from the opposing army when an artillery shell exposed their hideout, and also exposed the Ten Commandments. This report does not mention the Ark of the Covenant, but I assume the ark and the Ten Commandments would be together. I personally tried to contact the archaeologists mentioned in this report without success. At the writing of this article, this newspaper account, now over a year old, has never been substantiated by any evidence other than the claims of the article.
3. It is said that the ark is also in Hezekiah's tunnel. Circulating among Adventists is a 2 hour video tape which claims that the ark, all the temple furnishings, and all the armaments of Sennacherib's 185,000 soldiers were secretly stored in a shaft of this 1750 foot tunnel. This idea is not new. Near the beginning of this century a man named Walter Juveliu persuaded several wealthy men to sponsor an expedition to Hezekiah's tunnel. Juveliu believed that a great treasure, including the Ark of the Covenant, was to be found in the tunnel, which was then filled with debris. After three years of digging, with guards posted outside, the searchers found no treasure. The best result of this project is that visitors to Jerusalem can now wade through Hezekiah's tunnel. The current tape is filled with "should haves" and "probablies" and other unconvincing sources of evidence, not to mention the implausibility of getting all the treasures the discoverer thinks were deposited in one small shaft of this tunnel. According to the tape, the ark would now be visible to the whole world except that the discoverer hurt his back on this godly mission.
4. It has also been claimed that the Ark of the Covenant is located near the Dead Sea in a cave at En Gedi, one of the hideouts of David (1 Sam 23:29; 24:1). Soundings made at the proposed spot at first seemed to indicate a hollow beneath some rocks. More sophisticated equipment revealed that the suggested area was nothing but solid ground. The Institute of Archaeology regularly gets letters from this site's discoverer, who claims to be the "greatest theologian of all time," and a woman supporting his discoveries with dreams, both blaming us for rejecting God's guiding hand and not helping them.
5. Of course, because of 2 Maccabees 2, the ark has also been found on Mount Nebo. Readers of the Adventist Review may remember that in the May 27, 1982 issue the editor found it necessary to respond to many inquirers wondering why the Adventist Review had not reported the finding of the ark. They may remember that a non-Adventist group from Winfield, Kansas claimed to have found the ark in a cave on Mount Nebo. A newspaper account quoted the leader of the group as saying, "It's there. It's very large, and looked just like I pictured it would. `The group said the gold-covered chest is 4 feet wide, 5 feet long and 4 feet high, with two 9-foot tall golden wings of cherubim on either side of a mercy seat.'" At least one SDA independent ministry newsletter produced pages of information about this discovery and at least one group of Adventists traveled to Jordan to see this wonderful thing. Its discovery was announced over ten years ago and that claim has never been substantiated with any evidence.
6. A few years ago, another Adventist thought he had found evidence that the ark was in a cave near Bethlehem. He built a structure in California to house the ark. Until this time he has produced no ark.
7. Readers may also be aware that some Ethiopian Christians believe that the ark is in Ethiopia in the church of Mary Zion in Axum. Their tradition states that when Menelik, the alleged son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba returned from a visit to his father, the Israelites that Solomon sent with him, secreted the ark with them to Sheba (Ethiopia). Nearly all scholars believe ancient "Sheba" was the ancient kingdom of Saba in Southwestern Arabia, not Ethiopia and the tradition itself comes from Christian times.
So where is the ark of the covenant? Right where God allowed it to be hidden long ages ago. If I understand Ellen White correctly, i