The fabled, sacred treasure was a source of miraculous power

The Ark of the Covenant: Where is it Now?

by Brian Alan Burhoe

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A Speculative Article.

The most sacred object described in the Bible was the Ark of the Covenant. Once kept in King Solomon's Temple, it has been hidden from history for 2000 years. What happened to it? Where is it today?

There's a renewed fascination today with the truths of the Bible and the history and secrets of the Church. The success of Dan Brown's ANGELS & DEMONS and THE DA VINCI CODE has been reflected by interest in THE HOLY BLOOD AND THE HOLY GRAIL by Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, THE HIRAM KEY by Knight & Lomas, the re-discoveded JESUS: THE MAN AND HIS WORK and the controversial FREEMASONRY INSIDE-OUT: A NEW ANGLE ON MASONIC SECRETS by Hugh McFarland.

The Holy Grail makes a fine story, and may even be real. But there is something more sacred than the Grail, it really existed, and it is again the source of modern day quests...

1. THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

The Bible called it the Ark of God, the Ark to Testimony and the Ark of the Covenant. It was a large chest made of acacia wood and covered all over with the purest gold. The "mercy seat" -- its upper surface or lid -- was decorated with a rim of gold. On the sides were gold-covered rings, through which carrying poles could be slid. Two angels in beautifully carved wood kneeled at each end, their immense wings spread out over the top of the Ark to touch each other.

What did this Ark of the Covenant hold? The two tablets of stone which demonstrated the testimony of God's Covenant with His people -- the stone tablets that held the Ten Commandments.

The chest was said to be a source of miraculous power -- or destructive power -- depending on the purity of the soul of the one who gazed upon it.

The Ark was kept deep in the Temple of Solomon, on Mount Moriah, in the holy city of Jerusalem. And there it sat for centuries, with other sacred treasures gathered by the great King Solomon.

Today, the Temple of Solomon is rubble.

Where is the Ark of the Covenant?

2. MANY BELIEFS

Ethiopian Christians believe that the Ark lies hidden in a chapel in the ancient town of Axum, close to the Red Sea.

Some historians believe that it went to Rome. When the Roman Legions razed Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Emperor's son Titus took the Temple of Solomon treasure to Italy. When the barbarian Alaric sacked Rome in 410, the treasures were hidden outside the city.

One claim has surfaced that the 19th Century Parisian journalist who called himself Eliphas Levi, wrote about the "treasure of Solomon" in his unpublished book (only handwritten copies are said to exist) REVALATIONS OF APPOLONIUS. It was said to be kept by a Guardian in a town called Genzano di Roma. But the treasure is described by Levi as a "carved stone of strange power, ancient even when the Phoenicians gave it to King Solomon." Part of the Temple treasure, perhaps, but not the Ark of the Covenant.

The best evidence is that it was uncoveded by the warrior-monks known as the Knights Templar.

3. THE TEMPLARS AND THE COVENANT

The dramatic destruction of the Knights Templar was caused by a number of factors. One, was the greed of the King of France for their massive wealth. Another, was the belief by Pope Clement that the Order of warrior-monks had uncovered secret knowledge forbidden by Rome. These included information on the True Christ, as described by the American author Wallace D Wattles in JESUS: THE MAN AND HIS WORK. And secret artifacts including -- perhaps -- the Ark of the Covenant?

The Temple of Solomon was built in the middle of the 10th Century Before Christ. The Bible relates in great detail how it was designed and built on the summit of Mount Moriah. Solomon entered into contract with King Hiram of Tyre to provide master stonemasons to build it. It took thousands of laborers and skilled artisans to complete it. With its massive walls of quarried stone, the temple consisted of the Oracle, or "most holy place" and the "holy of holies" where the Ark of the Covenant was safely kept. The temple was floored and wainscotted with cedar. Its walls and floors were overlaid with gold. This history of stonemasonry and temple design would become important to the Templars and to the Freemasons, who would carry on their secrets.

One of the mysteries of the Templars is -- why did they name themselves after the Temple of Solomon -- when that temple had been destroyed over a thousand years earlier? The evidence is that they deliberately made their headquarters in the buiding over the ruins of the temple. That from their very inception, they and their backers in Europe had a specific interest in that Temple. That they -- in secret -- began an excavation that led to the discovery of that Temple's ancient and sacred treasures. That they had gone to Jerusalem with knowledge of the techniques of King Hiram's stonemasons that enabled them to go beyond certain massive blocks of stone to a hidden room unknown for two thousand years.

4. TEMPLAR TREASURES

When the Knights Templar disappeared from the world stage in 1307 (quite literally, overnight!), they took with them their treasures, including artifacts uncovered in the Holy Land.

Many settled in Scotland, on the mainland and on the Western Isles. The large number of Templar and Masonic graves there have attracted much study.

As has Rosslyn Chapel.

Built in the village of Roslin, south of Edinburgh, this chapel seems to be built to the same design as Solomon's Temple. Some investigators believe that "something of Templar origin" is buried beneath the chapel's floor. Even if nothing is found in Rosslyn Chapel, perhaps the building itself is the important key. Although built no later than 1470 -- two decades before Christopher Columbus set foot on New World soil, Rosslyn Chapel has stone carvings of American plants such as maize and aloe cactus. This is just one indication that ships of the Templar Fleet had crossed the Atlantic and explored the coasts of Central and North America, and that the stonemasons who built Rosslyn Chapel knew of them.

Across the Atlantic from Scotland, just off the coast of Nova Scotia (New Scotland) is an island covered with live oak trees. Oak trees are not native to the Americas. They are European. Yet some of these oak trees are older than Columbus's "discovery" of America. On this Oak Island lies a mystery -- a deep, well-constructed tunnel -- a tunnel that goes straight down into the earth. Discovered in 1795, uncovering this tunnel has become a preoccupation of one treasure hunter after another. Over the years, engineers and explorers have tried to solve its riddle.

The tunnel is 13 feet across, with thick oak platforms at 10, 20 and 30 feet down. Further digging has found more oak platforms sealed with putty and coconut fiber. A cipher stone -- its markings as yet undeciphered. And ingenious side-tunnels that go out to sea and keep the excavated "pit" flooded. At least two chests seem to have been discovered so far. But there is no true answer to who built this tunnel. Modern engineers have been unable to solve its puzzle and uncover whatever is buried at its bottom.

Is it the pirate Captain Kidd's "Money Pit?" Did the British garrison in New York hide their pay chests there in the 1770's? Or was it built earlier -- by the Templars?

5. MORE DISCOVERIES

This last possibility has been enhanced by a more recent discovery. Oak Island (the only island covered by oak trees along the North American coast) lies at the end of the LaHave River, like a navigational landmark. And inland, where the LaHave River begins, very old stone walls have been discovered. The walls are built, and mortared, in the style used by Medieval stonemasons...

When European settlers first came to Nova Scotia, the native Micmaq people told them stories of white-skinned medicine men they named Glouscap and Ukchesakumou. These white men had taught the Micmaq many things, including a philosophy that men must live together in peace, and had healed the sick. "One day," the Micmaq concluded, "Glouscap got in his big canoe and sailed away, never to come back."

Historians have thought that these stories reflect memories of the earlier Viking settlements. Vineland. But the Vikings would never have preached a gospel of peace.

Did the Knights Templar, the Knights of Christ, build a settlement up the LaHave River? What lies in the earth with the Medieval stone walls?

To learn more about the Templars, JESUS: THE MAN AND HIS WORK, FREEMASONRY INSIDE-OUT, and more, Click on MEDIEVAL CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM & MODERN DREAM INTERPRETATION

See more Articles by Brian Alan Burhoe at PUPPY DOGS INFO: http://www.puppy-dogs.info

About the author: Brian Alan Burhoe is the author of many articles and short stories. His Home Page is ORN ITHANTHROPUS Science Fantasy by B Alan Burhoe. Many of his animal-related articles can be found at PUPPY DOGS INFO. Or just do an Author Search at GoArticles!

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