Today, we pick up in Daniel 1:2 to discuss why Israel was allowed to be carried away to Babylon, look at what might have happened to the Ark of the Covenant, and consider its significance.
Verse 2: “And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.” Notice that it says that the "Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand." This clearly means that God was allowing Judah to be punished. Why? - Idolatry and disobedience. Jeremiah speaks of their idolatry in Jeremiah 25:1-9, 11-12; and 29:10-11.
Regarding their disobedience, we will discuss in chapter 9 that their punishment was also tied to the land as well because they did not allow it to rest per God’s instructions.
Note also that it says King Jehoiakim took only “part of the vessels of the house of God.” Obviously, things were left behind for one reason or another. The most obvious piece that seemed to be left was the Ark of the Covenant. That was a large piece to leave out of the narrative, for sure.
Remember that it originally held the stone tablets upon which the Ten Commandments were written, Aaron’s rod that budded, and some manna which sustained the Israelites in the desert for forty years (Hebrews 9:4).
The last time we saw it in Scripture was forty years before the Babylonian invasion, around 622 BC, when King Josiah returned it to the temple (2 Chronicles 35:3).
So, what happened to it? I have found four prevailing theories. Firstly, there was simply no detailed list of what was taken given in the verse. Nothing else was listed either. Secondly, Jeremiah or some of the priests hid it somewhere, expecting to be captured, because there was no time to get it out of the city. Thirdly, it could have been during the invasion.
There are two resources that we can look for explanations. The first is the apocryphal book of 2 Maccabees 2:4-8, which suggests that Jeremiah hid it in a cave on Mount Nebo, which is modern-day Jordan, where Moses first saw the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 32:49). If so, we have yet to find any archaeological evidence of that, but that does not mean it did not happen. There are many things in the Bible for which we have no archaeological evidence.
The second possible explanation is found in 2 Kings 24:12-13, where it says, “And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said.”
We do know that it will be used during the future time of Jacob’s Trouble (i.e., the Tribulation), because Daniel himself tells us that after the Antichrist breaks his covenant with the nation of Israel, the “sacrifice and oblation” will cease (Daniel 9:27).
Of course, nothing says the original ark must be found before the temple sacrifices can resume, and, like many other instruments used in temple worship, it will simply have to be built again. After all, Moses painstakingly provided detailed measurements for the pieces of the Wilderness Tabernacle in the Pentateuch, making that a realistic task.
Of course, after the Tribulation period, it will not matter because God will no longer meet with His people seated above the ark (Exodus 25:18-22), but Israel itself will be the seat of his throne (Revelation 21:2-3).
