The Ark

I finished reading The Lost Ark of the Covenant by Tudor Parfitt over the weekend.  The book simply recounts Parfitt's quest to track down the Ark of the Covenant that is mentioned in Jewish Scriptures.  That journey, and the amount Parfitt goes through, is amazing in and of itself.  Its not a book trying to sell the reader anything, just a summary of his findings and conclusions.  Parfitt presents all the evidence he has along with his conclusions, but leaves enough room for readers to make their own conclusions.

I've always had a peculiar interest in archeaology and myth and things along these lines, actually dreamed about being an archeaologist at some point during my childhood.  Reading the book probably confirms that its something I could never do.  The number of languages alone that Parfitt and others possess is something I never had great skill for, along with being willing and able to go to some of the most remote places on earth to chase down leads honestly isn't in my particular skill set.  But I enjoyed the book very much.

A couple things that I took from the book that were somewhat unrelated to the main journey of its story - First, the fact that with DNA evidence, they were able to show that a sub-Saharan tribe of people living in Zimbabwe (the Lemba), who had an oral tradition that they were originally "white men" from the north, have Semitic names, and various Jewish customs, had truth to that oral tradition.  They shared a specific genetic trait that linked them to a common ancestor with current Jewish temple priests (in that tradition, the only way you became a priest was by being a descendant of Aaron) from about 3000 years ago (which is pretty close to Aaron's tribe).  Absolutely fascinating.  Amazing what science can do sometimes.  And amazing to see an oral tradition that most people would scoff at, a tribe as far south as Zimbabwe claiming to have Jewish lineage, to be true.  Interesting stuff.

The other is just the number of Ark stories there are.  Maybe its from growing up with primarily Christian tradition as background, that has other, more imporant religious symbols, but it was amazing to see the number of references to the Ark in various Muslim writings, to have oral traditions about hiding the Ark, or using it in battle, or whatever the case may be from all other the African continent and Arabian peninsula, to as far away as New Guinea.  Its incredible the power this object must have had to reach so many different cultures and traditions.

As the author points out at several points, this doesn't necessarily solve the mystery of what the Ark really was/is, and his discussion regarding the etymology of the words in ancient hebrew is excellent.  He also points out that it endures as a mystery because there is nothing that specifically accounts for its destruction.  Yes, the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, and the Temple was built to house the Ark, but its odd, particularly in light of other ancient Hebrew texts and writings, that if the Ark was destroyed then, that it was specifically written about.  Granted, there is a great void of specific writing about the Ark at all once the Temple is destroyed.  All of which makes the mystery that more intriguing, and made the book a very fun and enjoyable read.