Another Step to Revealing the Truth: Was the Biblical Covenant Ark discovered?

The shape of an unusual stone found in a Bible-era temple gave researchers an interesting theory that it was placed on the Ark of the Covenant with the Holy Covenants.

The stone was found in the ruins of an ancient temple near Beit Shemesh - after it was set on fire and covered with animal feces

An unusual stone in the form revealed in the ruins of an ancient temple near Jerusalem suggests that the "great stone" on which the Ark of the Covenant was placed and the holy tablets was placed. Archaeologists have traced the ruins of the 3,100-year-old temple and the special stone in excavations at Tel Beit Shemesh, similar to a similar object described in the Bible.

The site and the stone slab can be interpreted in many ways, but one possibility the experts are currently examining is its connection to the biblical story of the Ark of the Covenant. Dr. Zvi Lederman, an archeologist at Tel Aviv University and one of the leaders of the study, told reporter Ariel David of Haaretz: "It would be a rare case where we could unite the biblical narrative and archaeological finds." You contain historical truths from an earlier period far more than experts date them.

The temple itself dates back to the 12th century BC and is located just outside Beit Shemesh. Its perfectly square shape and the way the temple was isolated from other buildings on the site suggests that it was a place of great importance. Archaeologists also found features of religious buildings inside, including wine preservation areas, a platform for ceremonies, decorated pots and animal bones that might have been used for ceremonies. To add more mystery to the matter, the temple appears to have been destroyed in the mid-12th century BC, when all the pottery inside was smashed to pieces. It was then covered with animal feces and set on fire. Lederman told Haaretz: "To me it was an act of hostility, a deliberate desecration of a holy place."

 Biblical chronology and surrounding communities indicate that the culprits of the destruction of the temple were the Philistines, often found in conflict with the Israelites in the 11th and 12th centuries. The researchers think that the stone slab, which could be used as a table, may explain why the temple was the focal point The board fits the time frame and the description of the "big stone" described in the Book of Samuel A. as the place of rest of the Ark of the Covenant when it was brought to Beit Shemesh after being taken out of the Philistines, according to the Bible, when the Israelites settled in the Promised Land, the Ark was placed on a site north of Jerusalem. It was stolen by the Philistines in battle. The Bible holds that God punished and beat the Philistines Beating until they returned the Holy Ark.

And the ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the LORD? tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place. 3And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty; but in any wise return him a trespass offering: then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you. 4Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him? They answered, Five golden emerods, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines: for one plague was on you all, and on your lords. 5Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images of your mice that mar the land; and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel: peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land.

6Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed? 7Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milch kine, on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them: 8And take the ark of the LORD, and lay it upon the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which ye return him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go. 9And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Bethshemesh, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us: it was a chance that happened to us. 10And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home: 11And they laid the ark of the LORD upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their emerods. 12And the kine took the straight way to the way of Bethshemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Bethshemesh. 13And they of Bethshemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. 14And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite, and stood there, where there was a great stone: and they clave the wood of the cart, and offered the kine a burnt offering unto the LORD. 15And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD, and the coffer that was with it, wherein the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone: and the men of Bethshemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the LORD. 16And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day. 17And these are the golden emerods which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the LORD; for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Askelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one; 18And the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fenced cities, and of country villages, even unto the great stone of Abel, whereon they set down the ark of the LORD: which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua, the Bethshemite. 19And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter. 20And the men of Bethshemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? and to whom shall he go up from us?  21And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjathjearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the LORD; come ye down, and fetch it up to you.