The Ark of the Covenant, or the Ark of Revelation, Testimony, according to the Bible, is the ark in which the stone tablets of the Covenant with the Ten Commandments were kept, - the greatest shrine of all who worship the Bible. The Bible says that during the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, the ark was located in the holy of holies of the Jerusalem temple. There is also a detailed description of its appearance: “And let them make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half its length and one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits its height. And overlay it with pure gold; cover it inside and out; and thou shalt make a circle of gold on top of it”(Ex. 25: 10-11).
The shittim tree mentioned in Scripture is a very durable acacia tree that grew in the desert around the Red Sea.
The ark was 2.5 cubits in length and 1.5 cubits in width and height (the Egyptian small cubit is 44.4 cm, that is, the size of the ark was 66.6 x 66.6 x 111 cm).
There could be three biblical arks - boxes, caskets, in which the tablets of the Covenant were kept, at least, so the Talmud tells. According to this source, the inner box was made of gold. He was inside a larger, wooden box, which in turn was placed inside the largest of the three, a gold box. Another opinion says that there was only one ark, but it was covered outside and inside with gold. The ark may have had four legs. It was carried by hand on two special poles, also made of acacia, attached to its side walls.
From above it was covered with a gold lid: “Make also a lid of pure gold: its length is two cubits and a half, and its width is one and a half cubits; and you shall make two cherubim out of gold: engraved work, make them on both ends of the cover; make one cherub on one side, and another cherub on the other; [protruding] from the cover make cherubim on both edges of it; and there will be cherubim with outstretched wings, covering the cover with their wings, and with their faces toward one another: to the cover will be the faces of the cherubim. And put the lid on the ark from above, and in the ark put the revelation that I will give you”(Ex. 25: 17-21).
On top of the lid were images of two cherubim cast of gold, facing each other, with outstretched wings covering the ark.
The ark was the most important biblical testimony - a visible reminder of the Covenant - the union between God and the people of Israel. The Lord promised Moses to appear in a cloud over the roof of the ark and speak between two cherubim (Ex. 25:22; Lev. 16: 2). A special power emanating from God is associated with the ark - the Shekinah, the Divine presence. Above the ark, God communicated with Moses, telling him the commandments for the Israelites.
Inside the box itself were the tablets of the Covenant, and it was also believed that it contained the unpronounceable name of God. A Torah scroll, written in the hand of Moses, was also preserved next to the ark. Nearby, in the holy of holies of the tabernacle, and later in the temple, there was a vessel with manna that fell from heaven during the wanderings of the Jews in the desert, and the blossoming rod of Aaron, brother of Moses. Only the high priest was allowed to approach the ark and only once a year, on Yom Kippur. Only Levite priests on their shoulders could carry it. The ark was reliably covered with fabrics from the eyes of people, since it was dangerous for an ordinary person to look at it. On the way to the Holy Land, the people of Israel roamed in the desert from place to place, led by God. Before setting off and carrying the ark, Moses cried out: "Arise, Lord, and your enemies will be scattered, and your haters will flee from your face."When the people, built “according to camps and armies,” stopped, Moses proclaimed: “Return, Lord, to tens of thousands of thousands of Israel” (Num. 10:35, 36; cf. Ps. 132: 8).
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When the Israelites entered the Promised Land, the ark was transferred several times from one settlement to another: first it was in the camp of the Jews near Mount Ebal, later - in Bet-El and Shiloh. In a battle near the city of Mitzpah, the shrine was captured by the Philistines. But the cities to which they transported him suffered disasters, and the Philistines had no choice but to return the ark where they took it, that is, to the Jews. After the conquest of Jerusalem, King David decided to move the shrine to the new capital of Israel, but at first the ark stood for three months in the house of one of the Levites. King David built a new tabernacle in Jerusalem - a tent, where the holy relic was placed. For the Ark of the Covenant, King David of Israel also planned to build a temple, but God did not allow him to do this. The temple was built by the son of David, King Solomon. And the ark was installed in the holy of holies of the temple built in Jerusalem. According to the Hagadic tradition, Solomon foresaw a special cache in the basements of the Temple, where the ark could be hidden, and the prophet Jeremiah hid it in this cache.
The last evidence of the ark dates back to the era of the reign of the Jewish king Josiah in the 7th century BC. Before the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC, the Ark of the Covenant disappeared. Among the treasures taken out by the Babylonians from the captured Jerusalem, he was not mentioned.
What happened to this shrine in the future is one of the greatest mysteries of history. It is known that the Ark was no longer in the Second Temple.
The Biblical Second Book of Maccabees gives information that the prophet Jeremiah, guided by the command of God, hid the ark on Mount Nebo: “It was also in the scriptures that this prophet, according to divine revelation, commanded the tabernacle and the ark to follow him when he ascended the mountain with which Moses, ascending, saw the inheritance of God. Arriving there, Jeremiah found a dwelling in a cave and brought in the tabernacle and the ark and the altar of incense there, and barred the entrance. When then some of the attendants came to notice the entrance, they could not find it. When Jeremiah learned about this, then, reproaching them, said that this place would remain unknown until God, having compassion, gathered a crowd of people. And then the Lord will show him, and the glory of the Lord and a cloud will appear, as it appeared in the presence of Moses, as Solomon asked that the place be especially holy”(2 Mac 2: 4-8).
Mount Nebo is one of the important places in which biblical events unfolded. The mountain, which is located east of the northern tip of the Dead Sea, is located at an altitude of 817 meters above sea level, in the territory of modern Jordan. The Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy describes the last day of the earthly life of the prophet Moses. At the behest of the Lord, Moses ascended Mount Nebo to look at the Promised Land, into which God did not allow him to enter. In the same place, on Mount Nebo, Moses died, “having been added to his people,” that is, to the community of God's righteous, where he was buried by God.
On the mountain there are traces of later buildings designed to preserve the memory of this event - the remains of a church built at the end of the 4th century, as it is believed, on the site of the death of Moses, and the remains of a monastery from the 4th-6th centuries.
Another place of the localization of the ark tells us the book, which the Jews call the oral Torah. The Talmud says that the ark was hidden by the decree of King Josiah under the cornerstone of the universe, located in the holy of holies of the Temple of Solomon or elsewhere in the temple. There is another opinion - that the ark nevertheless ended up in Babylon together with the captive Israelites.
Another authoritative opinion is the testimony of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church that the ark is preserved by the priests of the Cathedral of the Most Holy Virgin Mary of Zion in the city of Axum. Copies of the relic are in every Ethiopian temple. They are carried out annually during one of the church holidays. How the ark got to Ethiopia is described by the 14th century Ethiopian literary source Kebra Nagast - “Glory of the Kings”. According to this text, the son of King Solomon and Queen of Sheba, Makeda, Baina Legkem, who later became King Menelik and the founder of the Ethiopian Negus dynasty, secretly transferred the ark to Ethiopia, to one of the temples of the former capital of the country, Axum. This is not the only version of how the Ark of the Covenant came to Ethiopia. It is believed that the shrine was taken out of the temple by the temple priests themselves - kogenes. This happened during the reign of King Manasseh. The cohen fearedthat the king could desecrate the shrine.
There was something to be afraid of: King Manasseh fell into idolatry, set up idols, imitating the bloody cruel pagan cults of the Near East, which provided for human sacrifice, deviating from the simple and clear commandments of the Torah. He even installed altars to Baal and Astarte - pagan deities, and altars to heavenly bodies in the holiest place in Israel - in the Temple of the Lord.
This already completely overflowed the cup of patience of the priests of one God, and they carried the ark from the desecrated temple to Egypt, where it ended up on the island of Ives, better known as Elephantine. A new temple was built there, in which the ark remained for the next two hundred years. However, this temple was destroyed. Over time, the ark ended up in Ethiopia, on the island of Tana-Kirkos. As before, during the wanderings of the Jews in the desert, it was installed in a tent and served as a place of worship for eight centuries. After the conversion of the Ethiopian king to Christianity, the ark was transferred to the Cathedral of the Most Holy Virgin Mary of Zion in Aksum.
According to another version, the ark was found and is kept in a secret place, where it will remain until the restoration of the temple in Jerusalem.
In synagogues, the Ark of the Covenant symbolizes the aron-a-kodesh - the cabinet where the Torah scrolls are kept. In Christian churches, the tabernacles placed in the altar of the temples serve as a similar symbol of the ark. The tabernacle contains the holy gifts - the Body and Blood of Christ, as symbols of the New Testament of God with man. The biblical Revelation (Apocalypse) of John the Theologian speaks of the return of the ark at the time of the second coming of Jesus Christ: “And the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple; and there were lightnings and voices and thunders and an earthquake and a great hail”(Rev. 11: 16-19).
We receive no less valuable information about the ark from Islamic sources. The Koran also indicates that the stone tablets of the Covenant, given by Allah, which Moses brought from Mount Sinai, the rod of the Prophet Moses (Mussa) and the mitra (headdress) of the Prophet Aaron (Harun) were kept in the ark. Muslims call the ark "Tabut Sakina" - "Repository of Grace". The Qur'an tells how the ark was lost by the Israelites during the wars.
The Muslims knew about the campaign against the Jews of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, about the conquest of Jerusalem by him after a hard battle, about its subsequent destruction and taking the Jews into captivity, about the return of the Jews after forty years from Babylonian captivity. After the captivity, the Jews rebuilt the Temple, but the hall where the Ark of the Covenant was located remained empty.
Where did he disappear, according to Muslims? The followers of the Prophet Muhammad have an answer to this question. The sacred texts of the supporters of this religion, as you know, include not only the Koran, but also hadiths - reliable statements of the founder of the Islamic religion - the Prophet Muhammad. According to hadiths, the ark is hidden in the city of Antakya, in the lands of modern Turkey, adjacent to the border with Syria. He could get there together with the followers of another interesting religious movement - the Essenes. The Essenes are one of the Jewish communities at the turn of our era, in opposition to the Pharisees who reigned in Jerusalem. The Essenes left Jerusalem shortly after the city was captured by the Romans in 70 BC and settled in the famous Qumran Caves on the northwest coast of the Dead Sea. There they kept and rewrote the Holy Scriptures - Torah,their texts were found in the middle of the 20th century. Another group of Essenes found shelter in the Antakya area. They carefully kept the greatest shrine they brought with them, cutting off all contacts with the outside world. The area where Antakya is located is rich in numerous caves, in one of which the Essenes could safely hide the ark. In the Koran, in the sura "Cave", it is about seven young believers who took refuge in a cave from their persecutor - the godless ruler. According to many scholars of the Koran, this cave was located in Antakya. Perhaps the Ark of the Covenant is kept in this cave to this day, waiting in the wings.in one of which the Essenes could safely hide the ark. In the Koran, in the sura "Cave", it is about seven young believers who took refuge in a cave from their persecutor - the godless ruler. According to many scholars of the Koran, this cave was located in Antakya. Perhaps the Ark of the Covenant is kept in this cave to this day, waiting in the wings.in one of which the Essenes could safely hide the ark. In the Koran, in the sura "The Cave", it is about seven young believers who took refuge in a cave from their persecutor - the godless ruler. According to many scholars of the Koran, this cave was located in Antakya. Perhaps the Ark of the Covenant is kept in this cave to this day, waiting in the wings.
When, according to Muslims, will it be found? According to Islamic teachings, the shrine will be rediscovered at the end of time, when all of humanity will live according to the Koran. This event will mean the proximity of the arrival of Mahdi - the Messiah, who will establish a just government on Earth, the kingdom of morality and the commandments of the Lord.
“He will be called Mahdi, for he will show the way to that which is hidden. He will find the Tabut (Ark of the Covenant) in the place called Antakya”- so the sacred texts of the community of Allah say.
It must be said that the views of Muslims, in particular in this matter, are surprisingly similar to the views of Jews and Christians. The Jews are convinced that the ark will be found with the arrival of the Messiah, sent by God. Christians are of the opinion that the ark will be found before the second coming of Jesus Christ.
What do the historical chronicles say?
The traces of the ark are lost after 70 BC. The last mention of this shrine in historical sources dates back to that time. According to this information, the Roman emperor Titus, who destroyed Jerusalem and burned down the temple of King Solomon, found there a secret room where the ark was hidden, and took it along with other relics to the capital of his empire - Rome. Since then, any search for the Ark of the Covenant has been unsuccessful.
One of the important goals of the crusades of the European knights in the Holy Land was the search for the Ark of the Covenant. In the conquered Jerusalem, a secret order of the Knights of the Temple was founded, better known as the Order of the Templars, whose knights were engaged in similar searches. Templars were excavating in the ancient capital of Judea, on the mountain where the Temple of Solomon stood. The search was conducted by members of the order for several centuries.
The 20th century, with its scientific discoveries, made the search for the Ark of the Covenant relevant again.
The famous Qumran caves, which brought the most important biblical texts back to the world, gave hope for finding the lost ark. In 1952, a group of archaeologists led by Professor Gerald Har-ding excavated one of the Qumran caves, which the locals called "Two Moons", and during these excavations, scientists discovered a copper scroll with text in the Hebraic language. It differed from all the scrolls found there in that it was made on an unusual material (hundreds of scrolls found earlier were made of parchment), and also in that the text was engraved on it in the reverse order: it began on the back side and ended on the front side. The find was sent to Manchester, where the scroll was unwrapped with difficulty and, with the help of the efforts of many researchers, its text was read. It turned out to be extremely complex, as if specially confused, and in order to understand it,it was necessary to have considerable knowledge in the field of Hebrew language and literature. This text consisted of a chaotic listing of place names and descriptions of a certain area. A preliminary version of the decrypted text was published four years after the beginning of its research. The text was interpreted by a researcher named Wendil Jones. According to the scientist, the text contained information about the treasures of the Jerusalem Temple of Solomon, hidden in caches before the invasion of the Babylonians in 422 BC. One of the fragments of the text reads: “At the base of the hill in the desert valley of Ankor, on its eastern side, there is a stone that closes the entrance to the cave. From the entrance you need to go down forty stone steps, and there is a silver casket covered with earth with the vestments of the high priest,and a sacred tabernacle with priceless treasures of gold and silver was buried nearby. " The rest of the text provides landmarks on the ground by which you can find a cache of hidden treasure. However, as Vendil Jones has established, these guidelines can only be used with special code that has not yet been discovered.
It was then that the treatise of Rabbi Naftali Hertz Elshanon, written by him in 1648 in Amsterdam, came to the attention of scientists. This treatise is notable in that it includes the full text of one lost Hebrew work in twelve chapters. It lists vessels, caskets and treasure boxes that were hidden by the prophet Jeremiah in secret places in 429 BC, seven years before the Babylonian invasion. The hidden treasure vessels are discussed in the first chapter, and the second is about the inscriptions on the copper scroll!
As we remember, the Talmud contains information about how Jeremiah, with the help of a prophetic gift, predicted the invasion of the Babylonians, hid the Ark of the Covenant, as well as a vessel with oil for anointing, Aaron's rod and a chest with jewels sent by the Philistines.
The story of the search for the Ark of the Covenant, like the surname of the scientist involved in this search, formed the basis of the famous adventure film "Seekers of the Lost Ark", directed by Steven Spielberg. But the search for the great shrine of the Jews, Christians and Muslims, with the discovery of which the believers of these religions associate the coming of the end times, are not yet complete.
A. V. Dzyuba. "Secrets and mysteries of history and civilizations"