The Ark of the Covenant - on the trail again!
May 15th, 2008 by Leen RitmeyerMy Google Alert to Jerusalem Archaeology brought it all back: “The lost Ark: are the Germans on its trail?” Of course, the content of the article which reported that a researcher from the University of Hamburg claimed to have found the remains of the palace of the Queen of Sheba in Axum, Ethiopia and an altar that may have held the Ark, made me file it away in my file called “Weird.” Here, I tuck away some of the more outrageous snippets on Biblical Archaeology that come my way, together with some of the wackier emails I receive. The Ark of the Covenant is overwhelmingly the subject of most of these enquiries. Since my first involvement in the Temple Mount Excavations in 1973, not a week has gone by without some enquiry into its location. Invariably the writer has an idea of his/her own - one of the wackiest suggestions was that the Ark was hidden inside the Black Stone of Mecca!
As readers of this blog will know, my research into the Temple Mount over the years has led to the finding of the location of where the Ark stood in Solomon’s Temple. I believe that this is as close as we may ever come to the finding of the lost Ark. Now, with the latest Indiana Jones movie due out next week, after a gap of 19 years, people’s minds go back to the original Raiders of the Lost Ark movie made in 1981. This, together with the latest claim in a long line of claims of finding the Ark, reminds me of the links (many inadvertently!) we have had to this search.
Thought that readers might find some of these links interesting or at at least a bit of light relief!
My wife, Kathleen was brought up from age 1 to 8 near the Hill of Tara, in County Meath, Ireland where certain believe the Ark to have been buried by the prophet Jeremiah after the fall of Jerusalem. Here is a picture of her, taken on a visit in 1997, on the hill of Tara next to the illegal excavations carried out by a group searching for the Ark of the Covenant:
• We lived for 4 years in the Ethiopian Quarter in Jerusalem where the devout Ethiopian Orthodox residents took it for a fact that the artefact so carefully guarded by the monks at Axum was indeed the Ark of the Covenant. “Did we not know that a group of Israeli soldiers had twice tried to wrest it from the Ethiopians and recover it to Israel?”
• During the eighties, we worked on a design project with Vendyl Jones, the Texan self-styled archaeologist who claimed to be the inspiration for Indiana Jones. His claim has been debunked, with the honour going to the dog of George Lucas (co-producer of the film), who was with him when he wrote the story.
• The original opportunity for me to measure and draw up Warren’s Gate in 1981, came from a group of rabbis’ illegal excavation of this gate for the purpose of finding the Ark deep beneath the Temple Mount.
(Now they get a bit more ridiculous!)
• When we were recently leaving Australia for the UK, I tried to leave behind my battered fedora, veteran of many Israeli digs and Aussie bush expeditions, but my son Joel would not let me, even though I had a new Akubra!
• Finally, I can’t stop some wags from playing the theme tune from “Raiders of the Lost Ark” when I walk in to give a lecture!
BTW, for an overview of the story of the journeyings of the Ark see our book: “From Sinai to Jerusalem”.
Posted in Ark of the Covenant, News |
May 18th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
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May 21st, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Dr. Ritmeyer:
Do you have any idea what it *is* the Ethiopian monks have? It seems to me they have something- not the Ark, of course, but some sort of stone tablet. Has anyone outside of the monks seen it?
As long as we’re on the ark- I once saw a drawing of the first temple that suggested that the Ark had no cherubim on the cover at the time- that the large cherubim were meant to replace them, so to speak. Do you think this holds water?
May 22nd, 2008 at 1:37 am
The Ethiopians claim to have the Ark of the Covenant in Axum, but that cannot be verified.
By the way, all Ethiopian Orthodox Churches have a replica of the Ark, called a tabot, in a special place they call the Holy of Holies. Once a year these replicas are carried about in a procession.
About the cherubim, I do not believe that the cherubim were removed from the Ark when it was placed in Solomon’s Temple below the two massive cherubim.
May 22nd, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Hi Leen — Warm regards. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to meet you here in New York a few weeks ago.
1. I ordered your Herodian Temple Mount model four years ago and continue to enjoy. Several years back you hinted that you wanted to design a model of the temple compound itself for general sale. I hope that you are still planning to do this. I would also hope that such a model would expose the inner chambers (Ha-Kodesh and the Dvir) from the outside (like or similar to the model displayed at Yeshiva), and show the foundation rock as it actually looks (looked).
2. I’ve seen several pictures of the Temple Mount and noticed a number of marble columns rolled up together and corinthian capitals layed out. Is it possible that they were part of the Herodian Temple?
Thanks - Keep up the great work.
May 29th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
“Is it possible that they were part of the Herodian Temple?”
I believe that’s the general consensus- not the Temple itself, but certainly Herodian, such as from the outer courtyards.
May 30th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Thanks for the response, Nathan. I feel so bad that they are just laying there, exposed to the elements. I know the Muslim Waqf would probably oppose it but I believe the Govt. of Israel should display them properly in a museum dedicated to the Temple Mount.
June 11th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Hi Dr. Ritmeyer,
In Revelation 11:19 John says he saw the Ark in the throne room of God. I believe at some point the Ark was removed from Earth. Of course it could also still be here and will be taken to Heaven at a later time.
July 2nd, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Hi, I read that you believe that the Ark is buried inside the Temple Mount. Why do you believe this, if in fact you do have this in mind. I understand that you found the Holy of Holies and that there was a section cut out of the ground that would fit the dimensions of the Ark, but why inside the Temple Mount? Why not by the Dead Sea or in Ethiopia? Could you email me your reply to jbtaylor892@yahoo.com ? Thanks, I really hope to hear from you!!