The Lost Ark of the Covenant

Professor Tudor Parfitt discussed his new book, The Lost Ark of the Covenant, in which he recounts his real-life quest to recover the 2,500 year old biblical artifact that contained the Ten Commandments.

Parfitt provided a brief history of the Ark of the Covenant, pointing out that it may have differed in appearance from the descriptions presented in the Bible. He also spoke about his life's work tracking down the lost tribes of Israel in Africa and Asia. Parfitt's journey eventually led him to Zimbabwe and to the Lemba, a tribe that claimed to be Jews who had traveled from Israel to their present homeland in Africa centuries if not millennia earlier.

According to Parfitt's research, the Lemba brought a wooden drum-like object out of Israel that was eerily similar to the Ark of the Covenant. The Lemba's 'Ark' had rings on each corner, was carried on poles, covered with skins and contained sacred items, Parfitt said. It was associated with noise, explosions and fire, Parfitt explained, noting that the object guaranteed victory in war for those who possessed it.

The Ark-like object was looked after by the Lemba's priestly clan, the Buba, who Parfitt said possess the same genetic 'haplotype' as those who today claim they are related to the temple priests of ancient Israel. Radiocarbon dating places the date of the Lemba's Ark to around 1300 A.D. Parfitt believes their original Ark was destroyed. Remnants of the newer one are located in a museum in Harare, Zimbabwe, he said.

Biography:

Tudor Parfitt's life's work has been tracking down the lost tribes of Israel in Africa and Asia. As professor of Jewish studies at London's prestigious School of Oriental and African Studies and fellow of the Oxford Centre of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, he has written widely on the history of the Jews of Africa and Asia. In 2006, he was appointed distinguished Visiting Fellow at Harvard University. He has traveled widely through remote areas of Africa and Asia and divides his time between London and the Templar region of the South Aveyron.

Wikipedia
The Ark of the Covenant (Hebrew: אָרוֹן הַבְּרִית ʾĀrôn Habbərît, modern pron. Aron Habrit), also known as the Ark of the Testimony, is a chest described in the Book of Exodus as containing the Tablets of Stone on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed and pieces of manna. According to some traditional interpretations of the Book of Exodus, Book of Numbers, and the Letter to the Hebrews the Ark also contained Aaron's rod, a jar of manna and the first Torah scroll as written by Moses; however, the first of the Books of Kings says that at the time of King Solomon, the Ark contained only the two Tablets of the Law. According to the Book of Exodus, the Ark was built at the command of God, in accordance with the instructions given to Moses on Mount Sinai. God was said to have communicated with Moses "from between the two cherubim" on the Ark's cover.
The covered ark with golden staves carried by the priests, and seven priests with rams' horns, at the siege of Jericho, in an eighteenth-century artist's depiction.

The biblical account relates that during the Israelites' exodus from Egypt, the Ark was carried by the priests some 2,000 cubits in advance of the people and their army, or host. When the Ark was borne by priests into the bed of the Jordan, water in the river separated, opening a pathway for the entire host to pass through (Josh. 3:15-16; 4:7-18). The city of Jericho was taken with no more than a shout after the Ark of the Covenant was paraded for seven days around its wall by seven priests sounding seven trumpets of rams' horns (Josh. 6:4-20). When carried, the Ark was always wrapped in a veil, in skins and a blue cloth, and was carefully concealed, even from the eyes of the priests who carried it. There are no contemporary extra-biblical references to the Ark.