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The ARK OF THE
COVENANT continued...
Verifying that the Ark was in the Stone Case
Ron returned to the chamber on several occasions - one time he took a
"Trinkle Drill" used by Orthopedic surgeons and a colonoscope used to
look into the human body. He wanted to be sure the Ark was in that stone case.
He tried to drill a small hole with the "Trinkle Drill" but it
wouldn't penetrate the stone. So he took his star-tipped stone chisel and hammer
to accomplish the job. He would hammer the tip a little, then turn the bit,
hammer then turn, over and over until he had an approximately 5/8" hole
into the stone case. The colonoscope is an optical device with a powerful light
source which allows doctors to peer into the human body, and Ron had borrowed
one from one of the doctors at the hospital he worked at. Inserting the
colonoscope through the tiny hole, he guided it downward, rotating the lens
until he saw what he recognized as the bottom of the crown-molding around the
top of the Mercy Seat and then he saw the flat golden side. Since the
colonoscope doesn't allow viewing of a large area, and since he had little means
to guide it other than a small latitude of rotation, he couldn't see a great
deal. But he saw enough to KNOW it was the Ark.
Measuring the Depth of the Earthquake Crack
On one trip, he had one of his helpers sit by the elevated cross-hole with
the earthquake crack while he ran a metal tape measure through the crack in the
ceiling of the chamber. It extended through to the cross-hole and when his
helper grabbed it to show that it had come through, Ron noted that the crack
extended through twenty feet of solid rock.
The Contents of the Chamber
During his several visits to the chamber, he tried to thoroughly explore
the contents. He measured the chamber and found it to be 22 feet long by 12 feet
on 2 sides, while the other 2 sides followed the line of the cliff-face, forming
a chamber that narrowed down in one corner. The objects he saw in that chamber
that he feels confident in identifying are: the Ark of the Covenant in the Stone
case; the Table of Shewbread; the Golden Altar of Incense that was in front of
the veil; the Golden Censer; the seven-branched Candlestick holder, (which
didn't have candles but had tiny, bowl-like golden oil lamps which are built
into the tips of the candlestick); a very large sword; an Ephod; a Miter with an
ivory pomegranate on the tip; a brass shekel weight; numerous oil lamps; and a
brass ring which appeared to be for hanging a curtain or something similar.
There are more objects, but these are all Ron could positively identify. All
of these objects were covered by the dry-rotted dark-colored animal skins, then
dry-rotten wooden timbers on top of the skins, and finally the large rocks piled
over everything.
Ron has explained basically how the Ark looked, which we won't repeat here
since we covered that in newsletter #4, which is also contained in our
"Discoveries Volume". The Tables of Stone are still within the Ark,
under the Mercy Seat. On the back of the Ark is a small open cubicle which still
contains the "Book of the Law" and is presumably the one Moses,
himself, wrote. To the best of his knowledge, the Book of Genesis is not there-
only Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy. The thing that amazed Ron was that
these Scrolls, written on animal skins, are in perfect condition today.
Oil Lamps Inside the Chamber
Just inside the chamber, by and near the original entrance which was now
sealed up, he found a total of seven oil lamps that Ron believes had to have
been left behind by those who brought the items into the chamber. The soot on
the lamps and the rocks they sat upon clearly showed the direction of the breeze
that followed them into the tunnel. One of the lamps is very ornate and displays
Assyrian characteristics, which is consistent with the cultural influence of
Judea at the time just prior to the Babylonian captivity. The picture of this
particular oil lamp was not taken with a camera because the design on the lamp
doesn't show up well in a photo.
 This picture was made by placing the lamp on a copier and it revealed a
little of the design, which we find very interesting.
The center depicts a goat or a ram standing upon its hind legs, eating from a
grape vine. This scene is very similar to the statue found in a grave in the
Sumerian city of Ur, seen above right. The suggestion has been made that this
may represent the ram caught in the thicket at the very moment that Abraham was
about to sacrifice his son, Isaac, which served as the substitute sacrifice,
sparing Isaac's life - a "shadow" of the coming Messiah. This concept
is further seen in the Hittite "tree of life", as it has been
interpreted, which can be seen in the frieze at right from Gordium which dates
to the 6th century B.C., the same approximate time of the lamp Ron found. It is
an interesting thought to consider the possibility of a relationship between the
design on the lamp and the story of the "ram in the thicket" that was
the substitute sacrifice- because the lamp was left in a chamber INSIDE Mt.
Moriah where Abraham had brought Isaac to offer him as a sacrifice; and this
same Mt. Moriah was where the Messiah died, the "substitute" sacrifice
for fallen mankind. But this is just interesting conjecture on my part.
Sealing the Passageway to the Chamber
After his last visit to the chamber, a number of years ago, he permanently
sealed the tunnel which led to the chamber. Ron has learned many lessons over
the years, and some he had to learn the hard way. One lesson he learned this way
was that he had to be very careful whom he shared his information with. During
the course of their work there, they had numerous experiences with people which
could have been disastrous without Divine Intervention. For example, one famous
evangelist stumbled upon the hole into the excavation one day and Ron invited
him to come down into the cave.
Believing the man to be honest, Ron told him what they were searching for and
big promises were made of assistance. To make a long story short, a team of
individuals from this evangelist's group later returned to the site, telling the
authorities they were with the Wyatt expedition and that Ron would arrive in a
few days (which wasn't true) and they went down into the cave system and began
to dig. The cave walls where they were digging suddenly collapsed and they just
narrowly avoided being buried alive in the debris. They immediately packed up
and returned home. No real harm was done except that Ron and the boys had to
re-excavate the entire area of the collapse.
Continue reading about
the Ark of the Covenant...
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