The Lost Ark of the Covenant: What Really Happened?

In the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones is determined to locate the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis can get their hands on it.

Although the fictional adventure film features one of the most well-known modern references to a religious relic, this object dates back to ancient times, as it appears in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. So, what is it?

The Bible describes the Ark of the Covenant in detail. While its origin, power, and purpose are well documented, many questions remain: What miraculous powers does it possess? And what happened to it?

The Ark of the Covenant is a decorative, gold-plated chest described in the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament. The Israelites built it about 3,000 years ago, and it holds the original stone tablets of the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses at Mount Sinai.

The Book of Exodus explains how God instructed Moses to tell the Israelites to build the Ark that would hold the original Ten Commandments. As Exodus tells it, these building instructions were quite specific:

Exodus 25:10 And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.

Exodus 25:11 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.

Exodus 25:12 And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof; and two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it.

Exodus 25:13 And thou shalt make staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.

Exodus 25:14 And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them.

Exodus 25:15 The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it.

Exodus 25:16 And thou shalt put into the ark the tablets of the covenant law (Ten Commandments) which I shall give thee.

The Book of Exodus describes the Ark as being constructed according to God’s exact instructions. This includes an “atonement cover of pure gold” with “two cherubim made of hammered gold at the ends of the cover.”

The Ark of the Covenant contains Aaron’s rod; Aaron’s rod had extraordinary powers, such as transforming into a snake and turning water into blood. Like Aaron’s rod, the Ark itself was thought to possess powerful abilities.

The Bible states that the Ark of the Covenant contains holy objects and possesses great powers. Moses parted the waters of the Jordan River, enabling the people to cross into the Promised Land. The Book of Joshua states that when they broke camp, the priests carrying the Ark went ahead, while the river was at flood stage during the harvest.

The people crossed the Jordan River opposite Jericho. The priests with the Ark of the Covenant stood on dry ground until all of Israel crossed.

The ark also played a key role in the Battle of Jericho, as the Israelites carried it for a week while surrounding the city.

After seven days, the city’s walls collapsed, allowing the Israelites to capture it. When the Philistines stole the Ark of the Covenant, they could not harness its powers and suffered from disease until they returned it.

What happened to the Ark after biblical times remains a question that has intrigued believers for centuries. The Bible says the Ark possessed divine power. However,

Biblical scholars can trace the path of the Ark of the Covenant — but only to a certain point. Most biblical scholars say the Ark made its way to Ancient Israel and was later placed in Jerusalem’s Temple of Solomon, established around 957 B.C.E.

The Ark of the Covenant likely remained in that building for several centuries, at least until the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. After this event, tracing the Ark’s whereabouts becomes challenging.

This is not part of the documented spoils. Different books from that time suggest that the prophet Jeremiah hid the Ark in a cave on Mount Nebo.

Some believe the Ark of the Covenant is in Ethiopia, specifically at the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Axum, where only its “Guardian” can see it.

Another theory about the lost Ark of the Covenant suggests that Rabbis Shlomo Goren and Yehuda Getz believe it is hidden beneath the Temple Mount, buried before Nebuchadnezzar could take it. However, the area is now home to the Dome of the Rock, an important Islamic site, and local Muslims refuse to permit any excavation.

Some believe the Ark was stowed away in Saint Mary of Zion’s Church in Aksum, an ancient city in Ethiopia. An explorer from the B.A.S.E. Institute also believes the ark may now reside in Aksum.

Some also claim someone has seen the lost Ark of the Covenant buried under Mt. Calvary, and another person claims to have seen it on Mt. Pisgah near Mt. Nebo.

Where is the original Ark of the Covenant? Its location remains a mystery. It might have been destroyed, hidden, or waiting to reemerge.

2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

2 Peter 3:11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

2 Peter 3:12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

Revelation 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

James 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.

Revelation 16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

Luke 21:11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and diseases; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

Luke 21:25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;

Luke 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

Exodus 20:1 And God spake all these words, saying

Exodus 20:2 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Exodus 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Exodus 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

Exodus 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

Exodus 20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Exodus 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Exodus 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Exodus 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

Exodus 20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

Exodus 20:11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Exodus 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

Exodus 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.

Exodus 20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Exodus 20:15 Thou shalt not steal.

Exodus 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Exodus 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

Exodus 20:18 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.

Matthew 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Matthew 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.

Matthew 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Matthew 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

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