The Mysterious Power of the Ark of the Covenant
What was this relic, considered among the most sacred of antiquity, and what was its purpose? Among the many hypotheses, could it have been a multifunctional technological object inherited from an advanced antediluvian civilization?
Among all the mysterious objects of the ancient world today defined as Ooparts (out-of-place artifacts), or those that should not exist, there is the famous "Ark of the Covenant," described in the Bible in the Book of Exodus. Jewish tradition recounts that the Jewish people, led by Moses, fled Egypt, pursued by the Egyptian army across the Sinai Desert. Here, Moses received the Tablets of the Law from God, and God himself requested the construction of a tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant: an object considered among the most sacred in Jewish religious tradition, which, in addition to serving as a reliquary, allowed Moses to speak with God. This object, as still described in Exodus, was a sort of "chest" measuring 125 cm long and 75 cm high, made of acacia wood and completely covered with gold, both inside and out. Above it was a golden lid topped by two winged, gold "cherubim," with their wings spread and facing each other.
The Bible narrates that between the wings of the two cherubim, Moses was able to "see" God, whom he described as a sort of bright glow or luminous discharge. Inside the chest were placed Aaron's Rod, the Tablets of the Law (which Moses broke in a fit of anger at the sight of the Golden Calf), and a jar containing the Manna that fed the Jews in the desert. During the Exodus, Moses entrusted Aaron and his sons with the custody of the Ark when it was placed in the Tent Temple during stops, and he ordered the people not to approach or touch the object at all, so much so that during the journey it was carried by the Levites by inserting two wooden poles into the four rings on the sides of the chest, covered by a veil. Only the prophet was allowed to see it, but only at particular moments, "when God appeared between the two cherubim."
It is said that at a certain point, during transport, the Ark wobbled and, to prevent it from falling, a man named Uzzah tried to hold it to keep it from tipping over, but as soon as he touched it, he died instantly from a powerful electric shock. The same fate then befell the sons of Aaron. The Ark was also attributed with the destruction of the city of Jericho. In the Book of Joshua, it is written that the armies of Israel circled the walls of the city for seven days with the Ark, led by seven priests, "...and on the seventh day when the trumpets sounded the walls collapsed...". After settling in the Promised Land, the chest was kept inside the Holy of Holies in the Temple of Jerusalem where no one was allowed to enter.
It is said that at times the Ark would light up with a mysterious glow, and for this reason, it was forbidden for anyone to approach it, as it was considered too dangerous. Its power was capable of annihilating thousands of people in a single moment, and it is said that it was in this way that the Jews managed to defeat all the attacks from the desert tribes of the Gergesites, Hittites, and Jebusites during their exodus, with the powerful lightning of the Ark. But why is this object considered by some scholars to be an Oopart today? From what we have read so far in the biblical narrative, the Ark, more than a sacred object, seems to be an "electric chest," as the French writer Robert Charroux aptly put it, capable as it was of producing discharges of about 700 volts. Indeed, as we had written in the article about the power plants of Ancient Egypt, we spoke of the Zed pillar as a powerful energy capacitor activated in turn by the Ark of the Covenant: we too believe it was an energy generator, perhaps electric or perhaps of an unknown energy, capable of powering the entire territory. This was placed inside the Pyramid of Cheops in the granite "sarcophagus" to activate the Zed. This might appear to our eyes as the "battery" of the pyramid. As previously mentioned, the Ark was made of acacia wood and completely covered in gold; gold is the most powerful conductor of electricity in the world, while wood is an insulator. Therefore, when the description says that the Ark could not be touched by anyone because it was considered extremely dangerous and uncontrollable, it is because at certain moments it suddenly illuminated with strange glows, discharging powerful lightning: and it is said that it was seen at some moments to levitate both itself and those around it. According to Charroux, this was an electric weapon built by an ancient people, whose knowledge was preserved by the Ancient Egyptians. We believe that this extraordinary object, besides being the "battery" of the Pyramid of Cheops placed in the Zed, as the Holy Scriptures tell, was also a sort of "radio," in the sense that if Moses claimed to speak with God, evidently there was someone who spoke through it and whose voice could be heard by means of it. When it was placed in the Zed, which is the King's Chamber of the pyramid, the latter like a huge loudspeaker amplified the voice.
When we read that the army of Israel struck down all the enemy armies and destroyed Jericho, it is likely that at that time the Ark was used as a weapon of destruction, as Charroux asserts. Alternatively, it was used as a tool to lift extremely heavy objects given its ability to levitate any other object or person in its vicinity, as if driven by a magnetic or gravitational force. From the descriptions of the time regarding the object, various graphic reconstructions have been made today, and from what can be deduced, the chest had a distinctly Egyptian shape. Apart from the measurements that perfectly match those of the so-called sarcophagus of the Pyramid of Cheops, what seem to be two cherubim with spread wings are probably not such, but according to us, are instead the depiction of the twin goddesses Isis and Nephthys positioned opposite each other.
Indeed, in the Egyptian pantheon these two deities are often depicted with wings, symbolizing the strength of their power comparable to an energy present everywhere. And when Moses said he saw God between the space of the wings, this appeared as a dazzling discharge of energy, as if it were a real electrical discharge emitted from the tips of the wings which served as positive and negative poles, somewhat like the principle of modern batteries. In this sense, indeed, Isis in the Egyptian religious tradition represents the energy that is given to us, while her sister Nephthys represents entropy, that is, the loss of energy from our universe to others. This can also be seen from a painting showing the two goddesses kneeling opposite each other extending their hands towards the Zed, which represents power and energy, from which two arms rise towards the solar disk, as if to give and receive cosmic energy.
This then depicts the entire metaphor of the functioning of the Ark, the Zed, and the two figures on top of the chest. In the historical account of the famous battle of Ramses' army against the Hittites at Qadesh, it is clearly written how the pharaoh, despite being clearly outnumbered, managed with a single blow to disintegrate a third of the entire enemy army, using an unspecified secret weapon that was able to destroy over a thousand scythed chariots, as also confirmed by Hittite chronicles. We think that it was probably the Ark of the Covenant brought there at that time to face the battle. According to the hypothesis of the scholar Flavio Barbiero and the chronicles of the historian Manetho, Moses, whose real name was Thutmose V, was a priest at Heliopolis and a secret follower of the cult of the monotheistic god of Akhenaten.
Initiated by heretical priests, he would have stolen the Ark from Egypt and fled with all his followers, the Jews, descendants of the recently defeated invading people of the Hyksos, taking the powerful chest with him and leaving the Great Pyramid now devoid of energy. Upon arriving in the Promised Land, he would have bequeathed it to the Jewish People, who in turn would have used it as mentioned for military purposes and hidden it centuries later in the Temple of Solomon, placing it in the Holy of Holies, where according to some scientists it still resides.
In our view, this is the most credible hypothesis, because it is very likely for this reason that the Egyptians pursued the Israelites through the Sinai Desert, being deprived of their most sacred and powerful object, which later became sacred in Jewish tradition. This incredible artifact endowed with immense power might date back to a time long before the Egyptians themselves, perhaps it was the result of much older knowledge. Perhaps it was even inherited from a people settled in the land of Egypt before the ice melt of the Last Glaciation, the same that built the great pyramids and the Sphinx. Perhaps the People of Giants, perhaps the Atlantean tradition, or perhaps these last two were the same thing...
According to Swiss researcher Erich Von Daeniken, this technology was of extraterrestrial origin and functioned like a transistor radio to communicate with "God". Whatever the most credited theory among these, it is nevertheless established that it was a technological object with multiple functions.
In the years that followed, the Temple of Jerusalem was repeatedly looted by various invaders including the Egyptians under the reign of Shoshenq I, the Babylonians, and the Chaldeans. When the temple was rebuilt in 516 BC, the Ark had disappeared from the place where it had been located; and since then, its traces have been lost forever. Even today, scholars around the world are frantic in their search for this precious relic. There are also many figures in history who have tracked it without ever reaching any conclusion, like the Romans. It was probably the Knights Templar who found it and hid it somewhere to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. But this is just a hypothesis. There are various theories about the possible hiding places of the Ark: according to Israeli Rabbi Shlomo Goren, it is still hidden in the Temple of Jerusalem in the Holy of Holies.
The rabbi asserts that if one were to dig at the ancient location, it might be possible to reach the hiding place, on which today the Dome of the Rock mosque stands. However, the authorities prefer to leave it be to avoid the risk of diplomatic incidents with Muslims. According to another theory, the Ark was taken back to Egypt during the looting by the army of Shoshenq I and hidden near the ancient Egyptian capital of Tanis. Others claim it was transported to Mesopotamia by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar in 587 BC. It is also said that it could be in Switzerland, hidden in a bank.
According to an Ethiopian theory, the Ark would be in Axum, Ethiopia, secretly brought there in the 10th century BC by King Menelik, the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. It is said that with the Ark's levitation powers, the Ethiopians would have lifted the colossal obelisks of Axum! According to writer Graham Hancock, the Ark would be in Ethiopia, but guarded in the Church of St. Mary of Zion in Axum. The British researcher, in his book "The Mystery of the Holy Grail," indeed argues that according to the Kebra Nagast, the holy book of the Falasha (Ethiopian Jews), the Ark is still jealously guarded under the direct custody of a Nebura-ed, the head priest, the only one authorized and especially capable of approaching the Ark without suffering physical harm, even fatal. Well protected inside the church (equipped with towers and battlements) named St. Mary of Zion, it would only come out on the occasion of the sacred popular feast of Timkat on January 18th of each year. Some claim that what is carried in procession is not the original Ark, but a sort of reproduction of the Tablets of the Law, copies of which exist in all Ethiopian churches.
Another theory suggests that the relic is hidden in Chartres Cathedral, probably under the crypt. Legend has it that when it is found, the entire cathedral will collapse like a house of cards. In fact, on one of the columns of the cathedral, there is a carved depiction of the Ark during the exodus.
According to us, there is a possibility that another potential hiding place is the small Pyrenean church of Rennes-le-Château: here it was later found by the abbot Berenger Sauniere at the end of the 19th century. The French priest, on whose legend thousands of books have been written, became rich precisely because he found a very precious relic in the crypt of the chapel, which was then resealed into the wall. According to our personal theory, the Ark was probably dismantled into multiple parts, which were then hidden in various places. And perhaps not the entire Ark, but a piece of it was found in the church by the French abbot, and was later given to the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí a few years before the abbot's death in 1917. Was this piece of the Ark the relic of Sauniere that was placed in a small secret box and buried by Gaudí in the crypt of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona? The connection between Sauniere and Gaudí is confirmed by their common acquaintance with the opera singer Emma Calvé, who was passionate about esotericism.
Finally, in 1990, three Italians, researchers from the CNR and university scholars, came into close contact with the Ethiopian tabernacle. Invited by the local government to a religious festival, they happened to see inside the Church of St. Mary of Zion the Ark of Axum: a dark wooden chest 1.6 meters long, no longer covered with gold leaf and with a double-pitched lid. When the clergy realized the desecration, they reprimanded the guardian for having left the relic unguarded. We do not know if this was truly the Ark of the Covenant, but if it were, it would surely only be the outer shell, especially since it seems now devoid of energy and no longer emits glows or strange electrical discharges. As we have probably stated, all the other pieces that composed it, including the active parts that were supposed to be inside, no longer exist. And who knows if one day it will reappear whole, as written in the Apocalypse. For now, we can only imagine where it might be hidden or where the parts that made it up might be hiding.
