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What Really Happened to the Ark of the Covenant? For the Israelites, God's very presence was associated with the Ark of the Covenant. (Exodus 25:22) This was a sacred Chest of wood overlaid with gold in which Moses placed the two stone tables of the Law. While the Israelites dwelled in the wilderness, the Ark was kept in the Most Holy compartment of the tent of Meeting. (Exodus 26:33) The Ark was eventually placed in the Most Holy compartment of Solomon's temple. (1Kings 6:19) The Ark is last mentioned at 2Chron. 35:3 when King Josiah in 642 B.C.E. returned it to the temple. The Ark may have been removed by Josiah's apostate predecessor, Manasseh, who put an image in the temple. Or perhaps the move had been for safekeeping during Josiah's temple renovations. (2 Chron.33:1, 2+7; 34:1, 8-11) What became of the Ark thereafter is a mystery, for it is not listed among the objects taken from the temple when Babylonians conquered Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E. (2Kings 25:13-17) The Scriptures do not say that the Ark was returned to the Most Holy of the temple rebuilt by Zerubbabel; nor does it seem that a replacement was ever made. (Ezra 1:Seven-11) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Also placed in the Ark was the budded staff of Aaron as well as a portion of the manna when it was first sent to nourish the Israelites in the wilderness. Although, at the time of the dedication of Solomon’s temple in 1026 B.C.E., “there was nothing in the Ark but the two tablets that Moses had given at Horeb, when Jehovah covenanted with the sons of Israel while they were coming out from Egypt.” (2 Chronicles 5:10) However, this was not always the case. “In the third month after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt,” they entered the wilderness of Sinai. (Exodus 19:1, 2) Thereafter, Moses went up into Mount Sinai and received the two stone tablets of the Law. He relates: “Then I turned and went down from the mountain and placed the tablets in the ark that I had made, that they might continue there, just as Jehovah had commanded me.” (Deuteronomy 10:5) This was a temporary ark, or container, that Jehovah had told Moses to construct to hold the tablets of the Law. (Deuteronomy 10:1) The Ark of the Covenant itself was not made ready until about the end of 1513 B.C.E. Shortly after their deliverance from Egypt, the Israelites began to murmur about food. So Jehovah provided manna for them. (Exodus 12:17, 18; 16:1-5) At that time, Moses instructed Aaron: “Take a jar and put in it an omerful of manna and deposit it before Jehovah as something to be kept throughout your generations.” The account states: “Just as Jehovah had commanded Moses, Aaron proceeded to deposit it before the Testimony [an archive for the safekeeping of important documents] as something to be kept.” (Exodus 16:33, 34) While Aaron undoubtedly gathered manna into a jar at that time, the depositing of it before the Testimony had to wait until Moses made the Ark and placed the tablets in it As mentioned above, the Ark of the Covenant was constructed late in 1513 B.C.E. Aaron’s rod was placed in that Ark much later, after the rebellion of Korah and others. The apostle Paul mentions “the ark of the covenant . . . , in which were the golden jar having the manna and the rod of Aaron that budded and the tablets of the covenant.” (Hebrews 9:4). God directed that 12 rods, each representing one of the 12 tribes, be placed in the tabernacle, and the rod for the tribe of Levi was inscribed with Aaron’s name. (Nu 17:1-4) On the following day Moses entered the tent of the Testimony and found that Aaron’s rod had budded, blossomed with flowers, and bore ripe almonds. (Nu 17:8) This established beyond dispute Jehovah’s choice of the Levite sons of Aaron for priestly service and His authorization of Aaron as high priest. Thereafter, the right of Aaron’s house to the priesthood was never seriously challenged. The budded rod of Aaron was placed in the Ark of the Covenant as “a sign to the sons of rebelliousness,” though it appears that after the death of these rebellious ones and the entry of the nation into the Land of Promise the rod was removed, having served its purpose.(Nu 17:10; Heb 9:4; 2Ch 5:10; 1Ki 8:9) Aaron’s rod was placed in the ark of the covenant for a purpose—to serve as a sign to or a witness against the rebellious generation. This suggests that the rod remained there at least for the duration of the wilderness journey. It would, then, seem logical to conclude that some time after Israel entered the Promised Land and before the dedication of Solomon’s temple, Aaron’s rod and the golden jar of manna were removed from the ark of the covenant. |
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