Ark of the Covenant- What is it really?

Originally posted by karl 12

Originally posted by cbashisha
well the ark contained the ten commandments written by God..

Weren't the ten commandments just conveniently 'borrowed' from the Egyptian book of the dead....which were in turn just 'borrowed' from Hammurabi's Code ?

If not then its one hell of a coincedence.

[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

I was waiting for someone to say that, i think that's really important here. If 'God' was the one who gave Moses these Laws (which are indeed directly ripped from the Egyptians) then we have to question who or what is this 'God'?

Leaves a lot for the imagination; someone asked before about London, it was mentioned as one of the rumored places in a documentary i saw, it didn't go into any details about it since its just a rumor and there probably isn't anything to it.

The ideas about Christ and the Ark are very interesting, its the first time ive heard of that and it does make sense, especially when Christ does call himself the 'manna'. Interesting.

reply to post by Jim Scott


They gatherd manna every day, and twice as much on friday but they did
not on saturday. This is were the jews get Sabbath from, not sunday.
Just thought you might want to know? You have great insight and have
shown me some light, thank you.

Peace.

I've read before about the ark being a perfect fit for inside the pyramid but it never dawned on me, until tonight, that there could possibly be a correlation between the King and Queen's Chambers in the pyramid - to that of the mystical union of God and man (mankind) that is found in the Song of Solomon or what the Gnostics would later refer to as the Bridal Chamber.

Though it was used in battles etc, this could mean that the ark was at one time used to connect the divine with the ordinary resulting in "Agape love."

In this sense the ark would be "old school" because Christ is the new way of entering into the King's Chamber. Very few people are priveliged to go into this chamber - Jesus said, that he picks us - one in a thousand and two in ten thousand (found in the Gospel of Thomas) and it could end up being how 144,000 will be hand chosen and set apart, for they become the elect. After all Jesus is King and it's his chamber! People who have been in this chamber can say they "KNOW" God and very few people can make that claim. The Catholic Church doesn't acknowledge there is a Secret better than the Eucharist sacrament. I have thought long and hard as to why and can only come up with they've never experienced it or they are evil and hindering the progression of things that HAVE to take place.

Does anyone know if the numbers 153 or 144,000 are in any way connected to the pyramid?

reply to post by serbsta


Something to take into account that is very substantial to understanding the ark for what it is. What is it's name? "The ARK of the Covenant". While you are busy looking for the ark you are forgetting the "Covenant".

WARNING: This could lead to understanding what has been the truth since the beginning of the world. Reader should be advised that understanding has serious side effects such as "Clarity of mind", "Freedom from Dogma, that is "Sirius". Do not read if under the influence of truth, as this could cause delusions to fail. Also, don't use if mild to intense revelations of reality become clear as this could lead to decreased desire for knowledge told to you instead of experienced by you.

Here's a short Etymology followed by the actual Hebrew (original and only applicable meaning to understanding the actual meaning of the ark) .

covenant

1297, from O.Fr. covenant "agreement," originally prp. of covenir "agree, meet," from L. convenire "come together" (see convene). Applied in Scripture to God's arrangements with man, as a translation of L. testamentum, Gk. diatheke, both rendering Heb. berith (though testament is also used for the same word in different places). Covenanter (1638), especially used of Scottish Presbyterians who signed the Solemn League and Covenant (1643) for the defense and furtherance of their cause.

Old Testament (Hebrew)
H1285 bĕriyth ber·ēth' covenant, league, confederacy, confederate, confederate
H3772 karath kä·rath' cut off, make, cut down, cut, fail, destroy, want, covenanted, hew, misc
H1285 briyth ber-eeth'

from H1262 (in the sense of cutting (like H1254));

a compact (because made by passing between pieces of flesh):--
confederacy, (con-)feder(-ate), covenant, league.

New Testament (Greek)
G802 asynthetos ä-sü'n-the-tos covenant breaker
G1242 diathēkē dē-ä-thā'-kā covenant, testament
G4934 syntithēmi sün-tē'-thā-mē agree, covenant, assent

Understand it is a "Box".
Understand it has two Ovaries/Cheribim residing over it?
Understand it is where Aaron stores his "ROD".
Understand it is carried by 2 posts, being 4 handles?
Understand 3 Days (Trimesters) 40 weeks and 9 Holies?
Understand it is where the law of life is kept?
Understand that Gold is Fatty Tissue?
Understand that Silver is blood laden Tissue?
Understand that a Covenant is a "agreement made by passing between two PIECES of flesh?
"Therefor a man must leave his mother and father and CLING INSIDE of the woman of him, AND THE TWO BECOME ONE FLESH."

I am the covenant made between my parents as are you between your parents. I am two fleshes made into one....The Ark

Peace


[edit on 13-4-2009 by letthereaderunderstand]

reply to post by Myrtales Instinct


some people always ignore the rest of the verses relating the info on the 144,000...they are MALE, VIRGIN JEWS. now i dunno about you, but if the only folks that get to go to heaven are males, why does it say salvation is for everyone ? do they forget 50 percent of the population is female? (i mean, the people who promote the idea that the only ones going are 144,000...

please, try not to just pick out one idea from an entire set of ideas on the subject. use the whole thing and if you can't make heads or tails of it, keep looking!

reply to post by letthereaderunderstand



understand the holy of holies is your head
the cherubim on the ark are the 2 halves of your brain.
the mercy seat is your third eye -- the seal of God in the forehead.
solomon's temple (a human body template)

i've heard all kinds of theories on this topic.
it kind of makes it easy to fit to things on a planet where everything is paired and in stereo.
2 guards at a gate
2 lions at a gate
etc.

reply to post by ApacheJoe


Best to you. There is peace in knowing that Jesus Christ has satisfied the demands of a just and perfect God, and has opened the door for us to freely enter as is symbolized by the dividing of the veil in the temple. There is a catch, however. One must accept the gift. Not a lot to ask, one would think, but the pride and foolishness of the world will possibly prevent many from accepting the free gift of eternal life.

In my humble opinion, they will get a second chance in the hereafter when they are face to face with Jesus. It is my expectation, because of His unfathomable love for us.

Originally posted by undo
reply to post by Myrtales Instinct

 

some people always ignore the rest of the verses relating the info on the 144,000...they are MALE, VIRGIN JEWS. now i dunno about you, but if the only folks that get to go to heaven are males, why does it say salvation is for everyone ? do they forget 50 percent of the population is female? (i mean, the people who promote the idea that the only ones going are 144,000...

please, try not to just pick out one idea from an entire set of ideas on the subject. use the whole thing and if you can't make heads or tails of it, keep looking!

It's kind of interesting that you mentioned that. I'm very fond of the Gospel of Thomas and when you wrote that about male virgins I instantlty thought of Peter whining to the Lord to 'make Mary go away because females don't deserve life.'

Jesus said, "Look, I will guide her to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of Heaven."

I read tons of stuff and attempt to keep an open mind in all my studies, so when I'm done I can step back and look at the bigger picture. I said it's "possible" the 144,000 are picked a certain way - not that it's a fact. I'm pretty sure Jesus is looking for 144,000 beloved disciples - that I can say is probably a fact. How they are changed and chosen is entirely up to him.

With God all things are possible.

Originally posted by letthereaderunderstand
reply to post by serbsta

 

Something to take into account that is very substantial to understanding the ark for what it is. What is it's name? "The ARK of the Covenant". While you are busy looking for the ark you are forgetting the "Covenant".

WARNING: This could lead to understanding what has been the truth since the beginning of the world. Reader should be advised that understanding has serious side effects such as "Clarity of mind", "Freedom from Dogma, that is "Sirius". Do not read if under the influence of truth, as this could cause delusions to fail. Also, don't use if mild to intense revelations of reality become clear as this could lead to decreased desire for knowledge told to you instead of experienced by you.

Here's a short Etymology followed by the actual Hebrew (original and only applicable meaning to understanding the actual meaning of the ark) .

covenant

1297, from O.Fr. covenant "agreement," originally prp. of covenir "agree, meet," from L. convenire "come together" (see convene). Applied in Scripture to God's arrangements with man, as a translation of L. testamentum, Gk. diatheke, both rendering Heb. berith (though testament is also used for the same word in different places). Covenanter (1638), especially used of Scottish Presbyterians who signed the Solemn League and Covenant (1643) for the defense and furtherance of their cause.

Old Testament (Hebrew)
H1285 bĕriyth ber·ēth' covenant, league, confederacy, confederate, confederate
H3772 karath kä·rath' cut off, make, cut down, cut, fail, destroy, want, covenanted, hew, misc
H1285 briyth ber-eeth'

from H1262 (in the sense of cutting (like H1254));

a compact (because made by passing between pieces of flesh):--
confederacy, (con-)feder(-ate), covenant, league.

New Testament (Greek)
G802 asynthetos ä-sü'n-the-tos covenant breaker
G1242 diathēkē dē-ä-thā'-kā covenant, testament
G4934 syntithēmi sün-tē'-thā-mē agree, covenant, assent

Understand it is a "Box".
Understand it has two Ovaries/Cheribim residing over it?
Understand it is where Aaron stores his "ROD".
Understand it is carried by 2 posts, being 4 handles?
Understand 3 Days (Trimesters) 40 weeks and 9 Holies?
Understand it is where the law of life is kept?
Understand that Gold is Fatty Tissue?
Understand that Silver is blood laden Tissue?
Understand that a Covenant is a "agreement made by passing between two PIECES of flesh?
"Therefor a man must leave his mother and father and CLING INSIDE of the woman of him, AND THE TWO BECOME ONE FLESH."

I am the covenant made between my parents as are you between your parents. I am two fleshes made into one....The Ark

Peace


[edit on 13-4-2009 by letthereaderunderstand]

Interesting, i suppose everyone has their own theories about it. The Ark could simply be the representation of man and the truth within us, but i pose just one question in regards to the extract from Numbers which is presented in the OP:

10:33
So they set out from the mountain of the LORD and traveled for three days. The ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them during those three days to find them a place to rest.

Again, is this referring to a physical object? Or is this referring to an actual human being?

reply to post by Myrtales Instinct


wow, wonder what that means...make themselves male. wonder what the author of the text thought it meant or was trying to say.

reply to post by Jim Scott


i also enjoyed it, a great deal.

the spirit no longer resides in the temple (as in the building) but in the believer, which is the next logical step if the temple was originally a template of the human being.

Originally posted by undo
reply to post by Myrtales Instinct

 

wow, wonder what that means...make themselves male. wonder what the author of the text thought it meant or was trying to say.

Lol - I just read your post to 'letthereaderunderstand" and you blew me away with your analogy of the Holy of Holies. That was really a good one.

The brain is a magnificent organ capable of a lot...... Jesus said you are from below, I am from above - besides us being from earth and him being from heaven could it possibly have a dual meaning?

I don't think he meant he was gonna turn us girls into tomboys - though I am one.Lol

Think "agape" love. Think biblically what it means to "know."












[edit on 14-4-2009 by Myrtales Instinct]

Awesome topic!!!! I saw a documentary on hte ark, on history channel few months ago. Etheopia is supposed to be the current place it resides. The camera crew did an interview with the guard thier. He was saying, how its forbidden to look a the ark, the lat guard looked and went blind.
He also said, no one is permittted to look at it, for security reasons. Kinda makes ya wonder, what really is in that temple..a bowl of dust, some dead mice, maybe nothing at all. Could very well be the arc itself, for all we really know. We will never ever know, unless a camera crew gets in thier,and broadcasts it live...i say that, because i could totaly see the FEDS taking it for their own selfish purposes and telling us thier was nothing thier. Other people of course, would probably mis use it or treat it like an old rug.
I think only a righteous person should be allowed to touch it. It contains the 10 comandements, and was bascially desigend by god himself. NO one but one close to god in and at heartm, shuoldbe werothy of even looking at it.

Think the Ark Of The Covenant was/is a capacitor. Which could have been supercharged in any-one of the three major Pyramids.
Decoy

reply to post by NatureBoy
So, the 'manna' had no nutritional value. Go figure, they lived on it for forty years. And their clothes didn't wear out, their shoes didn't wear out. At the beginning, Moses knew exactly when to raise his arms, before the desert winds split the Reed Sea. No miracles here, folks. Move on.

Originally posted by Myrtales Instinct

Originally posted by undo
reply to post by Myrtales Instinct

 

wow, wonder what that means...make themselves male. wonder what the author of the text thought it meant or was trying to say.

Lol - I just read your post to 'letthereaderunderstand" and you blew me away with your analogy of the Holy of Holies. That was really a good one.

The brain is a magnificent organ capable of a lot...... Jesus said you are from below, I am from above - besides us being from earth and him being from heaven could it possibly have a dual meaning?

I don't think he meant he was gonna turn us girls into tomboys - though I am one.Lol

Think "agape" love. Think biblically what it means to "know."


[edit on 14-4-2009 by Myrtales Instinct]

"I am from above...", he probably was talking about the spiritual level of man rather than just Heaven and Earth.

Lets see what we have so far...

The Ark is:

-A weapon of war either radioactive or electrical.
-It is symbolic of the Old Covenant, while Christ is the New Covenant with man.
-Metaphoric representation of the heart/truth of man.
-A communication device to God.

Am i missing anything?

Originally posted by serbsta

Originally posted by ghaleon12

The Ark is said to have 2 cherubim (angels) sculptured on top, the arch-angels Michael and Gabriel. God apparently spoke to Moses through the 2 angels on top of the Ark:

And there I will meet with thee, and I will speak with thee from above the ark-cover, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel. Ex 25:22

Having research Kabbalah a bit, this is something I found interesting. "Angels" in Kabbalah are actually "laws". So God spoke through the two laws, the left and the right. The left represents pain or egoistic "taking" and the right represents love and altruistic "giving". So the 2 angels, or laws, act on a person (Moses) through pain and pleasure and that is how God is to speak with us "from above the ark-cover".

I was curious about the characteristic of Michael (the left) and Gabriel (the right) and sure enough, I found something interesting.

Thus he (Gabriel) is throughout the angel of the Incarnation and of Consolation, and so in Christian tradition Gabriel is ever the angel of mercy while Michael is rather the angel of judgment.

www.newadvent.org...

In Kabbalah, the left side on the Tree of Life is called the Pillar of Judgement and the right side is called the Pillar of Mercy. The Sephirot "Din" on the left side translates as "Judgment" and Hesed translates into "Mercy". www.ucalgary.ca...

Sure enough, between Din and Hesed is Tiferet (Glory or beauty). And guess who Tiferet is identified with? Moses.

I find that sort of interesting. The depth of study you can go into to find truth is really astounding. Which is why I find most atheists lazy and not really looking for truth, but that is a whole different topic

[edit on 13-4-2009 by ghaleon12]

Wow... That is pretty amazing. It makes sense that God spoke to Moses through Judgement and Mercy but then again, this relies on the idea that the Ark is not a physical object. It just doesnt make sense to describe the dimensions and materials of it for no reason. Your theory really amazes me though.

[edit on 13/4/09 by serbsta]

Actually it does. Most of the numbers and measurements etc in the bible are symbolic of other things. For example, the 40 days and 40 nights which we hear a lot. 4 is the symbol of foundation.

So the exact measurements being symbolic makes perfect sense. Especially in Qabbalah

Originally posted by punkinworks09
reply to post by mmiichael

 

The lemba connection to judaism is solid.
Their oral tradition states that they are descended from a group of 9 priests that fled the islamifaction of yemen.

This oral tradition has been in fact validated by recent (2007) gentetic studies that indicate that the lemba are in fact decended from 8-10 jewish men that lived in Yemen.

Where does the DNA say that they were descended from 8 - 10 men?
I do not know much about DNA testing and what not but was there not an issue with the Y chromosome?

However, since 34.2% of men in the Yemen also have 5/6 matches or closer to the 6-marker CMH tested, despite being found not to be closely related when more microsatellite markers are taken into account, more Y-STR markers would need to be tested in order to verify the reality of whether the Lemba Y-chromosomes are indeed more closely related to Jewish Cohens rather than other possible semitic ancestors such as the Yemenis.

I am sure somebody else can better explain this for me ...

Cheers

reply to post by serbsta


YEAH ,I agree man. Originally there was the question of where it may be also.
I find the story about the ark being taken to ethiopia an interesting and fairly believable scenario. As these Coptic Christians have been connected with hebrew ancestry through the marriage of king Solomon to the Ethiopian , the queen of Sheba. A very archaic branch of the church celebrates the festival of Timkat, where a pseudo ark is bought forth in a display to revelers.
The church there has a guardian of the inner sanctum, whom is chosen on a generational basis, to be the soul guardian of this sanctum, and is the only person permitted to enter - if only once per year. i think Timkat last approx. one week.
Maybe this pantomime is only a throw-off, as it is also speculated that the Ark was taken to Rosslyn in Scotland, in the thirteenth century by the templars.
Said to be the new guardians were the Sinclair Family. they commissioned the construction of Roslyn Chapel, which was on their estate.
Interestingly, the foundations of Roslyn Chapel took over four years to complete and were constructed as a replica of the foundations of Herods (the last builder of the temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem ). If one were to lay the floor pln one over the other it is an identical match.
Roslyn also has a mock west wall (last remains of the original temple).
Also beneath the catacombs of the Jerusalem temple, Templar affects have been found - this proves at least they were there; excavating, looking for something of value!
The curators at Roslyn have been approached to allow archeological excavation, but to date this has not been allowed.
there could be a whole new thread on this one!!!

Originally posted by ghaleon12
Which is why I find most atheists lazy and not really looking for truth, but that is a whole different topic

[edit on 13-4-2009 by ghaleon12]

Uh-oh - thems fighting words

I think you will find that a search for understanding is not limited by religion or lack of it. Those however who seek for 'truth' often find it - and when they do, they stop looking "BEHOLD - I HAVE THE TRUTH!"

If there is ANY truth it is this; Its unlikely that any local, trivial, pervasive, generic, ultimate or universal truth is available to mankind. Truth of all kinds is subjective, because human beings experience things second hand - we don't in fact directly encounter reality - but rather we sample it with our senses, which convert to electrical signals - which we then interpret through our lenses of experience, wisdom and mental capacity.

One is reminded of the Hindu(?) analogy - where so many blind men surround an elephant, and one claims "Its a column!", as he grasps its leg, another claims "Its a rope!", as he holds its tail, another "Its a spear!", as he clasps its tusk. Only by openly listening to all these different 'truths' can one gain greater insight.

Truth leads to belief, once you hold a belief - then many doors of possibility are closed within your mind.

While I support a search for understanding - I would hold up a warning against searching for truth and forming beliefs.

Anyhow - back to topic;

Because I am agnostic (to the point of atheism) I think it might have been delivered by ET's, rather than an omnipotent god.

The reference to a horn that grew louder and louder as god approached, with a lot of smoke - well, that could be interpreted as a conventional reaction drive from a landing ship - creating a lot of noise and smoke as it descended to land. Of course - it might have been god - I wasn't there.

I think it would be very revealing to examine the tablets - they were supposedly carved by the finger of god - would the carving appear to be unnatural? The text suggests that men at that time would not have been able to carve stone in that way - the method of carving into the stone might reveal its unnatural origin.

I WANT TO KNOW WHERE THIS THING IS!! Someone has it, and I think it would reveal a great deal - things that might change the whole worlds understanding.

On the other hand, it might just be a gold plated box ..

[edit on 14-4-2009 by Amagnon]

[edit on 14-4-2009 by Amagnon]