The Covenant of the Ark
Perhaps the greatest mystery of the ancient world was the disappearance of the Ark of the Covenant. Matt's education on the Ark began with the firts Indiana Jones film and he's read several books and theories on what happened to it. Most historians believe that when the Babylonians in 586 BC captured Jerusalem and carted off most of the Isrealites into slavery. But how could a device of such devine and outherworldly power have been so easily destroyed? This is one of the central questions that has fueled the rampant speculation on what has happened to the Ark. The most interesting and convincing of the Ark theories is described in Graham Hancock's fascinating book "The Sign and The Seal." The theory therein is that the Ark was taken to Ethiopia by Manalik, son of Soloman and the Queen of Sheba. Matt highly recommends this book. There are several other claims of discovery of the Ark and if you're interested in these, do a search engine run under Ark of the Covenant-lots of interesting stuff and lots of crap.
Here is a brief summary of the most accepted history of the Ark: While at Mount Sinai, Moses was given instructions for building the Ark of the Covenant. The top of the ark was the mercy seat before which the high priest sprinkled blood on the sanctuary of the tabernacle. The people carried the ark with them during the wilderness wanderings. Eventually it was brought into battle by the Israelites. The Philistines captured it, but when a plague broke out in their camp, they sent it back by ox cart to the Israelited. David brought the ark back to Jerusalem and Solomon eventually placed it in the Temple he built. The ark was apparently destroyed when the Babylonians destroyed the Temple in 587 BC.
Taken from Lady Pendragon Vol.2, #2
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