When Did the Ark Disappear?

II_Chronicles.5.9-10

Amichai Lau-Lavie (he/him)

Jul 15, 2025

The ark finally comes home. But not forever.

Built by Phoenician design and excessive detail, gold everywhere, King Solomon’s Temple is finally complete and the people gather on the seventh month to celebrate the Holiday of Succot in the new lavish home of their deity.

It is quite the celebration, and it lasts two weeks.

Today’s chapter reads like mass excitement - music played as people of all ages travel to the top the mountain, countless sacrifices offered on the new copper altars, everyone singing with one voice -- and then comes the most dramatic moment of this temple’s activation:

The Holy Ark is brought up from its temporary location in the City of David, brought over by King David himself a decade or so ago, temporarily installed, and now finally placed in the new Holy of Holies built to be its eternal home.

This chamber, about 100 sq. meters, was decorated with painted and embroidered cherubim, face to face, from floor to ceiling plus two giant golden Cherubim sculptures with vast wings meant to shelter the ark beneath them as the symbol of divine presence.

This was an elaborate expansion on the modest model built by Moses in the desert in the heart Tabernacle that was finally replaced by a permanent home. And By the way, there is no clear indication of what happened to the old tabernacle - the tent of meeting that made it through the wilderness was last seen in Gibeon, and it’s unclear if it became a sacred relic, stored somewhere, or disintegrated into thin air. It’s never heard from again.

After all those years of wandering and traveling with the tabernacle of their nomadic beginnings, the wooden, gilded box that contains the original tablets of Torah was placed in the center of their temple, city, kingdom and cosmos. Mission accomplished.

But a curious phrase used here by the authors of Chronicles opens a disturbing question - did this really happen or is this again more fancy literature than history?

What happened to the ark in later ages? Did it make it past the Babylonian exile when Solomon’s temple was destroyed, and be installed in some capacity in the second temple?

Or did it also disappear like the Mishkan and other older religious relics?

Chronicles, as we’ve noted, was written after the Babylonian exile ended, with the second temple already up and running. But there is no concrete evidence or proof that the ark survived the first temple’s destruction and brought back to be the center of attention in the temple’s second version.

One curious phrase in the verse that describes the ark’s new placement raises an eyebrow about the ark’s whereabouts:

וַֽיַּאֲרִ֘יכוּ֮ הַבַּדִּים֒ וַיֵּרָאוּ֩ רָאשֵׁ֨י הַבַּדִּ֤ים מִן־הָאָרוֹן֙ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י הַדְּבִ֔יר וְלֹ֥א יֵרָא֖וּ הַח֑וּצָה וַֽיְהִי־שָׁ֔ם עַ֖ד הַיּ֥וֹם הַזֶּֽה׃

The poles projected beyond the Ark and the ends of the poles were visible from the front of the inner Sanctuary, but they could not be seen from the outside; and there they remain to this day.

II_Chronicles.5.9-10

What does “there they remain to this day” mean??

Since this text was likely written during the second temple period, and no ark was to be found inside this version of the holy of holies -- how can this make any sense?

Most Jewish interpreters of Chronicles let this one slide. The most persuasive argument is that it’s a sloppy copy/paste job from some earlier source that goes back to the first temple chronicles and was not carefully fact checked.

While Chronicles doesn’t resolve the ark’s fate, but assumes its continued presence, later rabbinic sources—including Talmudic passages (Tractate Yoma 52b–53b)—offer competing traditions: One famous claim suggests that King Josiah hid the Ark before the Babylonian destruction.Another says it was taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, and there got lost.
These traditions acknowledge its absence without challenging Chronicles’ textual claim, understanding “unto this day” as a literary relic.

Prof. Ehud Ben Zvi emphasizes Chronicles as a post‑exilic re‑writing of Israel’s past, preserving theological themes from older sources to shape a hopeful communal identity, not to assert strict historical continuity.

The theological language of “unto this day” offers readers a sense of unbroken divine presence, even if the object itself was lost - it’s more theological memory rather than archaeological reality.

Religious fiction often becomes fact for the faithful.

Most sages and scholars suggest that the second temple included a holy of holies with lavish cherubim and the memory of an ark - but no actual black box in the middle to contain the ancient ten commandments and to serve as the energetic hotspot of nation. And yet, that empty chamber, holder of the memory, became the symbolic center of the temple. Whatever the Cherubim represent - they became, face to face, eye to eye, the embodiment of the sacred union between divinity and humanity, earth and heaven, here and now.

Maybe the authors of Chronicles just couldn’t bring themselves to name and write this new reality of absence? Whether a sloppy copier’s mistake, intentional blurring of facts or a wistful choice of wording -- this account celebrates the first temple’s ribbon cutting ceremony with reverence and awe, giving the king the stage to deliver his theatrical prayer and opening speech that contains some surprising notions beyond the hype and pomp. That’s coming next.

As for the ark, maybe Indiana Jones was right, and maybe it’s still hidden somewhere, waiting for the ancient secret to be revealed?

We will have to be content with the story, not the object, the evolution of the box into a book and an ongoing dialogue, face to face, eye to eye, holding each other’s hurts and hearts - every eye to eye encounter in our holy of holies, everywhere we encounter each other’s sacred truth.

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Below the Bible Belt

When Did the Ark Disappear?

II_Chronicles.5.9-10

The ark finally comes home. But not forever.

Built by Phoenician design and excessive detail, gold everywhere, King Solomon’s Temple is finally complete and the people gather on the seventh month to celebrate the Holiday of Succot in the new lavish home of their deity.

It is quite the celebration, and it lasts two weeks.

Today’s chapter reads like mass excitement - music played as people of all ages travel to the top the mountain, countless sacrifices offered on the new copper altars, everyone singing with one voice -- and then comes the most dramatic moment of this temple’s activation:

The Holy Ark is brought up from its temporary location in the City of David, brought over by King David himself a decade or so ago, temporarily installed, and now finally placed in the new Holy of Holies built to be its eternal home.

This chamber, about 100 sq. meters, was decorated with painted and embroidered cherubim, face to face, from floor to ceiling plus two giant golden Cherubim sculptures with vast wings meant to shelter the ark beneath them as the symbol of divine presence.

After all those years of wandering and traveling with the tabernacle of their nomadic beginnings, the wooden, gilded box that contains the original tablets of Torah was placed in the center of their temple, city, kingdom and cosmos. Mission accomplished.

But a curious phrase used here by the authors of Chronicles opens a disturbing question - did this really happen or is this again more fancy literature than history?

What happened to the ark in later ages? Did it make it past the Babylonian exile when Solomon’s temple was destroyed, and be installed in some capacity in the second temple?

Or did it also disappear like the Mishkan and other older religious relics?

One curious phrase in the verse that describes the ark’s new placement raises an eyebrow about the ark’s whereabouts:

The poles projected beyond the Ark and the ends of the poles were visible from the front of the inner Sanctuary, but they could not be seen from the outside; and there they remain to this day.

II_Chronicles.5.9-10

What does “there they remain to this day” mean??

Since this text was likely written during the second temple period, and no ark was to be found inside this version of the holy of holies -- how can this make any sense?

Most Jewish interpreters of Chronicles let this one slide. The most persuasive argument is that it’s a sloppy copy/paste job from some earlier source that goes back to the first temple chronicles and was not carefully fact checked.

Prof. Ehud Ben Zvi emphasizes Chronicles as a post‑exilic re‑writing of Israel’s past, preserving theological themes from older sources to shape a hopeful communal identity, not to assert strict historical continuity.

The theological language of “unto this day” offers readers a sense of unbroken divine presence, even if the object itself was lost - it’s more theological memory rather than archaeological reality.

Religious fiction often becomes fact for the faithful.

As for the ark, maybe Indiana Jones was right, and maybe it’s still hidden somewhere, waiting for the ancient secret to be revealed?

We will have to be content with the story, not the object, the evolution of the box into a book and an ongoing dialogue, face to face, eye to eye, holding each other’s hurts and hearts - every eye to eye encounter in our holy of holies, everywhere we encounter each other’s sacred truth.

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