Ark, Ark, Who’s Got The Ark

The Contra Costa Times has a fine rejoinder to the Ark of the Covenant discovered nonsense, listing a variety of theories concerning it’s location and/or disposition.

Theories concerning its whereabouts include but are not limited to

1- The Temple Institute, a group of orthodox rabbis in Jerusalem dedicated to rebuilding the Temple, claim the Ark is safely stored in a hidden chamber under the Temple Mount complex, according to the institute’s Web site.

2- Meanwhile, the Sanhedrin Court, the only religious body authorized to determine the correct location of the Temple, reconvened in 2005.

3- And renowned biblical archaeologist Vendyl Jones, who claims to be the inspiration for the fictional Indiana Jones, is trying to raise $88,000 to return to Qumran to remove 40 stones blocking entrance to an inner cave where he believes the Ark and other Temple treasures are located.

4- J. Edward Wright, a professor of Hebrew Bible and early Judaism at the University of Arizona, conceded that it’s possible the Babylonians may have stripped the gold from the Ark after invading Jerusalem in 586 B.C. The Ark is believed to have disappeared from the Temple in Jerusalem about that time.

5- “The most dominant theory has to do with the St. Mary of Zion Church in Aksum, Ethiopia,” said Beatrice Lawrence, an instructor at Hebrew Union College — Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. “The theories abound, but there is no evidence to support any theory over the other.”

6- Grant Jeffrey, author of “The New Temple and the Second Coming” and 24 other books, said Jewish writings and the Ethiopian Royal Chronicles indicate a replica of the Ark was made before the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem.

7- Add to these now the theory of Parfitt, who began to suspect the Lemba tribe possessed the Ark after attending a tribal ceremony in 1987.

Personally I think the Ark

8- resides in a series of caverns beneath the Moscow Public Library where it was taken after Hitler captured it in Africa and moved it to Berlin when the Russians took the eastern half of the city at the end of world war 2. It will remain in Russia till the Antichrist, who comes from Sweden, will rise to power and transfer it to the new capitol of Israel, Jerusalem, in 2213 after Israel expands to extend its world empire as far East as China, as far West as Spain, as far North as Germany, and as far South as South Africa. And if you don’t like this theory, it at least makes as much sense as all the others.

Deutsch On The Seals

Robert Deutsch passed this along and asked me to post it, which I am more than happy to do.

 

Dear All

The attached seal from the Moussaieff coll., probably belonged to the father of Rapayahu from Jerusalem. It has the same dotes serving as space fillers and was probably made in the same workshop (in Jerusalem ?)

We can also observe the paponym phenomenon (son named after the grand father). The iconography can also be compared with the Shlomit seal recently found also by the same “seal finder” at Jerusalem.

(Deutsch and Lemaire 2000, p. 90.

Sincerely
Robert Deutsch

UPDATE:  Aren Maeir tells of the Gath Connection.