Here's an interesting tale about a Western reporter who treks to Ethiopia in a quest to see the Ark of the Covenant, which the Ethiopian Orthodox Church believes it has had custody of since it left Jerusalem. It's an interesting story for a number of reasons, not least because the only person who is allowed to see the Ark, or what they're calling the Ark, is a specific priest. Not even the Archbishop who heads the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is allowed to see it. The Keeper of the Ark, as he's called, is consecrated to spend his entire life in the room with the Ark, praying and lighting incense around it. The reporter got him to come outside, and asked him questions about it -- i.e., does it look like the Ark described in Exodus? -- but the Keeper would answer nothing.
What do you think is in that room? Is the biblical Ark of the Covenant (or at least an object that the Ethiopians genuinely believe is the Ark) really present, in which case the religious prohibition against seeing it or talking about it makes a kind of sense? Or is there nothing there, and the Keeper bears the terrible spiritual and philosophical burden of being the only one on earth who guards this devastating truth, the revelation of which would shatter Ethiopians' understanding of their role in sacred history?
We'll never know, I suppose. But it's interesting to imagine what that Keeper is living with -- in that room, and inside his head.
UPDATE: If you were to somehow get illicit access to the room where the Ark is, and knew you could lay eyes upon the object and get away without being discovered, would you take the chance and do it? I would be powerfully tempted to. Even if it really is the Ark of the Covenant from the Bible, I don't think I would melt like the Nazi in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" did, or die in any way. But in the end, I don't think I would do it. Despite my intense curiosity, I would feel as if I had defiled the sacred tradition of the Ethiopian Orthodox, and that would be shameful. You?
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"I'd expect it to have remained in Jewish hands for much of its history."
Many Ethiopian hands that the Ark passed through WERE Jewish hands. Ethiopia has plenty of archaeological evidence that First Temple Judaism was practiced there.
Regardless of whether the Ark still retains its power or not, it is an important artifact and symbol of faith. There is no reason to believe it is not in Ethiopia and most evidence would indicate that it is.
Read 2Maccabees 2:5-8. If you believe this to be the word of God, then the matter is settled.
The traditions surrounding the Ark to my knowledge emerged in the Middle Ages in Ethiopia , and appear in the Kebra Negast text (Book of Kings) that was linked to the rise of a dynasty claiming their descent from Solomon. Richard Pankhurst's article, "The Falashas, or Judaic Ethiopians, in Their Christian Ethiopian Setting,"
African Affairs 91 (Oct. 1992), pp. 567-582 covers this material as well as the close connections that the ark and other traditions derived from the Old Testament and Judiac practices (ritual slaughter of animals, the inclusion of replicas of the Ark in all Coptic Ethiopian churches, and dietary rules following Leviticus). There's a lot of debate on why these influences were so strong.
For some good images of Christian artwork from Ethiopia, see http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/acet/hd_acet.htm
Kebra Negast portions are available at:
http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/kebra_budge.pdf
A bibliography of scholarly research on Ethiopian Christianity - over 100 pages - is available at: http://www.ascleiden.nl/pdf/workingpaper52.pdf
But the Ark didn't disappear around the time of Christ, it vanished when the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem and destroyed Solomon's Temple.
My theory is that the looters took the gold off, so the Ark is gone forever.
I definitely wouldn't sneak in illicitly.
Every Coptic church in Ethiopia has a sanctuary housing 'the Ark' and it's no more or less phenomenal than the different churches in the Western world that claim to house the Holy Grail...or far removed from churches that feature Saints who look fresher than the day they died. What puzzles me is why no one considers that Yahweh discreetly removed the Ark for reasons of idolatry (the two cherubim seated atop the lid). Certainly His character is not one that has to second guess, so would mention be made in the tale? An implication of Yahweh's error? However you slice the Challah loaf, it's still idolatry...footstool of God or no footstool of God. Perhaps it was a form of what is called in childhood "Indian-giving". I jest but it is indeed theologically and textually sound. I may be recalling the tale poorly, but I think it is Yahweh's power that works through the Ark not the Cherubim's. Rendering them as mere decoration. In case my recollection is poor, the point still holds if we consider that the Cherubim are manmade.
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