Re -Train Your Brain To Happiness: The Ark Of The Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail have been brought back into our consciousness by two movies: "The Da Vinci Code", as stated below, and "Raiders of the Lost Ark".
I truly doubt they will ever be found, and even if they are will we be told? I doubt it.

The Ark of the Covenant is one of history’s great religious mysteries, and debate has been running for centuries about whether or not it could possibly be real.

It rivals the Holy Grail for the most famous religious mystery, although the Holy Grail was thrust back into the spotlight in the last few years as a result of Dan Brown’s bestseller The Da Vinci Code and the subsequent film starring Tom Hanks.

But the Ark of the Covenant is arguably even more fascinating than the Holy Grail, so we just couldn’t resist taking a closer look.

Before we get stuck in to the story, here’s a quick video, above, explaining the religious definition of the ark and the beauty with which it was made:

What is the Ark of the Covenant?
The Ark of the Covenant is the chest created by God to house the Ten Commandments after he passed them on to Moses. The story goes that the Ark of the Covenant is a wooden box that is plated with solid gold and containing a slate inscribed with the Ten Commandments.
However, the Ark of the Covenant is considered by Israelites in particular to be a lot more than just a vessel for the Ten Commandments. Many instead believe it is the presence of God on earth. As such, only priests should be allowed to carry it.

According to the Biblical account of the Ark of the Covenant, the vessel was created around a year after the Israelites were exiled from Egypt, when Moses had led them to the bottom of Mount Sinai. Various interpretations of the story also indicate that the Ark of the Covenant could also include Aaron’s rod, a jar of manna, and the first Torah scroll as written by Moses.

History of the Ark of the Covenant
The Biblical account of the Ark of the Covenant has it that the chest was carried by the Israelites to Canaan – their planned route to the Holy Land. Joshua ordered the Ark of the Covenant to be brought forward and the waters of the Jordan River parted, allowing the Israelites to return to their proper home.

Later, the Ark of the Covenant was carried to Jericho and after it was paraded around the walls of the city for seven days; the Bible’s story alleges that the city came crumbling down.
Religious history would have it that after this, the Ark of the Covenant was taken to be stored in Temple of Solomon – the House of God – in the Sanctorum Sanatorium or Holy of Holies. It is not known what might have happened to it since then. And so the real mystery begins …

Where could it be?
There are a number of places that have been suggested as a possible location for the Ark of the Covenant, but all of them have been disputed to some extent.

One of the most likely destinations appears to be Ethiopia. It is claimed by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church that it has possession of the Ark of the Covenant and is holding it in a treasury near the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion.

Speaking to the Smithsonian magazine in 2007, the patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia Abune Paulos had stated that the Ark of the Covenant has been in Ethiopia since Queen Sheba visited King Solomon three thousand years ago and gave birth to his son.

The publication also contacted the ‘guardian’ of the Ark of the Covenant, who is the only person allowed to view it. He told the magazine that he could not say anything more about the Ark, adding: “No king or patriarch or bishop or ruler can ever see it, only me. This has been our tradition since Menelik brought the ark here more than 3,000 years ago.”

In 2009, Mr Paulos announced that he was set to reveal the Ark of the Covenant to the world. However, a day later he said he was not going to unveil it after all, but insisted he could attest to its existence.

Mount Nebo
Another commonly touted location for the Ark of the Covenant is Mount Nebo. It is written in 2 Maccabees that the prophet Jeremiah took the Ark of the Covenant, as well as the Tabernacle and the Altar of Incense and buried them in a cave on Mount Nebo after “being warned by God” before the Babylonian invasion.

It is claimed that their location should remain unknown “until the time that God should gather His people again together, and receive them unto mercy”, but this has not stopped people trying to find it. Mount Nebo is located a touch south of due east from Jerusalem, close to the east bank of the Jordan River.

Tutankhamen’s Tomb
Could it be that the final resting place of the Ark of the Covenant was in King Tutankhamen’s Tomb with the rest of his vast riches?

The tomb was opened by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon in 1922 and they found a processional ark among the artefacts. It was listed as Shrine 261, the Anubis Shrine, but it was not long before some were hailing it to be the long-sought Ark of the Covenant.

In his 2008 book, John M Lundquist, author of The Temple of Jerusalem: Past, Present, and Future, argued that it is not possible that the Anubis Shrine could be the Ark of the Covenant as it is considerably smaller than the description given in the Bible. He also pointed out in his book that it can only be said that the Anubis Shrine is “ark-like”.

Can it be real?
Of course it can be real. If the stories of the Bible are to be believed, a vessel called the Ark of the Covenant may have been created at one point. But with so much time having passed, it appears to be unlikely that the Ark of the Covenant exists now, especially as so many claims have been made about it and later proven to be false. Perhaps it has been destroyed.
Ethiopia’s claim appears to be the strongest, but then why did Mr Poulos pledge to reveal the Ark of the Covenant and then go back on his word?

Stranger things have happened and the legend of the Ark of the Covenant looks set to live on for all of history, but perhaps it is just that – a legend.

By Lynne Thorley