The Ark of the Covenant, also called the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, was a religious chest and relic considered the most sacred object by the Israelites.
According to religious tradition, the Ark was made of wood and covered with gold. It had a decorated lid called the Seat of Mercy. The Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, specifically the Book of Exodus and the First Book of Kings, describe the Ark as containing the Tablets of the Law, which God gave to Moses at Mount Sinai. The Book of Exodus, the Book of Numbers, and the Epistle to the Hebrews in the New Testament also mention that the Ark held Aaron’s rod and a jar of manna. The biblical account states that the Ark was built about a year after the Israelites left Egypt, following a design God showed Moses when the Israelites were at Mount Sinai. The Ark was carried by the Levites ahead of the people during their travels, with its gold-plated wooden frame. God spoke to Moses from between two cherubim on the Ark’s cover.
Jewish tradition includes different beliefs about the Ark’s final location, such as it being taken to Babylon, hidden by King Josiah in the Temple or underground, or concealed by Jeremiah in a cave on Mount Nebo. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church claims the Ark is kept in Axum. The Lemba people of southern Africa say their ancestors possessed a replica in Zimbabwe. Some traditions suggest it was in Rome or Ireland but were lost, though no proof confirms its current location. The Ark is honored by Samaritans, symbolized in Christianity as a representation of Christ and the Virgin Mary, mentioned in the Quran, and viewed as spiritually important in the Baháʼí Faith. The Ark has appeared in modern films like Raiders of the Lost Ark and other artistic works, often shown as a powerful and mysterious object with historical and supernatural meaning.
Scholars and archaeologists continue to discuss the Ark’s history, including its movements in the Ancient Near East and the origins of the stories about it in the Hebrew Bible. There is also debate about possible influences from Bedouin or Egyptian traditions that may have inspired the Ark’s creation.
Biblical account
According to the Book of Exodus, God told Moses to build the Ark during his 40-day stay on Mount Sinai. He showed Moses the design for the tabernacle and the Ark’s furnishings. The Ark was to be made of acacia wood and would hold the Tablets of Stone. Moses told Bezalel and Oholiab to build the Ark.
The Book of Exodus gives detailed instructions for the Ark’s construction. It was to be 2 + 1⁄2 cubits long, 1 + 1⁄2 cubits wide, and 1 + 1⁄2 cubits tall (about 131×79×79 cm or 52×31×31 in) of acacia wood. Then, it was to be covered completely with gold, and a gold border was to be placed around it. Four gold rings were to be attached to each corner, and wooden poles covered in gold were to be inserted through the rings for carrying the Ark. These poles were not to be removed.
After its creation, the Ark was carried by the Israelites during their 40 years of wandering in the desert. When they stopped to rest, the Ark was placed in the tent of meeting inside the Tabernacle.
When the Israelites, led by Joshua, reached the River Jordan, the Ark was carried first, leading the people. As the priests carrying the Ark stepped into the water, the river dried up. It stayed dry until the priests and the Ark left the river after the people had crossed. Twelve stones were taken from the riverbank as a memory of this event.
During the Battle of Jericho, the Ark was carried around the city once a day for six days, with armed soldiers and seven priests blowing seven trumpets made of rams’ horns. On the seventh day, the priests and the Ark walked around the city seven times. When the people shouted loudly, the walls of Jericho fell, and the Israelites captured the city.
After the Israelites lost a battle at Ai, Joshua prayed before the Ark. When Joshua read the Law to the people near Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, they stood on each side of the Ark. The Ark was later kept in Shiloh after the Israelites finished conquering Canaan. Later, the Ark was cared for by Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, in Bethel. It was used to guide the Israelites during the Battle of Gibeah. The Ark was again kept in Shiloh, where it was cared for by Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli.
Years later, the Israelites took the Ark to battle the Philistines after losing a battle at Eben-Ezer. They were defeated again, losing 30,000 men. The Philistines captured the Ark, and Hophni and Phinehas were killed. When news of the Ark’s capture reached Shiloh, the old priest Eli fell dead. His daughter-in-law, who was pregnant, named her son Ichabod, meaning “The glory has departed Israel.” She died at his birth.
The Philistines took the Ark to several places in their country, and each time, bad luck followed. In Ashdod, the Ark was placed in the temple of Dagon. The next morning, Dagon was found fallen before the Ark. The people of Ashdod were struck with tumors, and a plague of mice spread across the land. This may have been the bubonic plague. The same illness affected the people of Gath and Ekron, where the Ark was later moved.
After seven months, the Philistines returned the Ark to the Israelites, offering golden images of the tumors and mice as a gift. The Ark was placed in the field of Joshua of Beit Shemesh, and the people there offered sacrifices and burnt offerings as described in 1 Samuel 6. When some people in Beit Shemesh looked at the Ark out of curiosity, God struck down 70 of them (or 50,000 and 70 in some translations). The people of Beit Shemesh sent for the Ark to be moved to Kiriath-Jearim, where it was kept in the home of Abinadab, whose son Eleazar was chosen to care for it. The Ark remained there for 20 years.
During the time of King Saul, the Ark was with the army before his first battle with the Philistines. However, Saul did not ask for guidance from the Ark before fighting. In 1 Chronicles 13, it is said that people did not usually consult the Ark during Saul’s reign.
At the start of his rule over the United Monarchy, King David moved the Ark from Kiriath-Jearim to Zion. On the way, Uzzah touched the Ark to steady it and was struck dead by God. The place was later named “Perez-Uzzah.” David then brought the Ark to the home of Obed-Edom, where it stayed for three months.
After learning that God blessed Obed-Edom for keeping the Ark, David had the Ark brought to Zion by the Levites. David danced joyfully before the Lord in front of the people of Jerusalem, which upset his wife, Michal. In Zion, David placed the Ark in a tent he had prepared, offered sacrifices, shared food, and blessed the people. He used the tent as a place for prayer.
The Levites were chosen to serve before the Ark. David’s plan to build a temple for the Ark was stopped by the prophet Nathan. The Ark was with the army during the siege of Rabbah. When David fled Jerusalem during Absalom’s rebellion, the Ark was carried with him until he ordered Zadok the priest to return it to Jerusalem.
When Abiathar was removed from the priesthood by King Solomon for supporting Adonijah’s rebellion, his life was spared because he had once carried the Ark. Solomon worshipped before the Ark after a dream in which God promised him wisdom.
During the construction of Solomon’s Temple, a special room called the Holy of Holies was built to house the Ark. When the Temple was completed, the Ark—containing the original Ten Commandments—was placed inside. When the
Jewish tradition on location today
The Talmud in Yoma suggests that the Ark was removed from the Temple near the end of the First Temple period and that the Second Temple never held it. One view states that the Ark was taken to Babylon when King Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem in 587 BCE, along with King Jeconiah and other leaders.
Another idea suggests that King Josiah of Judah hid the Ark before the Temple was destroyed. However, the exact location where it was hidden is unknown. One Talmud story describes a priest who noticed a suspicious stone in a room used for storing wood, which may have been near the Ark’s hiding place.
Some believe the Ark remained underground in the Holy of Holies. Certain Jewish scholars, such as Radak and Maimonides, suggest that King Solomon built tunnels beneath the Temple to protect the Ark, and King Josiah later used these tunnels for hiding it. Excavations in this area have not uncovered much evidence due to political issues.
A passage in II Maccabees 2:4-10 claims that the prophet Jeremiah hid the Ark and other holy items in a cave on Mount Nebo (now in Jordan) before the Neo-Babylonian invasion.
Archaeology and historical context
Archaeological findings show that Kiriath-Jearim had strong religious activity during the 8th and 7th centuries BC, long after the ark was supposedly moved to Jerusalem. Archaeologists discovered a large raised platform linked to the Northern Kingdom, not the Southern Kingdom, which may have been a shrine. Thomas Römer suggests this could mean the ark was not moved to Jerusalem until much later, possibly during the reign of King Josiah (c. 640–609 BCE). He notes this might explain why the ark appears frequently in historical records before Solomon but not afterward. Additionally, 2 Chronicles 35:3 mentions the ark was moved during King Josiah’s reign. However, Yigal Levin argues there is no evidence Kiriath-Jearim was a religious center during the monarchy or that it ever housed a "temple of the Ark."
K. L. Sparks believes the story of the Ark was written separately around the 8th century BC in a text called the "Ark Narrative" and later added to the main biblical story before the Babylonian exile.
Römer also suggests the ark may have held sacred stones similar to those found in pre-Islamic Bedouin chests, which might have been a statue of Yahweh or statues of Yahweh and his companion goddess Asherah. In contrast, Scott Noegel argues the similarities between the ark and these objects are unclear, as the Bedouin chests lacked the ark’s unique features, such as a box, lid, poles, golden covering, or kerubim figures. They were also not restricted to specific people or transported by special means.
Noegel proposes the ancient Egyptian Solar barque is a better model for the Israelite ark, as Egyptian barques had all the features described. He also notes that Egyptians placed written covenants beneath statues, similar to the placement of the covenantal tablets inside the ark.
Levin claims some biblical texts suggest the Ark of the Covenant was one of many arks at regional shrines before worship was centralized in Jerusalem, though Raanan Eichler disagrees. Clifford Mark McCormick has questioned whether the Ark ever existed, but scholars like Eichler, David A. Falk, Roger D. Isaacs, and Adam R. Hemmings support its historicity and age based on linguistic evidence and parallels to artifacts from New Kingdom Egypt.
References in Abrahamic religions
The Ark of the Covenant is first mentioned in the Book of Exodus and later appears many times in Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, I Samuel, II Samuel, I Kings, I Chronicles, II Chronicles, Psalms, and Jeremiah. In the Book of Jeremiah, the prophet Jeremiah, speaking during the time of King Josiah, described a future time—possibly the end of days—when the Ark would no longer be discussed or used: "In those days, people will no longer say, 'The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord,' and it will not be remembered or used again."
Rashi, a Jewish scholar, explained this verse by saying that God’s presence would rest on the entire people, making them like the Ark itself.
According to Second Maccabees, at the start of chapter 2, it is written that the prophet Jeremiah, guided by a divine message, ordered the Tent of Meeting and the Ark to be taken to a mountain. This mountain, where Moses saw God’s promised land, is Mount Nebo in present-day Jordan. Jeremiah led the Ark to a cave on the mountain, placed it there, and sealed the entrance. He warned others not to search for the location, saying it would remain hidden until God gathered His people again.
Samaritan tradition claims the Ark was kept at a sanctuary on Mount Gerizim.
In the New Testament, the Ark is mentioned in the Letter to the Hebrews and the Revelation to St. John. Hebrews 9:4 says the Ark contained "the golden pot with manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant." Revelation 11:19 describes a vision of God’s heavenly temple, where the Ark of the Covenant was seen inside.
In the Gospel of Luke, the author uses eight points of comparison to show similarities between Mary and the Ark.
Church Fathers, such as Thomas Aquinas, saw the Ark’s contents as symbols of Jesus Christ. The manna represented the Holy Eucharist, Aaron’s rod showed Jesus’ eternal priestly role, and the Law tablets symbolized Jesus as the Lawgiver. Thomas Aquinas also noted that the Ark’s wood covered with gold represented Jesus’ human and divine natures.
Catholic scholars connect the "pregnant woman" in Revelation 12:1-2 with the Virgin Mary, calling her the "Ark of the New Covenant." She is seen as the "Holy of Holies," a sacred place where God dwells. This idea was first explained by Gregory Thaumaturgus in the third century and later by Saint Ambrose, Saint Ephraem of Syria, and Saint Augustine in the fourth century. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes Mary as a metaphorical Ark: "Mary, in whom the Lord dwells, is the daughter of Zion, the Ark of the Covenant, the place where the glory of the Lord lives."
Saint Athanasius, a bishop in Alexandria, wrote that Mary, like the Ark, carries the savior of humanity and is filled with purity instead of gold. He compared her to the Ark, saying, "You are the Ark in which is found the golden vessel containing the true manna, that is, the flesh in which Divinity resides."
The Ark is also mentioned in the Quran (Surah Al-Baqara: 248), where it is described as a sign of Saul’s kingship, containing relics from the families of Moses and Aaron carried by angels.
According to scholar Uri Rubin, the Ark of the Covenant holds religious significance in Islam and the Baháʼí Faith.
Claims of current status
The Book of 2 Maccabees 2:4–10, written around 100 B.C., states that the prophet Jeremiah, warned by God before the Babylonian invasion, took the Ark, the Tabernacle, and the Altar of Incense and buried them in a cave. He told his followers that the location should remain secret until God gathered His people again and showed them mercy.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church claims to have the Ark of the Covenant in Axum. It is kept in a treasury near the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion. Replicas of the Ark’s tablets, called tabots, are found in every Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Each tabot is placed in its own holy of holies and is dedicated to a specific saint, such as Saint Mary, Saint George, or Saint Michael.
The Kebra Nagast was originally written in another language, such as Coptic or Greek, and later translated into Arabic and Geʽez in 1321. It describes how the Ark was brought to Ethiopia by Menelik I with divine help, while a fake was left in the Temple in Jerusalem. This belief existed before the Kebra Nagast was written. In the 1200s, a writer named Abu al-Makarim mentioned that the Ark was in Ethiopia and that special religious ceremonies were held around it four times a year.
In 1992, writer Graham Hancock claimed the Ark spent time in Egypt before traveling to Ethiopia via the Nile River, where it was kept on Lake Tana’s islands for about 400 years before being moved to Axum. However, archaeologist John Holladay called this theory “garbage and hogwash,” and another expert, Edward Ullendorff, said the book wasted time. Ullendorff saw the Ark in Axum in 1941 and described it as an empty wooden box from the Middle or late medieval period.
On June 25, 2009, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church’s leader, Abune Paulos, announced he would reveal the Ark the next day. However, he later said he would not unveil it but confirmed its current location.
The Lemba people of South Africa and Zimbabwe claim their ancestors carried the Ark south, calling it the “ngoma lungundu” or “voice of God,” and hid it in a cave in the Dumghe mountains. In 2008, Tudor Parfitt, a researcher, noted that the object described by the Lemba shares similarities with the Ark, such as its size, how it was carried, and its sacred use.
Parfitt also suggested the Ark may have been taken to Arabia after the events in 2 Maccabees, citing Arabic sources that mention it being brought to Yemen. Genetic studies in the 2000s showed some Lemba men have Middle Eastern ancestry but no direct Jewish link. Lemba tradition says the Ark was in a place called Sena, possibly in Yemen, before being taken to East Africa and later to Great Zimbabwe. Their oral history claims the Ark destroyed itself after their arrival, and priests made a replica from a core of the original. This replica was found in a cave by a missionary in the 1940s and later moved to a museum in Harare.
In the 2nd century, a Jewish scholar named Eliezer ben Jose claimed he saw the Ark’s mercy-seat lid in Rome. He said a bloodstain was present, believed to be from the high priest’s ritual on the Day of Atonement. Another story suggests the Ark was kept in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome, surviving attacks by the Visigoths and Vandals, but was lost when the basilica burned in the 5th century.
Between 1899 and 1902, the British-Israel Association of London searched the Hill of Tara in Ireland for the Ark. Irish nationalists, including Maud Gonne and the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, stopped the excavations to protect the site. A non-invasive survey from 1992 to 1995 found no evidence of the Ark.
The British Israelites believed the Ark was at the grave of an Egyptian princess named Tea Tephi, who, according to Irish legend, married King Érimón in the 6th century B.C. Irish nationalists, such as Douglas Hyde and W.B. Yeats, protested the excavations, and Maud Gonne led a campaign to stop them.
Many Malaitans in the Solomon Islands claim the Ark is buried deep in their jungle. They believe their ancestors are a lost Jewish tribe from Zedekiah, the high priest of Israel, who brought the Ark to the island in 66 A.D. This idea was discussed in an article by Mike Edery, who suggested a Torah code from the Baal Shem Tov points to the Ark’s location on Malaita. In 2013, journalist Mathew Fishbane visited Malaita but did not find the Ark. Despite this, the legend continues to be shared by the Malaitans.
In literature and the arts
Philip Kaufman had the idea for the Ark of the Covenant to be the central element of Steven Spielberg's 1981 adventure film Raiders of the Lost Ark. In the film, Indiana Jones finds the Ark in the Egyptian city of Tanis in 1936.
In the Danish family film The Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar from 2006, the main treasure discovered at the end is the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark's power comes from static electricity stored in separated metal plates, similar to a large Leyden jar.
In Harry Turtledove's novel Alpha and Omega (2019), archaeologists discover the Ark, and the characters must deal with the proof that God exists.
The Ark has been shown in art for 2000 years. Some examples are in the article above, and more are listed here.
Yom HaAliyah
Yom HaAliyah (Aliyah Day) is an Israeli national holiday. It is celebrated each year on the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Nisan. This holiday honors the Israelites crossing the Jordan River into the Land of Israel as they carried the Ark of the Covenant.