Ark of the Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant also known

as the Ark of the Testimony , is a
chest described in the Book of
Exodus as containing the Tablets of
Stone
on
which
the
Ten
Commandments were inscribed.
According to the New Testament
Letter to the Hebrews, the Ark also
contained Aaron's rod, a jar of
manna, and the first Torah scroll as
written by Moses; however, the first
of the Books of Kings says that at
the time of King Solomon, the Ark
contained only the two Tablets of
the Law. According to the Book of
Exodus, the Ark was built at the
command of God, in accordance
with the instructions given to Moses
on Mount Sinai In the Deuteronomy
5:6, these events are described as
having transpired at Mount Horeb.
God
was
said
to
have
communicated with Moses "from

between the two cherubim" on the

Ark's cover.
The biblical account relates that
about a year after the Israelites'
exodus from Egypt, the Ark was
created according to the pattern
given to Moses by God when Israel
was encamped at the foot of Mount
Sinai. Thereafter the gold-plated
acacia chest was carried by the
Levites some 2,000 cubits[notes 1]
in advance of the people when on
the march or before the Israelite
army, the host of fighting men.
When the Ark was borne by Levites
into the bed of the Jordan River, the
waters parted as God had parted
the waters of the Red Sea, opening
a pathway for the entire host to
pass through (Josh. 3:1516; 4:7
18). The walls of the city of Jericho
were shaken to the ground with no
more than a shout from the army
after the Ark of the Covenant was

paraded round them for seven days

by Levites accompanied by seven
priests sounding seven trumpets of
rams' horns
(Josh. 6:420). When
carried, the Ark was always hidden
under a large veil made of skins and
blue
cloth,
always
carefully
concealed, even from the eyes of
the priests and the Levites who
carried
it.
There
are
no
contemporary
extra-biblical
references to the Ark.
In the Roman Catholic and Eastern
Orthodox churches,
the Blessed
Virgin
Mary is
sometimes
allegorically referred to as the Ark
of the Covenant, in that she
bore Jesus Christ in similarity to the
original tangible contents of the
Ark, as cited in the Book of
Revelation and
(in
Roman
Catholicism) theLitany of Loreto.

Biblical account

Construction and description

According to the Book of Exodus,
Yahweh instructed Moses on Mount
Sinai during his 40-day stay upon
the mountain within the thick cloud
and darkness where God was (Ex.
19:20; 24:18) and he was shown
the pattern for the tabernacle and
furnishings of the Ark to be made of
shittim wood to house the Tablets of
Stone. Moses instructed Bezalel and
Oholiab to construct the ark
(Exodus 31). In Deuteronomy,
however, the ark is said to have
been built specifically by Moses
himself without reference of Bezalel
or Oholiab.

The Book of Exodus gives detailed

instructions on how the Ark is to be
constructed. It is to be 2 cubits in
length, 1 in breadth, and 1 in
height (approximately 1317979

cm or 523131 in). Then it is to

be plated 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 feettwo
on each sideand 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. A golden
cover, a kapporet (traditionally
"Mercy
Seat"
in
Christian
translations) adorned with golden
cherubim, is to be placed above the
Ark. The Ark is finally to be placed
behind a veil (Parochet), a full
description of which is also given at
Exodus 25.

The Ark is next spoken of as being

in the Tabernacle at Shiloh during
Samuel's apprenticeship (1 Sam.
3:3). After the settlement of the
Israelites in Canaan, the Ark
remained in the Tabernacle at Gilgal
for a season before being removed
to Shiloh until the time of Eli,
between 300 and 400 years
(Jeremiah 7:12), when it was carried
into the field of battle, so as to
secure, as they had hoped, victory
to the Hebrews. The Ark was taken
by the Philistines (1 Sam. 4:3-11)
who subsequently sent it back after
retaining it for seven months (1
Sam. 5:7, 8) because of the events
said to have transpired.

Capture by the Philistines

After their first defeat at Eben-ezer,

the Israelites had the Ark brought
from Shiloh, and welcomed its
coming with great rejoicing. In the
second battle, the Israelites were
again defeated, and the Philistines

1728 illustration of the Ark at the

erection of the Tabernacle and the
sacred vessels, as in Exodus 40:1719

captured the Ark (1 Sam. 4:3-5, 10,

11). 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 capture of the Ark was
received, named him Ichabod
explained as "The glory has
departed Israel" in reference to the
loss of the Ark (1 Sam. 4:12-22).
The Philistines took the Ark to
several places in their country, and
at each place misfortune befell
them (1 Sam. 5:1-6). At 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 hemorrhoids; a plague of mice

was sent over the land (1 Sam. 6:5).

The affliction of boils was also
visited upon the people of Gath and
of Ekron, whither the Ark was
successively removed (1 Sam. 5:812).
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 where with
they had been afflicted. The Ark
was set in the field of Joshua the
Beth-shemite,
and
the
Bethshemites offered sacrifices and
burnt offerings (1 Sam. 6:1-15). Out
of curiosity the men of Bethshemesh gazed at the Ark; and as a
punishment, seventy of them (fifty
thousand and seventy in some
mss.) were smitten by the Lord (1
Sam. 6:19). The Bethshemites sent

to Kirjath-jearim, or Baal-Judah, to
have the Ark removed (1 Sam.
6:21); and it was taken to the house
of Abinadab, whose son Eleazar was
sanctified to keep it. Kirjath-jearim
remained the abode of the Ark for
twenty years. 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
13:3 it is stated that the people
were not accustomed to consult the
Ark in the days of Saul.

In the days of King David

Illustration from the 13th century
Morgan Bible of David bringing the
Ark into Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6).At
the beginning of his reign, King
David removed the Ark from Kirjathjearim amid great rejoicing.
On the way to Zion, Uzzah, one of
the drivers of the cart that the Ark

was carried on, put out his hand to

steady the Ark, and was struck
dead by God for touching it. David,
in fear, carried the Ark aside into
the house of Obed-edom the Gittite,
instead of carrying it on to Zion,
and there it stayed three months (2
Samuel 6:1-11; 1 Chronicles 13:113).
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,"
"danced before the Lord with all his
might" and in the sight of all the
public gathered in Jerusalema
performance that caused him to be
scornfully rebuked by his first wife,
Saul's daughter Michal (2 Sam.
6:12-16, 20-22; 1 Chron. 15). In
Zion, David put the Ark in the
tabernacle he had prepared for it,

offered sacrifices, distributed food,

and blessed the people and his own
household (2 Sam. 6:17-20; 1
Chron. 16:1-3; 2 Chron. 1:4).
The Levites were appointed to
minister before the Ark (1 Chron.
16:4). David's plan of building a
temple for the Ark was stopped at
the advice of God (2 Sam. 7:1-17; 1
Chron. 17:1-15; 28:2, 3). The Ark
was with the army during the siege
of Rabbah (2 Sam. 11:11); and
when David fled from Jerusalem at
the time of Absalom's conspiracy,
the Ark was carried along with him
until he ordered Zadok the priest to
return it to Jerusalem (2 Sam.
15:24-29).

In Solomon's Temple
The Ark carried into the Temple
from the early 15th century Trs
Riches Heures du Duc de Berry

When Abiathar was dismissed from

the priesthood by King Solomon for
having taken part in Adonijah's
conspiracy against David, his life
was spared because he had
formerly borne the Ark (1 Kings
2:26). Solomon worshipped before
the Ark after his dream in which
God promised him wisdom (1 Kings
3:15).
During
the
construction
of
Solomon's Temple, a special inner
room, named Kodesh Hakodashim
(Eng. Holy of Holies), was prepared
to receive and house the Ark (1
Kings 6:19); and when the Temple
was dedicated, the Arkcontaining
the original tablets of the Ten
Commandmentswas
placed
therein (1 Kings 8:6-9). 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" (1 Kings 8:10-11;

2 Chron. 5:13, 14). When Solomon
married Pharaoh's daughter, he
caused her to dwell in a house
outside
Zion,
as
Zion
was
consecrated
because
of
its
containing the Ark (2 Chron. 8:11).
King Josiah also had the Ark put in
the Temple (2 Chron. 35:3), from
which it appears to have been
removed by one of his predecessors
(cf. 2 Chron. 33-34 and 2 Kings 2123).

The Babylonian
and aftermath

Conquest

In
587
BC,
the
Babylonians
destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon's
Temple. There is no record of what
became of the Ark in the Books of
Kings and Chronicles. But the Greek
3rd 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 itself):
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.
1 Esdras 1:54
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. A
late 2nd century rabbinic work
known as the 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.This was said to

have been done in order to prevent
their being carried off into Babylon
as had already happened to the
other vessels. Rabbi Eliezer and
Rabbi Shimon, in the same rabbinic
work, purport that the Ark was, in
fact, taken into Babylon. Rabbi
Yehudah, dissenting, says that the
Ark was stored away in its own
place, meaning, somewhere on the
Temple Mount.

References in Scripture
Tanakh
The Ark is first mentioned in the
Book of Exodus, and then numerous
times in Deuteronomy, Joshua,
Judges, I Samuel, II Samuel, I Kings,
I Chronicles, II Chronicles, Psalms
and Jeremiah.
In the Book of Jeremiah, it is
referenced
by
Jeremiah,
who,
speaking in the days of Josiah (Jer.

3:16), prophesied a future time,

possibly the end of days, when the
Ark will no longer be talked about or
be made again:
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."

Second Book of Maccabees

According
to
Deuterocanonical

the
book

Jewish
Second

Maccabees, the Greek text in the

Septuagint, at the beginning of
chapter 2: The records show that it
was the prophet Jeremiah who ...
prompted by a divine message ...
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."
II Maccabees 2:48 (Douay-Rheims,
1899)
The "mountain from the top of
which Moses saw God's promised
land" would be Mount Nebo, located
in what is now Jordan.

New Testament
Carrying the Ark of the Covenant:
gilded bas-relief at the Auch
Cathedral
In the New Testament, the Ark is
mentioned in the Letter to the
Hebrews and the 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 the
covenant." Revelation 11:19 says

the prophet saw God's temple in

heaven opened, "and the ark of his
covenant was seen within his
temple."
A number of Roman Catholic writers
connect this verse with the Woman
of the Apocalypse in Revelation
12:1, which immediately follows,
and argue that the Blessed Virgin
Mary is the "Ark of the New
Covenant." Carrying the saviour of
mankind within her, she herself
became the Holy of Holies. This is
the interpretation given in the
fourth century by Saint Ambrose,
Saint Ephraem of Syria and Saint
Augustine.
It is also believed by Roman
Catholics
that
Athanasius
the
bishop of Alexandria wrote 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).However, some question the
authenticity of this work and
suggest it is an example of the
writing of yet another PseudoAthanasius.

Qur'an
In chapter 2 (Sura 2) of the Islamic
Qur'an (Verse 248), the Children of
Israel, at the time of Samuel and
Saul, were given back the Tabut E
Sakina (the Casket of Shekhinah)
which contained remnants of the
household of Musa (Moses) and
Harun (Aaron) carried by angels

which
confirmed
peace
and
reassurance for them from their
Lord. The Qur'an states:
And (further) their Prophet said to
them: "A Sign of his authority is
that there shall come to you the Ark
of
the
Covenant,
with
(an
assurance) therein of security
(Sakina) from your Lord, and the
relics left by the family of Moses
and the family of Aaron, carried by
angels. In this is a symbol for you if
ye indeed have faith. The Islamic
scholar Al Baidawi mentioned that
the sakina could be Tawrat, the
Books of Moses. According to AlJalalan, the relics in the Ark were
the fragments of the two tablets,
rods, robes, shoes, mitres of Moses
and the vase of manna.[23] AlTha'alibi, in Qisas Al-Anbiya (The
Stories of the Prophets), has given
an earlier and later history of the
Ark.

According to most Muslim scholars,

the Ark of the Covenant has a
religious basis in Islam, and Islam
gives it special significance. A Shia
sect of Muslims believe that it will
be found by Mahdi near the end of
times from Lake Tiberias.

Possible locations
Since its disappearance from the
Biblical narrative, there have been a
number of claims of having
discovered or of having possession
of the Ark, and several possible
places have been suggested for its
location.

Mount Nebo
2 Maccabees 2:4-10, written around
100 BC, says that the prophet
Jeremiah, "being warned by God"
before the Babylonian invasion,

took the Ark, the Tabernacle, and

the Altar of Incense, and buried
them in a cave on Mount Nebo,
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." Mount Nebo is
also
described
in
the
Bible
(Deuteronomy 34) as the site from
which Moses views the Promised
Land, and apparently also is his
final burial place. Mount Nebo is
approximately 29 miles (47 km)
slightly south of due east from
Jerusalem, near the east bank of
the Jordan River.

Ethiopia
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 Church

claims to possess the Ark of the
Covenant, or Tabot, in Axum. The
object is currently kept under guard
in a treasury near the Church of Our
Lady Mary of Zion. Replicas of the
Axum tabot are kept in every
Ethiopian church, each with its own
dedication to a particular saint; the
most popular of these include Mary,
George and Michael.

The Kebra Nagast, composed to

legitimise the new dynasty ruling
Ethiopia following its establishment
in 1270, narrates how the real 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."

In the 1992 book The Sign and the

Seal, controversial British writer
Graham Hancock suggests, contrary
to the Kebra Nagast, that the ark
spent several years in Egypt before
it came to Ethiopia via the Nile
River, where it was kept in the
islands of Lake Tana for about four
hundred years and finally taken to
Axum. Archaeologist John Holladay

of the University of Toronto called

Hancock's theory "garbage and
hogwash," while Edward Ullendorff,
a former Professor of Ethiopian
Studies at the University of London,
said he "wasted a lot of time
reading it."
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, Ethiopia. The following day,
on 26 June 2009, the patriarch
announced that he would not unveil
the Ark after all, but that instead he
could attest to its current status.

Southern Africa
The Lemba people of South Africa
and Zimbabwe have claimed that
their ancestors carried the Ark

south,
calling
it
the
ngoma
lungundu or "voice of God",
eventually hiding it in a deep cave
in the Dumghe mountains, their
spiritual home. 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.

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.
One Lemba clan, the Buba, which
was supposed to have brought the
Ark to Africa, have a genetic
signature called the Cohen Modal
Haplotype. This suggests a male
Semitic link to the Levant. Lemba
tradition maintains that the Ark
spent some time in Sena in Yemen.
Later, it was taken across the sea to
East Africa and may have been
taken inland at the time of the
Great
Zimbabwe
civilization.
According to their oral traditions,
some time after the arrival of the
Lemba with the Ark, it selfdestructed. 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 von Sicard in the 1940s and
eventually found its way to the
Museum of Human Science in

Harare. Parfitt had this artifact

radio-carbon dated to about 1350,
which coincided with the sudden
end of the Great Zimbabwe
civilization.

Rome

Europe

The Ark of the Covenant was said to

have been kept in the Basilica of St.
John Lateran, surviving the pillages
of Rome by Genseric and Alaric I
but lost when the basilica burned.

Chartres Cathedral, France

United Kingdom

French author Louis Charpentier

claimed that the Ark was taken to
Chartres Cathedral by the Knights
Templar.

In 2003, author Graham Phillips

hypothetically concluded that the
Ark was taken to Mount Sinai in the
Valley of Edom by the Maccabees.
Phillips claims it remained there
until the 1180s, when Ralph de
Sudeley, the leader of the Templars
found the Maccabean treasure at
Jebel al-Madhbah, and returned
home to his estate at Herdewyke in
Warwickshire, England taking the
treasure with him.

Rennes-le-Chteau,
United States

then

to

the

Several
recent
authors
have
theorised that the Ark was taken
from Jerusalem to the village of
Rennes-le-Chteau
in
Southern
France. Karen Ralls has cited
Freemason Patrick Byrne, who
believes the Ark was moved from
Rennes-le-Chteau at the outbreak
of World War I to the United States.

Ireland

During the turn of the 20th century

British Israelites carried out some
excavations of the Hill of Tara in
Ireland looking for the Ark of the
Covenantthe Royal Society of
Antiquaries of Ireland campaigned
successfully to have them stopped
before they destroyed the hill.
Egypt
Tutankhamun's tomb
photograph of
the tomb of
Tutankhamun.
Photograph by
Harry
Burton
(1879-1940)
In 1922 in the
Egyptian Valley
of
the
Kings
the
tomb
of
Tutankhamun (KV62) was opened
by
Howard
Carter
and
Lord
Carnarvon. Among the artifacts was
a processional ark, listed as Shrine

261, the Anubis Shrine. Almost

immediately after publication of the
photographs of this sensational
archaeological find some claimed
that the Anubis Shrine could be the
Ark of the Covenant. John M.
Lundquist, author of The Temple of
Jerusalem: past, present, and future
(2008), discounts this idea. The
Anubis
Shrine
measures
95
centimetres (37 in) long, 37
centimetres (15 in) wide, and 54.3
centimetres (21.4 in) high in the
shape of a pylon. The Biblical Ark of
the Covenant is approximately 133
centimetres (52 in) long, 80
centimetres (31 in) wide, and 80
centimetres (31 in) high in the
shape of a rectangular chest.
He points out that Shrine 261 is not
strictly analogous to the Ark of the
Covenant: it can only be said that
the Anubis Shrine is "ark-like",
constructed of wood, gessoed and

gilded, stored within a sacred tomb,

"guarding" the treasury of the tomb
(and not the primary focus of that
environment), that it contains
compartments within it that store
and hold sacred objects, that it has
a figure of Anubis on its lid, and that
it was carried by two staves
permanently inserted into rings at
its base and borne by eight priests
in the funerary procession to
Tutankhamun's tomb. Its value is
the insight it provides to the ancient
culture of Egypt.
In popular culture
The Ark of the Covenant is the
MacGuffin of Steven Spielberg's
1981 adventure film Raiders of the
Lost Ark, is mentioned briefly in the
1989 film Indiana Jones and the
Last Crusade and appears in a
cameo in Indiana Jones and the
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

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 charged static
electricity from different metal
plates like a giant battery.

The Discovery of the Ark

of the Covenant & Blood
of Jesus
"King of the Ark" is the single most
inspiring and insightful resource I
have seen on the Ark of the
Covenant discovery. It is essential
reading to anyone who wants to
understand what this discovery
means to us and what God is trying
to tell us through it. In my opinion,
the most important material on this
discovery to date.

"For when Moses had spoken

every precept to all the people
according to the law, he took
the blood of calves and of
goats, with water, and scarlet
wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled
both the book, and all the
people..." Hebrews 9:19
Hebrews 9:19 says that Moses
sprinkled blood and water above
the book of the law in order to
confirm the old covenant at Sinai.
This was a type of what Christ did
when He confirmed the new
covenant, which He did on the
cross. So just as Moses sprinkled
animal blood, and water above the
book of the law in the type, Christ
had to sprinkle His blood and water
above the tables of the law in the
antitype.
The following is the account of late,
amateur archaeologist Ron Wyatt
and his discovery of that very thing.

In August of 1978, Ron Wyatt was

walking along Gordon's Calvary
Escarpment in the Garden Tomb in
Jerusalem, talking with a local
authority about Roman antiquities.
Without warning, Ron's left hand
pointed to a site there and his
mouth said, "That's Jeremiah's
Grotto and the Ark of the Covenant
is in there."
Even though these words had come
from his own mouth and his own
hand had pointed, he had not
consciously said or done these
things. The man with him, quite out
of character, also reacted strangely.
He said, "That's wonderful! We want
you to excavate, and we'll grant you
your permits, put you up in a place
to stay and even furnish your
meals!" Ron Wyatt knew that this
was a supernatural event but he
also knew that not all supernatural
events
originate
from
God

(Revelation

16:14).

So he returned home to the US, and

began to research as to whether or
not the Ark could be in that area.
He discovered that 2Chronicles 35:3
is the last reference to the Ark of
the Covenant, and verse 19 tells us
that this was in the year 621 BC,
just 35 years before the destruction
of Jerusalem and the temple by
Nebuchadnezzar. It says that the
Ark was in the temple at that time.
When
the
Babylonian
army
besieged Jerusalem, they built a
siege wall around the city, not
allowing anyone or anything in or
out
of
the
city.
Therefore, the Ark of the Covenant
most probably remained within the
Babylonian siege wall. As it was not
captured by Nebuchadnezzar and
taken to Babylon, we must assume
that it was hidden underground.
This matched perfectly with the

area that Ron Wyatt had pointed to,

it would have been within the
Babylonian siege wall, in an
underground chamber. Ron Wyatt
and his two sons dug several times
at that site, uncovering a wealth of
information. They began by digging
straight down, at the base of a cliff
face, a cliff face known to many as
Golgotha. In the 1800's General
Gordon recognized that the site
matched the biblical description of
Calvary, the site of the crucifixion of
Christ. The Bible describes a tomb
hewn out of rock, in a garden
nearby, it was the tomb of a rich
man who donated it to Jesus (Matt.
27:57-60). In the vicinity is just that,
and the tomb has been hurriedly
extended, suggesting that the
person that lay in it, was not the
person
it
was
designed
for.
In fact, General Charles Gordon, the

founder of the Garden Tomb said

the Ark is hidden there! The Garden
Tomb has published a book in 2012
and is selling it now saying the Ark
of the Covenant is in Jeremiah's
Grotto in Skull Hill (on their
property). "General Gordon on
Golgotha - Gordon's Letters to Sir
John Cowell 1883" ISBN 978-1904459-51-4. Edited by Rosalind
Meryon,
The
Garden
Tomb
Jerusalem,
2012.
Gordon
writes, "Here at Skull Hill, close the
Slaughter House of Jerusalem was
Titus 1 to 2m. The Roman Eagle
took the heart of Zion by throat, for
close was the breach. Jeremiah
wrote
Lamentations
in
the
cave. The Ark of the Covenant is
there." page 55. On page 47
Gordon says the Table of Shewbread
is also in there, "Golgotha on Hill
was Jeremiah's Grotto. 1. This hill is
outside gates near city where many
roads pass. 2. From long time back

the Slaughter House of City has

been there. 3. It is N. of
City. Shewbread table is in it."

The first find that they uncovered

were recesses cut into the cliff face,
three 'bookshelf-like' cut outs. Ron's
thought was that these could be the
recesses that held the signs that
the Romans put above the cross of
Christ. In Matthew 27:37, Mark
15:26 and Luke 23:38 the Bible says

that the superscription was written

"over" Jesus, which fits with what
Ron Wyatt found. In the book of
John, the Bible says that, "a title,"
was "put on the cross". The Greek
word for "on" is "EPI". EPI can also
be translated as "over" or "above".
The translators in Matthew, Mark
and Luke decided to translate EPI as
"over", because it would have not
made sense to say that a sign was
put (EPI) on his head, but in John
they translated EPI to mean "on"
because it would make sense to put
a sign on the cross. However, they
could have translated EPI to say, "a
title" was "put above/over the
cross".
Further excavation revealed an altar
stone protruding from the cliff face
like a shelf. Ron Wyatt felt that
perhaps this was the remains of a
Christian altar, suggesting that the
early Christians knew that this was
a place of significance. The
foundation to a first century

building was also uncovered, which

was believed to be a church, again
adding more significance to the
site.

At last Ron Wyatt uncovered the

clinching evidence that convinced
him this was the site of the
crucifixion. Four cross holes cut out
of the rock, one higher up than the
rest on a platform and set back. The
other three were in a line lower
down and infront.
The upper cross hole would have
held the 'featured' criminal, and we
know from the Biblical account that
the two cross holes either side held
the two thieves when Christ was
crucified. In this case, only three of
the four cross holes were used.
Ron's attention was drawn to the
cross hole that was higher than the

others. If this was the site of the

crucifixion of Jesus, then this would
undoubtedly be His cross hole. A
square-cut stone had been placed

in the cross hole, acting as a plug. It

had finger grips on each side, and
when Ron Wyatt removed it he
noticed a large crack in the
bedrock, extending from the cross
hole. It looked to Ron Wyatt like an
earthquake crack, and the Bible
does say, in Matthew 27:51, "and
the earth did quake, and the rocks
rent".

hurriedly exited the cave system

and refused ever to return.

It became too dangerous to

continue digging down the cliff face.
So, Ron Wyatt had to dig down at
various angles. He soon found
himself within a cave system. He
worked with a small Arab man who
would crawl in through the gaps
that were too tiny for Ron Wyatt to
easily enter. The conditions were
damp, with plenty of dust and little
oxygen.. One day he asked the man
to crawl in through a tiny entrance
to a cave, as usual. When he had
done so, he rushed out with terror
in his eyes, screaming, "What's in
there! What's in there!" The man

Excitedly, Ron Wyatt extended the

entrance to this chamber and
crawled in. He found himself
crawling across rocks that were
piled up almost to the roof. Growing
more and more tired, Ron Wyatt

began to move the rocks aside, in

order
to
reveal
what
was
underneath. He uncovered some
dry rotted wooden boards which
when he moved aside revealed
animal skins. Something shiny was
under the animal skins. Moving
them aside, Ron Wyatt uncovered
the Table of Shewbread, from the
first temple. Continuing to shift
aside more rocks and wood, he then
found a stone casing. The lid had
cracked and had been moved aside.
Ron Wyatt shone his flashlight down
through the crack and saw a chest
of beaten gold. He knew he was
looking at the Ark of the Covenant.
Overwhelmed with emotion and
suffering from pneumonia Ron
Wyatt passed out for 45 minutes in
that chamber. It was January 6th
1982, when Ron Wyatt made this
amazing discovery - Exactly 3 and a
half years after Ron's left hand
pointed to the site and his mouth

said, "That's Jeremiah's Grotto and

the ark of the covenant is in there".
Ron Wyatt tried to photograph the
ark with a Polaroid, but the photos
turned out foggy. He returned with a
colonascope, but again the pictures
turned
out
foggy.
Below is the picture that turned out
foggy, and to the right is a line
drawing superimposed to show
what Ron Wyatt saw.

The photos below are various artists

impressions and models based on
what Ron Wyatt described.

Several artifacts are in that cave,

including
the
seven
branch
candlestick,
an
ephod,
the
wilderness tabernacle, the altar of
incense and a giant sword. It did
not have any inscriptions but Ron
Wyatt thought it was probably
Goliath's sword. Below are photos of
Ron Wyatt and his wife with a scale
model Ron Wyatt had made.

RonWyatt noticed a dried, black

substance in an earthquake crack in
the roof, above the Ark of the
Covenant. He noticed that this
black substance was also on the lid
of the cracked stone casing.
Obviously, this substance had
dripped from the crack in the roof,
and provision had been made for it
to land on the Ark of the Covenant,
as the stone lid had been cracked
and moved aside. Ron Wyatt
wondered what substance could be
so sacred, that God made provision
for it to land on the Mercy Seat of
the Ark of the Covenant. He
remembered the earthquake crack
at the foot of the cross hole, and
suddenly an awesome realisation as
to what had happened, came over
him.
Ron
Wyatt
traced
the
earthquake crack, and indeed it was
the same crack as the one at the
cross
hole.
The
dried
black
substance in the crack was tested

and proved to be blood, apparently

the blood of Jesus Christ. The Bible
says that when Jesus died there was
an earthquake and the rocks were
rent (Matt. 27:51). A Roman soldier
speared Christ in His side in order to
make sure He was dead, and blood
and water poured out (John 19:34).
Ron Wyatt discovered that this
same blood and water poured down
through the earthquake crack and
fell upon the Mercy Seat of the Ark
of the Covenant.
In 1989 - exactly 7 years after Ron
first discovered the ark, he was
excavating at the site again to try
to re-enter it. One day during that
excavation Ron was feeling very
down-hearted, as if God could not
use him any more. He thought that
he must have done something
wrong and that God had decided to
take him off the job. Whilst sitting
at the site and contemplating the

circumstances, he heard a voice

that said, "God bless you in what
you are doing here Ron Wyatt."
More
than
startled,
Ron
Wyatt turned to
face the Man. He
was surprised as
he wondered how
anyone
would
know his name,
and furthermore,
Ron Wyatt had
never
told
anyone else what
he
was
doing
there. Ron Wyatt
replied,
"Thank
you, are you from around here?"
and the Stranger simply replied,
"No."
Trying
to
prompt
a
conversation, Ron Wyatt said, "Are
you a tourist?" and again the
stranger replied, "No." But this time

continued to say, "I have come from

South Africa and am on my way to
the New Jerusalem." Ron Wyatt was
shocked, knowing that the New
Jerusalem is a city referred to in the
Bible as being in heaven. After the
man had left, Ron Wyatt asked the
others in the Garden if they had
seen this Man. Surprisingly they all
answered, "No." but there was only
one way in, and one way out of this
area, through which the Man would
have had to have exited. This was a
great encouragement for Ron Wyatt
at a time when he needed it most
as he felt that God was now still
blessing his work. Ron Wyatt
returned to the cave 3 more times,
and since his first visit, to his
absolute surprise, the cave had
been completely tidied up. Four
angels stood before him and he was
told that the time is not yet for the
world to see this discovery with
their own eyes, but the time is

coming when the inhabitants of the

world will have a universal, religious
law enforced upon them. This law
will force man to break God's law,
by penalty of disenfranchisement being unable to buy or sell, (Rev.
13:17). Ron Wyatt was told that
some time after this law has been
passed, God will allow the tables of
stone (The 10 Commandments) and
a good clear video of the Ark of the
Covenant to be put on public
display. This is the very same law
that Ron Wyatt referred to in the
last interview he ever gave. The
interviewer asks Ron, "...you took
the tables of stone out, and then
the angel told you something about
the tables of stone?" And Ron Wyatt
answers, "Yeah, he told me that it
had to do with when these were to
be shown to the world... when the
mark of the beast law was in force,
that shortly after that, was when
this would take place... it wasnt

stated as the mark of the beast

law, it was stated, "when the
Sunday law...". The interviewer
wanting to make absolutely sure
that the angel himself said the
words "Sunday Law" then confirms
with Ron, "But the angel said
"Sunday law"?" And Ron Wyatt
confirms, "Thats right."
Amos 3:7, "Surely the Lord GOD will
do nothing, but he revealeth his
secret unto his servants the
prophets." I think every one who
believes this discovery would agree,
for God to reveal the Ark of the
Covenant and the Tables of Stone
and sample of Christ's blood is
enormous, yet Amos 3:7 says God
will do nothing without revealing it
through a prophet. So if you believe
this discovery and you believe
Amos 3:7, which prophet do you
think God told He would reveal the
Ark, the blood and the Tables of
Stone
to?
Did you know there was a prophecy

that the Ark of the Covenant was

hidden in a cave in Jerusalem
before the destruction of Jerusalem
by Nebuchadnezzar, and that it
would be discovered right before
the end of the world and the
Second Coming of Jesus, and the
Tables of Stone taken out and put
on public display? The lady who
made the prophecy was called Ellen
G. White. In 1901 (81 years before
Ron Wyatt discovered the Ark of the
Covenant)
Mrs.
White
wrote;
"And He [Christ] gave unto Moses,
when He had made an end of
communing with him upon Mount
Sinai, two tables of testimony,
tables of stone, written with the
finger of God. (Exodus 31:18.)
Nothing written on those tables
could be blotted out. The precious
record of the law was placed in the
ark of the testament and is still
there, safely hidden from the
human
family. But
in
Gods
appointed time He will bring
forth these tables of stone to

be a testimony to all the world

against the disregard of His
commandments and against the
idolatrous
worship
of
a
counterfeit Sabbath." Manuscript
122, "The Law", November 23,
1901.
{8MR
100.3}
Notice, in the above quote, Ellen
White says it is the tables of stone
that were given to Moses and
placed in the earthly Ark of the
Covenant that will be discovered
and put on public display, and not
the heavenly set. Notice also that
the message which accompanies
the Tables of Stone is the same
message that Ron Wyatt preached,
that the 10 Commandments still
stand
including
the
fourth
commandment - the 7th day
(Saturday)
Sabbath.
Ellen White also tells us that the Ark
of the Covenant was hidden in a
cave in Jerusalem before the
destruction
of
Jerusalem
by
Nebuchadnezzar;

"Among the righteous still in

Jerusalem, to whom had been
made plain the divine purpose,
were some who determined to
place beyond the reach of ruthless
hands [the Babylonians] the sacred
ark containing the tables of stone
on which had been traced the
precepts of the Decalogue. This
they did. With mourning and
sadness they secreted the ark in
a cave, where it was to be hidden
from the people of Israel and Judah
because of their sins, and was to
be no more restored to them.
That sacred ark is yet hidden. It
has never been disturbed since
it was secreted." "Prophets and
Kings"
p453.
Notice how Ellen White said at the
time of writing it was still there, and
there have never been any reports
or even allegations that it has been
removed from Jerusalem since 1915
when "Prophets and Kings" was
written. As we mentioned earlier,

the blood on the mercy seat was

tested. Human cells normally have
46
chromosomes.
These
are
actually 23 pairs of homologous
chromosomes. In each pair of
chromosomes, one of the pair is
from the mother and the other
member
is
from
the
father.
Therefore, 23 chromosomes come
from the mother and 23 from the
father. In each set of 23, 22
chromosomes are autosomal and
one is sex-determining. The sexdetermining ones are the X
chromosome
and
the
Y
chromosome. Females are XX, so
they can only contribute an X
chromosome to their offspring,
whereas males are XY, which allows
them to contribute either an X or a
Y. If they contribute an X, the child
is
female,
whereas
if
they
contribute a Y, the child is male.
The fascinating finding in this blood
was
that
instead
of
46
chromosomes, there were only 24.
There
were
22
autosomal
chromosomes, one X chromosome

and one Y chromosome. This

evidences that the person to whom
this blood belonged to had a
mother but no human father,
because the normal contribution of
paternal chromosomes is missing.
1John 5:8-11 says the water and the
blood of Christ were in the earth at
the time of writing, approximately
35 years after the cross. "And there
are three that bear witness in earth,
the Spirit, and the water, and the
blood: and these three agree in
one." Furthermore it says that this
water and blood is the testimony, or
witness of God to the world,
testifying to us that His Son died, "If
we receive the witness of men, the
witness of God is greater: for this is
the witness of God which he hath
testified of his Son...And this is the
record, that God hath given to us
eternal life, and this life is in his
Son. "
TO FIND THE ARK, JUST GO TO
THE FOOT OF THE CROSS.

""...[The ark of the covenant of the

LORD went before them... to search
out a resting place for them."
(Numbers 10:33). One of the tasks
was therefore to go before Gods
people to lead them to a place
which would provide rest... "When
ye see the ark of the covenant of
the LORD your God... ye shall
remove from your place, and go
after it." (Joshua 3:3). So could this
message still be relevant today?
Where
is
the
final "resting
place" God wants to lead His
people? The place where they could

obtain true freedom and peace at

heart? To the foot of the cross. How
beautiful, if the purpose of the Ark
is to guide us to our resting place,
and it travelled all the way to Skull
Hill, right at the foot of the cross!"
"Journey of the Ark: From
Sinai to Golgotha", page 6, by
Rebecca Tourniaire.