I don’t think exhibiting the Ark as if it is a mere piece of artifact may help.
According to Jewish tradition that the Ark spat out sparks from between the two cherubim, killing pests and burning thorns and briars out of the way of the sons of Israel, the smoke of which as it curled upward sent a sweet fragrance throughout the world, and the nations of the earth exclaimed in wonder and admiration (cf. Legends of the Jews IV, 329). Some interpreted the “fire from the face of the LORD” that struck Nadab and Abihu dead (Leviticus 10:1-2) to come from the Ark itself. Apparently it could also levitate itself:
When the last of the Israelites ascended from the Jordan, the waters returned to their place; as it is said: “
And it came to pass, when the priests that bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord were come up out of the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted up unto the dry ground, that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and went over all its banks, as aforetime.” (Joshua 4:18) Consequently the ark and its bearers and the priests were on one side [of the Jordan] and the Israelites on the other! The ark carried its bearers and passed over [the river]; as it is said: And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over, that the ark of the Lord passed over, and the priests, in the presence of the people.
-Talmud Bavli, Sotah 35
In the bed of the Jordan Joshua assembled the people around the Ark. A divine miracle caused the narrow space between its staves to contain the whole concourse. Joshua then proclaimed the conditions under which God would give Palestine to the Israelites, and he added, if these conditions were not accepted, the waters of the Jordan would descend straight upon them. Then they marched through the river. When the people arrived on the further shore, the holy Ark, which had all the while been standing in the bed of the river, set forward of itself, and, dragging the priests after it, overtook the people.
-Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews IV
The reason why Uzzah is punished, the story continues, is because he attempted to hold the Ark, even when it could support itself and its bearers. He was smitten due to this error or even because he relieved himself in the presence of the Ark (the word
shal “error”, is here connected with
nashal, “to drop off”).
Still another tradition says that when David had the Ark brought from the house of Abinadab and carried upon a new cart (2 Sam.6:2-3), the two sons of the latter, driving the cart, were tossed by an invisible agency into the air and flung to the ground again and again, until Ahitophel explained to David that this was owing to the transgression of the Law, which enjoined upon the sons of Kohath to carry the Ark upon their shoulders (cf. Numbers 7:9).
I’ve heard that the guardian at Ethiopia claim that the Ark itself was making its guardians sick - the recent one told of how his eyesight gradually started to fail ever since he was chosen.
And finally, we all know what happened to the Nazis when they attempted to open the Ark.
So, in light of all these, I guess it might be a good idea not to get the Ark into public view, at least for the moment.
Some say that prototypes for Ark and its cherubim may be the sphinx thrones of the Ancient Near East and the processional carriages of ancient Egypt; after all, the Ark was very much like the portable throne-slash-footstool of God on earth.
The lesson we get from all this is: never relieve yourself in front of the Ark nor offer strange fire before it - and don’t attempt to steal it, or touch it.
