2Ch 35:3 And he said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the LORD, “Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. You need not carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and his people Israel.
Here, under the reign of king Josiah (close to the last king to reign in David’s lineage) is the last time we ever read about the physical ark of the covenant in the Bible.
1Ki 8:27 But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?
Jer 3:16 And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.
Why would it be forgotten and more or less dismissed? Because it was a shadow and a copy.
Heb 9:4 having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant…
Heb 9:24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
Heb 10:1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.
“Nebuchadnezzar took from there all the riches in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace. He removed all the gold items which King Solomon of Israel had made for the Lord’s temple…” 2 Kings 24:13
Conspicuously absent from this account is what happened to the Ark of the Covenant.
But actually, Solomon’s Temple was raided or “tapped” SO MANY times before this.
As early as Rehoboam (Solomon’s son) an invading army came in (I assume briefly and perhaps casually) and stole all the “low-hanging fruit” like Solomon’s giant gold shields that he made just for decoration. Easy money.
But you’d have to believe that stuff like the ark, altar of incense, and the table for the show bread remained. I really don’t think the priests would be punked this easily. Seeing as how the mercy seat was literally a huge chunk of solid gold, I’m sure they had some sort of contingency plan for this.
We know this hiding tactic must have been employed, because despite being plundered twice early-on, we still see the ark being mentioned as late as Josiah’s reign. And it’s very interesting that he tells them to “place the holy ark in the temple which king Solomon built”—it seems to have been relocated.
But there’s a total of three different times that it says the temple was plundered by Nebuchadnezzar, and I think the level of plundering corresponds with how much time they had.
At the time of our reading today, the temple had already been plundered once, but it seems to be a quick one, where Nebuchadnezzar made a quick stroll through the temple and picked out his favorite stuff (and people) to bring back with him to Babylon. This seems to just been lighter objects you could just pick up and bring with you, like gold cups, plates, bowls, etc. that were used for the sacrifices. I highly doubt the ark would’ve been taken at this time.
But it says that the king basically surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar and he had more time to carry off more stuff.
The most interesting part about this time is actually the word used for what he did with the gold should be translated “stripped.” It’s the same word that’s used when Hezekiah “stripped” the gold off the doors of the temple to pay off Assyria 100 years earlier.
But this second time from today’s reading, Nebuchadnezzar would’ve taken the bigger stuff. They had the time to strip off the gold from everything.
Gold is a valuable commodity, and they didn’t really care how mangled the original form would be, they were going to melt it down and reuse it anyway.
So I would imagine this would’ve been the bigger stuff, like the incense altar, table for the showbread, and maybe, the ark of the covenant too.
I think Christians take offense at this insinuation. They think it too much that the ark would’ve been mishandled like that. They it would be stripped of its gold and melted down or reused. We like to think of a fate other than a pry bar.
I guess if God is a gold box, vulnerable, that puts you in a very precarious situation, doesn’t it?
But the temple itself was destroyed too, right? And the altar where the sacrifices were made.
And after all this, hundreds of years later, Jesus comes to a rebuilt temple, and comments that not only does this rebuilt temple sanctify the gold that is within it, but also “whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.” Mat 23:21
Fast Forward to the End
Earlier I said that the mention in 2 Kings during Josiah’s reign was the last time the physical ark is mentioned in the Bible. That might be technically true, but it’s not the last time the ark is ever mentioned.
Rev 11:19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.
If the ark is just a copy, a physical representation of the true aspect in heaven—what does it depict?
The One the Dwells Between the Cherubim
Ezk 9:3 And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side;
Ezk 9:4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
The Shadow Becomes Reality
Ezk 10:18 Then the glory of the LORD went out from the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim.
Ezk 10:19 And the cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth before my eyes as they went out…