Ben Witherington on the Bible and Culture

The Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia--- or Not

Friday June 26, 2009

Not for the first time and undoubtedly not for the last, the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia is claiming it has the original Ark of the Covenant spoken of in the Bible, and made famous all over again by Indiana Jones.  What is new about all this is that the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church says he will be unveiling it for all the world to see soon and very soon.   Here is a link to the story
http://weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/9322/ark-of-the-covenant-revealed/

I must confess that I am more than just a tad skeptical that this ark has anything to do with the original ark of the covenant.  Why not? Well, lets start with the fact that according to Orthodox tradition the ark was brought to Ethiopia by Menilik I who was supposedly Solomon's son which he had with the Queen of Sheba (who knew?). This claim is not based in any ancient sources known to date prior to the time of Jesus.  What the Bible says is that Solomon's son was Rehoboam, and no sexual dalliance, never mind marriage to the Queen of Sheba is mentioned in the Bible. 1 Kngs 10.13 refers to Solomon giving the Queen various goods, in a reciprocity exchange meant to cement a positive relationship between the two peoples.  When Solomon is said to have had sexual relationships with foreign women, the text is quite explicit and names the countries from which they came ( 1 Kngs. 11.1ff.) Neither the Queen of Sheba, nor anyone else from Sheba is mentioned.

But besides this fact, there is no good reason whatsoever why any son of Solomon would cart the ark off to Ethiopia. Judea was not under attack by any of the neighboring super powers such as Egypt during the reign of the son of Solomon and the Temple had of course been built in Jerusalem in part to house the ark of the covenant in the first place.  Furthermore, the evidence as far as it goes suggests that Sheba (or Saba) was the country known as Yemen on the east side of the Red Sea, not Ethiopia which is on the west side of that sea, though this matter is debated, and some think Saba included territory on both sides of the sea.

Here below you will find a picture of the little shrine in Ethiopia where the ark is now housed.
ark_of_the_covenant2.jpg

Stay tuned for more 'revelations', but as my granny once said--- "Don't be so open minded that your brains fall out".
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October 8, 2009 4:41 PM

Stop talking your foolishiness and the silence of the bible on the matter. Where was the bible, when solomon was alive? where did the bible materialise and from what sources. Infact where were the people who claim the bible has theirs. Still somewhere in Germania better known as barbarians of the North. What did the bablyonian king do with the vessels from the temple 586BC, to get the writing on the wall, so what would they have done with the Ark or the Ark to them. You rely on science to convince your materialisetic belief and are of those that live for the flesh and are made ready for the pit. The Ark is for those of the spirit and not the falsehood of rejected souls. You will all see the Ark when the time come. She is with the Ethiopians so that you of the North and the East would not perish until the time come. Ur science merely confirm already what you had been told and when it confirm such matters like global warming you still do nothing but reject because it is about to upset your way of life. But your bible said this time Fire will be the instrument of judgement. It would be better for you that the Ark does not come out, why because you know that it would be all over and your world of no hope,pollution,and earth destorying in nature,would be at an end.The Ark would be the symbol for the new beginning as you rapture off the the place of woe, while the poor and rejected will be eating the manna under the protection of the God that your world has rejected for technology. To say that you are advanced is but proof to show that you are backward and like your father Belial worthless in spirit and of no use but merely rapers of the Earth resources and polluters of the Earth and the flesh. The Ark will never be yours or the Ashkenazi who are the sons of Gomer and their cousin the desert ass who do nothing but cause bloodshed and trample the holy lands and places with their feet as foretold in both the old and new testament. At least your bible has record, inter alia, God's assurance for the Ethiopians ( which merely means in ancient greek the blacks) and that is elementray when you see their position in any advanced society and the world at large. Use the time you have left to put an end to your doubts and begin to do things to sort out the Earth, its resources and the improvish people. One thing you should also note from your bible is that it is always the advanced nations that are destoryed in the end and usually become subject to that old enemy. Time to make that change or face the consequence in judgement to what you have done to such nations like ethiopia Africa where you have stolen their human and natural resources and made yourselves falsely superior that is slowly coming back to haunt you. Give thanks that the Ark is where she is supported by the fact that she was accompanied and administrated by no other Michael himself. The very name that angels used in their battle cry. Thanks

Holly
February 8, 2010 6:57 PM

Thanks for this info. Looks like many want to believe it.. but if its not in God's Word, I wouldn't blindly believe it either.

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About Ben Witherington on the Bible and Culture

Bible scholar Ben Witherington is Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary and on the doctoral faculty at St. Andrews University in Scotland. A graduate of UNC, Chapel Hill, he went on to receive the M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Durham in England. He is now considered one of the top evangelical scholars in the world, and is an elected member of the prestigious SNTS, a society dedicated to New Testament studies.

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