The gold and silver items from the Temple treasury were actually preserved by Nebuchadnezzer after 586 BC.
They were given to the folks who were allowed by Darius and Cyrus to go back to Jerusalem starting in 536 BC. In Daniel chapter 5, you see, in the famous chapter of the handwriting on the wall, an expression we use today, that the Temple gold implements were being used by the Babylonian king on the night his empire was taken over by the Medes and the Persians. The phrase for knees knocking together from fear also comes from this chapter.
The first deportation to Babylon of the Jews took place in 606 BC. Daniel was in that group as a teenager. As a man of 86 years old, he reminded God of the prohecy that Israel would be in Babylon for 70 years. Sure enough, God moved the Persian rulers who took over Babylon to let the Jews return to Jerusalem. As a conquered people they were not allowed to go back to their homeland and reestablish themselves as a nation.
From 536 BC the Jews rebuilt a damaged Temple, but not to its former glory as Solomon built it about 1000 BC. Herod the Great expanded the Temple prior to Christ’s birth, and the Romans are the ones who tore the Temple apart in 70 AD in fury over the rebellion of the Jews, which they put down without mercy. Jesus prophesied that this would happen—that not one stone would remain upon another fromt he Temple. Inded today, the Wailing Wall is the only remnat of the retaining wall under the Temple, as none of the original strucure has survived. In its day, the Temple of Herod was an enormous structure, not unlike the scale of the monumental buildings in Washington, DC today.
After 586 BC, we have no information as to what happened to the Ark of the Covenant. It was located in the Holy of Holies, a room that only the Chief Priest could enter, and then, only once a year. He sprinkled the blood from a spotless lamb unto the Ark. The Ark was flanked by two staues of Cherubim, a winged animal. The Chief Priest had a rope tied to his ankle and had a bell. If he died while in the Holy of Holies, then the other priests could retrieve the body by pulling it out.
Between the interior of the Temple and the Holy of Holies was a floor to ceiling cloth veil, with gold lined doors. When the doors opened, floor to ceiling, the Veil was revealed. This is the Veil that was torn from top to bottom by God when Christ died on the Cross to signify that man could come to God through Christ.
I like to think that the Ark is below the Temple somewhere, or hidden in a cave below Jerusalem somewhere. It was so sacred to the Jews that I strongly believe they took steps to hide it knowing about the Babylonian invasion.
One theory is that it is hidden below Golgotha, where the Crucifixion took place, and that Christ’s blood dripped down through the ground and fell on the hidden Ark. Sounds like a cool theory, but we will not know this side of heaven.
The Ark also contained the stone tablets that were given to Moses with the Ten Commandments, as well as other items important to the Jews wandering in the desert after they left Egypt before they got to the Promised Land.
The Ark was so holy that a man could not touch it without dying instantly. God gave very strict instructions about how it was to be carried and who could do the carrying(with poles so that no human touched it.
A fascinating subject, no doubt.
2 Kings 24:13 "As the Lord had declared, Nebuchadnezzar removed all the treasures from the temple of the Lord..."
2 Chron 36:18 "He (Nebuchadnezzar) carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the Lord's temple..."
Both scriptures seem to indicate that the Ark was most likely taken and not hidden since both writers emphasize that "all" treasures were taken.
Very interesting point you make about he goblets, etc. Seemingly the Ark would have been around at this time as well.