Raider of the Lost Ark

Shrouded in mystery and intrigue and cloaked with a legacy of divine wrath for more than 3,000 years, the Ark of the Covenant is believed to be in northern Ethiopia.
The most important archaelogical, historical and religious object in man's history is likely hidden in the bowels of an Ethiopian Orthodox church, St. Mary of Zion, in Aksum, a "holy city" in Tigre province, 623 km north of Addis Ababa.
Its location within the archaic religious compound hasn't been divulged by either Ethiopian Orthodox officials or the secretive cadre of priests who still guard a sacred chest, which supposedly housed the Ten Commandments.
Efforts to locate the Ark aren't new because throughout history, various individuals and even countries have tried to track it down.
It's believed, with some validity, that Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, under orders from the Papacy, hunted for it in the 1930s when the Italians occupied Ethiopia and the separatist province of Eritrea.
Through the centuries, the Ark has taken a life of its own, overshadowed by mysticism and wild claims that it houses a nuclear reactor or that it's still being used as a transmitter for aliens from outer space.
In Raiders of The Lost Ark, Nazi Germany's Adolph Hitler was supposedly obsessed with it after the fictional hero Indiana Jones located it in the long-lost city of Tanis, Egypt. Later, in the movie version, the golden chest was relegated to a museum warehouse devoid of its power after destroying the Nazi infidels.
The Ark epitomized power. Even to look on it meant sudden death. There is a Biblical account of a man named Uzza, who attempted to steady this small golden box atop an ox-driven cart, and met his Maker before his time. There were other writings, which claimed more than 50,000 died brutal deaths by peering inside it.
If it is such a lethal weapon, why are there adventurers combing Aksum's ancient ruins in search of the invaluable relic? It's certain Israel has a great interest in it because it's the lynchpin in rebuilding a Jewish temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which would herald their messiah.
The history of the Ark is sometimes lost in the mists of time, however, there seems to certainty as its construction and purpose, according to Biblical accounts, such as:
* Its construction by the Hebrew patriarch, Moses' chief carpenter, Bezalel, in about 1250 BC. This occurred after Moses came down Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments.
* The stone tablets were placed in a chest, about four feet in length and about 2 1/2 feet high and 2 1/2 feet wide, made of acacia wood and covered inside and out with gold. There were two carrying poles also layered in gold.
* Inside the Ark of the Covenant were the two tablets, the rod of Moses' brother, Aaron, and a pot of manna, which would become the "miracle food" as the Israelites wandered through the Sinai wilderness.
* The Ark was an awesome weapon for the Israelites, for on top of the chest was a Mercy Seat and attached to this "throne" were two statues, in the shape of two entities known as cherubims.
During its journey to the Promised Land and, eventually, to "rest" in Solomon's Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, the Ark was to display its supernatural powers.
The fabled Ark, however, disappeared between the reign of King Solomon of Israel (970-931 BC) and the Babylonian destruction of the Great Temple and its environs in 586 BC. There is no mention of its being carried off as a trophy of war.
This "disappearance" sets into motion the Ethiopian claim that Menelik, a son of King Solomon and Makeda, also known as the Queen of Sheba, took the Ark and replaced it with a replica in the Jerusalem Temple.
Archbishop Yesehaq of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church confirms the story that Menelik I and a group of Jewish nobleman's sons hired a carpenter to make a duplicate of the Ark. After it was completed, the legend goes, the angel of the Lord unlocked the Temple doors and a switch was made and Menelik and his companions carried off the true sacred chest to Aksum, in present-day Ethiopia. It was supposedly the ruling city of Makeda and her successor, Menelik I.
In Aksum today, despite a multitude of differing views on how it got there and when, there seems to be little doubt it "rests" in a secret compartment beneath a small chapel next to the new St. Mary of Zion church and it is supposedly guarded by a specially-picked priiest, who maintains his vigil from the age of seven until he dies.
Certainly, there are many so-called experts who believe the Ark has been destroyed by time or that it is still hidden under the Temple Mount and debunk the Ethiopian claims.
If the Ark of the Covenant is indeed in a church in northern Ethiopian, there will, undoubtedly, be a movement to insure it is returned to Jerusalem -- in the near future.
The resulting repercussions could be monumental.