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The Search for the Ark of the Covenant

Although the Temple Mount in Jerusalem was the last known location of the Ark of the Covenant, its date of departure from the Temple is a topic of much debate. The last known reference alluding to the Ark's presence in the Temple dates from 701 BC, when the Assyrian king Sennacherib surrounded Hezekiah'sforces in Jerusalem. Isaiah 37:14-16 reads, "And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. Then Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying: 'O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim . . .'"

"Ark of the Covenant" by Priscilla Silver

This reference to the presence of God's shekinah glory abiding above the mercy seat on the Ark of the covenant, between the cherubim sculpted on the lid of the Ark, seems to confirm that the Ark was still located in the Holy of Holies in 701 BC.
It appears that the villain in the drama of the Ark was the subsequent king, Manasseh, and that the Ark most probably was taken out of the Temple during his reign. Although the extent of Manasseh's evil does not allow a full description here, the Bible summarizes his deeds by noting that he did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed. He practiced wizardry and sorcery, placed pagan idols in the Holy of Holies, and shed innocent blood in the streets of Jerusalem, from one end to the other. Our belief is that a pure Levitical priesthood, left over from the days of Hezekiah, would not have tolerated the degrading and polluting of the Temple containing the Ark of the Covenant. It is even possible that Manasseh would have ordered the Ark removed from the Temple before installing his own debased idols. Whatever the reason the Ark was removed, it is interesting to note that that just a short time after King Manasseh (687-642 BC), King Josiah (who brought great reform to the Jews) mentions the Ark's absence from the Temple.
A number of ancient documents (such as the Elephantine Papyri) seem to confirm the existence of a Jewish Temple at Elephantine. Egypt, or at least certain districts of Egypt, would have been a safe haven for Jewish refugees, as we see from King Neco's friendly appeal to Josiah in 2 Chronicles 35:20-21, less than a generation later. (It may even be that Josiah died trying to gain enough control over Egypt to reclaim the Ark). What's more, our scholarly contact in Egypt, Dr. Atif Hanna, curator of the Aswan Museum, has concluded from his investigation that the Ark of the Covenant did indeed come to Elephantine Island during the reign of Manasseh in Israel, and that it was housed in the replica temple. However, Dr. Hanna has also determined that the replica temple was destroyed for unknown reasons - possibly the advance of a new, aggressive from of idol worship - in 410 BC. That event, then, raises the question: Where would the Ark have been taken? Where might our search lead us next? At this point, all indicators pointed toward Ethiopia.

Why take our search to Ethiopia? First of all, for centuries of Ethiopian history, there has existed strong tradition and legend that the Ark of the covenant indeed found its final resting place in Ethiopia. But even more important, the Bible and related sources are not silent on the subject of a direct connection between the Jews and Ethiopia. Josephus, Jewish historian to the Romans, cites a strong connection between Moses (during his princely upbringing in Egypt) and Ethiopia. In Book II, Chapter X of his Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus recounts an episode in which Moses, leading forces from Egypt, besieges the Ethiopian city of Saba, and subsequently receives an offer of marriage from the king's daughter named Tharbis. According to Josephus, Moses accepts and consummates his marriage to an Ethiopian, and so wins the city for Egypt. Is this fable or fact? It's hard to say for certain - but in Numbers 12:1 we find that ". . . Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian." If such a marriage took place, it is easy to see that a line of Mosaic descendants in Ethiopia would provide an ideal place of refuge for the Ark, particularly if its welcome had been revoked further downriver in Egypt, and if its return to Israel was not possible because of the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 587-586 BC.
Our research on-site in Ethiopia led us to the shores of Lake Tana, a body of water 53 miles long and 41 miles wide, located on the headwaters of the Blue Nile. Isolated far out on the waters of Lake Tana is Tana Kirkos Island, considered by the Ethiopians to be a holy island, and populated only by Ethiopian Christian monks. The monks of Tana Kirkos believe they are living on the island where the Ark of the covenant rested, and where Levitical-style blood sacrifices were performed until 338 AD, when the nation of Ethiopia converted to Christianity.
Is the Bible entirely silent on the subject of the Ark of the Covenant's current resting place, or of its existence between the present day and the eternal kingdom? Some argue that Scripture is indeed silent, and that the Ark is a moot point now that Messiah has suffered and died for the whole world. Others, however, suggest that there may yet me a role for the Ark to play during a period of time following a real and triumphant victory by Messiah over the armed forces of the world system, before He institutes His eternal kingdom on a new earth.
In Isaiah 18, the prophet records a message from God concerning Ethiopia. It deals not only with Ethiopia's past, but also with the future of God's Messiah. Verses 3-4 read, "All inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth, when he (Messiah) lifts up a banner on the mountains, you see it; and when he blows a trumpet (of victory), you hear it. For so the Lord said to me, 'I will take My rest, and I will look from My dwelling place."
If this and the verses that follow describe Messiah's triumph over the armies of the world, what happens next is very interesting. Verse 7 reads: "In that time a present will be brought to the Lord of hosts from a people tall and smooth of skin (Ethiopians, according to verse 1) . . . to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, to Mount Zion." What might the present be that is brought from Ethiopia to the "place of the name of the Lord" - to the Holy of Holies? Only the future will tell.