The Quest for the Ark Continues
Archaeological quests haven’t been popularly exciting since Indiana Jones went off the screen. Maybe that’s because most archaeological escapades involve a lot of digging in one spot, rather than jumping all across the countryside, being chased by huge perfectly spherical boulders, and shooting at Nazis. However as a history buff, I find this latest story no less exciting for the fact that Indie is missing.
The Ark of the Covenant – the sacred container out of Biblical history that contained the Ten Commandments, written by God for the people of Israel – has long been an item of archaeological interest. When did it disappear, who had it last and where did it go?
Now, German researchers from the University of Hamburg have found the remains of the palace of the Queen of Sheba. In particular, they have found what they believe to be an altar that may once have held the Ark.
The last recorded location of the Ark is in 2 Chronicles, chapter 35, verse 3, of the Old Testament, where King Josiah had placed the Ark in to the Temple. However soon after (chronologically), the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the ark passed in to legend.
Many theories exist, including the deliberate burial of the Ark under the Temple Mount, but the one that is relevant to the German expedition is the theory that together, King Solomon and the Queen of Sheeba had a child together, Menelek I, and that he removed the Ark.
Professor Helmut Ziegert, of the archaeological institute at the University of Hamburg, has been supervising a dig in Aksum, northern Ethiopia, since 1999. “From the dating, its position and the details that we have found, I am sure that this is the palace [of the Queen of Sheeba],” he said.
After the death of the Queen of Sheeba, Menelek replaced the palace with a temple worshiping Sirius (or Sothis, the Greek for the star Sirius). The German researchers believe that the Ark was built in to the altar. “The results we have suggest that a Cult of Sothis developed in Ethiopia with the arrival of Judaism and the Ark of the Covenant, and continued until 600AD,” an announcement by the University of Hamburg on behalf of the research team said.
This recent announcement has once again however spread discontent throughout the world of archaeology. For a long time the discussion has raged as to whether archaeology should be involved in myth-chasing. Because, regardless of whether the Ark is “found”, there is no way that it can be identified as the original that carried the Ten Commandments.
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yeah just a crusade to find something that wont be found as it has most likely been destroyed.
Though it is a symbol of God’s glory, it is not a direct symbol of christianity, which means that if it were to be reinstated then Christ must do it. i.e. we arent going to find it. If we did then it would have a profound impact on theology.
Basically my opinion is that this is a golden egg hunt. Someone wants to get paid to go to cool places and so this has little to do with religion.