Chapter 88 – The Ark – Burned, Babylon, or Buried?

The End Time Church: From the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

By Dan L. White

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB) which is in the public domain.

Chapter 88

The Ark —
Burned, Babylon, or Buried?

After the Babylonian invasion, the Ark of the Covenant was never again mentioned in the Hebrew scriptures.

So how important was the Ark, anyway?

Well, it was almost like it was the throne of God or something.

The Ark led Israel through the wilderness, it led Israel across the dammed up Jordan River, and it led Israel around Jericho when that city was de-walled. The Ark, where the cloud of Yahweh’s presence rested in the Holy of Holies, was enormously important. Yet after Babylon conquered Judah and destroyed Solomon’s Temple, nothing more is said about that Ark.

What happened to the Ark?

Was it destroyed by the Babylonians?

Was it carried away by the Babylonians?

Or was it hidden from the Babylonians?

By Josiah’s time, the book of the law – amazingly! — was lost.

Hezekiah’s father Ahaz was a godless reprobate. Hezekiah’s son Manasseh filled Judah with wickedness, until he was captured and repented. Hezekiah’s grandson Amon was perverse in his ways. Needless to say, those bad guys did not take care of the Temple.

Then came Hezekiah’s great-grandson Josiah. From his youth, he was a God seeker.

2Chr 34
1) Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.
2) He did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, and walked in the ways of David his father, and didn’t turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
3) For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the Asherim, and the engraved images, and the molten images.

Josiah began to seek God and he knew that idols were wrong. To some extent, though, he didn’t really know what he was seeking, because nobody knew where the book of the law was. So Josiah was trying to be obedient — without knowing exactly what to obey.

Then Hilkiah found the book of the law.

2Chr 34
14) …Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of Yahweh given by Moses.

Who was Hilkiah?

Hilkiah was the father of the prophet Jeremiah.

Jer 1
1) The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:
2) to whom the word of Yahweh came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
3) It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

Hilkiah was high priest during Josiah’s reign, and Jeremiah began to serve as a prophet at the same time.

So Hilkiah found the book of the law, and that book was originally placed by the Ark of the Covenant.

Deut 31
24) It happened, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished,
25) that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, saying,
26) “Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God, that it may be there for a witness against you.

Josiah was the fifteenth of nineteen kings over Judah. By his time, the four centuries old Temple was ignored, neglected, and in disrepair; and no one could even remember where the book of the law was. Even the high priest didn’t know where it was!

So Josiah had workers repair and clean the Temple. In that process, Hilkiah found the book of the law.

Where was it when Hilkiah found it?

Elliott’s Commentary for English Readers:
Josephus makes Hilkiah find the book in the treasure-chamber of the Temple which he had entered to get gold and silver for making some sacred vessels. According to Rabbinical tradition it was found hidden under a heap of stones, where it had been placed to save it from being burnt by king Ahaz.

Some “rabbis” said the book of the law was hidden during Ahaz’ time. But Ahaz was Hezekiah’s father, and Hezekiah knew the laws that Yahweh had commanded Moses.

2Kgs 18
6) For he joined with Yahweh; he didn’t depart from following him, but kept his commandments, which Yahweh commanded Moses.

One of the first things that Hezekiah did was to return to keeping the Feasts. That means that Hezekiah knew the law, so either he had the original book of the law, or a copy. So it does not seem that the book of the law was hidden in Ahaz’ time. It must have been lost after Hezekiah’s time.

Hezekiah’s son Manasseh filled Judah with wickedness. Then his son Amon followed the evil part of Manasseh’s life and not the good part after Manasseh’s repentance. Somehow during the reign of those two evil kings between Hezekiah and Josiah, the book of the law and much of the knowledge in it was lost. Josiah did not know to keep the Feasts that his great-grandfather Hezekiah had restored, among other things.

When Josiah ordered the cleaning and restoring of the Temple, that’s when Hilkiah rediscovered the book of the law.

But where was the Ark of the Covenant?

After the Temple was repaired, Josiah told the Levites to put the Ark in the Temple.

2Chr 35
3) He said to the Levites who taught all Israel, who were holy to Yahweh, “Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built. There shall no more be a burden on your shoulders. Now serve Yahweh your God, and his people Israel.

At some point the Ark had been moved out of the Temple.

Why?

First, the Ark may have been removed simply because the Temple was being repaired.

Bullinger’s Companion Bible says that the Ark “had probably been removed during the reparation of the Temple.”

Barnes’ Notes says “The ark of the covenant may have been temporarily removed from the holy of holies while Josiah effected necessary repairs.”

That’s quite logical. They took the Ark out of the Temple during their work, and put it back when they were done.

Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible agrees with that, but brings up another possibility.
…these put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; which some think was removed from thence by Amon, and an idol put in its room, which is the greater trespass he is said to be guilty of, 2 Chronicles 33:23 others, that it was privately removed by the high priest in idolatrous times, and laid up in some secret place for the preservation of it; but rather the truth is, that it had been removed by the order of Josiah, for the sake of the repairs of the most holy place; and this being done, he orders it to be replaced…

The Bible does not say why the Ark was removed from the Temple.

Notice Josiah’s words again.

“Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built. There shall no more be a burden on your shoulders.”

That does not sound like they recently removed the Ark while working on the Temple. Josiah’s words seem to indicate the Ark had not been in the Temple for some time. If the Levites had only moved the Ark to make way for the workmen, it doesn’t seem as if they would have been carrying the Ark around, other than to move it out and in. Out and in would not have been a lengthy burden on their shoulders.

When Hilkiah found the book of the law, no mention is made of the Ark.

The Temple was defiled in the reigns of Manasseh and Amon, the two kings between Hezekiah and Josiah.

John Trapp Complete Commentary, 2 Ch 35:3
“Under Josiah’s direction, Hilkiah the priest recently had found the copy of the Law of Moses in the temple. Now we learn that under the apostate administrations of the previous kings, Manasseh and Amon, apparently the holy ark had also been removed from the temple. Now, King Josiah directed that it be returned to its rightful place.

i. It shall no longer be a burden on your shoulders indicates that the ark was not at “rest” in the holy place of the temple. The time was long overdue to return it to its rest.

ii. “The Hebrews tell us, that the priests in those idolatrous times had carried the holy ark out of the temple – that it might not stand there among those heathenish idols – and conveyed it to the house of Shallum, who was uncle to the prophet Jeremiah, and husband to the prophetess Huldah.”

Manasseh made major changes in the Temple, to say the least.

2Chr 33
3) For he [Manasseh] built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he reared up altars for the Baals, and made Asheroth, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served them.
4) He built altars in the house of Yahweh, of which Yahweh said, “My name shall be in Jerusalem forever.”
5) He built altars for all the army of the sky in the two courts of the house of Yahweh.

Manasseh’s altars were still in the Temple when Josiah ruled.

2Kgs 23
12) The king [Josiah] broke down the altars that were on the roof of the upper room of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of Yahweh, and beat them down from there, and cast their dust into the brook Kidron.

Manasseh stuck Baal right in the Temple.

2Chr 33
7) He set the engraved image of the idol, which he had made, in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever:

When Manasseh put an idol in the house of God, where would he have put it?

How about in the Holy of Holies?

When Roman emperor Hadrian, c. 135 CE, put a statue of himself in what had been Jerusalem, he put it where the Holy of Holies had been. Kinda like – stick this up your nose, Yahweh. In the same way, Antiochus Epiphanes, at the time of the Maccabees in c. 168 BCE, set up a statue of Zeus in the Holy of Holies.

Manasseh may have done the same with his statue of Baal. After all, his purpose at the time was to insult Yahweh. At the very least, he put an idol in the Temple and the most logical place for a Baal worshiper was in the Holy of Holies.

Manasseh’s son Amon ruled for only two years. Amon did not pick up Manasseh’s later repentance but followed Manasseh’s earlier paganism.

2Chr 33
22) He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as did Manasseh his father; and Amon sacrificed to all the engraved images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them.
23) He didn’t humble himself before Yahweh, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but this same Amon trespassed more and more.

Again, Josiah’s comment about “burden on your shoulders” seems to indicate that for some time the Ark had not been in the Holy of Holies and had not been in its permanent place. Some ‘rabbi’ writings say that during the two year reign of Josiah’s father Amon, the Ark was taken out of the Temple. As Gill’s Exposition says, “some think [the Ark] was removed from thence by Amon, and an idol put in its room…”

If an idol was put in the Ark’s room that means the idol was put in the Holy of Holies. The Temple was so disrespected that the book of the law was lost, so the Ark would also be disrespected. Perhaps the priests then moved the Ark away from Baal.

Again we notice Trapp’s Commentary cited earlier.

i. It shall no longer be a burden on your shoulders indicates that the ark was not at “rest” in the holy place of the temple. The time was long overdue to return it to its rest.

Josiah got rid of the pagan altars and any leftover idol worship relics. Then he put the Ark back in its place in the restored Holy of Holies. If the Ark had been removed from the defiled Temple and kept elsewhere for a while, the same thing might have been done later, just before the Temple was destroyed.

When the book of the law was found, Josiah realized Judah was in big trouble with Yahweh for breaking God’s laws. He asked the prophetess Huldah what would happen. Huldah did not hold back.

2Kgs 22
16) “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Behold, I will bring evil on this place, and on its inhabitants, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read.
17) Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and it shall not be quenched.’”
18) But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Yahweh, thus you shall tell him, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘Concerning the words which you have heard,
19) because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before Yahweh, when you heard what I spoke against this place, and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and have torn your clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard you,’ says Yahweh.
20) ‘Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, neither shall your eyes see all the evil which I will bring on this place.’”’” They brought back this message to the king.

Because Judah had burned incense to other gods, Yahweh’s wrath would be kindled against that place.

Jeremiah added to that prophecy.

Jer 7:11-14
11) Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, says Yahweh.
12) But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
13) Now, because you have done all these works, says Yahweh, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you didn’t hear; and I called you, but you didn’t answer:
14) therefore will I do to the house which is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.

The Tabernacle with the Ark of the Covenant had long been at Shiloh. After the Philistines killed Eli’s sons and captured the Ark, the Ark never went back to Shiloh. So long, Shiloh!

The prophecy through Huldah was that the Kingdom of Judah would definitely be destroyed, but it would be after Josiah’s passing. So King Josiah knew that sometime after him, the Temple would be destroyed.

Less than 25 years after Josiah died, Nebuchadnezzar led the Babylonians in its destruction.

jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-ark-of-the-convenant

The Ark remained in the Temple until its destruction at the hand of the Babylonian empire, led by Nebuchadnezzar. What happened to it afterward is unknown, and has been debated and pondered for centuries. It is unlikely that the Babylonians took it, as they did the other vessels of the Temple, because the detailed lists of what they took make no mention of the Ark. According to some sources, Josiah, one of the final kings to reign in the First Temple period, learned of the impending invasion of the Babylonians and hid the Ark. Where he hid it is also questionable – according to one midrash, he dug a hole under the wood storehouse on the Temple Mount and buried it there (Yoma 53b). Another account says that Solomon foresaw the eventual destruction of the Temple, and set aside a cave near the Dead Sea, in which Josiah eventually hid the Ark (Maimonides, Laws of the Temple, 4:1).

During the reign of the last king, Jeremiah prophesied that Jerusalem would lose all its treasures.

Jer 20
5) Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all its gains, and all the precious things of it, yes, all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies; and they shall make them a prey, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.

This is the detailed list of what the Babylonians took.

2Kgs 25
8) Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, to Jerusalem.
9) He burnt the house of Yahweh, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burnt he with fire.
10) All the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem.
11) Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive the residue of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude.
12) But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to work the vineyards and fields.
13) The Chaldeans broke up the pillars of brass that were in the house of Yahweh and the bases and the bronze sea that were in the house of Yahweh, and carried the brass pieces to Babylon.
14) They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered.

They took all those pieces of brass and bronze, and pots and shovels, and even the snuffers and spoons. If they had taken the Ark, that surely would have been mentioned.

And if the Ark had been in the Temple, they surely would have taken it. If you’re going to take a snuffer, then you’d surely take the gold-covered throne of God. Snuff said.

2Chr 36
18) All the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon.
19) They burnt the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels of it.

When it says they destroyed all the goodly vessels, that refers to the palaces and not “the treasures of the house of Yahweh,” which were “brought to Babylon.”

But the Babylonians didn’t take the Ark. It wasn’t there in the Temple.

When a succeeding king of Babylon pulled out the Temple furnishings for a drunken party in Daniel 5, the Ark was not there.

When Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to rebuild the Temple and returned the captured Temple furnishings to them, the Ark was not there.

When the second Temple was built by Zerubbabel, the Ark was not there.

Josephus said that when the Roman general Pompey conquered Jerusalem in 63 BCE, he entered the Holy of Holies in this second Temple, and Roman historian Tacitus said that Pompey was amazed at what he saw in the room.

What did he see?

Nothing. Just an empty room. The Ark was not there.

More than a century after that, Titus destroyed the second Temple. The Arch of Titus, which still stands in Rome, shows Romans carrying items taken from this Temple. It pictures the menorah, the table of showbread, and silver trumpets, but the Ark is not pictured. They did not take it. It wasn’t there.

Again, the Ark was extremely important to Israel. It led them through the wilderness and into the Promised Land. Yet after Babylon conquered Judah and destroyed Solomon’s Temple, nothing more is said about that Ark.

Was the Ark destroyed by the Babylonians?

No. They did not destroy the treasures of the house of God. They took them home with them.

Was the Ark carried away by the Babylonians?

No. The Babylonians took everything they could get their hands on. They snitched the snuffers, but they did not find the Ark.

Was the Ark hidden from the Babylonians?

Well, if they didn’t find it, then obviously it was hidden.

This seems to be the only option left. If the Ark was not destroyed, and if it wasn’t captured, then obviously it was hidden, some place, somehow, by somebody. This may be similar to the Ark perhaps being removed from the Temple before Josiah’s time.

When Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed, the Ark was not destroyed by Babylon, the Ark was not carried away by Babylon, so somehow, somewhere, the Ark was hidden from Babylon.

Who might have done that and where did they put it?

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Chapter 88 – The Ark – Burned, Babylon, or Buried?

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