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Mar 5, 2008 1:09 PM
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Any one see the show?
The existence and location of the Ark of the Covenant has remained one of the most enduring mysteries in archaeology. Professor Tudor Parfitt from London's School of Oriental and African Studies will reveal where he believes the Ark is. Parfitt is well-known for discovering that the Lemba tribe in Zimbabwe is one of the lost tribes of Israel. Follow this global quest-detective as he decodes ancient texts and pieces together clues. Ultimately he builds a picture of what he thinks the Ark looks like and where it is. The journey takes viewers through Israelite wars, Philistine shrines, Solomon's Temple and Africa to the final, critical clue which led Parfitt to its current location.
(Interesting that the ark could have been a very large drum carry on poles with the voice of god inside carried there by the lost tribe of israel, the lemba.
http://www.history.com/shows.do?episodeId=272786&action=detail
Interesting if anyone view this show at the end he finds this relic, a very large drum, that could have been pattern after the ark.The pictures of this relic are really fascinating.
The Ark and its sanctuary were "the beauty of Israel" (Lamentations 2:1). Rashi and some Midrashim suggest that there were two arks - a temporary one made by Moses, and a later one made by Bezalel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ark_of_the_Covenant
This could be reasonable the original ark could have been made just like the ark Professor Tudor Parfitt has found.
Frist of all Moses and his people could not have made such a ark in the desert with out the skills needed as was in Egypt,they would have to have stole all that gold or stole a ark all ready made,however it said Moses came down from the mountain and then built the ark only out of wood.
In Deuteronomy it says the ark was made only out of wood.
Deut 10:1: "At that time the Lord said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood."
Deut 10:2: "And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou breakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark."
Deut 10:3: So I made the ark out of acacia wood and chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hands.
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Re: Quest for the Lost Ark
Mar 5, 2008 2:56 PM
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Opps i don`t know how that happen on the double posting but lets stick with this one 
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Re: Quest for the Lost Ark
Mar 5, 2008 3:32 PM
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I find it very reasonable that Professor Tudor Parfitt has found what the original ark was based on.
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Re: Quest for the Lost Ark
Mar 6, 2008 4:43 PM
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A Lead on the Ark of the Covenant
Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008 By DAVID VAN BIEMA
When last we saw the lost Ark of the Covenant in action, it had been dug up by Indiana Jones in Egypt and ark-napped by Nazis, whom the Ark proceeded to incinerate amidst a tempest of terrifying apparitions. But according to Tudor Parfitt, a real-life scholar-adventurer, Raiders of the Lost Ark had it wrong, and the Ark is actually nowhere near Egypt. In fact, Parfitt claims he has traced it (or a replacement container for the original Ark), to a dusty bottom shelf in a museum in Harare, Zimbabwe.
As Indiana Jones's creators understood, the Ark is one of the Bible's holiest objects, and also one of its most maddening McGuffins. A wooden box, roughly 4 ft. x 2 ft. x 2.5 ft., perhaps gold-plated and carried on poles inserted into rings, it appears in the Good Book variously as the container for the Ten Commandments (Exodus 25:16: "and thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee"); the very locus of God's earthly presence; and as a divine flamethrower that burns obstacles and also crisps some careless Israelites. It is too holy to be placed on the ground or touched by any but the elect. It circles Jericho behind the trumpets to bring the walls tumbling down. The Bible last places the Ark in Solomon's temple, which Babylonians destroyed in 586 BC. Scholars debate its current locale (if any): under the Sphinx? Beneath Jerusalem's Temple Mount (or, to Muslims, the Noble Sanctuary)? In France? Near London's Temple tube station?
Parfitt, 63, is a professor at the University of London's prestigious School of Oriental and African Studies. His new book, The Lost Ark of the Covenant: Solving the 2,500 Year Mystery of the Fabled Biblical Ark (HarperOne) along with a History Channel special scheduled for March 2 would appear to risk a fine academic reputation on what might be called a shaggy Ark story. But the professor has been right before, and his Ark fixation stems from his greatest coup. In the 1980s Parfitt lived with a Southern African clan called the Lemba, who claimed to be a lost tribe of Israel. Colleagues laughed at him for backing the claim; in 1999, a genetic marker specific to descendents of Judaism's Temple priests (cohens) was found to appear as frequently among the Lemba's priestly cast as in Jews named Cohen. The Lemba — and Parfitt — made global news.
Parfitt started wondering about another aspect of the Lemba's now-credible oral history: a drumlike object called the ngoma lungundu. The ngoma, according to the Lemba, was near-divine, used to store ritual objects, and borne on poles inserted into rings. It was too holy to touch the ground or to be touched by non-priests, and it emitted a "Fire of God" that killed enemies and, occasionally, Lemba. A Lemba elder told Parfitt, "[It] came from the temple in Jerusalem. We carried it down here through Africa."
That story, by Parfitt's estimation, is partly true, partly not. He is not at all sure, and has no way of really knowing, whether the Lemba's ancestors left Jerusalem simultaneously with the Ark (assuming, of course, that it left at all). However, he has a theory as to where they might eventually have converged. Lemba myth venerates a city called Senna. In modern-day Yemen, in an area with people genetically linked to the Lemba, Parfitt found a ghost town by that name. It's possible that the Lemba could have migrated there from Jerusalem by a spice route — and from Senna, via a nearby port, they could have launched the long sail down the African coast. As for the Ark? Before Islam, Arabia contained many Jewish-controlled oases, and in the 500s AD, the period's only Jewish kingdom. It abutted Senna. In any case, the area might have beckoned to exiled Jews bearing a special burden. Parfitt also found eighth-century accounts of the Ark in Arabia, by Jews-turned-Muslims. He posits that at some undefined point the Lemba became the caretakers of the Ark, or the ngoma.
Parfitt's final hunt for the ngoma, which dropped from sight in the 1940s, landed him in sometimes-hostile territory ("Bullets shattered the rear screen," of his car, he writes). Ark leads had guided him to Egypt, Ethiopia and even New Guinea, until one day last fall his clues led him to a storeroom of the Harare Museum of Human Science in Zimbabwe. There, amidst nesting mice, was an old drum with an uncharacteristic burnt-black bottom hole ("As if it had been used like a cannon," Parfitt notes), the remains of carrying rings on its corners; and a raised relief of crossed reeds that Parfitt thinks reflects an Old Testament detail. "I felt a shiver go down my spine," he writes.
Parfitt thinks that whatever the supernatural character of Ark, it was, like the ngoma, a combination of reliquary, drum and primitive weapon, fueled with a somewhat unpredictable proto-gunpowder. That would explain the unintentional conflagrations. The drum element is the biggest stretch, since scripture never straightforwardly describes the Ark that way. He bases his supposition on the Ark's frequent association with trumpets, and on aspects of a Bible passage where King David dances in its presence. Parfitt admits that such a multipurpose object would be "very bizarre" in either culture, but insists, "that's an argument for a connection between them."
So, had he found the Ark? Yes and no, he concluded. A splinter has carbon-dated the drum to 1350 AD — ancient for an African wood artifact, but 2,500 years after Moses. Undaunted, Parfitt asserts that "this is the Ark referred to in Lemba tradition" — Lemba legend has it that the original ngoma destroyed itself some 400 years ago and had to be rebuilt on its own "ruins" — "constructed by priests to replace the previous Ark. There can be little doubt that what I found is the last thing on earth in direct descent from the Ark of Moses."
Well, perhaps a little doubt. "It seems highly unlikely to me," says Shimon Gibson, a noted biblical archaeologist to whom Parfitt has described his project. "You have to make tremendous leaps." Those who hope to find the original biblical item, moreover, will likely reject Parfitt's claim that the best we can do is an understudy. Animating all searches for the Ark is the hope — and fear — that it will retain the unbridled divine power the Old Testament describes. What would such a wonder look like in our postmodern world? What might it do? Parfitt's passionately crafted new theory, like his first, could eventually be proven right. But if so, unlike the fiction in the movies, it would deny us an explosive resolution.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1715337,00.html
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Re: Quest for the Lost Ark
Mar 11, 2008 10:30 AM
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I like this thread better, too; some of the posts on the other one were rather inflammatory!
This is a very fascinating story. I saw the first part of the special that aired on HC, but unfortunately was not able to watch the bulk of the program. Hopefully it’ll re-run soon.
A few comments: as the article says, it’s going to be very, very difficult, if even possible, to determine that this is THE Ark of the Covenant, or according to the Lemba story, the replacement ngoma/Ark made from remnants of the original Ark. The part of the story that says the Lemba brought it with them from Jerusalem is plausible; however, it seems that maybe what they brought was more than likely the replacement rather than the original.
There is also a theory that there were actually two arks made during the time of Moses; a temporary one that Moses had made, and then the “official” Ark made by Bezalel the artist (books of Exodus and Deuteronomy). From what I could tell, that theory says that there was an ark that was built to house the Ten Commandments by Moses and the Hebrews during their travels in Sinai to the Holy Land, and then another ark built for the temple in Jerusalem. It is not clear whether that “temporary” ark ended up in the temple at Jerusalem or not, hence the confusion around that.
That said, then it sounds like AN Ark has been found and Parfitt might be right that he’s found the closest thing to the Ark that’s out there, but that still probably doesn’t make it the Ark of scripture that was carried into battle, etc. Besides, this one is a drum, not the Ark that was described by scripture. It also seems that if this ngoma had been built from ruins of the original Ark, wouldn’t there be something about it that dated it older than their initial testing revealed? Maybe that was the burnt-out part and harder to test?
According to the Revelations 11:19, the Ark is in heaven already, so for believers, it won’t be found on this Earth anyway. But historical records put it in so many places and having so many fates, it is a study in itself to follow the trail.
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Edited by xtinanc at 03/11/2008 10:31 AM
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Re: Quest for the Lost Ark
Mar 11, 2008 3:58 PM
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Xtinanc, the show airs again March 22 at 8`00 o`clock
There is some confusion, Parfitt does`nt I believe suggess there were three arks, however I have to watch the show again myself.
The relic he finds is dated to 1350 AD — ancient for an African wood artifact, but 2,500 years after Moses. Undaunted, Parfitt asserts that "this is the Ark referred to in Lemba tradition" — Lemba legend has it that the original ngoma destroyed itself some 400 years ago and had to be rebuilt on its own "ruins" — "constructed by priests to replace the previous Ark.
However according to the talmud there were also two different arks.
The contents of the Ark has been debated through the centuries. The general consensus is that the first tablets containing the Ten Commandments, which were broken by Moses, and the second tablets, which remained intact, were contained in the Ark (Bava Batra 14b). According to one opinion in the Talmud, both Tablets were together in the Ark; according to another, there were two Arks, and each contained one set of Tablets (Berakhot 8b).
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/ark.html
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Re: Quest for the Lost Ark
Apr 18, 2008 10:39 AM
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Professor Tudor Parfitt submitted that he thinks the Ark of the Covenant to be different in appearance than it was pictured in the Exodus account and, say, Raiders of the Lost Ark. He furthermore said he finds it hard to believe that it was overlaid with gold yet overlooks a primary factor from the source text of Exodus.
In Exodus, Chapter 3:21-22, Yahweh tells Moses that He will make the Egyptians (not the Pharaoh, but the Egyptian people) favorably disposed toward the Hebrews, "so that you will not leave empty-handed...so you will plunder the Egyptians" of "articles of silver and gold and clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters."
Later, in Exodus 25 (just prior to the text directly concerned with the Ark), Yahweh commands Moses to take an offering of specific kinds of items (gold, silver, bronze, cloth materials) for the building of the Tabernacle and its associated components. This is again repeated in Exodus 35. Why the repetition if the materials were hard to come by or entirely non-existent among them? Simple. They weren't hard to come by.
The Hebrews left Egypt with their pockets loaded, especially considering that the number of Hebrews that left Egypt is estimated to be around 2 million (Exodus 12:37 states 600,000 adult Hebrew men left Egypt with Moses, plus an unknown large number of non-Hebrews ("A mixed multitude also went up with them" - Exodus 12:38), not to mention Hebrew women and children. If 600,000 grown men each had a wife and one child (more than one was actually more likely), that easily triples the number to 1.8 million, plus the non-Hebrew multitude.) Suppose each person had a gold bracelet or a gold cup or even a gold ring that they contributed to the offering. 2 million gold rings would be more than adequate to cover a box the size of the Ark as described in Exodus and include two Cherubim atop the Mercy Seat covering.
I found Professor Tudor Parfitt's journey to be intriguing. Clearly, the professor is no spring chicken when it comes to world traveling and I am quite convinced of the Lemba people's ancestral claims. But as a researcher, I found his technique to be as slip-shod as Hollywood. He might as well have espoused that Shishak hid the Ark in the Well of the Souls in Egypt. There's too much detail in the source text of Exodus to pit it against the text in Deuteronomy; the texts agree, not disagree. One mentions gold, the other does not because it has already been well-stated.
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Re: Quest for the Lost Ark - A drum make sense
Sep 2, 2008 9:22 PM
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I just saw this program and had to make one comment. Professor Tudor Parfitt argues that the ark had multiple purposes and a drum makes send even in Jerusalem, However, If the African drum ark was recreated from its predecessor at least once, might it not be recreated in a common cultural form for the time and place? If the original ark took the form in a Hebrew motif as described in biblical accounts, wouldn't it make sense that its' final incarnation in Africa take the form as an African drum. First off, the Africans would not have the expertise to recreate a Hebrew style ark and the changes would allow the ark to be more easily hidden and accepted culturally as a local icon.
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Re: Quest for the Lost Ark
Oct 11, 2008 8:26 PM
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If only his reasoning made sense I might give in to it.
He suggests that only the High Priests got to see the Ark. Although the view was for the very select when it sat in the Temple, it didn't always have limited viewing. When it was brought to Jerusalem by David's request, he danced in front of it. It was in view of everyone. It also led the way when the Jews wandered for 40 years. It was stolen and returned, again with the return in plain sight. When bringing the walls of Jericho down, it would be in plain sight.
The reason for belaboring this point is this: If I had been a Jew in that time, brought up with the writings that described it as a gold plated box, then saw a round wooden drum, I would question the writings that suggested otherwise. I would also hope the writings would be corrected. But the people knew what the Ark was and the old description remained.
As for the 'wooden box' descriptions, these are just a few passages in comparison to the belabored descriptions of what God asked them to make, plus the reiteration of every detail when describing what they did make, to document that they did as God asked. If you read Exodus, you realize several chapters are spent in each stage, both the directions of what to build and the explanation of what was built. Both Moses and the Jews knew the Ark was a wooden box plated with gold. It's not a solid gold box, so it's easy to call it a wooden box if quickly describing it. They knew that at its heart, it was wooden, everything else was added decoration/protection.
As for supplies, the Jews left Egypt with the wealth of the nation, as the Egyptians gave them large quantities of gold and other valuables. They had more than enough material to make an Ark with gold.
The Temple that was made in a similar manner, but with stone as its base, then layered with wood, then gold. The Temple builds up the expectations of anyone entering it, as it is coated with great value. Does it make sense to make a Temple of gold to house the object of greatest value, just to have the focus of all things be a round wooden drum? As High Priest, I would be disappointed. Not only does it seem anti-climactic to see that the item of greatest religious value was the item of the least value in every other way. And like the Jews themselves, wouldn't the High Priest be concerned about where he placed his faith if he saw that central to his religion, the object of greatest value was a lie? The wooden drum makes no sense in this case.
As for the time to make it, the religious answer is that angels were sent to craft the Ark. But even people 'on the run' could take the time to make the Ark. Moses had faith in God and trusted that God would protect them from harm. The making of the wooden box could be done by one group, the preparation of the gold lining could be others, while the cherubim could be made by yet others. With such clear direction on the measurements of everything, this wouldn't be that hard to divide up the labor.
Indeed, the Babylonians likely never got their hands on it, since they had impeccable records of what was looted. It does not appear in the records anywhere.
In short, the show was interesting, but I feel he discounts some things too easily, bases his views on the descriptions that appear as the minority of accounts of sightings of the Ark, and completely ignores some significant passages of the scriptures that provide better clues. I wish the journey to find the Ark had been handled by someone more competent. He let his past exposure to the lost tribe of Israel and their drum pollute his search.
Mt Nebo was the last documented place in the Bible for hiding the Ark. It may have been moved since then, it's possible that the wood decomposed (if not protected from decomposition by God), or God could have taken the Ark (a possible religious answer).
The New Ark: (This is the end of my discussion related to the story, but I like to point out the other Ark.)
God is more important than the Ark. But for Christians, the New Testament contains a new Ark. The new Ark is a living Ark; Mary, mother of Jesus.
Mary went to the hill country of Judea and stayed for 3 months, just like the Ark. While pregnant with Jesus, she contained the new High Priest (the ark had the High Priest's Aaron's rod), the Word made flesh (the ark had the Word of God in the form of His commandments), and the Bread of Life (the ark contained manna (bread)). The Gospel according to Luke contains phrases so closely in line with the accounts of the Ark when Mary is involved that it suggests true intent to make one a type of the other. Elizabeth's words "Why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" are similar to David's words "How can the ark of the Lord come to me?" David danced before the ark, while John the Baptist lept in the womb. There are many other references.
Even the book of Revelation yields an interesting combination. The Biblical texts were not written with Chapters and versus, they were written as you would write a letter or short paper. The end of Revelation 11 and the start of Revelation 12 is the area to note. If we ignore chapter breaks, we find that the Temple in Heaven opens and we see the Ark. The next verse focuses on the flashes of light and the glory of the moment. The next verse mentions the great sign in the sky, which is the Woman (Mary). Heaven is often seen as being in the sky, and the greatness of the Ark was obvious by the description after it. The opening of the Temple seems like such a brief event and immediately overshadowed by the story about the woman, unless the two were speaking of the same thing. For some people, this may be a bit of a stretch, but the ties between Luke and the ancient writings seem more clear. Enjoy studying this if you haven't considered it before.
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Re: Quest for the Lost Ark
May 28, 2009 8:36 PM
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Beyond that...
The ark was said to contain the tablets of the ten commandments. This is possible with the drum. But, the drum is not large enough to contain the staff of Abraham unless Abraham was 2 feet tall. If they would make a repalcement it would have approximated the original. Unless as a rule people would replace a spear with a pencil. At least they would be shaped the same. This drum is the culmination of an idiot. Too bad his parents wasted so much money on his education.
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