Ark of the Covenant
History's Greatest Mysteries
This episode explores the enduring mystery of the Ark of the Covenant, tracing various historical theories regarding its disappearance. It e
Key takeaways
- Jim Barfield uses industrial metal detectors at Qumran to identify high metal readings in a sealed cave.
- The Ethiopian Orthodox Church maintains that the true Ark is housed in the Chapel of the Tablet in Aksum.
Main topics
- Ark of the Covenant
- Dead Sea Scrolls
Notable quotes
I'm confident that this is the mother lode.
Conclusion
While many theories exist, the search remains a blend of archaeologica
Transcript preview
Speaker 4 (0:00) And now, a History Channel original podcast presented by Rewind. Speaker 4 (0:10) Today, we explore one of the Bible's most powerful artifacts. Speaker 3 (0:15) Anybody who is unworthy could be blinded, or if they touch it, they'll be killed. A Speaker 4 (0:21) holy relic that's been missing for over 2,000 years. Speaker 5 (0:25) People continue to believe that the Ark is still out there, that it still can be found. Now, we uncover Speaker 4 (0:32) the top theories surrounding its disappearance. It was simply carried to Ethiopia. It's in the Vatican's secret archives. Speaker 3 (0:40) He hid it in anticipation of the Babylonian destruction. Can Speaker 4 (0:45) a new search finally reveal its location? Speaker 1 (0:48) I'm confident that this is the mother lode. Speaker 4 (0:50) What became of the legendary Ark of the Covenant, and can it ever be found? Speaker 4 (0:58) Welcome to History's Greatest Mysteries, a History Channel original podcast presented by Rewind Studios. Each episode, we take a deep dive into some of the greatest unanswered questions from history, backed by some of the foremost experts on the subject. Today, the Ark of the Covenant. Speaker 4 (1:24) Qumran, Israel, 2014. After 16 years of hard work, researcher Jim Barfield believes he's closing in on one of history's most mysterious artifacts. This Speaker 1 (1:37) ancient Jewish settlement is where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947. But I believe it hides an even greater treasure. I believe I've found the location of the greatest biblical archaeological discovery. The Ark of the Covenant. Speaker 4 (1:55) If Barfield is correct, he could solve a mystery that begins thousands of years ago. According to the Book of Exodus, Speaker 7 (2:02) the story of the Ark dates back to ancient Egypt in the 13th century BCE. Speaker 3 (2:08) The Exodus is one of the most famous stories ever told. Moses and the Israelites survive a plague that takes the firstborn sons of the land. Moses leads the Israelites out of the land of Egypt. And they move across the Red Sea, where the waters miraculously part when he holds up his magical staff. Speaker 5 (2:30) They arrive at a mountain in which God gives them the Ten Commandments. The Israelites build a holy vessel, a sacred box to hold these tablets of the commandments. It's called the Ark of the Covenant. The Speaker 3 (2:45) Bible gives a very clear description as to what the Ark of the Covenant looks like. God himself is in fact the architect of this. So it's very precise about the measurements and the way that it has to be built. Speaker 5 (3:00) It's made of acacia wood, 2.5 cubits long, 1.5 cubits wide, and 1.5 cubits high, or about 52 inches long, 31 inches wide, 31 inches high. It's covered entirely in gold inside and out. It has four gold rings on which poles are attached for it to be carried. Finally, it's topped off with an ornate gold lid that has two sculptures of cherubim on top. Speaker 4 (3:30) According to the Old Testament, the Israelites carry the Ark for 40 years wandering through the desert. Along the way, it displays great power. In Speaker 3 (3:41) the book of Joshua, when they reach the River Jordan, the Ark miraculously dries up the water so that they can cross. Speaker 2 (3:48) The first battle that the Israelites fight is against the great city of Jericho. Israelites were commanded to circle the city seven times, blow the horns. And then in the presence of the Ark, the walls of Jericho would fall. The Israelites would take the city and they would gain possession of that area of the land of Israel. Speaker 3 (4:12) Further accounts in 1 and 2 Samuel note that anybody who is unworthy, who even looks at the Ark, could be blinded, or if they touch it, they'll be killed. There's also the story of the Philistines. The Philistines capture the Ark. They're suddenly afflicted with a plague of mice or rats and with horrible boils that the Philistines get all over their bodies. They actually end up giving the Ark back to the Israelites. And along with it, a coffer filled with gold sculptures and kind of an apology for having taken the Ark in the first place. Speaker 4 (4:49) Eventually, the Ark is brought to Jerusalem, where King Solomon builds the first Jewish temple at a place called the Temple Mount. He houses the Ark inside within a special room called the Holy of Holies. The Speaker 3 (5:04) temple is completed by around 950 BCE. And for four centuries, the Ark in the Temple becomes the center, sort of thrumming heart of the Kingdom of Israel. Speaker 2 (5:16) The Ark of the Covenant was the focal point of religious devotion, the place where God spoke to the world. Speaker 4 (5:27) Then war breaks out in 587 BC. The Babylonians Speaker 7 (5:32) attack Jerusalem and finally destroy the city after a 30-month siege. And the Babylonians are absolutely brutal. They Speaker 5 (5:40) tear down the temple. They force Zedekiah to watch every one of his sons murdered in front of him. They then blind him so that this image is the last thing he sees. They take him to Babylon and they make him a prisoner there until his death. Speaker 4 (5:57) They also set Jerusalem on fire and everything burns, including perhaps the Ark, which gives us theory number one that the Ark was destroyed in a fire. This isn't just Speaker 7 (6:10) a Bible story. We have archaeological evidence that the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem. Babylon loots the city before it burns. And we have some records of some of the things they took, but something that's never mentioned in any of those records. is the Ark of the Covenant, something that would have certainly been mentioned had they taken it. So a large amount of historians Speaker 6 (6:32) believe that the Ark of the Covenant was in Jerusalem up to 587 BC. After that, it's almost entirely absent from the biblical text. Speaker 3 (6:44) Is that really it? Is this immensely powerful object really gone? After centuries of it being this kind of center of worship, all of a sudden it just disappears. Nobody wants this to be the end of the Ark. Speaker 4 (6:59) According to some ancient texts, it's not. Speaker 5 (7:03) There's a reason why so many people continue to believe that the Ark is still out there, that it still can be found. There's a reason they're still looking for it. It's because there are stories that the Ark narrowly escaped the Temple's destruction in Jerusalem. Speaker 4 (7:17) These stories come from first and second century Jewish sources, including one called the Mishnah. Speaker 7 (7:25) And the Mishnah is actually a collection of oral traditions that claim to go all the way back to the destruction of the temple at the hands of the Babylonians. Speaker 3 (7:34) In one such story, one rabbi, Yehuda, tells that before the Babylonian destruction of the temple, an earlier king, Josiah, worried about the Ark, and he hid it in anticipation of the Babylonian destruction. Speaker 4 (7:51) Leading to theory number two. It's buried under Jerusalem's Temple Mount. According to Rabbi Yehuda, the Ark is hidden with a chest of gold and a sacred walking stick carried by Moses' brother Aaron. King Josiah Speaker 7 (8:07) also hides this chest that the Philistines sent to the Israelites along with the Ark of the Covenant in an effort to say, we're sorry we stole the Ark of the Covenant from you. Speaker 2 (8:17) Rabbi Yehuda offered the idea that the priests of Jerusalem prepared a secret underground chamber beneath the Temple Mount, and that's where they hid the Ark. Speaker 4 (8:31) The site of Solomon's original temple, the Temple Mount, has long been a powerful and mysterious location. Speaker 5 (8:38) There are at least 35 acres of ancient rooms and over 50 tunnels that we know of under the Temple Mount. Some of these date all the way back to King Solomon. Speaker 7 (8:50) Many Orthodox Jews believe that the Ark of the Covenant was hidden in one of these chambers and that one day it will be rediscovered. Speaker 4 (9:00) It's 1970, and one theory about the Ark of the Covenant is about to be tested as Israeli authorities begin excavations close to Jerusalem's Western Wall near the site of Solomon's original temple. It's Speaker 5 (9:15) a major archaeological dig. The Western Wall runs along the west side of the Temple Mount, and beneath it are thousands of years of construction, structures, tunnels, artifacts. This is a huge project. planned to Speaker 4 (9:30) take a total of 18 years. It's a project that also creates religious tension, as the site is now home to the Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine built in 691 AD. Speaker 7 (9:43) Because the Temple Mount is under Islamic control, you also have the political part of this, which is Israelis digging into the Islamic part of the city. And any excavation that cuts under the Temple Mount by the Israeli government would just be a political time bomb. Speaker 5 (10:02) But if you believe, like many Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem, that the Ark of the Covenant is hidden in the Temple Mount, then this excavation project is coming tantalizingly close. Speaker 4 (10:17) One such believer is Rabbi Yehuda Goetz. Rabbi Speaker 7 (10:21) Goetz is not affiliated with this dig, right? This is an Israeli government scientific excavation. But Rabbi Goetz wants to find the Ark of the Covenant. And in the middle of that excavation, Rabbi Goetz realizes that they are close to where he believes the Ark of the Covenant might be. So Rabbi Speaker 5 (10:42) Goetz gathers up some workmen and begins a secret excavation of his own. Goetz chooses a spot called the Warren Gate, which leads straight under the Temple Mount. He's had 11 years to prepare for this moment. He's reviewed archaeological reports, ancient maps, he's consulted with experts,