WHERE IS THE ARK OF THE COVENANT?

A new theory for our times

The Ark of the Covenant is a simple box of acacia wood, covered with gold inside and outside. Two poles are attached at its sides for transportation. Its contents are unique and incomparable for their sanctity": two slabs of rock inscribed by the very hand of God, with the Ten Commandments, the basic principles of human moral law. The Ark symbolises the Divine Presence on earth.

When King David expresses his intention of building the Temple, God says: " I did not dwell in a house… I traveled under a tent… " (2 Sam. 7:6) Such is the importance of the Ark that God Himself identifies with it!

The history of the Ark is full of prodigies and it is related to us with abundance of details. However, after having been introduced into the First Temple it is not mentioned anymore. It practically disappears without an explanation.

And no expected information is given at the time of the destruction of the First Temple. The Bible indulges in minute description of the objects (of no importance whatsoever) looted or destroyed by the Babylonians, but not a word is spent about the sort of the Ark!

From having been the center of all Israel's religious practice, the Ark ends up being totally ignored. And, until our times, in the most absolute indifference of the People of Israel.

Maybe, one can see God's will in this indifference as it is been said in Jeremiah's prophecy (Jer. 3:16): "The children of Israel will multiply; they will not mention the Ark of the Lord neither they will look for it or make a new one." It seems therefore that our indifference - at least until our times - was intended.

DIFFERENT THEORIES

Some scientists (cfr. Prof. M. Haran, Heb. Univ.) are of the opinion that the Ark went lost by the hands of some heretical king, Menashe being the main suspect (2 Kings 21:7), as he introduced an idol in the Holy of Holies. Others believe that the gold covering the Ark was used to pay out the threat of potential attackers as Pharaoh Shishak (1 Kings 14:26).

Mystics put the Ark in the skies awaiting for the coming of the Messiah. Others, as in the Mishnah, say "there are those who believe…" that the Ark was hidden in an inconspicuous part of the Temple Mount (Shkalim 6:1)

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF THIS NEW THEORY FOR OUR TIMES

1) it is unthinkable that any wrong could have happened to such a unique and saintly object. Nobody could even have touched
the Ark. This appears clearly when we consider the otherwise controversial episode of Uziah who was struck dead when he tried to hold the Ark. No matter how excellent were his intentions (2 Sam. 6:7).

2) according to the will of God, the Ark had to be put in a determined place "for eternity", not to be ever removed
(1 Kings 8:13). A place which had to go through the destruction of two Temples without the Ark being touched or
detected.

3) In conclusion, the Ark was put in its place by King Solomon, as God commanded, and it is still there.

God ordered that Solomon would build His Temple (1 Kings 7:12). Evidently this was because Solomon was the wisest man on earth (1 Kings 3:12) and he was the only one who could effectively fulfil the intention of God: to put the Ark in a place where it could be forever, even through the destruction of the House itself.

THE TERMS OF THE PROBLEM

Solomon needed several means to accomplish his task:

1) a very specific know-how

2) workers who could keep such a secret

3) special machinery which could be camouflaged

4) acting in a way that people would not understand what was going on

5) leave a message (or a treasury map) for us to decipher in our times!

SOLOMON'S MESSAGE (part.1)

Solomon was a formidable expert in riddles (we learn from Josephus). He also knew how to "double talk", as in the famous episode of the two mothers fighting for the infant (1 Kings 3:25). On ordering to have the child cut in two, he succeeded in understanding who was the real mother.

Therefore, one has to accurately analyze Solomon's words. This is particularly true when we read the speech he gives to the People of Israel at the emotional moment of the inauguration of the new Temple. He says, according to the accepted translations (1 Kings 8:12-13): "God said He will dwell in the midst ("arafel" in hebrew); I indeed built you a Palace ("beit zvul" in hebrew). These two words, "arafel" and "zvul", are eminently suspicious. There is no midst on the Temple Mount and the word "zvul" does not appear again in the Bible!

Later on, in the same speech, Solomon gives us a hint. He proceeds with the following words: " heaven and heaven's heavens cannot contain You…" (1 Kings 8:27). This is to remind us that, according to tradition, there are seven heavens. And the same tradition (see in the Kabbala) tells us that heavens have names: "arafel" is the lowest and "zvul" is a higher one.

Now we can "translate" the real message of Solomon: "God said that He will dwell in a lower level; I indeed built you a House on a higher level." In other words, the Temple was built on the apparent ground, but the Holy of Holies with the Ark itself were underground. This explains why the Temple could be destroyed but the Ark would not be spotted..

PLANNING THE TEMPLE

The Know-how : Solomon obtained from the Egyptians the necessary know-how to put the Ark in a secret place in which it will remain undetected until our times. The Egyptians were the great masters in this art, with the experience accumulated in the building of the pyramids and other royal tombs. There also they had to "hide" the access to the treasury room where the mummy was.

In order to acquire the know-how and secure the secret around it, Solomon took the daughter of the Pharaoh as one of his women (wife?). As a matter of fact, it is surprising that the controversial information of Solomon's marriage is given several times in the text, without comment or expected condemnation (1 Kings 3:1 - 9:16 - 9:24). However, every time the fact is being mentioned, the immediate following phrase is related to some kind of building, be it Solomon's house, or the town walls or the Temple! Quite a singular association of ideas! It is evident that this union was only in order to obtain a building know-how and secure the secret upon it.

The Holy of Holies God told Moses that the People of Israel had to build Him a Sanctuary, according to the plans of the Tabernacle (Ex. 25:8,9). When Solomon builds the Temple, he apparently uses different measures for the Holy of Holies than the measures in the Tabernacle: 20 x 20 cubits (400 sq. cubits) instead of 10 x 10 (100 sq. cubits) Why? Moreover the Holy of Holies is indicated with a new different name, "Dvir", together with the normal name. Again why? By the way, the word Dvir does not appear again in the Bible! We believe the two names refer to two different locations: one for the eyes of the crowds to see and accept, and another one which is the actual place.

THE PILLARS

There are two strange pillars in the Temple (1 Kings 7:15, 22). They are minutely described in the text but they have absolutely no function in the building. They do not hold anything, they are hollow, they have ugly proportions and they bear a name: Boaz and Yachin. Most sanctuaries of that time had a set up like Solomon's Temple, but nowhere are similar pillars to be seen.

The height of each pillar is eighteen cubits and on top of it is a capital of five cubits (1 Kings 7:15, 16). But at the time of the destruction of the Temple (2 Kings 25:17) the capital is described as having a measure of "three cubits"! What happened? Maybe this story will give an explanation.

INAUGURATION OF THE FIRST TEMPLE

This is indeed the last time the Ark is been seen or even mentioned. Many suspicious facts appear in the description of the event.

First of all, the priests introduce the Ark in the Dvir (also called the Holy of Holies). Then we are told that the poles used for its transportation protruded through the curtain (1 Kings 8:8). The question is: why did the Ark fit into the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and the poles protrude in the Temple? After all we know that the Holy of Holies in the Temple is four times wider than in the Tabernacle! An explanation could be that we are shown how the Ark has been put in a place which is certainly not the final one. A kind of temporary "parking", awaiting to get to its final destination.

Furthermore, the priests are interrupted in their prayers by the sudden appearance of a cloud (1 Kings 8:10, 11). They have to leave the place and continue outside. Really! How suspicious! There are no prodigies described in the whole reign of Solomon. This would be the only one.

If we make a parallel between this inauguration with that of the Tabernacle, at Moses' times, we can notice a fundamental discrepancy. Moses, we are told, did this and that and eventually "ended his work" (Ex. 40:33, 34, 35) and then the cloud filled the tent… and Moses could not enter. This sounds as a correct procedure. But in 1 Kings apparently good manners have been forgotten and the priests "could not finish their prayers"! Evidently, it is a "trick" of this formidable man, Solomon, to get rid of unwanted witnesses. Now things were going to happen without spectators.

And Solomon can pronounce his speech with the "double talking" we analysed before.

WHAT MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED

The Egyptian know-how, largely used in the pyramids and other kind of tombs, was based on a simple principle. Some rooms were left apparently available to intruders and even looked as if they had been pilfered. However, the "real thing", meaning the room in which the mummy and the treasury were, had its entrance totally hidden in a way that nobody could detect that there was an entrance at all. To obtain this effect, the Egyptians would move slabs of rock to make believe that the natural ground had been reached. Intruders would then penetrate dumb rooms and ignore the actual one. By the way, it is related that all the workers involved were then put to death and the architect blinded to secure the secret.

Solomon had to build a Holy of Holies according to the measures of the Tabernacle, 10 x 10 cubits. He must have excavated it underground. Then he had to create a system which would open an access, in order to introduce the Ark. Such access had to be immediately closed hermetically and in a way it could not be detected. Following the Egyptian know-how, a slab of rock, looking as the natural ground, had to be used. On top of the "real thing" a dumb room was built for the crowd, called the Dvir, with different measures: 20 x 20 cubits.

To perform this, Solomon needed special machinery, which would not look as machinery. In those time, the only known machine was the lever, constituted of a "base" and a point on which to apply "force". A lever can be rigid, made of a bar, or flexible, made of cables around wheels: a pouley.

In Hebrew "base" is "chan", whose root is found in the name of one of the pillars: Yachin. And "force" is "oz" as in the name of the other pillar: Boaz or Be-oz. This singular coincidence makes us thinking that the pillars were nothing less but parts of camouflaged machines.

Being hollow, it was possible to fill the pillars with fine sand as the Egyptians used to do. The heavy capitals would lie on top of the sand. Letting the sand spill through imperceptible holes near the base would carry down the capitals. The movement of one capital could have been used to rise the slab of rock. Then, using the movement of the second pillar, the slab could have been put down delicately. The drawing shows the pouley used for the first movement and the rigid lever for the second.

It appears clearly that the two capitals accomplished this work because of the difference in measure between the time of building and that of destruction. At the time of the building of the Temple, the full five cubits of the capitals emerged from the pillars. When the Babylonians arrived (2 Kings 25:17), they could only measure the visible part of the capitals (three cubits) as the missing ones (two cubits) had gone down inside the pillars.

The two pillars were activated separately. The first one did raise the slab of natural rock which covered the Holy of Holies. The faithful workers of Solomon lowered the Ark inside the Holy of Holies in the place designated by God. Now the second pillar was activated (see drawing) to accomplish the delicate operation of putting in place the slab of rock for the final sealing of the chamber. Nobody could now detect the existence of the real Holy of Holies as it would look as the natural ground to any observer. And so it went for so many centuries, until our times.

The Pillar used to open the Holy of Holies	The Pillar used to close back the Holy of holies

THE TREASURY MAP

Solomon has certainly left a clue of his deed, beside the double talking in his inauguration speech.

Among the writings attributed to him, the mysterious and controversial Song of Songs appears to be the most probable treasury map. The text is full of strange architectural expressions and offers numerous possibilities of turning into riddles. For instance, arranging the Hebrew letters of the first verse in order of appearance and according to the number of appearances, we
obtain: "the full story!"

Somebody, we feel, will break the code, in our times.