What happened to the Ark of Covenant, really?

Ask a church receptionist #3

It probably wasn’t this

Welcome another installment of Ask a church receptionist, a monthly column where I answer your questions about the Bible, Christianity, and whether that new cravat is doing you any favors (it isn’t).

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Dear church receptionist,

What happened to the Ark of the Covenant? We’ve all seen Raiders of the Lost Ark, but what really happened to it? Did it just get destroyed, or was it carried off somewhere? Was it hidden? Are there any convincing theories about this?

Thanks,

—just another homeless romantic

Hi romantic,

This is one of those Great Mysteries™️ that is almost certainly more interesting than its factual answer. There are a lot of those: Who really built the pyramids (a handful of skilled engineers)? What really happened to Atlantis (Plato made the whole thing up, and he never pretended otherwise)? Is Bigfoot real (obviously not, which is a huge bummer, since he seems like a fun guy)? To say that the Ark of the Covenant disappeared—which it did—isn’t to say that it’s waiting to be found somewhere. Most things that disappear never get found, because, y’know, time and entropy happen. I lost a sandwich once, but I’m not waiting for it to turn up, at least not in a recognizable sandwich form.

That being said—there are some theories, which I’ll get into after the break:

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First, a bit of background, for anyone who’s never been to Sunday school or caught up on Harrison Ford’s filmography: First described in Exodus 25, the Ark of the Covenant was a gold-plated box that represented God’s “throne” among the Israelites. It was said to contain a handful of religious artifacts, including the tablets with the Ten Commandments, a jar of Manna, and the blossomed rod that proved the legitimacy of Aaron’s priesthood (long story). The nation of Israel would carry it before them, occasionally into battle (with mixed results), and it eventually found a semi-permanent home in the first temple of Jerusalem. As you read through the Old Testament, though, it shows up less and less, until the Babylonian Exile, at which point it disappears from the narrative entirely.

So what happened? The most likely explanation is that the Babylonians, when they invaded Israel, just sort of carted it off and then melted it down or something. You tell me what you’d do, if you were a Babylonian pagan (or Zoroastrian) with a gold-plated artifact from a weirdo backwater religion you don’t particularly care about: Are you going to keep it around for posterity, or are you going to get paid?

Now—there are certainly fancier theories than that, which makes sense considering that an awful lot of people think of the Ark as sacred, and therefore have a vested interest in assuming God would protect it. And while there are seemingly endless theories we could talk about, there are—for my money—only two that have any credibility at all:

In the second chapter of 2 Maccabees, it’s recorded that the prophet Jeremiah hid the Ark in a cave on Mount Nebo (in present-day Jordan), in order to protect it from the invading Babylonians. Seems pretty open-and-shut! On the other hand, though, 2 Maccabees is recognized as canon only by Catholics and Orthodox Christians, so if you’re Protestant or Jewish, reading this passage is a little like reading that Teddy Roosevelt ended World War II by punching Hitler into the sun. Cool story, but, eh. It’s also not done any favors by the fact that Jeremiah announces in the passage that “The place shall be unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows his mercy”—and the Jews have been restored to the Holy Land at least twice since then, with no Ark forthcoming. But who knows? Maybe opening up the Nebo cave is still on God’s to-do list.

The other possibility—and what I’d say is the much more interesting one—is that the Ark is currently in the possession of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tawahedo Church. There’s a whole backstory there, and one that pretty much all modern historians find pretty suspect, but here it is:

In 1 Kings 10, it’s recorded that the Queen of Sheba (“Sheba” being a kingdom only mentioned in the Old Testament and the Qur’an, but frequently identified with modern-day Ethiopia) visited King Solomon to learn of his wisdom. According to the medieval Ethiopian text called the Kebra Nagast (“Glory of the Kings”), he showed her a bit more than just wisdom, and she gave birth to his son on the return trip. That son, Menelik (who would become the first emperor of Ethiopia), returned to Israel as an adult, said hi to Daddy Solomon, and inadvertently stole the Ark (that is, one of his men stole it without his knowledge), replacing it with a replica. (So, yes, this would imply that Jeremiah ended up hiding a fake Ark. Haha, whoops! That guy can’t catch a break!)

Since then, the Ark has hung out in Ethiopia, and, following Ethiopia’s conversion to Christianity, has been in the possession of the state Church. Supposedly, it lives in a chapel adjacent to the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion,¹ where a single monk is allowed to stand guard over it, living twenty-four-seven in its cell and praying over it day and night. I say “supposedly,” because the Ethiopian Church refuses to let anyone other than the designated monk see the Ark—and while you can understand, from their perspective, the need to keep such a sacred artifact protected from the world, the policy certainly does nothing to silence the haters. It also doesn’t help that many modern historians consider the Kebra Nagast an obvious fiction intended to prop up the (now-defunct) Solomonic Ethiopian dynasty…but you can decide for yourself, I guess.

So there you have it. Maybe the Ark is in a cave on Mount Nebo; maybe it’s in a chapel in Ethiopia; maybe it’s in a US government warehouse where top men are studying it.

Or maybe it’s in Atlantis with Bigfoot. Who’s to say.

—the church receptionist 🕹🌙🧸

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1. As it happens, it’s not a coincidence the church is named after the Virgin Mary: Christians have long thought of Mary as the “second Ark,” as she bore God into the world the same way God’s presence was carried in the original Ark. I guess that does raise the question of why Ethiopian Christians would still care so much about the first Ark, though? Maybe they just think it’s cool.