Mystery Of The Ark Of The Covenant

(I originally wrote and posted this to my previous blog 03/13/2007.)

Reading: YirmeYahu (Jeremiah) 52

This last chapter of YirmeYahu is a sad one with the destruction of the temple and Yerushalayim and the execution of many of the leaders of Yehudah by the sovereign of Babel.

The army of Babel ransacked the temple and took all the items of gold, silver and bronze. But notably missing from the plunder is the ark of the covenant. In the book of 2 Maccabees (part of the Apocrypha), we are told that YirmeYahu hid the ark of the covenant:

2Ma 2:4 It was also contained in the same writing, that the prophet, being warned of God, commanded the tabernacle and the ark to go with him, as he went forth into the mountain, where Moses climbed up, and saw the heritage of God.
2Ma 2:5 And when Jeremy came thither, he found an hollow cave, wherein he laid the tabernacle, and the ark, and the altar of incense, and so stopped the door.
2Ma 2:6 And some of those that followed him came to mark the way, but they could not find it.
2Ma 2:7 Which when Jeremy perceived, he blamed them, saying, As for that place, it shall be unknown until the time that God gather his people again together, and receive them unto mercy.
There are other clues as to how the ark may have been hidden.

1Ki 7:8 And the house where he was to dwell, in the other courtyard, within the hall was of like workmanship. And Shelomoh made a house like this hall for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had taken.

Shelomoh (Solomon) married Pharaoh's daughter. Could it be that he made this alliance in order to obtain the secrets of the building of the pyramids with all of their underground networks and chambers? If he obtained the technology of Mitsrayim (Egypt), perhaps he used it in the building of the temple on the temple mount.

Another clue is the 'before' and 'after' pictures of the two columns of bronze. Here is the 'before' picture of the two columns when they are built:

1Ki 7:15 And he cast two columns of bronze, each one eighteen cubits high, and a line of twelve cubits measured the circumference of each.
1Ki 7:16 And he made two capitals of cast bronze, to put on the tops of the columns - the height of one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits -

Here is the 'after' picture of the two columns when the army of Babel destroyed the temple:

2Ki 25:16 The bronze of all these utensils was beyond measure - the two columns, the one Sea, and the stands, which Shelomoh had made for the House of יהוה.
2Ki 25:17 The height of one column was eighteen cubits, and the capital on it was of bronze. And the height of the capital was three cubits, and the network and pomegranates all around the capital were all of bronze. And the second column was the same, with a network.

The height of the capitals is initially 5 cubits, but when the plunderers take them away, the capitals are only 3 cubits tall. What happened to the other 2 cubits? One theory is that these hollow columns housed lever-type machinery to facilitate the lowering of the ark of the covenant into a hidden chamber under the temple.

There is one problem, though. In YirmeYahu's listing of the items taken from the temple during its destruction, he describes the capitals as being 5 cubits tall--the same measurement as when they were originally made:

Jer 52:20 The two columns, one Sea, the twelve bronze bulls which were under it, and the stands, which Sovereign Shelomoh had made for the House of יהוה - the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weighing.
Jer 52:21 As for the columns, the height of one column was eighteen cubits, and its circumference was twelve cubits, and its thickness was four fingers, hollow.
Jer 52:22 And a capital of bronze was on it. And the height of one capital was five cubits, with a network and pomegranates all around the capital, all of bronze. And the second column, with pomegranates was the same.

What occurred to me is that if YirmeYahu did facilitate the hiding of the ark of the covenant and if that hiding was done through some secret involving those two columns and their capitals, it would make sense for him to use the original measurements in his description rather than give away the secret.

Perhaps one day we will know what happened to the ark of the covenant. Maybe it will be as the writer of Maccabees quotes YirmeYahu--"it shall be unknown until the time that God gather his people again together, and receive them unto mercy."