WEBVTT - From the Vault: The Ark of the Covenant 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:07.720 Hey, welcome to Stuff to blow your mind. My name 0:00:07.760 --> 0:00:10.880 is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and its Saturday. 0:00:10.880 --> 0:00:12.840 Time to go into the Old Vault, and this time 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:16.520 I'm being lashed by tongues of flame. That's right. This 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:18.840 is going to be the first episode of our two 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:22.120 part look at the Ark of the Covenant. Uh. This 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:24.079 was a fun pair of episodes. I remember we were 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:29.200 exploring some very strange historical hypotheses, trying to to explain 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:32.000 the myth of the Great Arc that would strike people 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:35.280 dead with blasts of fire or lightning. Uh. This was 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:37.280 a lot of fun, so we hope you enjoyed it. 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:41.760 And it originally aired in December of And the Philistines 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:45.040 took the Ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:49.040 unto ash DoD. When the Philistines took the Ark of God, 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:52.360 they brought it into the house of Dagon and set 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:56.200 it by Daygon. And when they of ash DoD arose 0:00:56.240 --> 0:01:00.080 early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:02.840 face to the earth before the Ark of the Lord. 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:06.040 And they took Dagon and set him in his place again. 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:09.399 And when they arose early on the morrow, morning. Behold, 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:12.600 Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:15.160 the ark of the Lord and the head of Dagon, 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:17.800 and both the palms of his hands were cut off 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:21.360 upon the threshold. Only the stump of Dagon was left 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:25.360 to him. Therefore, neither the priests of Dagon, nor any 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:28.480 that come into Dagon's house tread on the threshold of 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:32.160 Dagon and Ashdad unto this day. But the hand of 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:35.280 the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:40.000 destroyed them and smote them with immrods, even Ashdod and 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:43.960 the coast thereof. And when the men of Ashdod saw 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:46.240 that it was so, they said, the ark of the 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:49.360 God of Israel shall not abide with us, for his 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:53.480 hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our God. 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:56.480 They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the 0:01:56.520 --> 0:01:59.800 Philistines unto them, and said, what shall we do with 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:02.880 the ark of the God of Israel. And they answered 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:05.280 a letter, the Ark of the God of Israel be 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:09.320 carried about unto God. And they carried the Ark of 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:13.880 the God of Israel about thither. And it was so 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:16.640 that after they had carried it about, the hand of 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:20.320 the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction, 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:23.160 and he smote the men of the city, both small 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:26.840 and great. And they had immerrods in their secret parts, 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:31.520 Immerrods in their secret parts, Immads in their secret parts, 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:41.200 emmerrods in their secret parts, Emmerads and their secret parts. 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:44.080 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:52.480 Works dot com. Hey you welcome to Scuff to Blow 0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:55.320 your Mind. My name is Robert lamp and I'm Joe McCormick. 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:57.960 And if you couldn't guess by that opening, obviously we're 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:01.480 gonna be talking about the Ark of the Cove today. Robert. 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:04.760 I think it was when I came back from Thanksgiving 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:06.960 break that you were like, we're doing the Ark of 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:09.799 the Covenant on the show, and I was like, what 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:11.799 the heck are you talking about? Now? You know, I'm 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:14.640 always up for an exploration of some kind of weird 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:17.480 ancient artifactor or something like that. So so we're we're 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:19.919 good to go. But why did you want to talk 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:23.200 about the arc on this show, Robert, Well, it's like 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:26.840 nothing we've gone after before. Jeah. I was like, um no, 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:29.000 that the arc is. I guess it basically comes down 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:32.119 to the arc has along fascinated me. I grew up 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:36.200 watching Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Indiana Jones movie. 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:38.920 I had it on VHS and I would sit there 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:42.320 and watch segments of it in slow motion. Pretty Much 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:45.240 every special effect in the film I would watch in 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:49.000 slow motion, from the melting of Nazis to just uh, 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:51.520 you know, more practical stuff as well. Uh. And you 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:54.000 like sit your parents down and your grandparents into a 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:57.480 frame by frame face melting analysis, that sort of thing. Yeah, 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:00.640 it just it always fascinated me. And then if you're 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:04.600 setting in church, and I grew up attending church, you 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:07.040 you pick up the Bible and you flip around, you 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:11.040 look at you read the interesting passages, and certainly the 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:13.920 passages about the Ark of the Covenant are some of 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:17.680 the more fascinating. Uh. This just there's just they just 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:20.240 resonate with mystery and like what is this about? And 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:22.640 so I feel like throughout my life I have come 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:25.880 back to it, and uh, in each time I've I've 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:28.880 looked at it with new eyes. And more recently I've 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:32.360 been thinking, uh, you know what, what are some scientific, 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:35.719 possible scientific explanations, even if they're a bit fringey in 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:39.560 places regarding the arc surely they exist, and lo and 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:42.920 behold they do well. The way that the ARC connects 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:45.920 to a lot of scientific topics is very interesting. Generally, 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:48.760 it tends to connect to them and kind of uh yeah, 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:52.039 like you say, fringy often kind of like uh pseudo 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:54.640 pseudo scientific kind of ways, but gives you a good, 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:58.560 mysterious jumping off point to talk about real science. So yeah, 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:00.840 we want to talk about the myth to we want 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:04.080 to talk about some weird fringe and pseudoscience believes people 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:06.159 have had about the arc and how that connects to 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:09.560 weird ideas about ancient technology, to talk about real science 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:12.839 and technology potential in the ancient world. And uh, I 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:14.599 think it's gonna be a lot of fun. Now, I 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:16.520 have to admit it. As much as I love the 0:05:16.520 --> 0:05:19.599 discussion module our Facebook group, it is associated with stuff 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:23.080 to build your Mind. I actually checked in with the 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:26.200 Movie Crushers this is the group associated with Chuck Bryant's 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:30.200 Movie Crush podcast, because I was curious what is what 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:32.400 it was, what it is like a to have never 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:36.000 seen Raiders of the Level Lost Arc, and also what 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:38.240 it is like to have seen Raiders of the Lost 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:41.560 Arc but with some sort of underlying understanding, pre existing 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:44.760 understanding of the Ark of the Covenant, because I can 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:47.520 relate to to neither of those, like the Ark of 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:50.320 the Covenant as it's revealed, and Raiders of the Lost 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:53.160 Arc has pretty much always been there in my life. Essentially, 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:56.200 Raiders is a book of the Bible in a way. Yeah, 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:59.640 really Like I saw that, and then later on I 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:02.920 learned how to read and came back into and learned 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:05.919 what the Bible had to say about it. But you know, 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:08.440 in Sunday School, we just never got the m Rod's. 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:10.800 I don't know why they left the mrods out. I 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:13.039 would have loved that when I was seven. Well we'll 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:15.039 get we'll get to this. But I think one of 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:18.640 the issues, of course his translation. In some translations they're 0:06:18.640 --> 0:06:21.159 referred to as tumors. I think that's where I encountered 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:23.560 the first time, and I was like, whoa, back up, 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:26.120 The Ark of the Covenant is giving the enemies of 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:29.320 God tumors, uh, And that's what that's one of This 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:31.120 was post Raiders, but then I was but then I 0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:33.200 was like, oh, I'm really hooked now, Like this is 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:36.479 this is even more uh, you know, Eldric Harror heaped 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:39.120 upon the mystery of the arc. It makes you want 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:41.599 to imagine an alternate universe in which Raiders of the 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:44.120 Lost Ark was not made by Spielberg and Lucas, but 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:46.960 was made by David Cronenberg. And so when they opened 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:50.799 the arc, it's kind of like the tumor gun from Videodrome. Yeah, exactly. 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:53.120 I think that. Again, that's one of the things about 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:54.920 about The Ark of the Covenant is is it's just 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:57.560 so weird, and we're going to keep touching in on 0:06:57.600 --> 0:06:59.680 that weirdness, and we're also going to keep referring to 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:02.760 Raid is the Lost Arc throughout this episode because this 0:07:02.960 --> 0:07:06.240 episode more than anything that we've covered before, because it's 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:09.920 just free license to talk about that movie ad nausea. Yeah, 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:12.640 there's a lot of fascinating stuff just in the original 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:16.320 arc mythology, but the the Indiana Jones treatment of the 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:20.120 story partially merges it with something kind of like Pandora's Box, 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:25.280 Like it becomes just a container of unknown and unutterable mystery, 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:28.120 where there isn't quite so much that feeling in the 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:31.760 Bible stories, though it is a strange and sacred object 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:34.440 of profound power. Now, two of the big questions that 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:37.920 are generally mold over concerning the Arc. Uh, first of all, 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:41.040 what was it? And then secondly where is it now? Now, 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:43.680 we're mostly going to ruminate over the first question, because 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:45.840 the second is one of those questions that tends to 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:48.800 lead to one of two places. Either the fact that 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:52.200 it's simply lost to history, likely destroyed in some prior age, 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:55.400 or or hidden away and lost, assuming that there was 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:57.680 such an object, and that's the other possibility is that 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:01.480 it simply did not exist um or it leads one 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:05.600 to various speculative or even downright conspiracy theories involving you know, 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:09.600 the Knights Templars perhaps, Or there's the notion that it's 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:12.160 it's currently hidden out of sight in the chapel of 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:15.280 the Tablet in northern Epethiopia, which is possible, but there's 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:18.320 no no proof or that it was taken to Heaven, 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:20.640 an answer that requires more of a speculative lead than 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:23.120 the notion that the Arc, like so many treasures of history, 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:26.680 simply failed to survive history. Now, one of the main 0:08:26.720 --> 0:08:29.000 things that we're going to be exploring in this look 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:31.040 at the Arc is that the Ark of the Covenant 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:34.880 is yet another one of these ancient stories, these objects 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:37.920 of ancient myth, which there have been great efforts by 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:41.120 modern writers to ground the myth and what we now 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:45.600 know about science and technology, reimagining what the ancients believe 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:49.000 to be magic as some kind of lost powerful science 0:08:49.080 --> 0:08:52.160 or technology. And we've discussed before some of the risks 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:56.760 of technologizing the myth. Uh, it's not necessarily always wrong, 0:08:56.880 --> 0:08:59.480 but it's an impulse, that's not all. It's also not 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:03.120 always justified. There's a sort of naive way of reading 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:06.960 ancient texts that says, Okay, let's take what they say 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:11.920 happened basically at face value, but posit a different explanation 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:14.959 for it than they would have. And while this can 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:17.360 be a fun exercise, I love doing it, I personally 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:20.000 enjoy we shall always remember not to start feeling like 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:22.920 this is a necessary and especially not like it's a 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:28.040 parsimonious exercise, when in reality, ancient histories of all kinds, 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:31.160 religious texts, myths, and so forth are likely to be 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:34.760 full of narratives that are the result of creative imagination 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:38.959 and things like exaggeration across time and retellings. In other words, 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:42.720 there's no event that you necessarily have to explain because 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:46.440 the events described in these ancient stories often just didn't 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:49.480 take place. Right, We can't treat a description of the 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:52.840 arc in uh in the whole Testament as being the 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:55.959 same as say, you know, fossil evidence or a or 0:09:56.000 --> 0:09:58.920 a crater, right right, We we just don't know. I mean, 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:01.360 it might be based on something that actually happened, but 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:04.600 we don't know. But if we take the route of saying, well, okay, 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:07.760 if these stories are based on something people saw, are 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:11.120 based on something that actually happened. When we look at 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:13.560 history that way, ancient history with a bit of science 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:17.640 under the belt, there is this insatiable itch the retro 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:20.800 sci fi hermonutic, which I've been looking for a concise 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:23.440 name for, and I think I just realized the perfect 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:25.800 one for for this era of that which I'm gonna 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:29.040 I'm gonna start calling bronze punk. Yeah, so you've got yeah, 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:32.200 you've got steampunk for the Victorian era, You've got adam 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:35.080 punk for the atomic age. And I think we should 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:39.400 have bronze punk as the name for this retroactive technologizing 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:42.440 of the time period of classical civilizations in the ancient 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:45.760 Near East, including the Hebrew Bible and its contemporary civilizations 0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:49.840 and texts. So with those important caveats, I think we 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:53.720 should begin a bronze punk adventure into the Ark. Bronze 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:56.800 Bronze Punk does have a lot of of of opportunity here. 0:10:56.920 --> 0:11:00.160 It gives us a chance to bring back uh Talus, 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:04.120 the Bronze automaton. Oh, that's a classic example we would 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:06.040 tell us. I think they'd be bronze Punk. I don't 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:08.200 want to be too rigid about the time period that 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:09.920 applies to either, because a lot of the stuff we're 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:12.720 talking about here I think would technically be bridging Bronze 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:15.000 Age and Iron Age and the regions that are affected. 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:18.400 But all that aside, yeah, anything, it doesn't need to 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:20.880 stand in the way of tall Us battling the Ark 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:23.800 of the Covenant. I would say, well, before we get 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:28.040 into all these supposed Bronze punk explanations of what the 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:30.600 arc might have been if it existed, and if some 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:33.200 of the stories about it are based on things people saw, 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:36.960 we should just explore the myth, like what is the 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:39.560 story of the arc and what do the text say 0:11:39.600 --> 0:11:42.480 about it? All? Right? Yeah, well we're talking here about 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:47.240 the airon Hobart, the Arc of God, the Arc of testimony, 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:49.440 the Arc of the Covenant, just a few names that 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:53.240 we used to describe it. Here a gold plated wooden 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:56.360 chest used by the ancient Hebrews to house the two 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:59.520 stone tablets of law given to Moses by God, and 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:01.319 it was also said to contain a couple of other 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:04.800 holy relics, such as Aaron's rod, a magical item used 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:07.960 by Moses brother, as well as a pot of man, 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:10.560 the supernatural food stuff that fell from the heavens to 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:13.000 feed the Israelites in the desert. Now, in addition to 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:15.880 being made of gold, to the other decorative element that 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:19.239 is a signature of the art are the two cherubim 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:22.000 that are depicted atop it. Now I'm not quite sure 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:25.599 why this has happened, but in modern English usage cherubs 0:12:25.720 --> 0:12:31.160 or cherubim that has come to mean naked baby angels 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:33.360 like you would see on those cards or the creepy 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:37.800 little statues people put on their dressers. But cherubim are 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:41.520 not naked cute baby angels, right right, even though, like 0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:45.560 if we describe something as bearing cherubic today, we're we're 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:48.120 describing so it's got like a baby with fat cheeks, 0:12:48.160 --> 0:12:50.280 or maybe an adult with a fat with fat cheeks 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:52.720 and kind of a baby's face. But really it should 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:56.160 be a horrifying adjective to to heap on something. It 0:12:56.160 --> 0:13:00.400 should mean that it is an object or personification of 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:04.600 just holy wrath. Right. Classical example would be angels stationed 0:13:04.600 --> 0:13:06.719 outside the Garden of Eden with a flaming sword to 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:09.599 keep people out. That's right. I mean that that is 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:12.360 a chair of the true chair of forget the Renaissance 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:15.840 art here that they're kind of like God's supernatural heavies. 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:19.400 But as with any sort of mythological creature, you do 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:21.280 see a lot of variety in the way they're depicted, 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:26.200 ranging indeed, from the bestial to the more humanoid. Depictions 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:29.079 of the art tend to favor of a version of 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:32.800 winged humanoids. But we could, and perhaps we should, do 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:36.080 an entire episode on angels and religious traditions in the future, 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:39.240 because there's so much the fascinating material there. So we're 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:41.400 talking about creatures that would have been first or second 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:45.360 circle in the hierarchy of angels, and their descriptions include 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:47.800 or tend to include the form of a lion, the 0:13:47.840 --> 0:13:50.600 form of a man, the form of an eagle, or 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:54.439 any hybrid of these forms I've actually seen it described 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:57.760 that they sometimes are representative as having four faces, yes, 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:00.760 and the four the four faces would flude the lion 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:03.920 to represent the beasts of the wild, the man to 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:07.439 represent the world of humans. I think, an oxen face 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:11.600 to represent the world of domesticated animals, and then an 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:13.800 eagle face to represent the world of birds, which I 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:17.040 guess are somehow different than wild animals. Yeah, these depictions 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:19.800 of of the chairbs often look kind of like emblems, right, 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:23.320 with like folds of multiple wings and haloed heads of 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:26.960 these creatures and a human poking out. Now. According to 0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:30.160 Carol rose Um Folklore's who I frequently side on the 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:33.200 show in her book Spirits, Fairies, lepre Cons and Goblins 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:37.560 and Encyclopedia, Hebrew religious writings state that images of cherubim 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:40.680 guarded the ark of the Covenant as well as Solomon's 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:46.000 temple and their divine messengers attending spirits and disseminators of knowledge. 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:49.960 Now it's possible. Rose points out the cherubim or derived 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:54.320 from the Assyrian Lamassu or sea dow, and these were 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:59.119 the female and male, respectively, benevolent demons in ancient Assyria 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:02.960 and Babylon. They would have protected palaces and temples, and 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:06.360 they were there often depicted as winged bulls or lions 0:15:06.440 --> 0:15:10.400 with human heads, and they mostly remained invisible, and we 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:13.320 were assigned in the manner of guardian angels to protect 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:17.480 an individual human from the evil uh two ku. There 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:20.520 are some amazing carvings of these in the met in 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:23.680 the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I believe from the palace 0:15:23.720 --> 0:15:26.280 of the Assyrian king Ashurbanapoul the second, or maybe not 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:28.800 the palace, but I think commissioned by that king, and 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:32.560 that they are fearsome and wonderful to behold, Yes they are, 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:34.720 and to come back to Raiders of the Lost Arc. 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:38.680 These are of course, presumably the the the entities we 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:41.560 see flying around after the Nazis opened the Ark of 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:44.840 the Covenant at the end of the film. The Cherubim yeah, yeah, 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:48.080 because they first thought of like like women, uh, you know, 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:50.200 sort of beautiful ghost women. And then of course the 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:53.800 face changes and it becomes this kind of snarling, skeletal 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:57.200 lion type face, and then of course, uh, it's death 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:01.080 for all who view the Ark. Now for a for 0:16:01.160 --> 0:16:04.520 an artifact that has come to be imbued with so 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:11.120 much mystery. Retrospectively, the Bible actually does just straightforwardly explain 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:14.840 how to build the arc. It's like minute specifications on 0:16:14.960 --> 0:16:17.480 what you're supposed to do to make one. Yeah, and 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:20.200 also it almost makes you wonder, like, what's the big 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:22.600 deal about losing it, because clearly you have you have 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:26.240 a strict set of instructions on how to build another one. Well, 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:28.800 I mean I think they were just like magical beliefs 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:32.280 about the sacredness of what it contains. Oh yes, certainly, 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:34.480 but but that ultimately is the thing, right. The art 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:39.000 is a container, a fancy container, perhaps even a holy container, 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:41.640 and if you're approaching with that worldview, but just a 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:45.920 container for other otherwise holy relics. That is one thing 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:48.440 that I think makes it very fascinating and kind of unique. 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:50.360 And there are probably some other great artifacts like this, 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:55.280 but fascinating in that it is, uh, this artifact with 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:58.480 all this significance, but it is essentially just a vessel 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:02.520 for other things. It's a container, it's not a statue. Well, 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:05.359 should we read the instructions from Exodus in case anyone 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:08.560 wants to build along as we as we do the podcast, 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:12.359 Let's build it all right, get your your cubit ruler ready, 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:14.960 and they shall make an arc of ship him. Would 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:17.960 two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:21.000 and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:23.600 a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:27.159 shalt overlay it with pure gold within and without shalt 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:30.000 thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:33.479 of gold around about, And thou shalt cast four rings 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:35.840 of gold for it, and put them in the four 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:38.800 corners thereof, And two rings shall be in the one 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:41.320 side of it, and two rings in the other side 0:17:41.320 --> 0:17:43.920 of it. And thou shalt make staves of ship him 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:47.240 wood and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:49.840 the staves into the rings by the sides of the arc, 0:17:50.080 --> 0:17:53.000 that the arc may be born with them. The staves 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:55.160 shall be in the rings of the arc. They shall 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:57.400 not be taken from it. Now I want to jump 0:17:57.400 --> 0:17:59.280 in here and say they say that this is exactly 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:02.040 the kind of description of the arc that is disappointing. 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:04.800 When you're a child, you've seen raiders and then you 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:06.679 want to read about in the Bible, and you just 0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:09.359 find this this kind of boring description of how to 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:12.040 build one. Oh, there are better stories. We got them rods. 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:14.040 We're gonna get to some more later. Well, this this 0:18:14.119 --> 0:18:17.719 description is about to get a lot more interesting, and 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:20.120 certainly we'll tie into some stuff we're gonna discuss later. 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:23.640 And thou shalt put into the arc the testimony which 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:26.879 I shall give thee. And thou shalt make a mercy 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:29.800 seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:32.359 be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half 0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:36.199 the breadth thereof. And thou shalt make two cherubims of 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:39.280 gold of beaten work. Shalt thou make them in the 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:42.719 two ends of the mercy seat, and make one cherub 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:45.320 on the one end, and the other cherub on the 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:48.880 other end. Even of the mercy seat, shall he make 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:53.119 the cherubims on the two ends thereof? So otherways, make 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:55.240 the two cherubs face each other on the ends of 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:57.800 the mercy seat. Believe a space, because that space is important. 0:18:58.080 --> 0:19:01.479 Anyway continues, And the cheruban shall stretch forth their wings 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:04.800 on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:08.400 their faces shall look one to another toward the mercy seat. 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:11.959 Shall the faces of the cherubims be, and thou shalt 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:15.119 put the mercy seat above upon the arc, and in 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:18.000 the arc, thou shalt put the testimony that I shall 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:21.280 give THEE, and there I will meet with THEE, and 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:24.240 I will commune with THEE from above the mercy seat 0:19:24.560 --> 0:19:27.800 from between the two chaerubims, which are upon the ark 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:31.080 of the testimony of all things which I will give 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:35.600 THEE in commandment unto the children of Israel. Okay, so 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:39.080 this thing is a container, as we've been saying, but 0:19:39.119 --> 0:19:43.880 it's also a chair, and it's a chair for God himself. Right. 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:48.000 The ideas that that mercy seat is where God is 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:51.680 going to manifest. It sounds from the instructions like there 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:53.800 is going to be a presence of the Lord there 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:57.879 and Uh and Moses, Um and perhaps you know some 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:00.960 other priests. H whoever is is in charge, whoever is 0:20:01.000 --> 0:20:04.520 authorized to do so, will actually commune with God. It is, 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:08.200 in the words of Belloc, a radio for speaking to God, 0:20:08.280 --> 0:20:11.439 a transmitter. But it's really more like a video phone 0:20:11.880 --> 0:20:14.879 than than just a transmitter. Right, Yeah, it's like FaceTime, 0:20:16.520 --> 0:20:18.320 you know. On that note, let's take a quick break 0:20:18.320 --> 0:20:21.359 and when we come back, we'll discuss the story of 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:23.639 the Arc, because that too will be important as we 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:27.040 get into some of these scientific ideas regarding the arc. 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:32.199 Than all right, we're back, all right, So if the 0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:35.560 Arc was actually built, about when do we think that 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:38.080 would have happened. It would have been about three thousand 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:40.680 years ago. Now we've seen the instructions in the Bible 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:43.800 where they believed God had sent his people. Uh, you know, 0:20:43.880 --> 0:20:46.399 the detailed plans on how to make the arc. But 0:20:46.520 --> 0:20:49.240 what do they do with it once they've got it? Well, 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:51.520 after they've they've built it, they carried around with them 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:53.080 and they use it as a central part of their 0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:57.960 religious observations. I mean, it's essentially a mobile alter piece, right, 0:20:58.000 --> 0:20:59.440 I mean, it's it's a it's a temple that you 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:02.600 can pick up in move. So think back again to 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:04.600 that part about the mercy seat. This is the point 0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:07.400 from which God speaks to the children of Israel, and 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:10.520 if Raiders is any indication, it's also from Wendcey sends 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:14.040 out his smiting laser beams of Holy Nazi frying death. 0:21:14.800 --> 0:21:17.560 Now the wording here is interesting because it is the 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:21.040 and I'm possibly a butchering this of course, but the 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:26.119