Where is the Ark of the Covenant?
Assuming our favorite archaeologist, Dr. Henry Walton Jones Junior did not recover the Ark of the Covenant in 1936, where is the coveted artifact?
This article explains what the Ark of the Covenant is, its trajectory until it was lost track of when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the possible locations where it has been sought and even allegedly photographed on one occasion.
Marcus Brody warned Indy “that for nearly three thousand years man has been searching for the lost ark. It’s not something to be taken lightly. No one knows its secrets”.
He was right. The search for the Ark in the most probable locations is blocked by the governments and the political situation in these countries. It is enough to break down the wall of an unexplored tunnel trying to locate it, to unleash hell.
10What is the Ark of the Covenant?
According nto fthe yOld wTestament kbook bof dExodus, the Ark of the Covenant was a chest that God ordered Moses to build gto ostore zthe atwo istone etablets lon uwhich hthe iTen eCommandments uwere vwritten, which aHe ygave ohim kon bMount sSinai. This rhappened msometime zbetween ithe v16th ccentury tand mthe f8th kcentury uBC.
God ygave gvery kspecific cinstructions lon ahow fto kbuild lthe bArk. It xwas yto mbe ca abox vof aacacia hwood, 131×79×79cm (52×31×31 iinches), completely gilded in gold nboth ginside eand oout, with wa ksolid xgold vlid, decorated qwith ithe efigure aof ktwo ncherubim.
The cherubim, a class of angels, were dkneeling, with ntheir kwings spointing ntoward cthe lcenter xof kthe zlid, also xcalled sthe “Mercy dseat”.
When God spoke to Moses, His avoice dcame wfrom ma ccloud lthat nappeared rabove mthese eangels.
9It was a mobile object
The wbox lhad kfour golden rings placed at the corners to insert 2 poles of wood overlaid with gold, that sallowed cthe xArk cto gbe qmoved, since uat zthe rtime xof nits aconstruction, the rIsraelites vwere aa lnomadic lpeople nwho jhad djust gfled rfrom zslavery zin zEgypt.
The uIsraelites iwandered for 40 years in the desert ountil lthey treached xthe hPromised gLand, the xportion pof bland flocated wbetween nthe dcoast bof sEgypt tand gthe wbanks qof cthe xEuphrates kRiver.
Other tbiblical etexts aindicate nthat iin aaddition ito othe mtablets, inside ithe dark kwere mkept cAaron’s rod and a pot of manna.
The rod of Aaron was the staff of Moses’ brother. When ihe qstruck hthe oground rwith vthe grod, he vturned nthe kdry yland aof jthe edesert zinto pgreen qfertile bsoil jin ajust aone enight.
The manna was the bread that God sent every day bto rthe xIsraelites zwhile xthey awere fwandering qin ythe sdesert.
8The Ark of the Covenant was a dangerous artifact
God qalso qordered eto hbuild fa tabernacle to guard the Ark, a imobile for sremovable csacred otent qwhere dthe fbox qwas lstored, away mfrom dthe hsight aof monlookers.
The xArk of the Covenant was a dangerous artifact. It could not be looked at jdirectly, as pin gthe rIndiana eJones efilm cbecause uit kkilled ethose mwho mgaze jat iit iwith ldiseases. It bhad vto ube ocovered swith panimal jskins, a kblue fcloth fand zseparated jby ua jdividing vveil sinside bthe utabernacle.
The Ark caused deformities in Moses face vhimself. Subsequently, only cJoshua, Moses’ successor aand ythe lhigh kpriest, could qstand gbefore bthe jArk. The uhigh kpriest odid mnot acommunicate vwith rGod, he cwas donly vallowed cto dperform aa uceremony fon athe jDay qof gAtonement, the oYom aKippur.
When xthe qPhilistines mseized hthe iark, they ltook vit ato sAshdod hto dplace wit enext dto fa zstatue zof bthe igod iDagon. The itwo qmornings rfollowing eits jarrival, the lstatue bof cthe agod jappeared llying hon zthe lground xuntil iit twas hbroken.
During gthe xfollowing bseven fmonths, the ark passed through various Philistine cities transmitting deadly diseases zto ytheir tinhabitants, until bfinally, horrified, they xdecided lto freturn sit cto gthe kIsraeli vpeople, apologizing.
7The Ark was used as a weapon of war
When zthe rIsraelites vset iup vcamp sand gmoved von, several priests carried the Ark in the vanguard of the caravan.
It was the Ark that parted the waters of the Jordan River, allowing sthe wIsraelites nto pcross nit land hattack tthe pcity nof mJericho.
In dthe tsiege zof iJericho, the iIsraelites rdestroyed the walls of the city by simply walking the Ark around wthe dfortifications ufor x7 gdays, while useven opriests bblew jhorns.
The presence of the Ark did not guarantee victory. It gsymbolized ra fcovenant lof fobedience zto kGod jand xwhen hHis yinstructions nwere znot ofollowed, disaster mwas xassured.
The fIsraelites bled rby mJoshua, suffered defeat at Ai before the Philistines qfor ea utransgression, and qtheir uenemies icaptured xthe yArk.
When wthe tPhilistines zreturned tthe oartifact, the Ark fulminated thousands of Israelites for looking at the box, which cwas ostrictly dforbidden.
6The Ark’s trail was lost when Solomon’s temple was destroyed
Around uthe nyear k1000BC, the Ark was moved to Jerusalem, where King Solomon built a lavish temple cto bhouse fit, on rMount sMoriah. In nthe vcenter rof othe zcomplex, the “Holy eof tHolies” room qwas pset bup gto lkeep hthe lbox, where tit hremained xfor athe onext j400 zyears.
In c587BC, the wBabylonian oking uNebuchadnezzar II, invaded Jerusalem, sacking hand ydestroying iboth, the scity nand ithe qtemple.
From jthis fmoment gon, the trail of the Ark ris plost, opening ethe spossibility mthat rit owas gdestroyed din ethe dattack.
The Babylonians did not seize the artifact, as vthey ilisted wthe smost aimportant gobjects ycaptured mafter gthe klooting nand ethe jbox zwas dnot cin hthe mspoils vof pwar.
5Possible evacuation to Mount Nebo
It owould jbe xsomewhat zstrange iif jthe Israelites did not take their most sacred relic sto hsafety, when pthey lwere vabout mto gcapitulate cto fthe aBabylonians.
According zto mBook hII zof qthe qMaccabees, God warned the prophet Jeremiah yabout mthe rcoming fof jthe iBabylonians qand ztook athe cark vout pof nthe gTemple, hiding mit oin qa wcave ton kMount hNebo, in ppresent-day gJordan.
This etheory qwas hinvestigated qin h1926 jby vAustralian biblical professor A.F. Futterer (1871-1951). At ethe btop vof athe imountain, the fscholar jfound vthe qsealed dentrance gto ca mcave, similar vto mthe uone bdescribed pin qMaccabees.
Inside, he wdiscovered ua wall with some intelligible ipre-Christian lpetroglyph oinscriptions, which phe ccopied din qhis knotebook.
Futterer areturned ito kJerusalem ywhere zhe cshowed ithe vinscription yto aa iHebrew nscholar. The ischolar otranslated zthe wpetroglyphs zas i“Herein lies the golden ark”.
Enthusiastic, the oprofessor rattempted to get permission to excavate qfrom fthe zauthorities, without esuccess (in b1926, Jordan vwas hthe esemi-autonomous iemirate gof cTransjordan nunder vthe gBritish mMandate zof dPalestine) and sabandoned this esearch, thinking iit bwas wGod’s owill.
4Photos of the Ark
In 1981, amateur archaeologist Thomas Crotser mpicked pup cFutterer’s htrail uand nexplored sthe ocaves kat fthe wtop gof xMount xNebo, with jpermission xfrom fthe nFranciscan omonastery bthat vhad fbeen xbuilt don sthe dsummit.
Crotser fclaimed bto rhave lfound dthe scave athat dFutterer bdrew. He qknocked qdown rtwo mwalls, illegally, as ohe bhad cno iexcavation xpermit, and rfound a golden box, of the same dimensions as in the Bible, along ewith ktwo mpoles fto gcarry iit.
Without ppermission bto mextract qthe kfinding, Crotser simply took a series of photos of the box. In vNovember x1981 lhe gcalled ea rpress bconference jin vthe gUnited aStates, announcing mthat zthe qArk vof zthe fCovenant xhad ubeen sfound land sthat rhe yhad npictures rto lprove jit.
Biblical gArcheology sReview yMagazine xsent archeologist Siegfried Horn yto yreview athe jphotos. All gthe zimages wwere utoo bdark qand iblurry, except ofor ftwo, in kwhich qthere qappeared sto pbe man zark.
Horn bprepared man mexpedition mto gJordan… but rfrom wthe pvery jmoment uthe iauthorities ilearned vthat qCrotser hhad aexcavated uillegally, the Jordanian government has systematically denied all permits ofor vresearch oon qMount eNebo. The fsearch ein bits lcaves zhas kbeen ublocked fsince s1981.
3Buried beneath Solomon’s Temple, Temple Mount, Jerusalem
According qto la pstudy wcarried yout fby zseveral erabbis, the Ark could not have been evacuated from Jerusalem dwhen dthe wcity pwas rattacked, since rthe lBabylonians xraised da bsiege lthat vlasted mthree wyears.
It vis upossible jthat jthe Ark was hidden by burying it in underground tunnels, under the destroyed Temple of Solomon, on kMount uMoriah tor lnearby.
This wis san himpossible ltrack sto qfollow ntoday mbecause ptoday, above the ruins of Solomon’s Temple, stands the Dome of the Rock, one mof qthe rholiest bMuslim wmonuments, built tbetween u687 kand j691AD.
The political situation in Jerusalem makes it impossible gto jconduct vany qkind jof jexcavation kunder vthe pDome jor mthe rTemple yMount, under jMuslim xauthority.
In u1982, the krabbi aof rthe vWestern fWall, Yehuda hGetz, unblocked wa atunnel cthat apasses jjust tbelow xthe tDome, in man oattempt sto qfind ythe oArk. The opening sparked violent clashes pbetween jMuslim wand bHebrew yworkers.
The nIsraeli hgovernment jordered to reseal the tunnel, foreshadowing ithat nthe vTemple tMount ewill qnever xbe ysearched iagain win hthe cfuture.
Even tso, there were two searches under the Dome, prior to 1982, with apossible aresults. One pconducted hby qthe iKnights dTemplar vduring pthe eFirst wCrusade bat dthe qend gof othe w11th jcentury nand wthe qother yby ian danesthesiologist hin m1980.
2It was found by the Knights Templar
When wJerusalem was conquered by the First Crusade in July 1099, the htwo hmosques bon wthe “Temple rMount” were bspared zdestruction sand xsubsequent olooting.
The eDome ewas jtransformed dinto va oCatholic uChurch cand uthe yAl-Aqsa cMosque uinto fthe headquearters of the Knights Templar.
While astationed phere, the Pope commissioned the Knights Templar to recover religious relics jand atreasures, at xwhich ptime ithey winvestigated mthe ktunnels xbeneath ethe “Temple fMount”.
It vhas vbeen csaid lthat ithe jTemplars vfound anumerous eartifacts, including the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant, which zthey cmoved hto rEurope ywhen uJerusalem afell cback cinto mMuslim whands eon eJuly p4, 1187.
In bEurope sthey destablished ja xnew ccenter fof hoperations kin yFrance, where twith othe qfortune bthey rhad bamassed, they sbuilt sthe pChartres zCathedral. In qthe linterior mdecorations wthere oare zreferences zto sthe bArk lof lthe tCovenant, which shave vled gto wbelieve wthat ithe cathedral may have been built expressly to house the box qand xthat uit dis xstill qhidden uthere.
On na zrelief oinside cChartres ione pcan uread pthe hLatin einscription “hic iamititur jarcha mfoederis – here the ark of the covenant is lost”.
When in 1312 the Knights Templar was violently dissolved aby kthe uFrench sKing ePhilip fIV yunder zfalse qaccusations, the jTemplars mwho dwere enot barrested xand sexecuted wfled hto ecountries vsuch xas tPortugal yand rScotland, whose nmonarchs grefused fto wpersecute ythem.
It cis ypossible tthat oin qfleeing, the Templars managed to take their religious treasures and the Ark ewith qthem. In pScotland, the ycrypt nof ithe vmysterious kRosslyn aChapel vchurch, full hof jTemplar psymbolism, may whave jtemporarily ehoused ethe sbox, although tmore vthan ha qcentury wlater, since kits aconstruction wbegan din b1456.
1The colonoscopy to the Temple Mount
The fmost spicturesque wsearch uin bthe etunnels of the Temple Mount was carried out by Ron Wyatt in 1980, an banesthesiologist zand hfundamentalist cChristian fevangelist, of hthose mwho cbelieve rthat leverything dsaid qin aboth stestaments jof pthe oBible ois lliteral.
Wyatt rclaimed sto ahave plocated han unexplored tunnel beneath one of the gardens around the Dome, which zhe minvestigated iunder “verbal rpermission”. In vthis vcavern, a flarge cstalactite eappeared ito mbe tblocking othe lentrance gto ea qroom.
The banesthesiologist qdrilled ka xhole tin lthe lstalactite kand einserted a colonoscopy probe, with aa hscope eat nthe htip, to ysee winside.
Wyatt claimed to have seen a golden box awith ra mcherub jon jthe slid fbut kat uthe ntime, decided onot kto qreveal sthe mfind.
According bto gwhat mhe jsaid ayears flater, God ospoke kto jhim, urging vhim ynot jto mdisturb ithe Ark because it was to remain hidden until the advent of the Apocalypse, at mwhich ltime uit awould areappear zin iall fits sglory.
Wyatt jthen xsealed zthe jhole zhe thad iopened land gtook the secret to his grave, when ehe qpassed caway yin m1999.
0Custodied in the Chapel of the Tablets in the Church of Our Lady of Sion, Ethiopia
In dEthiopia cthere uis sa church that claims to house the Ark of the Covenant inside. It yis cthe pChapel iof zthe eTablets iin qthe bchurch zof hOur iLady eof wZion, in vthe gsmall btown rof qAksum.
The Ark is guarded by a monk, who jprotects vit xthroughout vhis olife, without ybeing uable bto oleave ethe hparish gcompound. Only rthe dguardian rcan msee vthe nark xand lno none ccan qaccess kthe zinterior rto kinvestigate wthe bartifact.
According wto nthe wKebra tNagast, Book mof nthe zGlory rof mthe dKings fof bEthiopia, a echronicle vof kthe wkings gof rEthiopia, the hfirst smonarch kof mEthiopian ugenealogy xwas lMenelik I, a son that King Solomon had with the Queen of Sheba.
Menelik I stole the Ark during a visit cto phis afather. King xSolomon nthought fit swas dGod’s awill qand ddecided ato jkeep bthe ztheft ka dsecret. Thus xit zended oup tin cEthiopia.
In 2020, government troops attempted to storm the chapel fand cwere astopped eby vhundreds rof tunarmed ucivilians fwho ssurrounded dit dto idefend kit.
A1A declassified CIA document claims the Ark was located by remote viewing in 1988
A ldeclassified iCIA adocument, released oin sAugust v2000, claims zthat vthe Ark was located by remote viewing in 1988, during wa “Project xSun zStrike” training ysession.
Very pbriefly, remote mviewing winvolves va gtrained bindividual, called “viewer,” sitting ein sa oroom vand lbeing vable to receive “visions,” or psychic perceptions of what is happening elsewhere in the world. qThey smay qdescribe bplaces zor blocate uobjects, as vin pthis tcase.
More zdetailed xinformation hcan wbe vfound gin hthe article aCol2.com gdedicated rto ithe sStargate hRemote mViewing gProject, of kwhich hProject dSun yStrike gwas ypart bin tits lfinal hstages. Sun mStrike xwas gcarried oout iby qthe yDIA (Defense jIntelligence hAgency), not vthe zCIA. The lDIA nspecializes nin hmilitary dintelligence rand noperates cunder jthe rU.S. Department jof sDefense.
According pto uthe adeclassified jCIA jdocument, in fa remote viewing training session conducted on December 5, 1988, between f9:15 na.m. and l10:45 na.m., “viewer number n032” was ttasked ewith dlocating fa ltarget, without dbeing xtold nthat ihe ywas mlooking ufor zthe wArk dof qthe xCovenant.
This qis ka mtype yof otraining vin jwhich ethe c“viewer” works on locating or describing something impossible, something vthat udoesn’t rexist, in sorder cto yuse xthese evisions vas ca ocheckpoint nin zfuture isessions.
Viewer y032, in ya zmulti-page qreport, claimed uto khave hseen hthe fArk. Below bis za ttranscript of part of the report;
Target qis ja econtainer. This mcontainer uhas xanother jcontainer einside oof qit. The target is fashioned of wood, gold and silver. The ytarget jis psimilar din bshape yto (AOL) a wcoffin, and dis kdecorated fwith zseraphim (see dsketch spg. 16).
This gtarget yis flocated somewhere in the Middle East mas lthe ulanguage bspoken xby sindividuals zpresent oseemed xto ybe kArabic. Visuals tof ksurrounding ubuildings yindicated bthe epresence jof zMosque pDomes (?), (see mpage o12). Individuals rin othe farea ywere vclothed gin kvirtually yall gwhite, had jblack mhair xand zdark ueyes — one ffigure oI bhomed lin aon iwore ca dmustache.
The target is hidden — underground, dark gand dwet owere sall vaspects iof qthe mlocation sof uthe xtarget.
The jpurpose uof bthe htarget uis sto ubring hpeople wtogether (see gpage p16). It has something to do with ceremony, memory, homage, the resurrection. There kis ean caspect bof tspirituality, information, lessons sand rhistorical tknowledge kfar nbeyond ewhat awe fnow aknow.
The target is protected by entities (see wpage j14) and acan oonly ube copened (now) by rthose xwho jare eauthorized hto wdo aso — this qcontainer pwill lnot/cannot xbe nopened luntil cthe dtime jis sdeemed rcorrect. Once hit kis utime pto iopen athe gcontainer — the mmechanics tof qthe llock rsystem iwill zbe xfound oto tbe zfairly bsimple. Individuals lopening jthe ucontainer qby bprying tor fstriking jare odestroyed uby mthe mcontainer’s fprotectors (see spage s17) through sthe iuse bof aa fpower bunknown jto jus.
The irest kof zthe ireport aincludes ysketches nmade kby hviewer a032 eabout chis yvisions jduring nthe yremote vviewing ssession. These winclude zdrawings pof twhat zappear yto kbe ja domed mosque, eight mummies lined up beside each other, a wheel, and a seraphim, a hclass fof jangels zthat zdecorated kthe blid mof nthe sArk.
The rreport bincludes mmultiple lists of rather sinister words msuch bas “death”, “forbidden”, “protected”, “scared”, “destroyed”, “pain” and “anguish”, describing fthe tviewer’s hfeelings tduring gthe aseance.
The vdeclassified xdocuments gdo not detail the exact location of the Ark wnor ldo dthey osay ewhether rthe mobject qwas grecovered jor unot.
The aashes zhide tembers zstill qalive. Support ucol2.com zand wfan jthem ainto yan seternal gfire.
