One of the most publicized ideas about the Ark being removed from Israel relates the belief that it is now intact and well in Ethiopia. This belief was given some credence by Graham Hancock in his book entitled, THE SIGN AND THE SEAL. In it, Hancock claims to have traveled to Lalibela - a town in the region of Axum, Ethiopia - where he interviewed the priest who claimed to be the guardian of the Ark.
Hancock wanted to know if the Ark was stolen by Prince Menelik, a son of King Solomon that was supposedly born to the Queen of Sheba when she returned to Ethiopia. The monk then allegedly provided the following story:
When he had reached the age of twenty, Menelik himself traveled from Ethiopia to Israel and arrived at his father’s court… After a year had passed, however, the elders of the land…complained that Solomon showed him too much favour and they insisted that he must go back to Ethiopia. This the king accepted on the condition that the first-born sons of all the elders should also be sent to accompany him. Amongst these latter was Azarius, son of Zadok the High Priest of Israel, and it was Azarius, not Menelik, who stole the Ark of the Covenant from its place in the Holy of Holies in the Temple. Indeed the group of young men did not reveal the theft to Menelik until they were far away from Jerusalem…. he understood that they could not have succeeded in so bold a venture unless God had willed it. Therefore, he agreed that the Ark should remain with them. And it was thus that it was brought to Ethiopia…
Hancock wanted to know if the Ark was ever shown in public. He states that the priest responded as follows:
In the very distant past the relic had been brought out during all the most important church festivals. More recently its use in religious processions had been limited to just one occasion a year. That occasion was the ceremony known as Timkat that took place every January.
During the Timkat ceremony, Ark replicas (Tabots) are paraded. Even the miniature boxes are draped in colorful embroidered silks with silver and gold brocades, shielded from the prying eyes of the pilgrims and tourists. When, in 1986, Hancock pressed the issue by offering to come back the following January to see the Ark itself paraded, he says he was told:
There is turmoil and civil war in the land...In such circumstances it is unlikely that the true Ark will be used again in the ceremonies...Besides, even in time of peace you would not be able to see it. It is my responsibility to wrap it entirely in thick cloths before it is carried in the processions...
The monk explained wrapping in terms of protecting the laity from it. Thus what we have is one (half blind) man from the chapel besides Saint Mary of Zion Church claiming to possess the Ark. When he brings out the relic to parade it before the people, it’s hidden under thick cloths, so that what is seen is of little or no scientific value in terms of establishing his credence.
What happened since Hancock’s 1986 trip? From January 12-29, 2003 there was an Ethiopian Expedition conducted by Chuck Missler. In evaluating what Mr. Missler learned, it’s important to focus on inconsistencies between his account and Hancock’s version of how the Ark got to Ethiopia. We saw above that the monk at St. Mary of Zion Church claimed that the Ark was stolen during the reign of King Solomon, who ruled from about 965 BCE to 931 BCE. But after Missler came back from the Church site, he published the following report:
Based on 2 Chronicles 35, it appears that the Levites had removed the Ark of the Covenant from Jerusalem to protect it from the ravages of Manasseh and sought protection under Pharaoh Necho. (Pharaoh Necho, incidentally, was an Ethiopian, descended from XXV Dynasty, known as the Ethiopian Dynasty). This relic, along with its Levitical retinue, apparently remained ensconced at Elephantine Island in Egypt for two centuries before it was moved south to Tana Qirqos Island on Lake Tana in Ethiopia, where it remained for eight centuries before moving to Axum, where it has been secured in a highly protected bunker-like building to this day.
Manasseh ruled Israel from 687-643 BCE. The difference between the end of Solomon’s rule and the beginning of Manasseh’s is a not so trivial 244 years. As for 2 Chronicles Chapter 35 (Verse 3), that is where Josiah instructed the Levites to put the Ark back in the house which Solomon built! If the Levites still had the Ark during Josiah’s reign, it follows that neither Azarius, nor Menelik had the Ark in their possession.
What they might have had is a replica (i.e., a souvenir) of the Temple in Jerusalem and its Ark. Souvenirs are still a big business in Jerusalem to this day. I myself bought such a model there of the Ark being paraded. Is there any evidence supporting a tradition of such souvenirs being in use in Axum, Ethiopia today? There certainly is. Missler describes the January ceremony in Ethiopia as follows:
The actual Ark does not leave its secluded vaults, nor does the Guardian leave its side. Ceremonial replicas and other elements are used in the celebration.
Even the Ark replicas are guarded; apparently Graham Hancock was shown samples in the British Museum. They were not in the shape of an oblong chest, like the Ark of the Covenant. Rather, the samples there were simply wooden slabs with writing on them. At first this caused him to doubt the whole story, but later he took the view that they were replicas of the Tablets of the Law which were put in the Ark.
There is evidence that copies of the Ark were made. One of these may have found its way first to Elephantine Island, which lies in the middle of the Nile, near Aswan, Egypt. A Jewish colony there built a copy of the First Temple during Manasseh’s reign. It was destroyed around 410 BCE, but an Ark copy might have found its way to Ethiopia. Why wouldn’t Jeremiah want the real Ark taken to Elephantine? No legitimate Jewish prophet could sanction what would appear to be the permanent moving of the Temple from Israel back to Egypt. God clearly opposed any movement of Jews there. And what is the evidence that copies of the Ark were made? As was shown before, Jeremiah 3:16 states, The Ark of the Covenant ...neither shall they miss it; neither shall it be made any more. It is the final part of the verse in question that strongly implies copies had been made. If a copy were made during the reign of Solomon and then given to the Queen of Sheba as a souvenir, it would certainly have been made with real gold. It would be a priceless ancient artifact, easy to confuse with the real Ark. The difference would be that it would not contain the Tablets written with the finger of God. This, at best, may be what is to be found in the church at Axum, Ethiopia today. The real Ark remains to be found. 