azarius, the son of Zadok, the High Priest, worried about
the idol worship which was flourishing, switched the Arks, and took the
real one.
The Ark was taken to Egypt, on the island of Elephantine in the middle
of the Nile, near Aswan, where a temple was built to protect it. It
remained there for 200 years, until the temple was destroyed. The Ark
was carried along the Nile, and the Takazze tributary into Ethiopia.
They arrived at Lake Tana, which was considered a holy place. The Ark
stayed on the island of Tana Kirkos for 800 years, where it was taken to
the Church of St. Mary of Zion, which had been built in 372 to hold the
Ark. During the 1530's, when the Muslims attacked, it was moved to
safety, but returned a hundred years later to a rebuilt St. Mary's,
which had been constructed on the ruins of the first. It remained there
until 1965, when Emperor Haile Selassie (who called himself the
"Conquering Lion of Judah" and claimed to be a direct descendent of King
Solomon) moved it to the Church of Zion near the center of Aksum (Axum),
in northern Ethiopia. Though the communists overthrew the monarchy in
1974, killed Selassie, and imprisoned much of the Royal family, the Ark
remained safe because of its reputation for possessing an awesome amount
of power, which has generated enough superstition to prevent people from
trying to get to it. During all these years, the Ark has been guarded by
Menelik's descendents, and the descendents of those who accompanied him,
who became known as "Falasha" (exile) Jews, or the "Black Jews" This
area became part of the independent nation of Eritrea in 1993.
It was alleged, that when Israel became a nation, an appeal was made to
Emperor Salassie to return the Ark. He said: "In principle, I agree that
the Ark should be returned to the Temple, but the correct time has not
yet come." Many researchers believe that the Ark is at the chapel at
Aksum, although it has never been seen.
Is Israel waiting for the discovery of the Ark, so they can rebuild the
Temple; or are they waiting for the time when they can freely rebuild
their Temple, so they can retrieve the Ark and place it in the Holy of
Holies? There are some who share the suspicion, that Israel already
knows where the Ark is, but also know that the political climate of
their homeland is too volatile to take a chance on revealing its
location until the right time.
Unlike the Temple, the Ark is not mentioned in Biblical prophecy. As we
have discovered, the Ark was not in the second Temple, so the existence
of the Ark is not necessary for the Temple to be rebuilt. However, if
you turn on the 6 o'clock news, and you see that Israel is announcing
the discovery of the Ark of the Covenant, this certainly will have a
bearing on the prophetic timetable.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order
to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for
patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword.
It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind.
And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch
and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed,
the leader will have no need in seizing the rights
of the citizenry.
Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear
and blinded by patriotism,
will offer up all of their rights unto the leader
and gladly so.
How do I know?
For this is what I have done.
And I am Caesar."
--- Julius Caesar