www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News The Ethiopian Ark of the Covenant to be revealed

I am excited and scared at the same time

Road trip! http://www.livingpassages.org/tours/ethiopia.htm

carried by WND
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=102119

Hmmm the article points to a museum being funded. Entrance fees would be revenue. Revenue to whom would be the question. Evidence, evidence, evidence, question the answers and the motives. It is easy to play on the collective religious minds in regards to this ark. Tourism and the revenue from such a venture would probably help infuse their local economy and maybe line the church's pockets. Everyone I know that is of a Judeo-Christian belief would love to see the real ark. So claim to have the real one and build a museum. People will flock in from all over the world and ooze barrels of cash on this local community.

According to 2 Maccabees, Jeremiah hid it. However, it seems to me there's a good chance the Babylonians melted it down.

The Ark is last mentioned in the Bible during the reign of Manesseh, who is considered one of the "bad" kings of Judah. He is noted as having expelled the priests of Yahweh from the Temple. They, in their turn, moved to Egypt and established a rival temple at Elephantine (near Aswan), which existed down to 410 BC, when it was destroyed by Egyptian priests of Khnum. Its existence and communications with the Temple at Jerusalem is known through a series of papyrus inscriptions. According to these, the temple at Elephantine was rebuilt by the Persians in 401 BC, but it was again destroyed and the Jewish community there scattered in or around 332 BC (shortly after the Macedonians took over Egypt).

Since the Ark is no longer mentioned in the Bible after the reign of Manesseh, its is logical to assume that it was taken to Elephantine by the exiled Yahwean priests, and set up in their new temple. If it was not destroyed in the first suppression of the Elephantine temple in 410, or in the final destruction of 332, where did it go?

We know from genetic testing that a large community of Jews lived on the Upper Nile and in Ethiopia from about the 4th century onward. These Ethiopian Jews, known as Falasha (Amharic for "exiles") retained a distinct identity and maintained a number of ancient practices abandoned by post-Temple Judaism. They are almost undoubtedly descended from the priestly community of Elephantine, due to the high percentage of unique Cohanim genetic markers in their DNA.

If the Ark still existed in 332, then it most likely was taken by these Jews up the Nile into Ethiopia. At some point, this precious relic may have been transferred to or seized by the indigenous Christian community and kept as a sacred cult object down to this day. The Ark as described in the Bible is quite obviously a portable altar/reliquary of a type seen frequently in Egyptian tombs. If it still exists, it most likely has fallen into fragments as the wood decayed, leaving only its ivory and gold decorations intact. Still, it would be very interesting to see just what is there. A legend of this sort does not maintain itself for centuries unless, somewhere deep down, it has a grain of truth to it.

Interesting isn't it, how so many Protestants know more than the Ethiopean Orthodox about their history.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=102200

So was the Arc actually revealed ?

Actually, according to the last link it was supposed to happen at 8 AM EST today. Haven't found any stories out there yet. Anyone else?

ah I thought it said the 19th

Hmm...

From ADN Kronos, a couple of days ago: "H.H. the Patriarch affirmed he personally saw the Ark, that is in good condition because it was made not by hands of man but it is blessed by the Lord."

From Smithsonian.com [smithsonianmag.com], December 2007: "I asked if the ark in Ethiopia resembles the one described in the Bible: almost four feet long, just over two feet high and wide, surmounted by two winged cherubs facing each other across its heavy lid, forming the "mercy seat," or footstool for the throne of God. Paulos shrugged. "Can you believe that even though I'm head of the Ethiopian church, I'm still forbidden from seeing it?" he said. "The guardian of the ark is the only person on earth who has that peerless honor."

Later, the author describes a conversation with the guardian of the ark:

"I asked his name.

"I'm the guardian of the ark," he said, with the priest translating. "I have no other name."

I told him I had come from the other side of the world to speak with him about the ark. "I can't tell you anything about it," he said. "No king or patriarch or bishop or ruler can ever see it, only me. This has been our tradition since Menelik brought the ark here more than 3,000 years ago."


So he's either broken the rules and gone to see it himself in the past year and a half, or somethings fishy about this whole story.

Also, the ark in a museum? After 3000 years of being kept in a church and revered as holy, they want to put it in a museum?

I feel like Mulder, from X-files: I want to believe. But...

Three thousand years is a bit much (it's more like 2500), but then, numerancy comes late to primitive cultures, who like to deal in canonical units. But no doubt the institution of the Guardian is very ancient, and the fact that they claim the Ark has been there for three thousand years shows the story antedates Christianity.

I dont see an biblical prohibitons of either looking on the ark
or touching the ark, the only one that comes close is one touches the ark to steady it and is stuck dead.
Any comments?
Stephanos I

The thing has to be a fake. we all know indiana jones recovered the thing in the late 30s and the the ark is in some government warehouse!!!!

Well, nothing happened.
This is beginning to sound a lot like a publicity stunt, which is a shame for a church as ancient and as culturally rich as Ethiopia's.
I hate to sound uncharitable, but I can't really see another explanation for it.