The Ark of the Covenant was a wooden box overlaid with gold and having as a cover, the Mercy Seat. The Mercy Seat was solid gold and had on either end a golden cherub with his wings outstretched over the Mercy Seat. In our way of measuring, the Ark was about forty-five inches long, eighteen inches high and eighteen inches wide. (Exodus 25:10-22)

The Ark was placed in the inner sanctum, the Holy of Holies, of the Tabernacle and the Temple, and it was there that the Lord met with Moses, and later with the High Priest.

The Ark traveled with the Children of Israel on their wilderness wanderings for forty years. When the city of Jericho was defeated by the Lord, an armed guard led the Ark in the procession around the city, followed by the Israelites. (Joshua 6:6-11)

In a battle with the Philistines, perhaps encouraged by the example of Jericho, the Israelites took the Ark of the Covenant into the battle – and lost it, along with 30,000 soldiers. The Philistines took the Ark to the temple of Dagon in Ashdod. The next morning the idol of Dagon was found face down before the Ark. Further, the Lord plagued the people of Ashdod with tumors. So they gave the Ark to Gath. The Ark was passed from Ashdod to Gath to Ekron, all with the same results. Finally, the Philistines returned the Ark to Israel in a brand new cart pulled by two cows. Included with the Ark was a “trespass offering” of golden mice and golden images of their tumors. The two cows returned the Ark to Bethshemesh.

This saga is found in First Samuel chapters four to six. But it did not get any better for the people of Bethshemesh, because they looked inside the Ark and did not respect its holiness. The Lord struck 50,070 men of the city. From there the Ark was taken to the house of Abinadab where it remained for twenty years (I Samuel 7:1-2).

The next movement of the Ark was from the house of Abinadab. Because the Ark was not being transported as instructed by the Lord in Exodus 25:14, a man named Uzzah died when he touched the Ark in an honest effort to stabilize it. The holiness of the Ark was not respected. The Ark was then left with Obed-Edom, the Gittite, for three months until King David had it brought to the City of David and placed in the tabernacle, or tent, David had pitched for it (II Samuel 6:12-19).

The Ark of the Covenant later resided for many generations in the Temple built by Solomon to replace the temporary tent-like tabernacle. We are told in I Kings 8:9 that the only things in the Ark were the two tablets of stone upon which was inscribed the Ten Commandments.

It may be assumed that the Ark had been moved elsewhere, perhaps during the reign of wicked King Manasseh, because his grandson, King Josiah, had to command that the Ark be put in the Temple for Passover (II Chronicles 35:1-3). This is the last chronological mention of the Ark of the Covenant in the Bible. Josiah was the last king of Judah before Egypt made Judah a vassal and then Babylon destroyed the city and Temple.

We are not told what happened to the Ark. It is not noted among the articles taken to Babylon by the conquerors. It is claimed to be in Ethiopia today, brought there by Menelik I, legendary son of King Solomon. This contradicts the Biblical account of King Josiah noted above in II Chronicles, because Menelik I, if such a person existed, would have moved the Ark several generations before King Josiah commanded it be placed in the Temple.

Wherever the Ark is today, if it even exists, the Lord told Jeremiah that in a future time (the Millennium?) the Ark will not come to mind or even be remembered (Jeremiah 3:16). Or, perhaps the Ark was supernaturally translated and now resides in Heaven.

“And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.” – Revelation 11:19