A Lead On The Ark Of The Covenant

Time Magazine ^ | 2-21-2008 | DAVID VAN BIEMA

[blam]

A Lead on the Ark of the Covenant

Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008
By DAVID VAN BIEMA

The Ark of the Covenant is carried into the Temple

When last we saw the lost Ark of the Covenant in action, it had been dug up by Indiana Jones in Egypt and ark-napped by Nazis, whom the Ark proceeded to incinerate amidst a tempest of terrifying apparitions. But according to Tudor Parfitt, a real life scholar-adventurer, Raiders of the Lost Ark had it wrong, and the Ark is actually nowhere near Egypt. In fact, Parfitt claims he has traced it (or a replacement container for the original Ark), to a dusty bottom shelf in a museum in Harare, Zimbabwe.

As Indiana Jones's creators understood, the Ark is one of the Bible's holiest objects, and also one of its most maddening McGuffins. A wooden box, roughly 4 ft. x 2 ft. x 2.5 ft., perhaps gold-plated and carried on poles inserted into rings, it appears in the Good Book variously as the container for the Ten Commandments (Exodus 25:16: "and thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee"); the very locus of God's earthly presence; and as a divine flamethrower that burns obstacles and also crisps some careless Israelites. It is too holy to be placed on the ground or touched by any but the elect. It circles Jericho behind the trumpets to bring the walls tumbling down. The Bible last places the Ark in Solomon's temple, which Babylonians destroyed in 586 BC. Scholars debate its current locale (if any): under the Sphinx? Beneath Jerusalem's Temple Mount (or, to Muslims, the Noble Sanctuary)? In France? Near London's Temple tube station?

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[NicknamedBob]

“Top men, I say.”

[martin_fierro]

They'll never find that thing.

[infidel29]

There is word (an archaeologist I heard on Coast to Coast with George Noory so take it for what it’s worth) that Israeli officials know where the Ark is, I believe he said buried beneath the Temple Mount, they are reluctant to move on it because of the muslim presence in the area.

[scottdeus12]

I heard a pastor say once that the Ark is nowhere on Earth, it could quite possibly be in Heaven. Reason being is because if the Ark was still here, people would worship it as opposed to worshiping God....which would be idolatry.

[JennysCool]

which would be idolatry.

Or Mecca.

[xcamel]

behind the ‘silver toilet seat’ ??

[xjcsa]

I heard a pastor say once that the Ark is nowhere on Earth, it could quite possibly be in Heaven. Reason being is because if the Ark was still here, people would worship it as opposed to worshiping God....which would be idolatry.

Interesting logic, but it seems more likely it would have simply been destroyed. That's what happened to the Temple, after all.

[Blood of Tyrants]

I can’t see that. God isn’t going to give it and then take it away because of idol worship.

[mnehring]

IMHO, with absolutely no evidence to support, I bet it was melted down by the Assyrians, Babylonians, or Romans and the gold ended up in hundreds of other objects.

[Shortwave]

Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe that the bible describes the Ark very accurately. How can it be round like a drum?

[CzarNicky]

it’s right behind the 100mpg carburetor

[Blood of Tyrants]

That painting is NOTHING at all like the biblical description of the ark of the covenant. Somebody didn’t bother reading the bible before they started painting.

[what's up]

Most likely Nebudchadnezzar of Babylon had it destroyed...melted for the gold.

He considered it of no spiritual value.

[mnehring]

Somebody didn’t bother reading the bible before they started painting.

Probably painted at a time when few were literate and the church taught in Latin only. Details were often lost to the general public.

[khnyny]

That painting is NOTHING at all like the biblical description of the ark of the covenant. Somebody didn’t bother reading the bible before they started painting.

This is Time Magazine. Of course the artist (or editor) didn't read the Bible first.

[purpleraine]

I thought it was still in Ethiopia.

[Perdogg]

I heard Hillary has hired agents in the CIA to find the spear of invincibility.

[SlapHappyPappy]

IF Israel is so intimidated by Islam that they are afraid to recover the Ark (which I really doubt) then they are truly lost.