Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Stone slab replacing the Ark of the Covenant

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Stephen Segall <segall AT umich.edu>
  • To: "Patrick J. Emsweller" <patrick AT clubgraves.com>
  • Cc: 'b-hebrew' <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Stone slab replacing the Ark of the Covenant
  • Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2005 19:56:53 -0400 (EDT)

This is not an image of the wall carving at Karnak depicting the Egyptian victory over the Kingdom of Judah.

On Tue, 2 Aug 2005, Patrick J. Emsweller wrote:


Image of the Egyptian Ark.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/emec/img/03300.jpg

-patrick

-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Stephen Segall
Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2005 6:06 PM
To: Brian Roberts
Cc: b-hebrew
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Stone slab replacing the Ark of the Covenant

I have seen a picture of the image, but I do not have a copy. If anyone
knows where a copy is available I would like to know.

On Tue, 2 Aug 2005, Brian Roberts wrote:

Stephen;

Can you provide us with an image of the Karnak inscription that you say
depicts the Ark of the Covenant?


On Tuesday, August 2, 2005, at 03:21 PM, Stephen Segall wrote:

What happened to the Ark of the Covenant? After the death of King Solomon
his son Rehoboam became king. The 10 northern tribes revolted against
Rehoboam and formed their own separate kingdom. Rehoboam's troops refused
to fight against their fellow Israelites, so Rehoboam was left with a
small fraction of the population and a fraction of the land of Solomon's
original kingdom.

This was a tempting target for the king of Egypt who attacked and overran
the truncated Kingdom of Judah. To prevent a siege of Jerusalem, Rehoboam
agreed to let the Egyptians loot Jerusalem and leave without a fight.
This
Egyptian victory was commemorated on a temple wall at Karnak. The wall
carving shows Egyptian soldiers carrying away the Ark of the Covenant.

While some may argue that just because the ark being taken away by the
Egyptians exactly matches the Ark described in the Torah, it might just
be
a chest with carrying rails. This is highly unlikely, since the magnitude
of the Egyptian victory could best be demonstrated by showing that they
were carrying off the Judeans most prize possession. It is like saying
that the menorah being carried away by Roman soldiers on the arch of
Titus
could have been any menorah and not the one from the Second Temple.

Rehoboam and the Temple priests tried to hide the loss of the Ark from
the
population, since admitting the Egyptians had taken the Ark was
tantamount
to admitting that God had abandoned the Kingdom of Judah. The secret
could
be kept for generations since only the Hign Priest was allowed to enter
the Holy of Holies in the Temple.

The phrase in the Book of Kings about Josiah ordering the Levites to
return the Ark of the Covenant to the Temple appears to be an
embellishment to the story of the Passover celebration ordered by Josiah,
since no action was taken to execute this command.

On Tue, 2 Aug 2005, Alexander Oldernes wrote:

Maybe your expertise can help me with this question...

I have read somewhere that when the curtain covering the entrance to the
Most Holy was torn in two, in the first century CE, the Most Holy was
exposed containing no Ark of the Covenant. In place of the Ark was a
stone
slab upon which the high priest sprinkled the blood on the Day of
Atonement.

I know the last mention of the Ark of the Covenant is in 2. Chronicles
35:5,
saying:
He said to the Levites, who instructed all Israel and who had been
consecrated to YHWH: "Put the sacred ark in the temple that Solomon son
of
David king of Israel built. It is not to be carried about on your
shoulders."

This happened around 642 (?) BCE.

And now the question...
Do we know that the Ark of the Covenant was replaced by a stone slab?

If so...
Who writes about it?
Do we know when this was done?
Do we know what the stone slab looked like?

----

Alexander Oldernes

_______________________________________________
b-hebrew mailing list
b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew



_______________________________________________
b-hebrew mailing list
b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew


Best Salaams,

R. Brian Roberts
Amateur Researcher in Biblical Archaeology




_______________________________________________
b-hebrew mailing list
b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew

_______________________________________________
b-hebrew mailing list
b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew







Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page