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On the trail of the lost Ark of the Covenant
- Thread starter jw5
- Start date
Moses and the Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, and fundamental to Judaism and Christianity. Also known as the Tablets of Stone, they were stored in the Ark of the Covenant, which Moses took with him when he ascended biblical Mount Sinai, as written in the Book of Exodus.
tablet inside ark.
Moses and Jesus...................as real as.................Darth Vader and Harry Potter.................
If you got the ten commandments, you don't really need the old testament.
The Tabernacle
What is the aforementioned Tabernacle? When carried, the Ark was always hidden under a large veil made of skins and blue cloth, always carefully concealed, even from the eyes of priests. When at rest, a tabernacle, a kind of tent, was erected and the holy Ark placed under it. The Tabernacle also served as a portable earthly dwelling place used by the Israelites. Pictured is Moses standing over the Ark under the Tabernacle.
Who were the Israelites?
Any descendant of the Hebrew patriarch Jacob was known as an Israelite. The Israelites were simply members of the 12 tribes of Israel. The Ark was made one year after the Israelites' exodus from Egypt to seek the Promised Land (pictured). From here on in, the Ark is intrinsically related to the biblical Book of Exodus and the biblical Book of Joshua.
Crossing the Jordan River
Pictured: the Israelites, led by Joshua, crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land. The Bible says that the river stopped flowing the minute the Ark-Bearers (pictured) set foot in it. In fact, the Ark has been linked to several of the Old Testament's miracles.
The Battle of Jericho
The Battle of Jericho is an incident from the Book of Joshua where the walls of Jericho fell after the Israelites marched once every day for six days around the city and seven times on the seventh day, then blew their trumpets of rams' horns. Many believe that when the Israelites besieged the ancient town they carried the Ark around the city for a week.
The Ark at Ai
After the Battle of Jericho, the Israelites conquered Ai, a Canaanite city. It's here that the Ark is mentioned again after Joshua laments losing the first battle for Ai–the Israelites only took the city at the second attempt. The ruins of Et-Tell in the West Bank have been identified with the city of Ai.
Bethal
The Ark then turns up in Bethal, the place where Jacob falls asleep and dreams of a ladder stretching between Heaven and Earth and thronged with angels. In Bethal, the Ark is being cared for by the priest Phineas. Pictured are the ruins of Bethal in the 19th century. The Palestinian village of Beitan has been identified as the biblical Bethal.
Shiloh
The Ark was later kept at Shiloh, another religious center, this time under the charge of Hophni and Phinehas, two sons of Eli. Pictured are the ruins of biblical Shiloh, circa 1910, located in the West Bank, to the west of the modern Israeli settlement town of Shilo.
Eben-Ezer
According to the biblical narrative, the Ark was taken onto the battlefield at Eben-Ezer where the Israelites were defeated by the Philistines. The Ark's guardians, Hophni and Phinehas, perished and the precious chest ended up in the possession of the victors. Pictured is a fresco of the Philistine captivity of the Ark, in the Dura-Europos synagogue in Syria. Sadly, the site appears to have been destroyed by Daesh during the present-day Syrian civil war.
The Ark's terrible power
The loss of the Ark is described by the daughter-in-law of Eli as a "glory [that] has departed Israel." The Philistines, meanwhile, parade the Ark throughout their land. But at each place, misfortune visits them. At Ashdod, for example, it was placed in the temple of the deity Dagon. The next day, a statue of Dagon was found toppled and broken (pictured).
Plague of Ashdod
But the worst was yet to come. The people of Ashdod were struck down by God and afflicted by plague (pictured) for the sacrilege of allowing the Ark to be placed in the temple. Elsewhere, a scourge of boils was visited upon the people of Gath and of Ekron. The Ark is quickly removed from the temple.Similar threads
