The Ark II

 

There are five “time periods” I used to sort the historical appearances of the Ark in the Bible:

 

Introductory Period

The Ark of the Covenant first enters history a year after Moses communes with God atop Mount Sinai after it is constructed by two master craftsmen under the direction of God through Moses. There is no way of scientifically dating this event, with scholarly estimates ranging from 1450 to 1250 BC. The Ark is with the Hebrews throughout their 40-year period of wandering in the wilderness.

 

The Promised Land Period

The Ark accompanies Joshua into Canaan, the Promised Land. When first crossing the Jordan, the river dries up as soon as the priests carrying the Ark touch its water, and it remains so bound until they leave the riverbed. During the Battle of Jericho, the Ark is carried around the city once a day for six days, preceded by armed men and seven priests sounding seven trumpets. On the seventh day, Jericho’s walls fall down and the Hebrews take the city.

The following battle at the city of Ai (ay-EYE) is a defeat and Joshua laments before the Ark. After the conquest of Canaan, the Ark is kept at Shiloh, then moved to Bethel, and later returned to Shiloh.

 

The Conflict with the Philistines

 

The Israelites are defeated by the Philistines at the battle of Eben-Ezer, losing 30,000 men – but worse than that, the Ark is captured. When hearing this, priest Eli falls dead and his daughter-in-law, in labor with a son when hearing the news, names the child “Ichabod” – “the glory has departed Israel” – and dies in childbirth.

The Ark is carried by the Philistines to their city of Ashdod and stored in the temple of their god, Dagon. After the first night the statue of Dagon is found prostrate and bowed down; upon being restored it is found broken the following morning. The people of Ashdod are smitten with tumors and a plague of rodents overwhelms the land. The Philistines move the Ark to the cities of Gath and then Ekron, but the affliction follows.

After the Ark was with the Philistines for seven months, they return it to the Israelites. It is set in a field and the people there offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. It remains in the city of Kireath-Jearim (KEER-ee-ath ye-REEM) for twenty years.

 

The Ark during the Kingdom

 

King Saul was with the Ark when he first confronts the Philistines, but he is too impatient to consult it. Later, King David removes the Ark from Kiriath-Jearim amongst great rejoicing.

On the way to Jerusalem, Uzzah, one of the drivers of the cart that carried the Ark puts out his hand to steady it and is struck dead by God for touching it. David, in fear, keeps it in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite, where it remains for three months. When David finally brings the Ark to Jerusalem, he dances in front of it. His first wife, Saul’s daughter Michal, scornfully rebukes him for this.

David puts the Ark in a tent he has prepared for it and uses the tent as a personal place of prayer.     

Solomon worships before the Ark after his dream in which God promises him wisdom.           

During the construction of the Temple, a special inner room, the Holy of Holies, is prepared to receive and house the Ark. When priests emerge after first installing the Ark in the Holy of Holies, the Temple is filled with a cloud, “for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.”

When Solomon marries Pharaoh’s daughter, he has her dwell in a house outside Jerusalem, as Jerusalem is consecrated because it contains the Ark.        

 

In Later Times

 

During a time of possible conflict with the Assyrians, King Hezekiah may have hidden the Ark and other treasures from the Temple in an unidentified spring or cistern.

King Josiah has the Ark returned to the Temple, from which it appears to have been removed by on of his predecessors. Josiah is the last biblical figure mentioned as having seen the Ark.

In 567 BC the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar conquer Jerusalem, possibly taking away the “vessels of the ark of God,” though the Ark itself is not specifically mentioned.

The Ark of the Covenant is lost to history.

 

 

Next post: the possible fate and current location of the Ark.