What Happened to Those Biblical Artifacts?

Noah's Ark  

Probably the most mysterious of objects named in this list, Noah's Ark has produced many stories and locations of its final resting place. Yet, none of the locales have been 100% proven. The ark of Noah is a vessel in the Flood narrative of the Book of Genesis and repeated with variations in the Quran, where the vessel is referred to as Safina Nūḥ.

An unwarranted assumption prevails in our modern world relating to the landing spot of Noah’s ark.  Many theologians and historians are sure that Noah’s ark landed on the remote and inaccessible heights of Mount Ararat, a 17,000-foot volcanic mountain in modern-day Turkey. The Book of Genesis does not specifically say that the ark landed on Mount Ararat, but rather “on the mountains of Ararat” (Gen. 8:4), meaning on a mountain somewhere within this particular range of mountains.

The search for Noah's Ark has been a controversial subject for many centuries and will undoubtedly continue to be shrouded in mystery.

(Google Images: David Allen Deal) 

"Above left, we see Mount Ararat in modern-day Turkey, and get an idea how impractical it would have been to try land the ark of Noah on it. Above right, we see the mountain seventeen miles south of Mount Ararat where the ark actually first came to rest (arrow), and the impression it left when it slid down the mountain about 100 years later. At the top of the mountain, we see the escarpment cliffs which the “Epic of Gilgamesh” refers to as the “wall of heaven” ~ Robert Bowie Johnson 

Ark of the Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant, also known as the Ark of the Testimony, and the Ark of God, was a gold-covered wooden chest described in the Book of Exodus as containing the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. According to various texts within the Hebrew Bible, it also contained Aaron's rod and a pot of manna. In the Christian New Testament, Hebrews 9:4 reads that "The ark of the covenant [was] covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron's rod which budded, and the tablets of the covenant."

The biblical Christian account relates that, approximately one year after the Israelites' exodus from Egypt, the Ark was created according to the pattern given to Moses by God when the Israelites were encamped at the foot of Mount Sinai. The Ark, which was entrusted to the Tribe of Levi, is also mentioned in Tanakh, the Second Book of Maccabees and the Quran. According to Islamic tradition, Al-Jalalan states the relics in the Ark were the fragments of the two tablets, rods, robes, shoes, mitre (headgear) of Moses and the vase of manna. 

While there are various locations purported to house the Ark of the Covenant - such as being located in Africa and Europe - the holy relic has never been found or at least publicly declared.

Depiction of Ark of the Covenant (Google Images)

From Joshua passing the river Jordan with the Ark of the Covenant, 1800, by Benjamin West

The Staff of Moses

The Staff of Moses, mentioned in the Bible and Quran, was a walking stick used by Moses. According to the Book of Exodus in the Christian Bible, the staff was used to produce water from a rock, was transformed into a snake and back, and was used at the parting of the Red Sea. Whether or not Moses' staff was the same as that used by his brother Aaron (known as Aaron's rod, which was transformed into a serpent) has been debated by rabbinical scholars. The staff was purported to be placed inside the Ark of the Covenant.

There are many speculations about what has happened to Moses's staff.  The Midrash (a homiletic method of biblical exegesis) states that the staff was passed down from generation to generation and was in the possession of the Judean kings until the First Temple was destroyed. It is unknown what became of the staff after the Temple was destroyed and the Jews were exiled from the land.

Depiction of Moses holding the staff  (Google Images)

Treasures of the Second Temple

In 70 A.D., Jewish rebels, trying to free Israel from Roman rule, fought against the Roman army, but the rebels suffered a critical blow as Jerusalem was captured by the Roman army led by Titus (a general who would later become a Roman emperor). The Second Temple was destroyed and the Roman army carried the Temple treasures back to Rome. Those treasures included the temple's menorah (a lampstand with six branches). The Arch of Titus, located in Rome, includes a scene depicting the menorah being carried to Rome. Other items depicted on the artwork include silver trumpets and the altar of incense. 

Some biblical scholars declare the treasures of the Temple obscurely disappear from history around 70 A.D., while other theologians believe the Jewish treasures were successfully hidden somewhere on the Temple Mount. The menorah is mentioned as late as the sixth century AD as being carried on parade in Constantinople.

Whether the menorah and the temple treasures were successfully hidden away by the ancient Jews or if Rome indeed confiscated the sacred items and have the treasure hidden away unto this day, mankind has yet to be enlightened on the subject.

Arch of Titus (Wikipedia Images)
Left: Arch of Titus by Giovanni Paolo Panini c. 1740 Middle: Front view of the Arch of Titus
Right: South Inner Panel depicts the spoils taken from the Temple in Jerusalem.

Artifacts of the Red Sea Crossing

While critics have long denied the historicity of the biblical book of Exodus, the believers have long debated the location and date of the famous crossing of the Red Sea. Yet nearly everyone has heard of Moses and the exodus he led from Egypt, which is still remembered annually by the Jews in the feast of Passover. Remarkably, there has never been a serious effort to find the remains of Pharaoh and his Egyptian army under the waters of the Red Sea, where the Bible says they drown and most of the dead bodies washed up on the shore (Ex. 14:30). 

In 2003, a group of Bible enthusiasts, who dove the waters of the Red Sea, were interviewed after they alleging had found and photographed parts of chariots (wheels and axels). Earlier in the 1970s, American archeologist, Ron Wyatt, found pillars on each side of the sea claiming they marked the route the Israelites had taken to cross the Red Sea. Yet, the search for these biblical Egyptian artifacts has kind of gone by the wayside in the ensuing years of the 21st century. 

Chariot wheel and pillar (Google Images)
Left: Chariot wheel discovered in the Red Sea in 2003.
Right: One of the pillars discovered by Ron Wyatt. There are two pillars located
on both sides of the Gulf of Aqaba arm of the Red Sea.

Jeremiah’s Deed of Purchase

Not long before Judah's exile to Babylon occurred in the 6th century B.C., the prophet Jeremiah was commanded by the Israelite God to buy land from Hanamel, his kinsman. This land was under the control of the Babylonian army at that time (Jer. 32:1-9) and Hanamel obliged Jeremiah by selling the piece of property [that was considered worthless at the time]. The transaction of land was more of a symbolic gesture than a logical one, as it was to be a sign that someday the nation of Israel would reoccupy the land.

According to the Bible, Jeremiah carefully followed formal procedure by signing two identical deeds of purchase and sealing one of them shut before witnesses (Jer. 32:10-12). Jeremiah then commanded his scribe Baruch to place the deeds of purchase in a clay container in some place where they would be preserved for a long time (Jer. 32:13-15). 

Since God’s direction in having these documents preserved in a clay jar was to have them act as a future prophetic sign, it is not unlikely that they will be rediscovered one day.

(Bing Images)

The Original Tablets of the Ten Commandments

Exodus 32:15-16 states Moses came down from Mount Sinai after spending forty days with the God of Israel. He held in his hands two stone tablets that had been engraved by the Israelite God; these tablets contained the ten commandments. According to Exodus 32:19, when Moses came down the mountain and saw the people dancing around the golden calf they had made, he angrily threw the two tablets down to the base of the mountain, where they shattered. 

Moses later made two new tablets to replace the ones he had broken (Ex. 34:1). Some scholars debate whether the remains of the original broken tablets are still at the base of Mount Sinai, buried beneath layers of sand. But locating the actual site of this particular mountain has left the scholars and theologians at an impasse as there are several different proposed locations of Mount Sinai.

While it is recorded a second set of engraved stone tablets with the Ten Commandments was created and placed in the Ark of the Covenant - which that artifact has never been found - the first set of holy tablets has never been actively searched for. 

Depiction of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments (Bing Images)

Whether these biblical artifacts ever existed has been a huge debate between the believers and non-believers for many centuries, but the majority of modern biblical scholars will attest they did exist. But, whether the ancient artifacts were able to survive is another contested debate among the scholars and theologians of religion.