The Hebrew Account of Hiding the Ark, the Sanctuary and the Treasures of Solomon’s Temple
The Prophet Jeremiah and the Five Guardians of Solomon’s Temple Treasures
Part One
by Robert Mock MD
robertmock@biblesearchers.com
November, 2002
Topics
Jeremiah and the Maccabean account of hiding
the Tabernacle and the Ark
The Discovery of the Emeq HaMelekh (“Valley of the Kings”)
Emeq Ha Melekh
Shimur HaLevi
Introduction
The fate of the Ark of the Covenant has been a burning question pondering Bible scholars, theologians, biblical historians and archeologists since the exile of the Jewish people to Babylon in 586 BCE. The most prominent of these is Vendyl Jones and his search for the Qalal and the Sanctuary of the Congregation with it valued treasures including the Ark of the Covenant with its two golden cherubim. The most well known account is found in the Maccabean story about the Prophet Jeremiah, who hid the contents of the Wilderness Tabernacle (Mishkhan), the Ark of the Covenant, the Qalal which held the ashes of the red heifer in the Valley of Achor near the tomb of Moses (Moshe) not far from Mount Nebo. These were hid because fate of the Temple of Solomon (Beit HaMikdash) was being threatened by the forces of Nebuchadnezzar, which many felt was built on the Temple Mount (Haram As-Sharif) in present day Old Jerusalem.
The discovery by Rabbi Rachnael Steinberg and Rabbi Mendel Tropper of the writings called the Emeq HaMelekh (Valley of the Kings) by Rabbi Naftali Hertz in which several mishnahs were recorded by five temple guardians who hid the treasures of Solomon’s temple, plus the records of Solomon Schechter finding the ancient Talmud Tosefta, Massakhet Keilim in an ancient Genizah at the Old Cairo Ben Ezra Synagogue, an ancient scroll called the Temple Scroll, purchased by Yigael Yadin, which was found in a cave by Mohammed Dieb near the Essene community of Qumran by the Dead Sea, the discovery of the Copper Scroll, Luach Nehoshet, and two large engraved marble tablets found at Mount Carmel, depict the hiding of a vast hoard of temple furnishings and artifacts about ten years before the first invasion of Nebuchadnezzar. These five men were Shimur HaLevi, Chaggai (Haggai) the prophet, Zechariah son of Iddo, Zedekiah (Zidkiyah) Hezekiah (Hizkiyah) plus Ezra the scribe and Baruch son of Neriah, the scribe of Jeremiah. The leader of this group, Shimur HaLevi, was one of the priests who killed two of the nine red heifers for the Ashes to purify the temple.
Introduction
Jeremiah and the Maccabean account of hiding
the Tabernacle and the Ark
“11 Maccabees 2: 1-8: 1-“It is also found in the records, that Jeremy the prophet commanded them that were carried away to take of the fire, as it hath been signified:
2-“And how that the prophet, having given them the law, charged them not to forget the commandments of the Lord, and that they should not err in their minds, when they see images of silver and gold, with their ornaments.
3-“And with other such speeches exhorted he them, that the law would not depart from their hearts.
4-“It was also contained in the same writing, that the prophet, being warned of God, commanded the tabernacle and the ark to go with him, as he went forth into the mountain, where Moses climbed up, and saw the heritage of God.
5-“And when Jeremy came thither, he found a hollow cave, wherein he laid the tabernacle, and the ark, and the altar of incense, and so stopped the door.
6-“And some of those that followed him came to mark the way, but they could not find it.
7-“Which when Jeremy perceived, he blamed them, saying, As for that place, it shall be unknown until the time that God gather His people again together, and receive them unto mercy.
8-“Then shall the Lord shew them these things, and the glory of the Lord shall appear, and the cloud also, as it was shewed under Moses, and as when Solomon desired that the place might be honourably sanctified.”
Let us analyze this text briefly. It is one position of BibleSearchers to analyze any ancient document with the same respect we would give to modern historical documents. As a historian, one should look carefully at the historical context, the purpose and goal of the author and with an acceptance that the author had possible access of documents more contemporaneous with his era than has survived the ravages of time.
Here the prophet Jeremiah speaks of taking the wilderness tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant and the Altar of Incense and placing it in a hollow cave near Mount Nebo, the mount where Moses had his last vista of the Promised Land and visions of the future of God’s people.
Deuteronomy 34:1-3 - “And Moses went up from the plains of Moav to the peak (Pisgah) of Mount Nebo, facing Jericho, and God showed him all the land of Gil’ad, to Dan, and all of the Naftali, and the land of Efrayim and Manashe, and all the land of Yehudah, as far as the sea, and the Negev, and the plain; the Valley of Jericho, city of palms, as far as Zo’ar”.
Mount Nebo in the land of Moab, present day Jordan, has been identified with Jebel Nebah on the eastern shore and the northern end of the Dead Sea, five miles southwest of Heshbon. About 2,643 feet in altitude and with its position, it commands a view of all of western Palestine. Below are the plains of Moab where Balaam cast his curse upon the tent of Israel spread out before him.
According to II Maccabees, the ‘cave dwelling’ was in the vicinity, but not necessarily on the peak of Mount Nebo, which also is an assumption that it is the place where Moses “went up and beheld God’s inheritance.” Near this Mount and with clear visibility of the church that resides on the peak of Mount Nebo is the Cave of the Column, where the main archeological digs have been performed by the Vendyl Jones, Texan archeologist who has earned international fame as being the archetype of the Indiana Jones movie, “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and whose Institute is credited with finding the Holy Anointing Oil and the Holy Incense that was used on the Altar of Incense in the Most Holy Place of the Temple.
Two places in the Maccabean passage it speaks of other documents, such as “found in the records” and “contained in the same writings”. What were these documents and what records were contained in them? This question has taunted the minds of scholars and students of Hebrew history for millenniums.
It was a memorable year, 1947, when the modern State of Israel became the national homeland of the Jewish people. That same year, 1947, an Arab Bedouin with a well-placed rock in a cave opening in an area called Qumran, on the northeastern shore of the Dead Sea, heard the shattering of a crock of pottery and the religious and secular world ricocheted with a global reverberation as the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered.
As quoted by the Bedouin, Mohammed Dieb,
"I do not know how the story got started that I was throwing rocks at my goats. My goats were grazing down there in the flat. I was sitting right up there on that ledge. I was bored and started throwing rocks against some big stones to see if I could break them. One rock glanced off of a stone and went into a small opening and I heard a strange thud and a cracking sound. I came down and slid into the opening. The whole cave was full of jars. There were forty jars, but they were all empty except the ones here in the niche on the right side. We found seven scrolls. One of them was the scroll that Yadkin got from Kendo." - Mohammed Dieb
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