An Ark of the Covenant replica. Photo: Wikipedia.

So many people love conspiracy theories, fantasies, and lost causes. Best-selling books and movies focus on myths of missing people, cities, and treasures, such as Atlantis and Treasure Island. And going further back in time, to the Golden Fleece or the Ten Lost Tribes.

For centuries, Christians searched for the Holy Cross. Enough pieces of wood were found to launch a whole armada. The Holy Grail has also retained its grip on the imagination. Of course, we have ours too. The Menorah from the Second Temple, which can be seen in Titus’ arch, was carried off to Rome. Some are still convinced it is hidden in the Vatican vaults, despite the number of times Rome was ransacked, and anything of value was shipped off or melted down.

But perhaps the most famous lost item is the Ark of the Covenant. Forgetting Hollywood’s obsession, its disappearance has fascinated people for thousands of years.

The details of the Ark’s construction can be found in several chapters in the Book of Exodus, starting with chapter 25. God commands Moses to “make an Ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold inside and out, make a gold molding roundabout …. And deposit in it the tablets of the Covenant which I will give you. You shall make a cover of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.” On top there were, “Two cherubim of beaten gold facing each other from opposite ends.”

The Ark disappeared at some point during the First Temple era, which ended in 586 BCE with the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem by the Babylonians. However, the Temple was sacked on several occasions even earlier, according to the Bible itself. It is likely the Ark disappeared then.

Had the Ark still been in its usual place when the Babylonians conquered the Temple Mount, they surely would have seized this most valuable and holy possession. But as we know, the ark was removed earlier. Despite this, the myth of the missing Ark continued. II Maccabees claims that Jeremiah hid the Ark in a cave on Mount Nebo, Moses’ final resting place. The precise location of which is unknown.

The Talmud (Yoma 53b) contains many theories. Rabbi Judah said that the Ark was hidden in a subterranean chamber beneath the Holy of Holies by King Josiah. And several priests died when they accidentally discovered the exact spot, and flames shot out and consumed them.

Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Simeon bar Yochai said that the Ark was taken to Babylonia at the time of Yechoniah’s capture and exile (608 BCE). You might get confused over who Yechoniah was if you read the Bible, because he was also known as Conia and Jehoakin. And incidentally, according to II Kings 25:27, 37 years after the exile, he was released from prison by King Evil Merodach, welcomed to court and made the official leader of the Judean community in Babylon.

The Talmud also quotes Josiah’s instructions to the Levites when he restored the Temple after the idolatrous reigns of Manasseh and Amon, to reinstate an Ark to the Holy of Holies (II Chronicles 35:3). But there is no evidence that he did, possibly or probably, because it no longer existed. While other Temple vessels were replaced, when necessary, both in the first and the second Temples, the Ark is never mentioned again.

Some people have suggested that this was because while winged Cherubim in the context of Mesopotamian religions represented a higher, heavenly presence, by the Second Temple era, the authorities feared that the cherubs might be mistaken for idols. And anyway, the Stone Tablets of the Covenant were no longer to be found, so that its symbolism was lost forever. Although even earlier, according to the Bible, King Hezekiah had destroyed the Bronze Serpent on a staff mentioned in the Torah and the Books of Magical Cures, because simple people were worshipping them in an idolatrous fashion.

According to the Talmud (Yoma 52b), there was no Ark in the Second Temple, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. But even if there had been or it was buried under the Temple foundations, the Romans razed the Temple Mount to its foundations and so there is no Ark on the Arch of Titus. Either way, the original Ark disappeared and was never seen again. And there is not an ounce of logic to suggest that it was spirited away to darkest Africa or the Andes. Why, therefore, would one think it must still exist?

But the stories continue. Myths often have very important messages. So, what possibly could be the message of stories of the Lost Ark? To start with, from the Babylonian exile, there was always a dream that eventually the House of David would return and rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. It was indeed revived with the Second Destruction as a powerful story of hope for the exiles. But without the Ark.

To this day, rebuilding the Temple remains a significant dream for many. Despite the centuries of tumult and change, many Jews refuse to give up their idea that a Messiah will come who really would bring peace on Earth. We are still waiting.

The author is a writer and rabbi in New York.