Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George F Somsel <gfsomsel AT juno.com>]

On Tue, 2 Aug 2005 09:12:23 -0600 Dave Washburn <dwashbur AT nyx.net>
writes:
> On Tuesday 02 August 2005 09:03, Read, James C wrote:
> > Good reasoning. But one thing I note is that whenever the Ark was 
> not
> > in Isreal's possession the tanakh closely accounts this and 
> follows its
> > movements and tells us about the plagues suffered by those holding 
> it.
> >
> > The fact that the book of kings makes no more mention of other 
> kingdoms
> > taking hold of the ark suggests that the ark was still in their 
> possession
> > up to the babylonian conquest.
> > Jeremiah's prophecy combined with the Maccabean tradition seem to 
> indicate
> > that it was hidden by Jeremiah in accordance with Yah's will.
> 
> A lot depends on how one views the books of Maccabees, but that's an 
> aside.  I 
> have always heard that the Babylonians most likely took it with them 
> when 
> they destroyed Jerusalem and melted it down, since it was made of 
> gold.
> 
> > The fact that Josiah would command that the ark be taken into the 
> temple
> > shows that he believed it was there. And a lack of an explanation 
> as to why
> > they didn't obey would be very strange.
> 
> Perhaps it's just assumed in the narrative that they did obey.  The 
> fact that 
> it's not mentioned in the description of the Passover etc. is easily 
> 
> explained by noting that only the High Priest could go near it, and 
> then only 
> once a year, so it probably didn't figure in the Passover 
> celebration since 
> that wasn't when the priest went in before it.
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george
gfsomsel
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