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    The Ark of the Covenant: Investigating the Ten Leading Claims: Including Pharaoh Shishak's Siege of Solomon's Temple, Ethiopia's Ark and the Garden Tomb
    The Ark of the Covenant: Investigating the Ten Leading Claims: Including Pharaoh Shishak's Siege of Solomon's Temple, Ethiopia's Ark and the Garden Tomb
    The Ark of the Covenant: Investigating the Ten Leading Claims: Including Pharaoh Shishak's Siege of Solomon's Temple, Ethiopia's Ark and the Garden Tomb
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    The Ark of the Covenant: Investigating the Ten Leading Claims: Including Pharaoh Shishak's Siege of Solomon's Temple, Ethiopia's Ark and the Garden Tomb

    By Paul Backholer

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    About this ebook

    What happened to the Ark of the Covenant? The mystery of the Bible's lost Ark has led to many myths, theories and claims being made, but do any of them have a shred of credibility? Now, join two explorers as they investigate the ten major theories concerning the location of antiquities greatest relic.

    Using professional archaeological reports, eyewitness accounts and personal exploration, from Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb to Ethiopia's underground rock churches, the investigators are able to eliminate popular myths, as they uncover the truth behind the legends.

    Combining an on-site travel journal with exclusive colour photographs, take an adventure through many nations and search for the lost Ark. The Ark of the Covenant - Investigating the Ten Leading Claims: Including Pharaoh Shishak's Siege of Solomon's Temple, Ethiopia's Ark, the Garden Tomb Legend, Jerusalem's Secret Temple Chamber, the Copper Scroll & Knights Templar, Parker's 1911 Dig, the Lemba Jews, Mount Sinai / Nebo, and Tutankhamun's Golden Ark.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherByFaith Media
    Release dateNov 20, 2015
    ISBN9781907066313
    The Ark of the Covenant: Investigating the Ten Leading Claims: Including Pharaoh Shishak's Siege of Solomon's Temple, Ethiopia's Ark and the Garden Tomb
    Author

    Paul Backholer

    Paul Backholer is a broadcaster, author and the founder of ByFaith Media (ByFaith.org). He is the director of ByFaith TV and the author of many Christian books.Paul was born in the 1970s and after being called to study at Bible College in the 1990s, he later served as staff. Since then his Christian mission outreaches have taken him to over forty nations - from the slums of South America, from Cairo to the Cape, across the Trans Siberian Railway, into the Pacific and through the jungles of South East Asia.Paul has preached in many nations and his TV programmes have aired on more than fifteen Christian networks around the world. Having studied theology, Paul is committed to the integrity of Scripture and faithfulness to it.Paul's life was transformed when he had an encounter with the Holy Spirit as a teenager and this experience with God set him on fire and led to him committing his life to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.Paul's books focus on a variety of subjects, including walking closely with God, knowing the Holy Spirit, prophetic revelations grounded in Scripture, biblical archaeology and Christian history.http://www.byfaith.orghttps://twitter.com/byfaithmediahttps://instagram.com/byfaithmediahttps://www.facebook.com/ByfaithMediahttps://www.youtube.com/ByFaithmedia

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      Book preview

      The Ark of the Covenant - Paul Backholer

      The Ark of the Covenant - Investigating the Ten Leading Claims by Paul Backholer.

      Including Pharaoh Shishak’s Siege of Solomon’s Temple, Ethiopia’s Ark, the Garden Tomb Legend, Jerusalem’s Secret Temple Chamber, the Copper Scroll & Knights Templar, Parker’s 1911 Dig, the Lemba Jews, Mount Sinai / Nebo and Tutankhamun’s Golden Ark.

      The Ark of the Covenant - Investigating the Ten Leading Claims.

      Copyright © Paul Backholer 2013 - 2020, ByFaith Media. All Rights Reserved - www.ByFaith.org

      All photographs Copyright © Mathew Backholer 2013, 2020. All illustrations Copyright © Paul Backholer 2013, 2020.

      Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible. The New King James Version (NKJV). Published by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.

      New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

      Authorised Version (AV) also known as the King James Version - public domain.

      Due to the use of American and British terminology, Anglophone spelling and grammar variations are in use.

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any unauthorised retrieval systems, or transmitted in any form or by any unauthorised means – electronically, mechanically, photocopying, recording, or any other (except for brief quotations in printed or official website reviews with full accreditation) without the prior permission of the Publisher, ByFaith Media – (Paul Backholer). Uploading this work to the internet (in whole or in part) is illegal, as is unauthorised translations. For requests for Translation Rights, please contact ByFaith Media.

      Chapter One

      Mount Sinai

      Look now toward heaven and count the stars if you are able to number them…so shall your descendants be Genesis 15:5.

      The sun was setting on the Sinai Peninsula and my brother Mathew and I were on the summit of the traditional site of Mount Sinai. We were the last to ascend that day, as a snowstorm had made people question the safety of such a venture in bad weather. We too had wondered if it was wise to walk on the snow covered steps to the top, with the expectation of finding ice on the way down. If we fell in the twilight there would be no rescue until morning. But this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, so we balanced the risk with the years of disappointment for regressing and then the choice was obvious.

      With the light fading swiftly, we knew we had to descend rapidly without slipping on the ice. Two hours later, with a prayer of thanks we arrived at the base. Suddenly Mathew looked at me and said, Paul, look up! During the descent our eyes had been pinned to the ground, making sure we did not lose our footing and fall in the dark, and therefore we had missed the heavens above. As I looked up to the sky, I was amazed. Never before had I seen such a sight. Due to light pollution, the stars which I had seen from Britain seemed small, delicate and distant. However, in this desert I saw many thousands of gleaming balls of light overwhelming the sky. The darkness was squeezed out of the sky, with numerous stars three times the size I had ever seen before, circled by thousands of smaller glows of light.

      For the first time, I began to understand the challenge and promise to Abraham, Count the stars, if you are able to number them…so shall your descendants be. As I gazed upward, I knew I could not count them. They were in my mind without number - an extravagant witness of the shining and shimmering promise to the Father of the Jews. Hundreds of years later, the Bible confirms that this promise was being fulfilled as a substantial force of Hebrew slaves escaped out of Egypt, to converge at Mount Sinai.

      It was during this solemn assembly that Moses had a vision from God to build the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark became the most sacred object to the ancient people of Israel and was placed inside Solomon’s Temple. After Solomon’s death the Kingdom was divided into Israel and Judah; this demarcation weakened the people of the Bible, and made them easy pickings for the predatory nations and empires that invaded Jerusalem, and stole their wealth. It was in this context that the Ark of the Covenant was lost to history.

      The Ark of the Covenant bequeaths us with many of the greatest unanswered questions of the Bible. What did the Ark look like? Where did it go? When did it disappear and does it still exist today?

      The Bible’s Ark has captured the imagination like no other sacred object of antiquity, and over many centuries adventurers have searched and presented theories concerning the lost Ark. Many of these conclusions teach us more about the power of the human imagination, rather than the history of the Ark itself. Archaeologists and explorers have spent millions chasing shadows, rumours and interpretations of ancient texts in their search for the Ark, and they all are transfixed by one tantalising question - How could something so distinguished and powerful vanish from history?

      In this investigation into the mystery of the lost Ark of the Covenant we have discovered that some have projected their own desires and creative dreams into their hunt for answers, seeing things that no-one else has seen and claiming to have found secret chambers, lost routes and artefacts that never materialise. The ‘evidence’ is always just around the next corner, yet always out of sight. Many have followed legends, maps and speculative fantasies with the hope of solving the oldest question about the world’s most famous treasure.

      With these warnings in mind, we wanted to be assured that our quest would not be one into our own imagination, but founded on the cornerstone of rigorous analyse, trusted scholarship, logical research and verifiable artefacts. Ruling out theories, refuting legends and using research to eliminate claims has been just as important in this pursuit, as probing for empirical data.

      As we begin this inquiry into the enigma of the Ark, we must first concede that we never expected to partake in a mission to ‘hunt for the Ark of the Covenant.’ This was never a secret hope, a private plan or dream, yet through a series of unexpected events, we found ourselves in the right place, at the right time and with access to a great deal of research on the subject. We also knew we would not partake in the work of excavation, but rather of exploration.

      In this task, we intend to carry out a veracious autopsy of the many claims to have located the Ark; to do this we need to vigorously check and challenge every cognitive intent, idea, sentiment, theory, and alleged find. Before us was a remarkable journey which would lead to ancient Egyptian tombs, desert cities, lost civilisations and to a cornucopia of claims and legends that need thorough assessing.

      Chapter Two

      The Bible, Faith and Archaeology

      ‘That we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine’ Ephesians 4:14.

      There are over two billion Christians, who according to orthodox teaching believe that the Bible is God’s revelation to man. These believers represent the largest majority of any religious group or worldview on earth. No other faith has played such an enormous role in

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