Zimbabwean “Lost Ark” Redeems Israel?

(Conspiracy Nation, 05/13/08) – What is essentially the Biblical Ark of the Covenant may have been found in Zimbabwe in March of 2007. Soon thereafter, a bitter political struggle between Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai reflected a fierce battle in that African land. If the purported sacred relic somehow made its way back to Israel, there are hopes the fledgling nation might be redeemed.

Tudor Parfitt is not some character having “secret sources” who reveal all. The author of “The Lost Ark Of The Covenant” (HarperCollins, 2008) is professor of Jewish studies at London's School of Oriental and African studies and a fellow of the Oxford Centre of Hebrew and Jewish studies. He has spent a lifetime tracking the “Lost Ark.” His book makes a strong case the Ark has been found “in the storeroom of the Harare Museum of Human Science in March 2007...”

In July of 2004, Conspiracy Nation delved into Graham Hancock's pursuit of the Ark. He was convinced it had been removed from the Jerusalem Temple during the reign of the Jewish monarch Manasseh (687 – 642 B.C.). Hancock theorized the Ark went to Egypt, then down the Nile River to Ethiopia. (“Israel Wants Ark Back?” http://www.shout.net/~bigred/Ark.htm)

But Professor Parfitt traces a different route, south through Arabia, to Yemen eventually, and from there to what is now Zimbabwe. Parfitt is no armchair theorist: he has lived and explored in the abovementioned regions.

Parfitt began his search by first narrowing down, “What exactly am I looking for?” Data concerning the Ark come from different sources and periods. It was in form a rectangular box or chest, measuring about 45 inches by 27 inches by 27 inches, and made of acacia or shittim wood. However, “later generations embellished descriptions of it in their traditions, seeing it as overlaid with gold both within and without.” (Oxford Companion to the Bible)

A key breakthrough in Parfitt's quest came when it was discovered a sub-clan within the African Lemba tribe carried a particular polymorphism on the Y chromosome known as the Cohen modal haplotype. The Buba priestly sub-clan shares this “Cohen modal haplotype” with one other group: Jewish priests, descendants of the Biblical Aaron. When the Lemba ancestors came to what is now Zimbabwe, bringing with them the Ark, they intermarried with local African women. Over time, their descendants began to appear indistinguishable from typical Africans. However they clung to many of their original Jewish traditions.

After years of patient searching, Parfitt at last found what may be, essentially, the Ark of the Covenant, in a Zimbabwean museum, on a dusty shelf in a storeroom. Radio-carbon dating establishes the artifact as having been made circa 1350 A.D. The original Ark, by then, had disintegrated and a replacement was made, Parfitt theorizes.

Assisting Parfitt in his search through the years was a close friend, “Reuven”, connected in some way with the Mossad. Reuven had said, writes Professor Parfitt in the book's Epilogue, “The redemption of Israel will be brought ever closer by the discovery of the Ark.” Such a discovery might justify rebuilding the Jerusalem Temple, even to Muslims. A passage from the Koran suggests that, were the Ark to be found, then Israel might be redeemed: “The sign of his kingship is that the Ark of the Covenant will be restored to you... this should be a convincing sign for you, if you are really believers.” (qtd. in Parfitt, op. cit.) If the “symbolic authority [of the Ark] can be used to force out [Robert] Mugabe, one of the most cynical dictators the world has seen,” concludes Parfitt, it might even presage the coming of the Jewish Messiah and the final redemption of the Jewish people.

Conspiracy Nation

http://www.shout.net/~bigred/cn.html