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Long pondered by the community of Biblical
scholarship, the rest of the world began
considering this question with the release of the
hit motion picture Raiders of the Lost Ark. Today
there are no lack of possibilities.
Based on ancient Jewish writings, some have
suggested the Ark is hidden on Mount Nebo on the
Jordan River's east bank. This site is presently in
the modern nation of Jordan with no hint of the
Ark's presence.
Others suggest the Ark is hidden somewhere near
the Dead Sea, on the Jordan's west bank. This
location is usually considered in association with
the ancient site of Qumran and the people of the
Dead Sea Scrolls. Here, the Ark and other artifacts
are believed buried in one of the region's caves,
like the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Another view suggests the Ark is located beneath
Jerusalem, in a stone-carved tunnel. Some say it is
beneath the suggested site of the Crucifixion,
Gordon's Calvary. The Temple Institute in
Jerusalem's Old City, an Ultra-Orthodox
organization dedicated to rebuilding the Jewish
Temple, says the Ark is under the temple mount and
will be revealed at the proper time - when the
temple is rebuilt.
Interestingly, the thesis of the Raiders of the
Lost Ark, that the Ark was taken from the Temple by
Egyptian Pharaoh Shishak is not a popular view
today. This may be due to the lack of traditions
suggesting the Ark's presence at the mouth of the
Nile, in Lower Egypt.
A view which has received little attention until
the past decade has now been popularized by a
recent book. The Sign and the Seal: The Quest for
the Lost Ark of the Covenant, by British journalist
Graham Hancock, has almost reached best-seller
status and captured the imagination of the general
public. According to this view, the Ark of the
Covenant was taken from ancient Jerusalem in the
days of King Solomon. While there are numerous
variations of the story, the common thread centers
on a son fathered by Israelite King Solomon and
born to the Queen of Sheba. While this union is not
mentioned in the Biblical account of the meeting
between these two monarchs (1 Kings 10), it has a
long tradition in Ethiopia, a suggested location of
ancient Sheba.
This son, named Menelik, is said to have brought
the Ark to his country for safe keeping, according
to an account preserved in the Ethiopian royal
chronicles. This story has also been boosted by the
now famous Black Jews of Ethiopia, the Falashas.
These black Africans, practicing a very ancient
form of Judaism, received international attention
when an Israeli military action airlifted them to
freedom from political persecution in 1976.
Looking down on es-Sakhra, the Rock, beneath the
Muslim Dome of the Rock Shrine on the Temple Mount
in Jerusalem. Archaeological architect Leen
Ritmeyer believes that Solomon's Temple was built
here, and that the Ark of the Covenant rested in
the rectangular cut-out seen in the upper right
area of the Rock.
Where is the lost Ark of the Covenant? There are
numerous theories and, occasionally, even claims.
Unfortunately, nothing substantial has ever been
produced demonstrating the Ark's present
whereabouts. Yet, while we still do not know where
it is today, a scholar has now pinpointed the exact
spot where it once stood.
A popular topic since release of the box office
hit movie Raiders of the Lost Ark, scholars
continue to provide new insights into the history
of this ancient relic. In the January/February 1996
issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Leen Ritmeyer
marshalled textual, historical and archaeological
evidence to suggest the exact spot where the Ark of
the Covenant rested in the Temple in ancient
Jerusalem.
Few are better qualified to make such a claim.
The most recognized archaeological architect in
Biblical archaeology, Ritmeyer's reconstructions of
Herod's Jerusalem are widely accepted as the most
authoritative. He has worked with a number of
excavations in Jerusalem and written numerous
articles on archaeological remains in the Holy
City.
Three years ago, in the March/April 1992 issue
of Biblical Archaeology Review, Ritmeyer presented
evidence demonstrating three stages in the
development of the ancient Jewish Temple Mount. He
reconstructed the original Temple Mount of Solomon
and the Second Temple Mount's Hasmonean addition
and Herodian expansion.
Although the Temple Mount came under Israeli
control in 1967, Israeli government officials
returned authority to the Wakf, the Supreme Moslem
Council. The Wakf, while constantly making
renovations on the Mount, has been unwilling to
allow any archaeological excavations. This is at
least partially due to their desire to keep any
evidence of an ancient Jewish Temple from being
found on their holy site.
Consequently, absolute proof of Ritmeyer's
proposal is not available. However, his utilization
of the available historical resources and his
numerous personal examinations of the site offer
the most authoritative proposal of the evidence.
Now, after clarifying the historical Temple
Mount, Ritmeyer turned his efforts to determining
the exact location of the First and Second Temple
structures on the Mount. His research confirmed the
traditional view that the ancient Jewish Temple
once sat directly above the famous Rock (es-Sakhra;
Arabic for "rock") beneath the Moslem shrine, the
Dome of the Rock.
In addition to reconstructing the precise wall
line of the Temple's Holy of Holies, Ritmeyer also
believes he has identified the exact location where
the Ark once sat inside the Holy of Holies, on
es-Sakhra. While no one is allowed to do any direct
examinations of the Rock, or even take
measurements, historical data from those who have
in the past, supplemented by modern photographs,
provided Ritmeyer all the evidence he needed.
Precisely in the center of the Holy of Holies as
laid out by Ritmeyer, is a rectangular cutout in
the bedrock measuring 4 ft 4 in x 2 ft 7 in. Based
on his measurement of the Biblical "cubit,"
Ritmeyer suggests the Ark was exactly this size.
Thus, according to Ritmeyer, the Ark once sat at
the exact center of the Holy of Holies -- in this
very indentation on es-Sakhra beneath the Dome of
the Rock!
While scholars and archaeologists are slow to
agree that Ritmeyer is correct, all acknowledge he
made an innovative and plausible proposal.
Unfortunately, only the opportunity to excavate and
do precise measurements will provide absolute
confirmation of his research. Sadly, such
excavations are very doubtful in the foreseeable
future.
So that is where the Ark has been, but where is
it now? Most scholars agree the Ark was never
placed in the Second Temple (the Temple of
Zerubabel and Herod). It disappeared from the
Biblical story during the First Temple period and
cannot be clearly traced afterward.
One of the most prominent theories today
suggests the Ark is within a church in Axum,
Ethiopia. While there are different theories of how
and when it got there, the Ark was supposedly
spirited out of the Jerusalem Temple by godly
priests. Their motive was protecting it from the
apostasy of Jewish leaders. (See the article by ABR
Board member Milton Fisher in the Summer 1995 issue
of Bible and Spade.)
Another theory suggests the Ark, along with
other temple treasures, is hidden in a cave
somewhere near the Dead Sea. While the Apocryphal
book of 2 Maccabees seems to place this cave on the
Jordan River's east bank (Biblical Mt Nebo), many
today think the Ark is presently hidden in a cave
on the Jordan's West Bank. In recent decades,
numerous caves in this region have been excavated,
including some which contained the famous Dead Sea
Scrolls. While many interesting artifacts were
recovered, no evidence of the Ark has surfaced.
Probably the most popular theory of the Lost
Ark's present location is a secret chamber carved
deep within the rock mountain under Jerusalem's
Temple Mount. The rock (es-Sakhra) beneath the Dome
of the Rock is virtually the only section of the
limestone mountain which can be presently observed
on the surface of the Temple Mount compound.
The alleged secret chamber is generally
attributed to either King Solomon, who built the
First Temple, or King Josiah, one of the final
kings of Judah. Purported to be carved out of
bedrock and reached by a carved tunnel, it is not
to be confused with the cave beneath es-Sakhra
inside the Dome of the Rock, which can be entered
today. The Ark's presence in this secret hiding
place is widely believed by most of the Orthodox
Jewish groups actively involved today in
preparations for rebuilding the Third Jewish
Temple.
In fact, a secret excavation by some of Israel's
leading rabbis in 1981, supposedly cleared some
rock-carved tunnels and chambers beneath the Temple
Mount. Working in secret for some 18 months, they
were convinced another 18 months would take them to
the chamber with the Ark. However, when their
efforts became known, the Israeli government
discontinued their activities due to religious and
political pressure from the Moslem/Arab world.
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