Although I would only consider it a godly book but not inspired of God like the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible, I have nevertheless started to find some useful information from the Jewish book The Mishnah. In particular the location of the Ark of the Covenant since the 1st Temple or Solomon's Temple was destroyed to the present time. This is where it will stay until it is retrieved for the Third Temple in the 70th week of Daniel or the Tribulation starting with the covenant the Antichrist will make with Israel immediately after the rapture from Daniel 9:27. One of these references is in Moed section of the Mishnah and Moed means "seasons" or "set feasts" in the subsection Shekalim which means Shekel (the once and current Israeli currency) Temple dues chapter 6 verses 1 and 2. This reference says the following: There were thirteen Shofar (trumpet)-chests, thirteen tables, and thirteen prostrations in the Temple. They of the House of Gamiliel and of the House of R. Hanina the Prefect of the Priests used to make prostrations. And where was the added one? Opposite the wood-store (wood chamber), for thus was the tradition among them from their forefathers, that there the Ark lay hidden. Once when a priest was occupied (therein) he saw a block of pavement that was different from the rest. He went and told it to his fellow, but before he could make an end of the matter his life departed. So they knew assuredly that there the Ark lay hidden. Shekalim 6:1-2 Second Division: Moed Oxford Press edition of the Mishnah. Although there are other leading ideas where the Ark of the Covenant is hidden such as in Ethiopia or Scotland or perhaps some other places, this well documented reference to its place under the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is the best supported alternative. See for illustration in 2nd Temple Herod's Temple location of wood-store or Chamber of Wood the Temple Institute web site at
Temple Institutethen Study Tools then Enter the Temple then Virtual Tour of the Temple then I then Chamber of Wood then Women's Court. There is another reference at Midot 5:2 in the Mishnah. I hope this will clarify to the reader that the Ark of the Covenant is likely not lost just hidden.
In a book which I have called A History of the Jews by Solomon Grayzel page 627 to 628 of the 1968 version of this book it is mentioned that the idea that the Ethiopians have the Ark of the Covenant is based on the historical incident in which Jewish priests and wise men took a replica but not the actual thing of the Ark of the Covenant to Ethiopia. This is according to some of the Falasha or black Ethiopian Jews who they claim are descended from Menelik who they say was the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The King of Ethiopia also claims to be descended from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba and this is also the basis for the figure of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah on the Ethiopian flag.
Although I still think the location under the Temple Mount under the Chamber of Wood is a reliable location and well backed up by Jewish sources in the references in the Mishnah, I have since then found another not very credible location also backed up by some sources. Many of you probably have heard of and perhaps even seen the movie Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Although I haven't personally seen it I have heard of it for many years and would like to see it soon. Anyway, what I want to point out is that many people I talk with, either family, friends, brothers or sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ including some Messianic Jews and strangers is that although they have often heard of the story of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark few of them are at all aware that it is based on a real archaeologist who is actually in the search for the Ark of the Covenant for many years and is close now to possibly finding it. He is basing his search on the Copper Scroll that is a special scroll written on copper material and that was found with other Dead Sea scrolls in the caves of the Essene Qumran community built onto cliffside caves along the northern part of the Israeli side of the Dead Sea. This copper scroll although for many years has been maligned or discounted by many in the archaological or scholarly community because of it poor literary style, poor state of preservation and many obscure references. These direction are to the hiding place of the Ark of the Covenant as well as The Tabernacle of David and Ashes of previous Red Heifers and other Temple Tresures somewhere in the vicinity of Mount Nebo on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea in what was previously the territory of the Moabites. A flask of annointing oil from the 1st Temple period and a blue aura in the Cave of the Column mentioned in the directions of the copper scroll have already been found by archaeologist Vendyl Jones and gives more assurance he is on the right track to finding the Ark of the Covenant if this is where it is hidden. This is also where God's great leader of Israel Moses got his view of the Promised Land Israel and then died and is probably laying there somewhere unless God took his bones miraculously away. More details can be found on Vendyl Jones' web site at
Vendyl Jones WebsiteAlthough not inspired of God as are the Old and New Testaments, the Apocrypha is still a good source of historical information especially from the 400 years between the Old and New Testament although some of its references are to times prior to that. One such case is in the first eight verses of 2 Maccabbees 2 that talks about the prophet Jeremiah cooperating with Josiah the last good king of Judah who together took the Ark of the Covenant and doubtless other temple treasure from the 1st or Solomon's Temple before it was destroyed by Israel's ungodly enemy the Babylonians under their King Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah and Josiah knew this would happen soon after Josiah's time since his son wasn't living in Josiah's godly footsteps and the people of Judah (southern Israel) weren't repenting at the preaching of Jeremiah and other godly prophets of Israel at that time. God told Jeremiah and other prophets that God would destroy Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem if they didn't turn from their idolatry including in the Temple, immorality, violence and departing from or calousness to God and his servants the prophets. According to this reference in 2 Maccabbees Jeremiah and Josiah hid the Ark of the Covenant and other Temple treasures in the area of Mount Nebo on the far side of the Dead Sea from Israel and where Moses the channel through which God gave the law saw the land of Israel and died. This possible location of the Ark of the Covenant and other Temple Treasures would be a viable alternative to location(s) under the Temple Mount such as in the Chamber of Wood. The reference in the Apocrypha in 2 Maccabees with a possible mention of the hiding place of the Ark of the Covenant and other Temple treasures is as follows:
It is also found in the records, that Jeremy (Jeremiah) the prophet commanded them that were carried away to take of the fire, as it hath been signified: And how that the prophet, having given them the law, charged them not to forget the commandments of the Lord, and that they should not err in their minds, when they see images of silver and gold, with their ornaments. And with other such speeches exhorted he them, that the law should not depart from their hearts. 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. And when Jeremy (Jeremiah) 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. And some of those that followed him came to mark the way, but they could not find it. Which when Jeremy perceived, he blamed them, saying, As for that place, it shall be unknown until the time that God gather his people together, and receive them unto mercy. Then shall the Lord shew them these things, and the glory of the Lord shall appear, and the cloud also, as it was shewed under Moses, and as when Solomon desired that the place might be honourably sanctified. 2 Maccabees 2:1-8
The last mention of the Ark of the Covenant as being in existence as well as use in the Temple is in 2 Chronicles 35:3 where it was probably laid in its resting place in the chambers deep below Solomon's Temple probably of the holy of holies and the Temple Mount in the tunnels and chamber King Solomon had previously prepared for the event that Israel comes to be in jeopardy of being overcome by her enemies. The word for this chamber being "house" is probably because this chamber below the Temple Mount would be the house or dwelling of the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat which represented God's presence among the Israelites until it would be retrieved in the last days when the Jews are ready to build their third temple. This place is called a house but not the house of the LORD meaning it is probably not the temple. This is mentioned in Maimonides Mishneh Torah Book 8 Temple Service Section 1 The Temple Chapter 4 Section 1 where he mentions this verse in 2 Chronicles 35 as the house referring to the chamber where the hiding place was prepared for the Ark of the Covenant under the Temple Mount and Solomon's then still standing Temple. This hiding of the Ark of the Covenant and some of the Temple treasures probably occurred at the glorious Passover celebration conducted by King Josiah. The Ark of the Covenant could have been in the holy of holies all the time through the reign of the evil kings Manasseh and Amon even though they put many idols in the temple perhaps even the holy of holies. One reason this is possible is because the scripture nowhere mentions the ark was taken out of the holy of holies. The ark in the time of Josiah could then have been taken out of the holy of holies and moved to the house buit by Solomon for it under the Temple. This great passover of Josiah was conducted in 623 BC. After this Passover celebration, Josiah isn't mentioned again in 2 Chronicles and not much elsewhere in the Bible until 13 years later in 610 BC the year of his death when Josiah went out to Carchemish on the upper Euphrates River to meet and try to fight against Pharoah Necho king of Egypt. Josiah probably thought God had prophesied through Jeremiah who prophesied at that time and was also his spiritual advisor that God would allow Babylon to prevail at that time and that Israel shouldn't rebel against Babylon. Anyway, in verse 20 of 2 Chronicles 35 God says in his word that after these things, Josiah's celebration of the Passover when Josiah had prepared the temple Josiah went out against Pharoah Necho king of Egypt. This could mean that Josiah had already prepared the temple by already hiding the Ark of the Covenant and some other temple treasures at his glorious passover celebration for the Lord earlier in this chapter in a place where he thought would be safe from the King of Babylon (or the King of Egypt or any other foreign conquorer who might come to Jerusalem). This idea of the Ark of the Covenant being hid in tunnels under the Temple Mount is also promoted in the famous book by the Jewish sage Maimonides in his book Mishneh Torah. In 2 Chronicles 36 and places like Jeremiah 27 it is clear that all the temple treasures remaining in the temple, in the time of the kings after Josiah when the temple was looted by the Babylonians on a number of occasions, were either destroyed or brought to Babylon although most of the temple vessels brought to Babylon were later returned with the returning exiles as mentioned in Ezra 1. The scripture reference of the last mention of the Ark of the Covenant chronologically in the Old Testament with the Ark of the Covenant still existing and of the preparing of the temple by about thirteen years later in 2 Chronicles 35 is as follows:
And said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, which were holy unto the LORD, Put the holy ark (the Ark of the Covenant) in the house (perhaps chamber under Solomon's Temple) which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build (the 1st Jewish Temple or Solomon's Temple); it shall not be a burden upon your shoulders: serve now the LORD your God, and his people Israel. ... After all this, (13 years later) when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him. 2 Chronicles 35:3, 20
The Jewish sage Maimonides is one of the writers who most clearly advance the idea that the Ark of the Covenant was hid under the Temple Mount just before the invasion of the Babylonians to destroy Solomon's Temple. He says that King Solomon had dug tunnels under the Temple Mount knowing that it was likely that eventually the Jewish people would stray into sin and away from the one true God and that this would result in God's chastening with the destruction of the Temple and removal of Temple vessels that were accessible to the invaders. Maimonides also writes that King Josiah of Judah, the last good king of Judah, hid the temple treasures including the Ark of the Covenant in these tunnels under the Temple Mount and that they are still there ready to be brought out when the last days tunnel will be built. This will be quite soon and is probably the third temple that the Jewish Temple groups like The Temple Institute and The Temple Mount Faithful are now seeking to build on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The reference in Maimonides classic Jewish book Mishneh Torah is in Book 8 The Temple Service Section 1 The Temple Chapter 4. This section reads in part as follows:
There was a stone at the western side of the Holy of Holies, on which the Ark was placed, and in front of it there was the jar of manna as well as the staff of Aaron. When Solomon built the Temple, knowing that it would at the end be destroyed, he constructed underneath a place where to hide the Ark in deep and winding secret tunnels. At the command of King Josiah, it was concealed in the place which Solomon had built. ... Along with it were concealed the staff of Aaron, the jar of manna, and the annointing oil. None of these reappeared in the Second Temple.
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