SOME FACTS ABOUT THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

THE PLACE WHERE HISTORY BECOMES ALIVE

SOME FACTS ABOUT THE ARK OF

THE COVENANT

The Ark of the

Covenant was the

holy chest Moses

built out of Acacia

wood to house the

word of God. The

ark held only the

two stone tablets upon which God

wrote the Ten Commandments on

the holy mountain in Sinai.

Together, the ark and the Testimony

constituted the holiest object in the

Hebrew religion. When Solomon

later built the first Hebrew Temple,

he housed the ark in the center of the

building's holiest chamber, the place

Called the "Holy of Holies".

The Lord had to write these stone

tablets twice. The first set, Moses cast

down and shattered out of anger

when, on his return, he found the

Israelites in revolt and making

preparations to return to Egypt.

After quelling the revolt, Moses

went back to the mountaintop and

secured another set from God. It was

this second set of stones that were

housed in the ark.

The allegorical meaning in this

replacement and its necessity was

prophecy. It prepared the people of

God for a second Testimony.

When we speak about the word of

God today, we think of the Bible, but

Moses was not permitted by God to

put the Bible (the 'Torah') into the

Ark

Of the Covenant --

only the Ten

Commandments.

The Torah (the

book of the Law of

Moses) was stored

outside the ark on

a table.

This separation

revealed a scripture divided.

The Ark of the Covenant, then,

defined the covenant. And in that

definition, it made the Ten

Commandments greater than

anything else that surrounded

It in the Hebrew religion. When

Moses commanded the Israelites to

"hold fast to God's covenant", he was

ordering them to obey the ten sacred

articles of God housed in the Ark, but

far more importantly, the Gospel of

Christ which completed that

Testimony.

The Ark of the Covenant, the Ten

Commandments & the Testimony

In returning with the completed

Testimony, Jesus fulfilled the Mosaic

Covenant’s prophecy and the

meaning of the Hebrew religion. He

drew God's people out of the Mosiac

religion and into His own.

The Ark apparently served as the

place between heaven (the throne

between the cherubim) and earth

(the place of the Temple). As the

visible footstool for the invisible

throne of God, it was available when

He "descended" to earth, such as at

Sinai, on the battlefield, or in a

foreign land (Philistia). The purpose

of the Ark was to enable the Presence

SOME FACTS ABOUT THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

THE PLACE WHERE HISTORY BECOMES ALIVE

of God to be manifested among the

Israelites. For this reason – to house

the Ark – the Tabernacle, Tent of

Meeting, and finally the Temple,

were constructed. The Ark

disappeared at the time of the

destruction of the First Temple, and

despite the restoration of other

Temple vessels with the post-exilic

return to Jerusalem to rebuild the

Temple, the Ark was mysteriously

absent. This led to the development

of a wide body of tradition in Jewish

literature to explain its loss and

eventual return.

Throughout history people have

had a fascination with finding the

Ark of the Covenant. Even

Hollywood, with its adventure

packed blockbuster "Raiders of the

Lost Ark," captivated the attention of

audiences everywhere.

It was an exhilarating experience

to be taken on a journey with Indiana

Jones on his quest for the sacred

relic. But unlike the movie, where the

Ark was uncovered, in real life its

resting place still remains a mystery.

Some believe the ark is hidden

somewhere beneath the Temple

Mount, in one of the rock carved

tunnels that lay underneath. While

others believe it was taken out of

Israel and carried off to

Ethiopia

Shall the Ark ever be found?

The Ark of the Covenant is gone,

lost in time, concealed throughout

the ages until the one who hid it

comes again to reveal it. Some says:

was brought from Jerusalem by

Menelik, first king of Ethiopia, son of

a king of Israel and Queen Makeda.

Some say he was the born to King

Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

About 30 centuries ago he founded

the Solomonic dynasty, of which the

last Ethiopian Emperor, Haile

Selassie, (1892-1974) claimed to

descend. “According to tradition,

Menelik hid the Ark of the Covenant

in his mother’s palace, which is about

three kilometers from the centre of

Aksum…

A PLACE WHERE HITORY

BECOMES…ALIVE

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