Graham Phillips - The Templars and the Ark of the Covenant: The Discovery of the Treasure of Solomon

The

Templars

and the

Ark of the
Covenant

THE DISCOVERY OF THE
TREASURE OF SOLOMON

Graham Phillips

Bear & Company
Rochester, Vermont

To Yvan
Thanks for your unstinting help

Acknowledgments

T he author would like to thank the following people for their invaluable help:

Yvan Cartwright for compiling the index, for preparing the illustrations, and for fantastic IT support. Debbie Benstead, without whose help this book would not have been possible. Jane Taylor for permission to use her truly spectacular photographs of Petra. My historical researchers Louise Simkiss and Kellie Knights. Gila Kalimi for Hebrew translations and as advisor on modern Judaism. To all who helped me in Israel and Jordan, especially David Deissmann, Dr. Otto Griver, and Jonathan Warren. To the modest copyeditor who wishes to remain anonymous. To all at Inner Traditions: Vickie Trihy, Jeanie Levitan, Jon Graham, Jamaica Burns, Kelly Bowen, Patricia Rydle, Rob Meadows, and Cynthia Coad. Dr. James Mellor for his scientific analysis and advice, and David Baylis for providing important help into the mystery of Jacob Cove-Jones. Andrew Collins for photography and for invaluable background research, and Sue Collins for extra support and insight. And a very special thanks to Graham and Jodi Russell, without whom the final discoveries would never have been made.

For more information about Graham Phillips, his books, and his research, please visit his Web site at grahamphillips.net

Contents

1

Secrets of the Temple

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.

T HE B OOK OF R EVELATION 11:19

I f it existed as it is portrayed in the Bible, the Ark of the Covenant would have to be one of the most extraordinary artifacts in history. It could summon storms, radiate divine fire, level city walls, smash chariots, and destroy entire armies. Moreover, it could summon angels and even manifest the voice and presence of God.

According to the Bibles Old Testament, the Ark was made by the ancient Israelites while they were at Mount Sinaia sacred mountain in the Sinai Desertfollowing their escape from slavery in Egypt somewhere around three and a half thousand years ago. It was made on Gods instructions given to Moses, the Israelite prophet and leader. It is described in detail as an ornate chest, approximately four feet long, two and a half feet wide, and two and a half feet high, made of wood overlaid with gold. A decorated golden rim ran around the top, and on the sides of the Ark there were rings through which poles could be passed so that it could be carried. On the lid, facing each other, were two golden cherubim, or angels, with their wings outstretched. The most sacred part of the Ark was something that modern English translations of the Bible term a mercy seat. What exactly this was we are not told, merely that it was located on the lid of the Ark between the wings of the angels.

The Old Testament tells us that the Ark contained the two stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments that were cut by Moses from the living rock at the summit of Mount Sinai. However, protecting the tablets that detail the covenant between the Israelites and Yahweh was not the primary purpose of the Arkit was used to commune with God. The term Ark of the Covenant, by which the artifact is commonly known, is not the name by which it is referred to throughout most of the Bible. Rather, it is usually described as the Ark of Testimony or Testament. In other words, it is a vessel through which testimony or religious instruction is given. According to the Old Testament book of Exodus, when the Israelites are instructed to make the Ark, God tells them:

I will meet with thee and will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony. (Ex 25:22)

Elsewhere in the Bible, the voice of God is said to come from the mercy seat. For example, in the book of Numbers we are told that Moses heard the voice of one speaking unto him from off the mercy seat that was upon the ark of testimony (Nm 7:89). Not only is God heard, he is also seen. In an account in Leviticus, God actually promises to appear: For I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat (Lv 16:2). In what form God appeared to the Israelites is not clear, but usually the appearance is described as the glory of the Lord. Leviticus 9:23, for instance, describes how the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people. The presence of God also manifests from the Ark as a miraculous cloud or as divine fire. Indeed, from the biblical descriptions, it seems that God is even thought to dwell within the Ark.

The Ark is not only a means of talking to and apparently seeing God, it is also portrayed as the protector of the Israelites in their journeys through the wilderness and as a holy weapon to be used in defeating the Israelites enemies. Numbers 10:3536 alludes to the Arks power as it presides over the Exodus:

And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, Lord and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee. And when it rested, he said, Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel.

In the book of Joshua we are told more explicitly that the power of the Ark is even able to bring down the mighty walls of the ancient city of Jericho:

And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said unto them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams horns before the ark of the Lord. And he said unto the people, Pass on, and compass the city, and let him that is armed pass on before the ark of the Lord... So the ark of the Lord compassed the city... and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. (Jo 6:620)

In this account, when the Ark is carried around the city walls, something happens that makes them collapse. We are not told specifically what causes such devastation, but another passage in the Old Testament does describe a destructive power actually emanating from the Ark. According to Leviticus 9:24, there came a fire out... and consumed upon the altar the burnt offerings that the Israelites had offered to God.

If the Bible is right, the Ark of the Covenant was an object like no otherit was said to be the dwelling place of God and could be used as a dreadsome weapon. However, the Bible fails to reveal what ultimately happened to this, the Israelites most sacred possession. We are told that the great King Solomon built a fabulous temple especially to house it and at some unspecified time it was removedbut to what location, no one knows. In the Middle Ages the crusader Knights Templar spent years in the quest to rediscover it, and some legends say that they found it. Until this day, however, the true fate of the Ark of the Covenant remains completely unknown. No wonder, then, that so many biblical scholars, archaeologists, and adventurers alike have spent so much time, effort, and expense trying to find it. Until now, however, its secret hiding place has remained one of historys most enduring mysteries.

This book is an account of my personal quest to solve the secrets of the lost Ark. Did it really exist? If it did, did it have the powers the Bible says? And the greatest enigma of allwhat became of it?