The Ark of Covenant's location ... what Scripture & Jewish Tradition reveal

[brb3]

Scriptures last discuss the Ark [within the Temple] during reign of Solomon …

2 Chronicles 8:11 Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the city of David to the house which he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not live in the house of David king of Israel, for the places to which the Ark of the Lord has come are holy.”

Next, in Chp. 9 we see the visit of Queen of Sheba.
Verse 9:12 And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all that she desired, WHATEVER SHE ASKED besides what she had brought to the king. So she turned and went back to her own land, with her servants.

Ethiopian history records that Solomon took Sheba as wife and had a son named Menilek by her. Solomon educated the lad in Jerusalem til age19 in the Temple school. Then the boy returned to Ethiopia with a # of his Jewish friends after his mother died. Solomon allowed him to take an ‘exact replica’ of the Ark with him, which Solomon had made for him. On his return to Ethiopia he became Prince Menilek 1, founding the Church of St. Mary of Zion, in Aksum. The Jewish faith was planted in Ethiopia, and survives today-- known as the Falasha Jews.

In 1989, Israel recognized them as legit, and tens of thousands have returned to live in Israel. The Falasha Jews have a continuous lineage back to Menilek and his father Solomon. They also have maintained the Ark in Aksum since days of Solomon & Son. They also tell that Menilek told them it was the ORIGINAL ARK. While his dad was making merry with many wives and drink … he switched the Arks, believing his dad was becoming ‘paganized’ by allowing in false idols of wives, corrupting the Temple.

The Prophet Zephaniah later spoke prophesy regarding Ethiopia and its OFFERING to the Jews in the ‘later days’.
In the final Chp., Zephaniah 3:9-20 says "Yea, at THAT TIME I will change the speech of the peoples to a PURE SPEECH, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him with ONE ACCORD. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, the daughter of my DISPERSED ONES, shall BRING AN OFFERING. “On THAT DAY you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me; for then I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones, and you shall no longer be haughty IN MY HOLY MOUNTAIN. For I will leave in the midst of you a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord, those who are left in Israel; they shall do no wrong and utter no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue. For they shall pasture and lie down, and none shall make them afraid. Sing aloud, O DAUGHTER OF ZION; shout, O Israel! … The KING OF ISRAEL, THE LORD, IS IN YOUR MIDST; … At that time I will bring you home, at the time when I gather you together; yea, I will make you renowned and praised AMONG ALL THE PEOPLES OF THE EARTH, when I RESTORE YOUR FORTUNES BEFORE YOUR EYES,” says the Lord.

Perhaps it really is the original Ark ! Could Zephaniah be giving us & Israel a clue ?

 

[bpbasilphx]

At the end of the Exile, the Ark didn’t mysteriously reappear, did it?

No, it had to be built anew.

However, since the royal house of Ethiopia was the only other one that worshipped YHVH, it makes sense that the Ark would have been brought for safe-keeping to Ethiopia, as the long tradition has it.

 

[brb3]

Other scripture that identifies Ethiopia as key in the ARK’s recovery —

Zephaniah 3:9-14

Isaiah 18:1-7

 

[patrick457]

At the end of the Exile, the Ark didn’t mysteriously reappear, did it?

No, it had to be built anew.

Actually, it would seem that the Second Temple had no Ark. While Zerubbabel rebuilt the Temple after the Exile, there’s nothing which indicates that the Jews made a new Ark to replace the one that disappeared. They continued on Ark-less.

If anything, Jeremiah himself pointed to a time when the Ark would no longer be necessary (Jeremiah 3:16):

16 “It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,” declares the LORD, "they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again.
17 "At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of the LORD,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the LORD; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart.
18 “In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.”

 

[brb3]

If anything, Jeremiah himself pointed to a time when the Ark would no longer be necessary (Jeremiah 3:16):

16 “It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,” declares the LORD, "they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again.
17 "At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of the LORD,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the LORD; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart.
18 “In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.”

P-457 … valid point on Temple 2 –
but Jere 3:16 is still future, unfulfilled prophesy. The Orthodox Jews [are there any others ? ] still think CONSTANTLY about the Ark, and actively desire it for Temple 3. There is credible testimony that they have it in their hands already, held in safe keeping, until they recover the Red Heifer’s ashes from 70 AD burial.

Some say they discovered it in Israel in an underground burial chamber below the Temple Mount, others that they obtained it from the Ethiopian Jews - shortly after their Nation was re-established in '48.

Jeremiah speaks here of what will happen AFTER they rebuild Temple 3 … and his prophesy will have its initial fulfillment when Christ returns to Temple #3, and ultimate meaning with the Millennial Reign in Temple #4, which other OT prophesy tells us the King himself will build as his Throne.