Searching
the mystical Ark of Covenant
By OVE VON SPAETH
Copyright
© 2014 - www.moses-egypt.net
Knights Templar and the Ark of the Covenant
Was the
Templars really in search of the Ark of Covenant, or was it just a cover for
another hidden task? Perhaps there were both. Let us look at what the Ark of
Covenant actually was, according to the ancient descriptions, especially in the
Bible and Rabbinical Writings.
It is
commonly reported in Book of Exodus that the Israelites particular priestly group,
the Levites, who were several times highlighted by Moses. This group, which was
the smallest of the 12 tribes, could actually have incorporated many Egyptians
who had fled with the Israelites to follow Moses out of Egypt. It is a fact
that many prominent Levites had Egyptian names. They constitute the emigrating
flock’s priest caste and have likely been priestly educated in Egypt, while the
other Israelites, the Hebrews, had never had priests earlier.
Were
these Levites, Moses’ predominantly Egyptian Special Forces, assigned a special
task? It is made evident during the exodus that several Levites were trained to
use, protect and transport the very Ark of the Covenant with, besides the
Tablets of Law, unknown content.
Ancient
authors and the Rabbinical Writings’ reference to Moses' exceptional talent as
an architect, designer, engineer and inventor - this was well-known in
antiquity, but religions later on did not deal with that part - but it must be
considered in light of the fact that he had originally such a high position in
Egypt that he would have opportunities to actually get his projects realized.
Also, this seems to fit with the Bible's mentioning of other
similar of Moses' activities - with strict reproduction of his detailed design
description for forming the Israelites’ portable temple tent, known as the
Tabernacle, and its therein belongings of religious objects - as well as of the
Ark of the Covenant.
The Ark
of the Covenant was made of acacia wood with thin gold plates. It is known from
similar temple chests in the Cairo Museum that they were religiously standard equipment
also in Moses' time under the 18th dynasty and widely used by processions in
the main city of Thebes. This city‘s later Egyptian-Greek name is from
the Egyptian tebet (Hebrew tebah) and Greek taibe, all of
which meaning 'sheet', 'chest'.
The Ark
of the Covenant as a 'secret weapon'?
A further area that may be perceived as associated with magic, was
a the particular use of Ark of the Covenant. Several in Moses' Levites group
were specially trained to operate it and its mysterious contents, as it was
thought to have contained besides the law boards.
At
religious performances bar Egyptians idols in procession. Moses'
contemporaries, Tuthmosis III, let the god Amon carry in front of his army in
the battle at Megiddo - the oldest known historical record of this war
tradition.
While
the Israelites, according to Law of Moses, were not permitted to hold an image
of their god, a preserved part of the Egyptian background remained: the
Israelites' sacred Ark of the Covenant was equipped on top with a throne for
Jahweh - so that Israel's God in that manner anyway could be present in the
procession or in the army front row - although invisible.
On the battlefield (and in the later temple) the sight of the
Israelites' sacred chest has been a surreal experience: the gaping empty throne
which in Israel's enemies was leaving doubts about the god’s total absence or on
the contrary a suggestive oppressive presence because anyone could embed his
individual image and doubts - and thus fear - into the empty space. The
psychological effect of this has been a stronger impact than their enemies’ god
figurines.
Left: The Ark
of the Covenant may have looked like this one discovered Howard Carter in 1922.
- Top right: Reconstruction of the biblical Ark of the Covenant with two
cherubim of gold, an Egyptian style. - Below right: The bronze
bas-relief image, showing the Ark of the Covenant being transported, is from
the Auch Cathedral in France, founded in the 1400’s. The Templars 250 years
earlier could have had similar idea on how the Ark looks.
A holy chest, an ark,
carried by Egyptian priests in a procession at The Thebes.
The
doctrine of potentially great strength in the divine invisibility and other
related issues behind this, belongs not least to the mystery cults of the
Egyptian religion. It was also included in the knowledge that Moses brought
from Egypt. Incidentally, Egyptian statues of gods most of the time were covered
to the eyes of the people.
According to the Bible, Moses constructed the Ark of Covenant with
special mathematical ratios. One of its functions is referred as functioning as
a dangerous weapon, which made the walls of Jericho to collapse. Also it got
the enemy - and by accident also own people - to die or be suffering from
terrible skin diseases. The Philistines took the Ark of the Covenant from the
Israelites, and a severe skin disease broke out, so they sent the Ark back -
carefully on a cart. From descriptions in the Bible, that power in contemporary
view is like a symptom of radiation damage also known from radioactivity.
(Director Steven Spielberg used the very feature in 1981 in the movie
"Raiders of the Lost Ark").
Previously, respected researchers wrote about Ark of the Covenant.
But after Hollywood’s Indiana Jones movies many avoid any touch the item. But
it would be wrong to omit the references, even when we today do not know what
was behind when the Levites were in fact instructed how to protect themselves
against the Ark of the Covenant: At the Jericho battle the Israelites were commanded
to stay 2,000 feet away from it.
The Ark
of the Covenant with the secret content was managed by the Aaron family. Was it
all propaganda or was, possibly, Egyptian technology and knowledge included? Especially
that highlighted family used, as mentioned, Egyptian names. It was never
allowed other Israelites to take part in that secret knowledge.
Moses' successor, Joshua ben Nun, let the Ark of the Covenant carry
around Jericho’s wall for 7 days - and on the 7th day, as many as 7 times -
after which city wall crashed. But the circling of the city wall was seen as
magical, cf. the ancient ritual in Mecca where Muslim pilgrims walk seven times
about the Ka'aba, the sacred (meteor) rock from the sky.
Since Jericho is located in an earthquake zone, the time could be
determined from knowledge of an earthquake offing. There may be used animals,
e.g. goats, which usually sensitively would detect turmoil come and seek
shelter hours or days before an earthquake occurs.
Also
here is the story plausible, since the land at the Jordan River often have
extremely large earthquakes. This river had a few months before Jericho Battle
been drained a short time when the Israelites, according to the Bible, could go
dry shoed across - especially where the river flows near Jericho at the ford
may be down to only 10 m wide in the dry season. - It is known that earthquakes
cause the Jordan River, like back then, blocked by huge amounts of mud (often
caused by earthquakes), which holds back the water flow. For example, it is
well-documented also to have happened in 1927.
The special "Ark formula" in "The Genesis"
(10:34-35) is just like a magical incantation. It is the type known in the
later example in "A Thousand and One Night" when the genie of bottle
or the lamp had conjured up the container or back down in it:
"...
And whenever the ark set in motion, Moses said, 'Get up, Jahweh, and let your
enemies spread, and let those who hate the you flee before you.' And when it
was at rest, he said: 'return, Jahweh, Israel tens of thousands of tens of
thousands' ... ".
Later, at the Temple of Jerusalem some chosen priests had access
to a secret tradition about how The Ark of the Covenant’s "magic" should
be handled without the attending personnel suffering injury. The Bible teaches that
these priests should undergo specific purification processes.
In any case, the scaremongering effect cannot be underestimated.
Here are widespread reports of the Ark of the Covenant has been efficiently
acting itself as a powerful "weapons scare" when the Ark was carried
at the head of the army, just as also the high priest during the war should be
localized on the front line and take sacred omens there. In principle
corresponding to the tradition that the Babylonians and Egyptians’ magicians
were placed at the head of these nation's armies.
Moses' treasures, sought
after by the Knights Templar, were first and foremost
secret valuable records, but also the Ark of the Covenant (an Egyptian ark is
here seen in a temple relief) or residues thereof, if any existed.
Where
and when was the Ark of the Covenant Hidden?
The
Bible states that Moses ordained that the law tablets with the 10 Commandments,
etc. should be stored in the Ark of the Covenant when it was originally
constructed, and these texts also were to be considered as sacred and magical.
But from the description of its other use appears Ark of the Covenant also like
to give the impression of a magic weapon with terrible secret powers.
The Ark of the Covenant was kept in the Holy of Holies room both
in the Tabernacle (Temple tent) and later in the Temple of Solomon in
Jerusalem, where there were many different treasures. - King Solomon's Temple,
also called the first temple was in 587 BC looted and burnt down by the
Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II, according to the Bible.
In contrast to the general consensus of historians who assume that
the Ark of the Covenant was taken away and destroyed by the attacking
Babylonian army, there are other different traditions about the ultimate fate
of the Ark of the Covenant:
- 1) The Ark was carefully hidden in secret tunnels under
Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Or - 2) the Ark of the Covenant secretly
moved out of Jerusalem before the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and the
temple, this variant often ends up with the Ark in Ethiopia, but another
tradition seems to know that it was hidden away at the sacred mountain, Mount
Nebo (about 30 km to the east). - 3)
The
Ark was brought to Ethiopia by the Ethiopian
Prince Menelik (an alleged son of King Solomon and the Ethiopian Queen of
Sheba). - 4) The Ark was removed by Jewish priests during
the reign of Manasseh (687-642 BC). - 5) The Bible’s “2nd Chronicles”
discusses a more miraculous removal of the Ark by divine intervention.
- 6)
Or a late removal from its secret hideout was made when
the Christian King Lalibela returned in 1185 to his native country, Ethiopia,
in rapid flight through the hostile Egypt, but he was underway protected by a
group of Knights Templar. They knew that afterwards they could not return
because of the danger zone.
Both
in Jerusalem’s hidden tunnels and tunnels to ancient sewage system, could be
used as good hiding places - and, according to one tradition it was here that
the prophet Jeremiah hid the Ark of Covenant.
The warring and punitive Babylonian army abducted everything of
value from the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. All objects and their value are
minutely bookkeeper-like shown in the Bible’s "2nd Book of Kings
"(24:13-14 and 25:13-18), and "2nd Chronicles" (36:17-20), and "Book
of Jeremiah" (52:17-24), but it says nothing whatever about the Ark of the
Covenant. Remarkably, so this even most important, and even gold lined, subject
would definitely have been included on the lists if it had been looted along
with the rest of the temple objects. This highly prized artifact has then been
removed before the arrival of the Babylonians.
In some of the old traditions there is pointed to the prophet
Jeremiah who according to the Bible prophetically foresaw the disaster and
therefore in due time got arranged to have the Ark removed out to a secret
location - either, as mentioned, at Mount Nebo, or carefully hidden in one of
Jerusalem many tunnels.
It is this last feature that the Knights Templar were strongly
interested in, as they through ca. 9 years, from 1118 to 1028, had their
headquarters in the vaults of the Temple Square’s underground which connects
into the tunnel system.
It is also this feature t the Parker Expedition had aimed on when,
in 1909-1911 it examined these tunnels, where they even found a secret section
which could not be investigated deeper as the expedition's presence was
abruptly stopped by the authorities. Thus, there is still no clarification.
The interesting information in the Bible about whitish skin,
radiation damage, arising by unprotected close contact with the Ark of the
Covenant can hardly be mentioned without problems with critics. However, one of
the Parker expedition participants, the librarian and researcher Juvelius,
described and sketched (only 10 years after the element of radium was discovered
and also before radioactive dangerousness was known for real) a detected
radioactive trap inside a tunnel, for preventing intruders.
Mount
Nebo, the southern tip is left, the north in the middle being the highest. - In
one of the
traditions it is mentioned that the prophet Jeremiah to avoid the Babylonians
looting, let the Ark of
the Covenant be hidden somewhere in this area where, according to the Bible,
Moses was buried.
Ove von Spaeth Copyright
© 2014 - www.moses-egypt.net
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von Spaeth's book: "The Knights Templar and Moses hidden treasure"
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