View source for Ark of the Covenant

{{Short description|Chest containing the Ten Commandments}}
{{for-multi|the band|Ark of the Covenant (band)|the song by the Beths|Straight Line Was a Lie}}
 
[[File:Tissot Moses and Joshua in the Tabernacle.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|
''[[Moses]] and [[Joshua]] bowing before the Ark'' ({{circa|1900}}) by [[James Tissot]]]]
[[File:DuraSyn-WB4-Ark and Temple of Dagon.jpg|upright=1.25|thumb|The [[Philistine captivity of the Ark]] depicted in the [[Dura-Europos synagogue]]]]
The '''Ark of the Covenant''',{{Efn|{{langx|hbo|{{Script/Hebrew|אֲרוֹן הַבְּרִית}}|ʾĂrōn haBǝrīṯ}}; {{langx|grc-x-koine|Κιβωτὸς τῆς Διαθήκης|Kībōtòs tês Diathḗkēs}}; {{langx|gez|ታቦት|tābōt}}; {{langx|arb|التابوت|Al-Tābūt}};}} also known as the '''Ark of the Testimony'''{{Efn|{{langx|hbo|{{Script/Hebrew|אֲרוֹן הָעֵדוּת}}|ʾĂrōn hāʿĒdūṯ|label=none}}}} or the '''Ark of God''',{{Efn|{{langx|hbo|{{Script/Hebrew|אֲרוֹן־יְהוָה}}|ʾĂrōn-[[Tetragrammaton|YHWH]]|label=none}} or {{langx|hbo|{{Script/Hebrew|אֲרוֹן הָאֱלֹהִים}}|ʾĂrōn hāʾ[[Elohim|Ĕlōhīm]]|label=none}}}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bible Gateway passage: 1 Chronicles 16–18 – New Living Translation |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Chronicles+16-18&version=NLT |access-date=2019-06-02 |website=Bible Gateway}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Bible Gateway passage: 1 Samuel 3:3 – New International Version |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Samuel+3%3A3&version=NIV |access-date=2019-06-02 |website=Bible Gateway}}</ref> was a religious storage chest and relic held to be the most sacred object by the [[Israelites]].

Religious tradition describes it as a wooden storage chest decorated in solid gold accompanied by an ornamental lid known as the [[mercy seat|Seat of Mercy]]. According to the [[Book of Exodus]]<ref>{{Bibleverse|Exodus|40:20}}.</ref> and [[Books of Kings|First Book of Kings]]<ref>{{Bibleverse|1 Kings|8:9}}.</ref> in the [[Hebrew Bible]] and the [[Old Testament]], the Ark contained the [[Tablets of Stone|Tablets of the Law]], by which [[Yahweh|God]] delivered the [[Ten Commandments]] to [[Moses]] at [[Mount Sinai (Bible)|Mount Sinai]]. According to the [[Book of Exodus]],<ref>{{Bibleverse|Exodus|16:33}}.</ref> the [[Book of Numbers]],<ref>{{Bibleverse|Numbers|17:6-11}}.</ref> and the [[Epistle to the Hebrews]]<ref>{{Bibleverse|Hebrews|9:4}}.</ref> in the [[New Testament]], it also contained [[Aaron's rod]] and a pot of [[manna]].<ref>{{Cite book |last = Ackerman |first=Susan |author-link=Susan Ackerman (biblical scholar) |chapter=Ark of the Covenant |editor-last=Freedman |editor-first=David Noel |editor-link=David Noel Freedman |editor2-last=Myers |editor2-first=Allen C. |title=Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible |publisher=[[Eerdmans]] |year=2000 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&pg=PA102 |page=102|isbn=978-90-5356-503-2}}</ref> The biblical account relates that approximately one year after the Israelites' [[The Exodus|exodus from Egypt]], the Ark was created according to the pattern that God gave to Moses when the Israelites were encamped at the foot of Mount Sinai. Thereafter, the gold-plated acacia chest's staves were lifted and carried by the [[Levite]]s approximately 2,000 [[cubit]]s ({{convert|800|m|ft|disp=or|sp=us}}) in advance of the people while they marched.<ref>{{bibleverse|Joshua|3:4|HE}}.</ref> God spoke with Moses "from between the two [[cherub]]im" on the Ark's cover.<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|25:22|HE}}.</ref> 

Jewish tradition holds various views on the Ark’s fate, including that it was taken to [[Babylon]], hidden by [[Josiah|King Josiah]] in the Temple or underground chambers, or concealed by [[Jeremiah]] in a cave on [[Mount Nebo]]. The [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church|Ethiopian Orthodox Church]] asserts it is housed in [[Axum]]; the [[Lemba people|Lemba]] people of southern Africa claim ancestral possession with a replica in [[Zimbabwe]]; some traditions say it was in [[Rome]] or [[Ireland]] but lost, though no verified evidence conclusively confirms its location today. It is honored by [[Samaritans]], symbolized in Christianity as a type of [[Jesus|Christ]] and the [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Virgin Mary]], mentioned in the [[Quran]], and viewed with spiritual significance in the [[Baháʼí Faith|Baháʼí]] Faith.  The Ark of the Covenant has been prominently featured in modern films such as ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'' and other literary and artistic works, often depicted as a powerful and mysterious relic with both historical and supernatural significance.

There are ongoing academic discussions among [[biblical scholars]] and [[archeologists]] regarding the history of the Ark's movements around the [[Ancient Near East]] as well as the history and dating of the Ark narratives in the Hebrew Bible.<ref>{{cite book |title=Readers of the Lost Ark: Imagining the Ark of the Covenant from Ancient Times to the Present |last=McGeough |first=Kevin M. |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2025 |isbn=978-0-19-765388-3 |page=34 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ihJEQAAQBAJ&pg=PA34}}</ref><ref name="Levin" /><ref>{{cite journal |last= Römer |first= Thomas |title= The mysteries of the Ark of the Covenant |journal= Studia Theologica - Nordic Journal of Theology |volume= 77 |issue= 2 |year= 2023 |pages= 169–185 |url= https://www.academia.edu/99766658 |doi= 10.1080/0039338X.2023.2167861}}</ref> There is additional scholarly debate over possible historical influences that led to the creation of the Ark, including [[Bedouin]] or [[Culture of Egypt|Egyptian]] influences.<ref name="Rö92" /><ref name="Noegel" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Isaacs |first1=Roger D. |last2=Hemmings |first2=Adam R. |date=2023-11-08 |title=The "Mercy Seat" and the Ark of the Testimony: An Age-Old Misnomer? |url=https://zenodo.org/records/8311390 |journal=Studies of Biblical Interest |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=11–20 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.8311390 |issn=2993-6217}}</ref>

==Biblical account==
{{Ten Commandments series}}

===Construction and description===
[[File:P1000484 Paris Ier Eglise Saint-Roch Chapelle Adoration Arche d'alliance reductwk.JPG|thumb|left|Ark of the ''chapelle de l'Adoration'' ([[Église Saint-Roch (Paris)|Église Saint-Roch]], Paris).]]
According to the [[Book of Exodus]], God instructed [[Moses]] to build the Ark during his 40-day stay upon [[Mount Sinai]].<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|19:20|HE}}.</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|24:18|HE}}.</ref> He was shown the pattern for the tabernacle and furnishings of the Ark, and told that it would be made of [[shittim wood]] (also known as acacia wood)<ref name="bibleverse||Exodus|25:10|HE">{{bibleverse|Exodus|25:10|HE}}.</ref> to house the [[Tablets of Stone]].<ref name="bibleverse||Exodus|25:10|HE"/> Moses instructed [[Bezalel]] and [[Oholiab]] to construct the Ark.<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|31|HE}}.</ref><ref>Sigurd Grindheim, ''Introducing Biblical Theology'', Bloomsbury Publishing, United Kingdom, 2013, p. 59.</ref><ref>Joseph Ponessa, Laurie Watson Manhardt, ''Moses and The Torah: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy'', pp. 85–86 (Emmaus Road Publishing, 2007). {{ISBN|978-1-931018-45-6}}.</ref>

The Book of Exodus gives detailed instructions on how the Ark is to be constructed.<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|25|HE}}.</ref> It is to be {{frac|2|1|2}} [[cubit]]s in length, {{frac|1|1|2}} cubits breadth, and {{frac|1|1|2}} cubits height (approximately {{cvt|131|*|79|*|79|cm|in|disp=or}}) of [[acacia]] wood. Then it is to be gilded entirely with gold, and a crown or molding of gold is to be put around it. Four rings of gold are to be attached to its four corners, two on each side—and through these rings staves of shittim wood overlaid with gold for carrying the Ark are to be inserted; and these are not to be removed.<ref>{{cite web |title="Four feet"; see Exodus 25:12, majority of translations. "Four corners" in King James Version |url=http://www.biblestudytools.com/exodus/25-12-compare.html |access-date=2012-08-17 |publisher=Biblestudytools.com}}</ref>

===Mobile vanguard===
The biblical account continues that, after its creation by Moses, the Ark was carried by the [[Israelites]] during their 40 years of wandering in the desert. Whenever the Israelites camped, the Ark was placed in the tent of meeting, inside the [[Tabernacle]].

When the Israelites, led by [[Joshua]] toward the [[Promised Land]], arrived at the banks of the [[River Jordan]], the Ark was carried in the lead, preceding the people, and was the signal for their advance.<ref>{{bibleverse|Joshua|3:3}}.</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|Joshua|6}}.</ref> During the crossing, the river grew dry as soon as the feet of the priests carrying the Ark touched its waters, and remained so until the priests—with the Ark—left the river after the people had passed over.<ref>{{bibleverse|Joshua|3:15–17}}.</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|Joshua|4:10}}.</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|Joshua|11}}.</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|Joshua|18}}.</ref> As memorials, [[Twelve Stones|twelve stones]] were taken from the Jordan at the place where the priests had stood.<ref>{{bibleverse|Joshua|4:1–9}}.</ref>

During the [[Battle of Jericho]], the Ark was carried around the city once a day for six days, preceded by the armed men and seven priests sounding seven [[shofar|trumpets of rams' horns]].<ref>{{bibleverse|Joshua|6:4–15}}.</ref> On the seventh day, the seven priests sounding the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the Ark compassed the city seven times, and, with a great shout, Jericho's wall fell down flat and the people took the city.<ref>{{bibleverse|Joshua|6:16–20}}.</ref>

After the defeat at [[Ai (Bible)|Ai]], Joshua lamented before the Ark.<ref>{{bibleverse|Josh|7:6–9}}.</ref> When Joshua read the Law to the people between [[Mount Gerizim]] and [[Mount Ebal]], they stood on each side of the Ark. The Ark was then kept at [[Shiloh (biblical city)|Shiloh]] after the Israelites finished their conquest of Canaan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Joshua+7:6%E2%80%939&version=nrsv|title=oremus Bible Browser : Joshua 7:6–9|website=bible.oremus.org}}</ref> We next hear of the Ark in [[Bethel]],{{efn|'Bethel' is translated as 'the House of God' in the [[King James Version]].}} where it was being cared for by the priest [[Phinehas]], the grandson of [[Aaron]].<ref>{{bibleverse|Judges|20:26f}}.</ref> According to this verse, it was consulted by the people of Israel when they were planning to attack the Benjaminites at the [[Levite's concubine|Battle of Gibeah]]. Later the Ark was kept at Shiloh again,<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Samuel|3:3}}.</ref> where it was cared for by [[Hophni and Phinehas]], two sons of [[Eli (biblical figure)|Eli]].<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Samuel|4:3f}}.</ref>

===Capture by the Philistines===
{{Main|Philistine captivity of the Ark}}
[[File:Figures The erection of the Tabernacle and the Sacred vessels.jpg|thumb|1728 illustration of the Ark at the erection of the Tabernacle and the sacred vessels, as in Exodus 40:17–19]]
According to the biblical narrative, a few years later the elders of Israel decided to take the Ark onto the battlefield to assist them against the [[Philistines]], having recently been defeated at the battle of [[Eben-Ezer]].<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Samuel|4:3-11}}.</ref> They were again heavily defeated, with the loss of 30,000 men. The Ark was captured by the Philistines, and Hophni and Phinehas were killed. The news of its capture was at once taken to Shiloh by a messenger "with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head". The old priest, Eli, fell dead when he heard it, and his daughter-in-law, bearing a son at the time the news of the Ark's capture was received, named him [[Ichabod]]—explained as "The glory has departed Israel" in reference to the loss of the Ark.<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Samuel|4:12-22}}.</ref> Ichabod's mother died at his birth.<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Samuel|4:20}}.</ref>

The Philistines took the Ark to several places in their country, and at each place misfortune befell them.<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Samuel|5:1-6}}.</ref> At [[Isdud|Ashdod]] it was placed in the temple of [[Dagon]]. The next morning Dagon was found prostrate, bowed down, before it; and on being restored to his place, he was on the following morning again found prostrate and broken. The people of Ashdod were smitten with tumors; a plague of rodents was sent over the land. This may have been the [[bubonic plague]].<ref name="Asense">{{cite journal |last1=Asensi |first1=Victor |last2=Fierer |first2=Joshua |title=Of Rats and Men: Poussin's Plague at Ashdod |journal=Emerging Infectious Diseases |date=January 2018 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=186–187 |doi=10.3201/eid2401.AC2401 |pmc=5749463 |issn=1080-6040}}</ref><ref name="Freemon">{{cite journal |last1=Freemon |first1=Frank R. |date=September 2005 |title=Bubonic plague in the Book of Samuel |journal=Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine |volume=98 |issue=9 |page=436 |doi=10.1177/014107680509800923 |issn=0141-0768 |pmc=1199652 |pmid=16140864}}</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|1 Samuel|6:5}}.</ref> The affliction of tumours was also visited upon the people of [[Gath (city)|Gath]] and of [[Ekron]], whither the Ark was successively removed.<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Samuel|5:8-12}}.</ref>

===Return of the Ark to the Israelites===
[[File:Benjamin West - Joshua passing the River Jordan with the Ark of the Covenant - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright=1.7|''Joshua passing the River Jordan with the Ark of the Covenant'' by [[Benjamin West]], 1800]]
After the Ark had been among them for seven months, the Philistines, on the advice of their diviners, returned it to the Israelites, accompanying its return with an offering consisting of golden images of the tumors and mice wherewith they had been afflicted. The Ark was set up in the field of Joshua of [[Beit Shemesh]], and the people of Beit Shemesh offered sacrifices and burnt offerings according to the first five verses of [[1 Samuel 6]]. Verse 19, 1 Samuel 6 states that out of curiosity, the people of Beit Shemesh gazed at the Ark, and as a punishment, God struck down seventy of them (fifty thousand and seventy in some translations). The men of Beit Shemesh sent to [[Kiriath-Jearim|Qiryath Ye'arim]] to have the Ark removed in verse 21, and it was taken to the house of [[Abinadab]], whose [[Eleazar, son of Abinadab|son Eleazar]] was sanctified to keep it. Qiryath Ye'arim remained the abode of the Ark for twenty years, according to [[1 Samuel 7]].

Under Saul, the Ark was with the army before he first met the [[Philistines]], but the king was too impatient to consult it before engaging in battle. In [[1 Chronicles 13]], it is stated that the people were not accustomed to consulting the Ark in the days of [[Saul]].

===During the reign of King David===
[[File:Morgan-bible-fl-39.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.3|Illustration from the 13th-century [[Morgan Bible]] of David bringing the Ark into Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6)]]
In the biblical narrative, at the beginning of his reign over the [[United Monarchy of Israel|United Monarchy]], King [[David]] removed the Ark from [[Kirjath-jearim]] amid great rejoicing. On the way to [[Zion]], [[Uzzah]], one of the drivers of the cart that carried the Ark, put out his hand to steady the Ark, and was struck dead by God for touching it. The place was subsequently named "[[Perez-uzzah|Perez-Uzzah]]", literally {{gloss|outburst against Uzzah}},<ref>{{bibleverse|2 Samuel|6:8|NKJV}}.</ref> as a result. David, in fear, carried the Ark aside into the house of [[Obed-edom]] the [[Gath (city)|Gittite]], instead of carrying it on to Zion, and it stayed there for three months.<ref>{{bibleverse|2 Samuel|6:1–11}}.</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|1 Chronicles|13:1–13}}.</ref>

On hearing that God had blessed Obed-edom because of the presence of the Ark in his house, David had the Ark brought to Zion by the Levites, while he himself, "girded with a linen [[ephod]]{{nbsp}}[...] danced before the Lord with all his might" and in the sight of all the public gathered in Jerusalem, a performance which caused him to be scornfully rebuked by his first wife, Saul's daughter [[Michal]].<ref>{{bibleverse|2 Samuel|6:12-16}}.</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|2 Samuel|6:20-22}}.</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|1 Chronicles|15}}.</ref> In Zion, David put the Ark in the tent he had prepared for it, offered sacrifices, distributed food, and blessed the people and his own household.<ref>{{bibleverse|2 Samuel|6:17-20}}.</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|1 Chronicles|16:1-3}}.</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|2 Chronicles|1:4}}.</ref> David used the tent as a personal place of prayer.<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Chronicles|17:16}}.</ref><ref>Barnes, W. E. (1899), [https://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/1_chronicles/17.htm Cambridge Bible for Schools on 1 Chronicles 17], accessed 22 February 2020.</ref>

The Levites were appointed to minister before the Ark.<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Chronicles|16:4}}.</ref> David's plan of building a temple for the Ark was stopped on the advice of the [[biblical prophet|prophet]] [[Nathan (prophet)|Nathan]].<ref>{{bibleverse|2 Samuel|7:1–17}}.</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|1 Chronicles|17:1–15}}.</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|1 Chronicles|28:2}}.</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|1 Chronicles|3}}.</ref> The Ark was with the army during the siege of [[Rabbah]];<ref>{{bibleverse|2 Samuel|11:11}}.</ref> and when David fled from Jerusalem at the time of [[Absalom]]'s conspiracy, the Ark was carried along with him until he ordered [[Zadok (High Priest)|Zadok]] the priest to return it to Jerusalem.<ref>{{bibleverse|2 Samuel|15:24-29}}.</ref>

===The Temple of King Solomon===
[[File:Bible manual. Introductory course on the Bible, for teachers training classes and Bible classes (1922) (14749899816).jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.6|Model of the First Temple, included in a Bible manual for teachers (1922)]]
According to the Biblical narrative, when [[Abiathar]] was dismissed from the priesthood by King [[Solomon]] for having taken part in [[Adonijah]]'s [[conspiracy (political)|conspiracy]] against David, his life was spared because he had formerly borne the Ark.<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Kings|2:26}}.</ref> Solomon worshipped before the Ark after his dream in which God promised him wisdom.<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Kings|3:15}}.</ref>

During the construction of [[Solomon's Temple]], a special inner room, named {{transliteration|hbo|[[Kodesh Hakodashim]]}} ('[[Holy of Holies]]'), was prepared to receive and house the Ark;<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Kings|6:19}}.</ref> and when the Temple was dedicated, the Ark—containing the original [[Tablets of Stone|tablets]] of the [[Ten Commandments]]—was placed therein.<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Kings|8:6–9}}.</ref> When the priests emerged from the holy place after placing the Ark there, the Temple was filled with a cloud, "for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord".<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Kings|8:10·11}}.</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|2 Chronicles|5:13}}.</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|2 Chronicles|14}}.</ref>

When Solomon married Pharaoh's daughter, he caused her to dwell in a house outside [[Zion]], as Zion was consecrated because it contained the Ark.<ref>{{bibleverse|2 Chronicles|8:11}}.</ref> King Josiah also had the Ark returned to the Temple,<ref name="auto">{{bibleverse|2 Chronicles|35:3}}.</ref> from which it appears to have been removed by one of his predecessors (cf. 2 Chronicles 33–34 and 2 Kings 21–23).

===During the reign of King Hezekiah===
[[File:Folio 29r - The Ark of God Carried into the Temple.jpg|thumb|The Ark carried into the Temple from the early 15th century {{lang|fr|[[Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry]]}}]]
Prior to king [[Josiah]] who is the last biblical figure mentioned as having seen the Ark, king [[Hezekiah]] had seen the Ark.<ref>{{bibleverse|Isaiah|37:14–17}}.</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|2 Kings|19:14–19}}.</ref> Hezekiah is also known for protecting [[Jerusalem]] against the [[Assyrian Empire]] by improving the city walls and diverting the waters of the [[Gihon Spring]] through a tunnel known today as [[Hezekiah's Tunnel]], which channeled the water inside the city walls to the [[Pool of Siloam]].<ref>{{bibleverse|2 Chronicles|32:3–5}}.</ref>

In a noncanonical text known as the Treatise of the Vessels, [[Hezekiah]] is identified as one of the kings who had the Ark and the other treasures of [[Solomon's Temple]] hidden during a time of crisis. This text lists the following hiding places, which it says were recorded on a bronze tablet: (1) a spring named Kohel or Kahal with pure water in a valley with a stopped-up gate; (2) a spring named Kotel (or "wall" in Hebrew); (3) a spring named Zedekiah; (4) an unidentified cistern; (5) Mount Carmel; and (6) locations in Babylon.<ref>Davila, J., ''The Treatise of the Vessels (Massekhet Kelim): A New Translation and Introduction'', p. 626 (2013).</ref>

To many scholars, [[Hezekiah]] is also credited as having written all or some of the Book of Kohelet ([[Ecclesiastes]] in the Christian tradition), in particular the famously enigmatic epilogue.<ref>Quackenbos, D., Recovering an Ancient Tradition: Toward an Understanding of Hezekiah as the Author of Ecclesiastes, pp. 238–253 (2019).</ref> Notably, the epilogue appears to refer to the Ark story with references to almond blossoms (i.e., Aaron's rod), locusts, silver, and gold. The epilogue then cryptically refers to a pitcher broken at a fountain and a wheel broken at a cistern.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Ecclesiastes|12:5–6|HE}}.</ref>

Although scholars disagree on whether the Pool of Siloam's pure spring waters were used by pilgrims for ritual purification, many scholars agree that a stepped pilgrimage road between the pool and the Temple had been built in the first century CE.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tercatin |first=R. |date=2021-05-05 |title=Second Temple period 'lucky lamp' found on Jerusalem's Pilgrimage Road |url=https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/second-temple-period-lucky-lump-found-on-jerusalems-pilgrimage-road-667255 |access-date=2023-10-29 |website=[[The Jerusalem Post]] |language=en-US |issn=0792-822X}}</ref> This roadway has been partially excavated, but the west side of the Pool of Siloam remained unexcavated, as of 2016.<ref>Szanton, N.; Uziel, J. (2016), "Jerusalem, City of David [stepped street dig, July 2013 – end 2014], Preliminary Report (21/08/2016)". Hadashot Arkheologiyot. Israel Antiquities Authority, http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=25046&mag_id=124.</ref>

===The invasion of the Kingdom of Babylon===
In 587 BC, when the [[Babylonia]]ns [[Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)|destroyed Jerusalem]], an ancient Greek version of the biblical third Book of Ezra, [[1 Esdras]], suggests that Babylonians took away the vessels of the ark of God, but does not mention taking away the Ark:

{{blockquote|And they took all the holy vessels of the Lord, both great and small, with the vessels of the ark of God, and the king's treasures, and carried them away into Babylon<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Esdras|1:54}}</ref>}}

In [[Rabbinic literature]], the final disposition of the Ark is disputed. Some rabbis hold that it must have been carried off to Babylon, while others hold that it must have been hidden lest it be carried off into Babylon and never brought back.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Ark of the Covenant |url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1777-ark-of-the-covenant#anchor10 |encyclopedia=Jewish Encyclopedia |access-date=1 May 2012}}</ref> A late 2nd-century rabbinic work known as the {{transliteration|he|[[Tosefta]]}} states the opinions of these rabbis that [[Josiah]], the king of Judah, stored away the Ark, along with the jar of [[manna]], and a jar containing the holy anointing oil, the rod of Aaron which budded and a chest given to Israel by the Philistines.<ref>Tosefta (''Sotah'' 13:1); cf. [[Babylonian Talmud]] (''Kereithot'' 5b).</ref>

===Service of the Kohathites===

The [[Kohathites]] were one of the [[Levite]] houses from the [[Book of Numbers]]. Theirs was the responsibility to care for "the most holy things" in the [[tabernacle]]. When the camp, then wandering the Wilderness, set out the Kohathites would enter the tabernacle with Aaron and cover the ark with the screening curtain and "then they shall put on it a covering of fine leather, and spread over that a cloth all of blue, and shall put its poles in place." The ark was one of the items of the [[tent of meeting]] that the Kohathites were responsible for carrying.<ref>{{bibleverse|Numbers|4:5}}.</ref>

==Jewish tradition on location today==

The [[Talmud]] in [[Yoma]]<ref>{{cite book |title=Yoma 52b, 53b-54a}}</ref> suggests that the Ark was removed from the Temple towards the end of the era of the First Temple and the [[Second Temple]] never housed it. According to one view, it was taken to [[Babylon]] when [[Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)|Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem in 587 BCE]], exiling King [[Jeconiah]] along with the upper classes.<ref>{{cite book |title=Isaiah 39:6}}</ref>

Another perspective proposes that [[Josiah]], king of Judah, hid the Ark in anticipation of the Temple's destruction. Where it was hidden remains uncertain. One account in the Talmud<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Yoma.54a.7?lang=bi|title=Yoma 54a:7|website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Yoma 54a, 157/271, text accompanying notes 13-15 |url=https://halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Yoma.pdf }}</ref><ref>Citing [https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Shekalim.6.2?lang=bi Mishnah Shekalim 6.2]</ref> mentions a priest's suspicion of a tampered stone in a chamber designated for wood storage, hinting at the Ark's concealment.

Alternatively, it has been suggested that the Ark remained underground in the [[Holy of Holies]]. Some of the [[Chazal]], including the [[Radak]] and [[Maimonides]], propose that [[Solomon]] designed tunnels beneath the Temple to safeguard the Ark that Josiah later used. Attempts to excavate this area have yielded little due to political sensitivities.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sefaria.org/II_Chronicles.35.3?lang=bi&with=Radak&lang2=bi|title=II Chronicles 35:3|website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref><ref>Citing [https://www.sefaria.org/Yoma.52b.12?lang=bi Yoma 52b.11]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1007197/jewish/Beit-Habechirah-Chapter-4.htm|title=Beit Habechirah - Chapter 4 - Chabad.org}}</ref>

An opinion found in the [[Chapters of 2 Maccabees#Second letter|II Maccabees 2:4-10]], asserts that [[Jeremiah]] hid the Ark and other sacred items in a cave on [[Mount Nebo]] (now in Jordan), anticipating the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire|Neo-Babylonian]] invasion.

==Archaeology and historical context==

Archaeological evidence shows strong cultic activity at [[Kiriath-Jearim]] in the 8th and 7th centuries BC, well after the ark was supposedly removed from there to Jerusalem.<ref name="David" /> In particular, archaeologists found a large elevated podium, associated with the [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Northern Kingdom]] and not the [[Kingdom of Judah|Southern Kingdom]], which may have been a shrine.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Borschel-Dan |first=Amanda |date=10 January 2019 <!-- 8:05 pm -->  |title=Biblical site tied to Ark of the Covenant unearthed at convent in central Israel |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/biblical-site-tied-to-ark-of-the-covenant-unearthed-at-convent-in-central-israel/ |access-date=21 March 2025 |website=Times of Israel}}</ref> [[Thomas Römer]] suggests that this may indicate that the ark was not moved to Jerusalem until much later, possibly during the reign of [[King Josiah]] (reigned {{circa|640–609 BCE}}). He notes that this might explain why the ark featured prominently in the history before Solomon, but not after. Additionally, 2 Chronicles 35:3<ref name="auto"/> indicates that it was moved during King Josiah's reign.<ref name="David">{{cite news |author=David |first=Ariel |date=30 Aug 2017 |title=The Real Ark of the Covenant may have Housed Pagan Gods |newspaper=Haaretz |url=https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/MAGAZINE-the-real-ark-of-the-covenant-may-have-housed-pagan-gods-1.5446116}}</ref> However, Yigal Levin argues that there is no evidence that Kiriath-Jearim was a cultic center in the monarchical era or that it ever housed any "temple of the Ark".<ref name="Levin">{{Cite journal |title=Was Kiriath-jearim in Judah or in Benjamin? |journal=Israel Exploration Journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/63508149 |last=Levin |first=Yigal |issue=1 |volume=71 |pages=43–63 |year=2021 |issn=0021-2059 |jstor=27100296}}</ref>{{rp|52, 57}}

K. L. Sparks believes the story of the Ark was written independently around the [[8th century BC]] in a text referred to as the "Ark Narrative" and then incorporated into the main biblical narrative just before the [[Babylonian exile]].<ref name="Sparks">K. L. Sparks, "Ark of the Covenant" in Bill T. Arnold and H. G. M. Williamson (eds.), ''Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books'' (InterVarsity Press, 2005), p. 91.</ref>

Römer also suggests that the ark may have carried sacred stones "of the kind found in the chests of pre-Islamic Bedouins" and speculates that these may have been either a statue of [[Yahweh]] or a pair of statues depicting both Yahweh and his companion goddess [[Asherah]].<ref name="Rö92">Thomas Römer, ''The Invention of God'' (Harvard University Press, 2015), p. 92.</ref> In contrast, Scott Noegel has argued that the parallels between the ark and these practices remain "unconvincing" in part because the Bedouin objects lack the ark's distinctive structure, function, and mode of transportation.<ref name="Noegel" /> Unlike the ark, the Bedouin chests "contained no box, no lid, and no poles," they did not serve as the throne or footstool of a god, they were not overlaid with gold, did not have ''[[kerubim]]'' figures upon them, there were no restrictions on who could touch them, and they were transported on horses or camels.<ref name="Noegel" />

Noegel suggests that the ancient Egyptian [[Solar barque]] is a more plausible model for the Israelite ark, since Egyptian barques had all the features just mentioned. He adds that the Egyptians also were known to place written covenants beneath the feet of statues, proving a further parallel to the placement of the covenantal tablets inside the ark.<ref name="Noegel">Scott Noegel, "The Egyptian Origin of the Ark of the Covenant" in Thomas E. Levy, Thomas Schneider, and William H. C. Propp (eds.), ''Israel's Exodus in Transdisciplinary Perspective'' (Springer, 2015), pp. 223–242.</ref>

Levin holds that some biblical texts suggest that the Ark of the Covenant was only one among many other different arks at regional shrines prior to the centralization of worship in Jerusalem,<ref>Yigal Levin, “One Ark, Two Arks, Three Arks, More? The Many Arks of Ancient Israel,” in ''Epigraphy, Iconography and the Bible'', ed., Meir and Edith Lubetski (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2021).</ref> although Raanan Eichler disagrees.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Ark and the Cherubim |last=Eichler |first=Raanan |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |year=2021 |isbn=978-3-16-155432-2 |pages=4–5}}</ref> While Clifford Mark McCormick has questioned whether the Ark ever existed,<ref>Clifford Mark McCormick. Palace and Temple: A Study of Architectural and Verbal Icons (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 313). pp. 169-190. De Gruyter. 2002.</ref> other scholars such as Eichler, David A. Falk, Roger D. Isaacs, and Adam R. Hemmings have defended its historicity and antiquity based on linguistic evidence and significant parallels with similar artifacts from [[New Kingdom Egypt]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Ark of the Covenant in Its Egyptian Context: An Illustrated Journey |last=Falk |first=David A. |publisher=Hendrickson Publishers |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-68307-267-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Ark and the Cherubim |last=Eichler |first=Raanan |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |year=2021 |isbn=978-3-16-155432-2 |pages=302–304 |series=Forschungen zum Alten Testament |volume=146}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

==References in Abrahamic religions==

===Tanakh===
[[File:Royal Arch Room Ark replica 2.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Replica of the Ark of the Covenant in [[George Washington Masonic National Memorial]]]]
The Ark is first mentioned in the [[Book of Exodus]] and then numerous times in [[Deuteronomy]], [[Book of Joshua|Joshua]], [[Book of Judges|Judges]], [[I Samuel]], [[II Samuel]], [[I Kings]], [[I Chronicles]], [[II Chronicles]], [[Psalms]], and [[Book of Jeremiah|Jeremiah]].

In the [[Book of Jeremiah]], it is referenced by [[Jeremiah (prophet)|Jeremiah]], who, speaking in the days of [[Josiah]],<ref>{{bibleverse|Jeremiah|3:16}}.</ref> prophesied a future time, possibly the [[Jewish eschatology|end of days]], when the Ark will no longer be talked about or be made use of again:

{{blockquote|And it shall be that when you multiply and become fruitful in the land, in those days—the word of the {{LORD}}—they will no longer say, 'The Ark of the Covenant of the {{LORD}}' and it will not come to mind; they will not mention it, and will not recall it, and it will not be used any more.}}

[[Rashi]] comments on this verse that "The entire people will be so imbued with the spirit of sanctity that God's Presence will rest upon them collectively, as if the congregation itself was the Ark of the Covenant."<ref>{{cite book|title=Jeremiah 3:16, Tanach|publisher=ArtScroll|location=Brooklyn, New York|page=1078}}</ref>

===Second Book of Maccabees===
{{See also|2 Maccabees}}
According to [[Second Maccabees]], at the beginning of chapter 2:<ref>{{bibleverse|2 Maccabees|2:4–8|DRA}}.</ref>

{{blockquote|1=The records show that it was the prophet Jeremiah who{{nbsp}}[...] prompted by a divine message{{nbsp}}[...] gave orders that the Tent of Meeting and the ark should go with him. Then he went away to the mountain from the top of which Moses saw God's promised land. When he reached the mountain, Jeremiah found a cave-dwelling; he carried the tent, the ark, and the incense-altar into it, then blocked up the entrance. Some of his companions came to mark out the way, but were unable to find it. When Jeremiah learnt of this he reprimanded them. "The place shall remain unknown", he said, "until God finally gathers his people together and shows mercy to them. The Lord will bring these things to light again, and the glory of the Lord will appear with the cloud, as it was seen both in the time of Moses and when Solomon prayed that the shrine might be worthily consecrated."}}

The "mountain from the top of which Moses saw God's promised land" would be [[Mount Nebo]], located in what is now [[Jordan]].

===Samaritan tradition===
Samaritan tradition claims that the Ark of the Covenant had been kept at a sanctuary on [[Mount Gerizim|Mt. Gerizim]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Matassa |first=Lidia Domenica |title=ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA |publisher=Thomson Gale |isbn=978-0-02-865945-9 |editor1=Skolnik |editor-first=Fred |edition=2nd |volume=17 Ra–Sam |page=719 |chapter=Samaritans History |date=2007 |editor2=Michael Berenbaum}}</ref>

===New Testament===
====The physical ark of the Old Testament====
[[File:Cathédrale d'Auch 20.jpg|thumb|right|Carrying the Ark of the Covenant: gilded bas-relief at [[Auch Cathedral]], France]]

In the [[New Testament]], the Ark is mentioned in the [[Letter to the Hebrews]] and the [[Book of Revelation|Revelation to St. John]]. Hebrews 9:4 states that the Ark contained "the golden pot that had [[manna]], and [[Aaron's rod]] that budded, and the [[Tablets of Stone|tablets of the covenant]]."<ref>{{bibleverse|Hebrews|9:4|NIV}}.</ref> {{bibleverse|Revelation|11:19|NIV}} says the prophet saw God's temple in heaven opened, "and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple."

====The Blessed Virgin Mary as the “New Ark”====
In the [[Gospel of Luke]], the author's accounts of the [[Annunciation]] and [[Visitation (Christianity)|Visitation]] are constructed using eight points of literary parallelism to compare Mary to the Ark.<ref name="Answers" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://stpaulcenter.com/holy-queen-lesson-3-1/|title=Holy Queen, Lesson 3.1}}</ref>

The contents of the ark were seen by [[Church Fathers]] including [[Thomas Aquinas]] as symbolic of the attributes of Jesus Christ: the [[manna]] as the [[Holy Eucharist]]; [[Aaron's rod]] as Jesus' eternal priestly authority; and the [[tablets of the Law]], as the Lawgiver himself.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |entry-url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01721a.htm |entry=Ark of the Covenant |encyclopedia=[[Catholic Encyclopedia]] |via=New Advent |access-date= 2020-04-18}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Feingold|first=Lawrence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NdOVDwAAQBAJ|title=The Eucharist: Mystery of Presence, Sacrifice, and Communion|date=2018-04-01|publisher=Emmaus Academic|isbn=978-1-945125-74-4|chapter=2}}</ref>  Thomas Aquinas compared the two types of materials of the ark to the two natures of Christ in the hypostatic union (Jesus having human and divine natures). He wrote, "The Ark, wherein were the Law and the manna, signified Christ, who is 'the living bread that came down from Heaven' and 'the fulfillment of the Law'. Moreover, the wood overlaid with gold signifies that Christ was true man and true God."<ref>Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica Part: III (Tertia Pars), Question 25, Article 3</ref>

[[Catholic Church|Catholic]] scholars connect the pregnant, birthing [[Woman of the Apocalypse]] from [[Revelation 12:1–2|Revelation 12:1-2]], with the [[Blessed Virgin Mary (Roman Catholic)|Blessed Virgin Mary]], whom they identify as the "Ark of the New Covenant."<ref name="Answers">{{cite journal|last=Ray |first=Steve |title=Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant |journal=[[This Rock]] |date=October 2005 |volume=16 |issue=8 |url=http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2005/0510fea5.asp |access-date=2 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629002717/http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2005/0510fea5.asp |archive-date=29 June 2011 }}</ref><ref>David Michael Lindsey, ''The Woman and The Dragon: Apparitions of Mary'', p. 21 (Pelican Publishing Company, Incorporated, 2000). {{ISBN|1-56554-731-4}}.</ref> Carrying the saviour of mankind within her, she herself became the [[Holy of Holies]]. This is the interpretation given in the third century by [[Gregory Thaumaturgus]], and in the fourth century by Saint [[Ambrose]], [[Ephrem the Syrian|Saint Ephraem of Syria]] and [[Augustine of Hippo|Saint Augustine]].<ref>Dwight Longenecker, David Gustafson, ''Mary: A Catholic Evangelical Debate'', p. 32 (Gracewing, 2003). {{ISBN|0-85244-582-2}}.</ref> The [[Catechism of the Catholic Church]] teaches that Mary is a metaphorical version of the ark: "Mary, in whom the Lord himself has just made his dwelling, is the [[daughter of Zion]] in person, the ark of the covenant, [[Shekhina|the place where the glory of the Lord dwells]]. She is 'the dwelling of God{{nbsp}}[...] with men."<ref>{{Cite CCC|2.1|2676}}</ref>

[[Athanasius of Alexandria|Saint Athanasius]], the bishop of Alexandria, is credited with writing about the connections between the Ark and the Virgin Mary: "O noble Virgin, truly you are greater than any other greatness. For who is your equal in greatness, O dwelling place of [[God the Word]]? To whom among all creatures shall I compare you, O Virgin? You are greater than them all O (Ark of the) Covenant, clothed with purity instead of gold! You are the Ark in which is found the golden vessel containing the true manna, that is, the flesh in which Divinity resides" (''Homily of the [[Papyrus of Turin]]'').<ref name="Answers"/>

===Quran===
The Ark is referred to in the [[Quran]] ([[Surah]] [[Al-Baqara]]: 248):<ref>{{Cite web |title=Surah Al-Baqarah – 248 |url=https://quran.com/al-baqarah/248 |access-date=2023-07-05 |website=Quran.com |language=en}}</ref>
{{blockquote|Their prophet further told them, “The sign of Saul’s kingship is that the Ark will come to you—containing reassurance from your Lord and relics of the family of Moses and the family of Aaron, which will be carried by the angels. Surely in this is a sign for you, if you ˹truly˺ believe."}}

===The Ark in other faiths ===
According to [[Uri Rubin]], the Ark of the Covenant has a religious basis in [[Islam]] (and the [[Baháʼí Faith]]), which gives it special significance.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.urirubin.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/Ark_of_Covenant.86223711.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.urirubin.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/Ark_of_Covenant.86223711.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Traditions in Transformation: The Ark of the Covenant and the Golden Calf in Biblical and Islamic Historiography |last=Rubin |first=Uri |date=2001 |access-date=2016-11-17}}</ref>

==Claims of current status==

===According to the Book of Maccabees===
The Book of [[2 Maccabees]] 2:4–10, written around 100 B.C. claims that the prophet [[Jeremiah]], following “being warned by God" before the [[Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)|Babylonian invasion]], took the Ark, the Tabernacle, and the Altar of Incense, and buried them in a cave, informing those of his followers who wished to find the place that it should remain unknown "until the time that God should gather His people again together, and receive them unto mercy."<ref>Cf. [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2034%3A1–3&version=DRA Deuteronomy 34:1–3] and [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Maccabees%202%3A4–8&version=DRA 2 Maccabees 2:4–8].</ref>

===Ethiopia===
[[File:Ark of the Covenant church in Axum Ethiopia.jpg|thumb|The Chapel of the Tablet at the [[Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion]] in [[Axum]] allegedly houses the original Ark of the Covenant]]
The [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]] claims to possess the Ark of the Covenant in [[Axum]]. The Ark is kept under guard in a treasury near the [[Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion]]. Replicas of the tablets within the Ark, or ''[[tabot]]s'', are kept in every Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Each tabot is kept in its own holy of holies, each with its own dedication to a particular saint; the most popular of these include [[Saint Mary]], [[Saint George]] and [[Saint Michael]].<ref name="munro-hay">Stuart Munro-Hay, 2005, ''The Quest for the Ark of the Covenant'', Tauris (reviewed in ''Times Literary Supplement'' 19 August 2005 p. 36).</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Raffaele|first1=Paul|title=Keepers of the lost Ark? |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/keepers-of-the-lost-ark-179998820/ |website=Smithsonian Magazine |access-date=6 August 2021}}</ref>

The ''[[Kebra Nagast]]'' is often said to have been composed to legitimise the [[Solomonic dynasty]], which ruled the [[Ethiopian Empire]] following its establishment in 1270, but this is not the case. It was originally composed in some other language (Coptic or Greek), then translated into Arabic, and translated into [[Geʽez]] in 1321.<ref>Bezold, Carl. 1905. Kebra Nagast, die Kerrlichkeit der Könige: Nach den Handschriften in Berlin, London, Oxford und Paris. München: K.B. Akademie der Wissenschaften.</ref> It narrates how the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Ethiopia by [[Menelik I]] with divine assistance, while a forgery was left in the Temple in Jerusalem. Although the ''Kebra Nagast'' is the best-known account of this belief, the belief predates the document. [[Abu al-Makarim]], writing in the last quarter of the twelfth century, makes one early reference to this belief that they possessed the Ark. "The Abyssinians possess also the Ark of the Covenant", he wrote, and, after a description of the object, describes how the liturgy is celebrated upon the Ark four times a year, "on the feast of the great nativity, on the feast of the glorious Baptism, on the feast of the holy Resurrection, and on the feast of the illuminating Cross."<ref>B. T. A. Evetts (translator), ''The Churches and Monasteries of Egypt and Some Neighboring Countries attributed to Abu Salih, the Armenian'', with added notes by Alfred J. Butler (Oxford, 1895), p. 287f.</ref>

In his controversial 1992 book ''[[The Sign and the Seal]]'', British writer [[Graham Hancock]] reports on the Ethiopian belief that the ark spent several years in Egypt before it came to Ethiopia via the [[Nile|Nile River]], where it was kept on the islands of [[Lake Tana]] for about four hundred years and finally taken to Axum.<ref>{{cite book | last = Hancock | first = Graham | title = The Sign and the Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant | publisher = Crown | location = New York | year = 1992 | isbn = 0-517-57813-1 | url = https://archive.org/details/signsealquestfor00hanc_0 }}</ref> Archaeologist John Holladay of the University of Toronto called Hancock's theory "garbage and hogwash"; [[Edward Ullendorff]], a former professor of Ethiopian Studies at the University of London, said he "wasted a lot of time reading it." In a 1992 interview, Ullendorff says that he examined the ark held in the church in Axum in 1941. Describing the ark there, he says, "They have a wooden box, but it's empty. Middle- to late-medieval construction, when these were fabricated ad hoc."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hiltzik |first1=Michael |title=Documentary : Does Trail to Ark of Covenant End Behind Aksum Curtain?: A British author believes the long-lost religious object may actually be inside a stone chapel in Ethiopia. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-06-09-wr-237-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times |date=9 June 1992 |access-date=24 October 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Jarus |first1=Owen |title=Sorry Indiana Jones, the Ark of the Covenant Is Not Inside This Ethiopian Church |url=https://www.livescience.com/64256-ark-of-the-covenant-location.html |website=Live Science |date=7 December 2018 |access-date=24 October 2019}}</ref>

On 25 June 2009, the patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia, [[Abune Paulos]], said he would announce to the world the next day the unveiling of the Ark of the Covenant, which he said had been kept safe and secure in a church in Axum.<ref>Fendel, Hillel (2009-06-25). [http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/132067 "Holy Ark Announcement Due on Friday", ''Aruta Sheva'' (Israel International News)]. Retrieved on 2009-06-25</ref> The following day, he announced that he would not unveil the Ark after all, but that instead he could attest to its current status.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Richard |date=2009-07-01 |title=''Ho visto l'Arca dell'Alleanza ed è in buone condizioni'' |url=https://www.altrogiornale.org/ho-visto-larca-dellalleanza-ed-a%c2%a8-in-buone-condizioni/ |access-date=2023-10-29 |website=Altrogiornale.org |language=it-IT}}</ref>

===Southern Africa===
The [[Lemba people]] of South Africa and [[Zimbabwe]] have claimed that their ancestors carried the Ark south, calling it the ''ngoma lungundu'' "[[voice of God]]", eventually hiding it in a deep cave in the Dumghe mountains, their spiritual home.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Tudor|last1=Parfitt|title=The Lost Ark of the Covenant|publisher=HarperCollins|year=2008}}</ref><ref name="time">{{Cite web |last=Van Biema |first=David |date=2008-02-25 |title=A Lead on the Ark of the Covenant – TIME |url=http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1715337,00.html |access-date=2023-10-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080225090932/http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1715337,00.html |archive-date=2008-02-25 }}</ref>

On 14 April 2008, in a UK [[Channel 4]] documentary, [[Tudor Parfitt]], taking a literalist approach to the Biblical story, described his research into this claim. He says that the object described by the Lemba has attributes similar to the Ark. It was of similar size, was carried on poles by priests, was not allowed to touch the ground, was revered as a voice of their God, and was used as a weapon of great power, sweeping enemies aside.<ref>{{cite web |date=2008-04-14 |title=Debates & Controversies – Quest for the Lost Ark |url=http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/C/can_you_believe_it/debates/lostark.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513034056/http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/C/can_you_believe_it/debates/lostark.html |archive-date=May 13, 2008 |access-date=2010-03-07 |publisher=Channel4.com}}</ref>

In his book ''The Lost Ark of the Covenant'' (2008), Parfitt also suggests that the Ark was taken to Arabia following the events depicted in the Second Book of Maccabees, and cites Arabic sources which maintain it was brought in distant times to [[Yemen]]. Genetic [[Y-DNA]] analyses in the 2000s have established a partially Middle-Eastern origin for a portion of the male Lemba population but no specific Jewish connection.<ref name="SpurdleJenkins">{{Citation |last1=Spurdle |first1=A. B. |title=The origins of the Lemba "Black Jews" of southern Africa: evidence from p12F2 and other Y-chromosome markers. |date=November 1996 |journal=Am. J. Hum. Genet. |volume=59 |issue=5 |pages=1126–33 |pmc=1914832 |pmid=8900243 |last2=Jenkins |first2=T.}}.</ref> Lemba tradition maintains that the Ark spent some time in a place called Sena, which might be [[Sena, Yemen]]. Later, it was taken across the sea to [[East Africa]] and may have been taken inland at the time of [[Great Zimbabwe]]. According to their oral traditions, it self-destructed sometime after the Lemba's arrival with the Ark. Using a core from the original, the Lemba priests constructed a new one. This replica was discovered in a cave by a Swedish-German missionary named [[Harald Philip Hans von Sicard]] in the 1940s and eventually found its way to the [[Zimbabwe Museum of Human Sciences|Museum of Human Sciences]] in [[Harare]].<ref name="time"/>

===Europe===

====Rome====
The 2nd century Rabbi [[Eliezer ben Jose]] claimed that he saw somewhere in Rome the [[mercy-seat]] lid of the ark. According to his account, a bloodstain was present and was told that it was a stain from the blood which the Jewish high priest sprinkled thereon on the [[Day of Atonement]]."<ref>{{cite book |title=Midrash Tanḥuma |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/mhl/mhl04.htm |access-date=4 June 2017 |page=33}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Talmud|b|Midrash Tanchuma, Vayakhel|10:2|nobook=1}}.</ref>

Accordingly, another tale claims that the Ark was kept within the [[Basilica of Saint John Lateran]], surviving the pillages of Rome by King of the Visigoths [[Alaric I]] and King of the Vandals [[Gaiseric]] but was eventually lost when the basilica burned in the fifth century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Salmon |first=J. |url=https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_a-description-of-the-wor_salmon-j_1798_1/page/n125/mode/2up?view=theater |title=A Description of the Works of Art of Ancient and Modern Rome: Particularly in Architecture, Sculpture & Painting. To which is Added, a Tour Through the Cities and Towns in the Environs of that Metropolis |date=1798 |publisher=J. Sammells |volume=1 |location=London, England |page=108 |language=en-uk}}</ref><ref>Debra J. Birch, ''Pilgrimage To Rome In The Middle Ages: Continuity and Change'', p. 111 (The Boydell Press, 1998). {{ISBN|0-85115-771-8}}.</ref>

====Ireland====
Between 1899 and 1902, the [[British Israelism|British-Israel]] Association of London carried out limited excavations of the [[Hill of Tara]] in Ireland looking for the Ark of the Covenant. [[Irish nationalists]], including [[Maud Gonne]] and the [[Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland]] (RSAI), campaigned successfully to have them stopped before they destroyed the hill.<ref>{{cite web |author=McAvinchey |first=Ivan |title=News 2006 (March 9) |url=http://www.rsai.ie/index.cfm?action=obj.display&obj_id=153 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090308031115/http://www.rsai.ie/index.cfm?action=obj.display&obj_id=153 |archive-date=2009-03-08 |access-date=2010-03-07 |publisher=Rsai.ie}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Tara and the Ark of the Covenant | date=7 October 2015 |url=https://www.ria.ie/tara-and-ark-covenant#:~:text=During%201899%20and%201902%2C%20members,Commandments%20inscribed%20on%20stone%20tablets. |publisher=[[Royal Irish Academy]]}}</ref><ref name=it/> A non-invasive survey by archaeologist Conor Newman carried out from 1992 until 1995 found no evidence of the Ark.<ref name=it>{{cite news |title=Demolishing the myths at Tara |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/demolishing-the-myths-at-tara-1.158532 |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |date=1998}}</ref>

The British Israelites believed that the Ark was located at the grave of the Egyptian princess [[Tea Tephi]], who according to Irish legend came to Ireland in the 6th century BC and married Irish King [[Érimón]]. Because of the historical importance of Tara, Irish nationalists like [[Douglas Hyde]] and [[W. B. Yeats]] voiced their protests in newspapers, and in 1902 Maud Gonne led a campaign against the excavations at the site.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Carew (Dr.) |first1=Mairead |title=British Jewish leaders searched for the Ark of the Covenant at Tara |url=https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/british-jewish-leaders-sought-the-ark-of-the-covenant-at-tara |work=Irish Central}}</ref>
====Malaita Island====

Many [[Malaita]]ns claim that the ark of covenant is buried somewhere deep in the jungle of their island. They have a family tradition that they are a lost Jewish tribe from Zedekiah the high priest of Israel. And that he came there in the year 66 AD to bury it. This idea has been recently presented in the article “Ark of Covenant Location Discovered!” by Mike Edery. In the article, he argues that a Torah code from the Baal Shem Tov reveals its current location on Malaita island.<ref name="Ark_Article">{{Cite web|last=Edery|first=Mike|title=Ark of Covenant Location Discovered!|url=https://torahtable.com/ark-of-covenant-location-discovered|website=Torahtable}}</ref>

Additionally in the year 2013, a journalist by the name of Mathew Fishbane had visited the island in the hopes of finding the ark on Malaita island. He interviewed several Malaitans who gave the story of how the ark ended up there. Although he was unable to find it, the legend still lives on today.<ref name="Solomon’s Island">{{cite web|last=Fishbane|first=Mathew|title=Solomon’s Island|website=Tablet Magazine|date=2013|url=https://www.magazine.atavist.com/2013/solomons-island|access-date=15 September 2025}} </ref>

==In literature and the arts==
[[Philip Kaufman]] conceived of the Ark of the Covenant as the main [[plot device]] of [[Steven Spielberg]]'s 1981 [[adventure film]] ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'',<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CGX7BQV0jo8C&pg=PA38 |title=I Am.. The Power and the Presence |publisher=Kindred Productions |year=2003 |page=38 |isbn=978-0-921788-91-1 |first1=Lynn |last1=Graham |first2=David |last2=Graham}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Insdorf|first=Annette|title=Philip Kaufman|date=15 March 2012|isbn=978-0-252-09397-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-fYYc97uaIC|page=71|publisher=University of Illinois Press }}</ref> where it is found by [[Indiana Jones (character)|Indiana Jones]] in the Egyptian city of [[Tanis]] in 1936.<ref>{{cite book |last=McLoughlin |first=Tom |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NzBADwAAQBAJ&pg=PT66 |title=A Strange Idea of Entertainment – Conversations with Tom McLoughlin |publisher=BearManor Media |year=2014 |page=66 |author-link=Tom McLoughlin}}</ref>{{efn|The Ark is mentioned in ''[[Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade]]'' (1989) and briefly appears in ''[[Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull]]'' (2008).}} 

In the Danish family film ''[[The Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar]]'' from 2006, the main part of the treasure found in the end is the Ark of the Covenant. The power of the Ark comes from static electricity stored in separated metal plates like a giant [[Leyden jar]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Tempelriddernes skat |url=https://filmcentralen.dk/grundskolen/undervisning/tempelriddernes-skat?sub=5669 |website=Filmcentralen / streaming af danske kortfilm og dokumentarfilm |access-date=16 April 2019 |language=da}}</ref>

In [[Harry Turtledove]]'s novel ''Alpha and Omega'' (2019) the ark is found by archeologists, and the characters have to deal with the proven existence of God.<ref>{{cite web |title=Alpha and Omega |date=July 2019 |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-399-18149-8 |publisher=[[Publishers Weekly]] |access-date=1 April 2021}}</ref>

The Ark has been depicted many times in art for two thousand years, some examples are in the article above, a few more are here.
{{Gallery
| File:Emperor Menelik I Bringing the Zion Tabot ( Ark of the covenant ) to Axum.jpg
 | The legendary [[Menelik I|Emperor Menelik I of Ethiopia]] (traditionally fl. tenth century BCE) carries the Ark (shown here as small) into [[Axum]].
 | alt1=T
| File:Joshua passing the River Jordan with the Ark of the Covenant (cropped).jpg
 | Joshua passing the River Jordan with the Ark of the Covenant. 1800, oil on wood, [[Benjamin West]]. Held at [[Art Gallery of New South Wales]].
 | alt3=J
| File:The Philistines Place the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple of Dagon MET DP819518.jpg
| The [[Philistines]] Place the Ark of the Covenant in a Temple of their god [[Dagon]]. c. 1450, [[Battista Franco Veneziano]]. Held at [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], New York.
 | alt4=
| File:Ark of the Covenant (Erastus Salisbury Field).jpg
 | Ark of the Covenant. Painted between 1865 and 1880, [[Erastus Salisbury Field]]. Held at the [[National Gallery of Art]], Washington D.C.

| File:The Levites led by David carry the Ark of God to Zion, from the Olomouc Bible, Part I, folio 279v (Bible Olomoucká, I. díl, I. 1417, p. 279v) sharpened.jpg
 |1417 A.D. The Levites, led by [[King David]], carry the Ark of God to Zion, from the ''[[:cs:Bible olomoucká|Olomouc Bible]]'', Part I, folio 279v, held at the [[Research Library in Olomouc|Scientific Library]], [[Olomouc]], Czech Republic.

}}

==Yom HaAliyah==
[[Yom HaAliyah]] (Aliyah Day) ({{langx|he|יום העלייה}}) is an Israeli national holiday celebrated annually on the tenth of the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] month of [[Nisan]] to commemorate the Israelites crossing the Jordan River into the Land of Israel while carrying the Ark of the Covenant.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4817589,00.html |title=Government to pass new holiday: 'Aliyah Day' |work=[[Ynetnews]] |access-date=23 April 2017 |first=Amichai |last=Atali |date=19 June 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/178843 |title=Knesset Proposes Aliyah Holiday Bill |website=[[Israel National News]] |access-date=23 April 2017 |first=Ari |last=Yashar |date=24 March 2014}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Ngoma Lungundu]]
* [[Copper Scroll]]
* [[List of artifacts in biblical archaeology]]
* ''[[The Exodus Decoded]]'' (2006 television documentary)
* [[History of ancient Israel and Judah]]
* [[Jewish symbolism]]
* [[Mikoshi]], a portable Shinto shrine
* [[Gihon Spring]]
* [[Josephus]]
* [[Mount Gerizim]]
* [[Temple menorah]]
* [[Pool of Siloam]]
* [[Samaritans]]
* [[Siloam Tunnel]]
* [[Solomon's Temple]]

==Footnotes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|25em}}

==Further reading==
* Carew, Mairead, ''Tara and the Ark of the Covenant: A Search for the Ark of the Covenant by British Israelites on the Hill of Tara, 1899–1902''. Royal Irish Academy, 2003. {{ISBN|0-9543855-2-7}}
* [[Eric H. Cline|Cline, Eric H.]] (2007), ''From Eden to Exile: Unravelling Mysteries of the Bible'', National Geographic Society, {{ISBN|978-1-4262-0084-7}}
* Falk, David A. (2020), ''The Ark of the Covenant in Its Egyptian Context: An Illustrated Journey'', Hendrickson Publishers, {{ISBN|978-1-68307-267-6}}
* Foster, Charles, ''Tracking the Ark of the Covenant''. Monarch, 2007.
* Grierson, Roderick & [[Stuart Munro-Hay|Munro-Hay, Stuart]], ''The Ark of the Covenant''. Orion Books Ltd, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7538-1010-7}}
* [[Graham Hancock|Hancock, Graham]], ''[[The Sign and the Seal|The Sign and the Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant]]''. Touchstone Books, 1993. {{ISBN|0-671-86541-2}}
* Haran, M., ''The Disappearance of the Ark'', [[Israel Exploration Journal|IEJ]] 13 (1963), pp.&nbsp;46–58
* Hertz, J. H., ''The Pentateuch and Haftoras. Deuteronomy''. Oxford University Press, 1936.
* Hubbard, David (1956) The Literary Sources of the Kebra Nagast Ph.D. dissertation, St. Andrews University, Scotland
* Munro-Hay, Stuart, ''The Quest For The Ark of The Covenant: The True History of The Tablets of Moses''. L. B. Tauris & Co Ltd., 2006. {{ISBN|1-84511-248-2}}
* Ritmeyer, L., ''The Ark of the Covenant: Where It Stood in Solomon's Temple''. Biblical Archaeology Review 22/1: 46–55, 70–73, 1996
* Stolz, Fritz. "Ark of the Covenant." In ''The Encyclopedia of Christianity'', edited by Erwin Fahlbusch and Geoffrey William Bromiley, 125. Vol. 1. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1999. {{ISBN|0-8028-2413-7}}

==External links==
{{Wikibooks}}
{{Commons category|Ark of the Covenant}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Library resources box |by=no |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Ark of the Covenant
  |viaf= |lccn= |lcheading= |wikititle= }}
* Portions of this article have been taken from the ''Jewish Encyclopedia'' of 1906. [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1777&letter=A&search=Ark%20of%20the%20Covenant Ark of the Covenant]
* The ''Catholic Encyclopedia'', Volume I. [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01721a.htm Ark of the Covenant]
* {{cite EB9 |wstitle = Ark of the Covenant |volume= II |last= Smith |first= William Robertson  |author-link= William Robertson Smith | page=539 |short=1 }}
* Smithsonian.com [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/keepers-of-the-lost-ark-179998820/ "Keepers of the Lost Ark?"]'
* Shyovitz, David, [https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/ark.html The Lost Ark of the Covenant], [[Jewish Virtual Library]]

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