WEBVTT - The Ark of the Covenant 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.279 And the Philistines took the Ark of God and brought 0:00:03.320 --> 0:00:07.640 it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod. When the Philistines took the 0:00:07.800 --> 0:00:10.039 Ark of God, they brought it into the house of 0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:14.320 Dagon and set it by Dagon. And when they of 0:00:14.360 --> 0:00:18.880 Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:21.279 upon his face to the earth before the ark of 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:24.439 the Lord. And they took Dagon and set him in 0:00:24.520 --> 0:00:27.440 his place again. And when they arose early on the 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:31.000 morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:33.640 the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:36.440 head of Dagon, and both the palms of his hands 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:39.560 were cut off upon the threshold. Only the stump of 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:43.879 Dagon was left to him. Therefore, neither the priests of Dagon, 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:47.120 nor any that come into Dagon's house tread on the 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:50.920 threshold of Dagon and Ashdod unto this day. But the 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:54.200 hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod, 0:00:54.320 --> 0:00:58.240 and he destroyed them and smote them with immrods, even 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:02.320 Ashdod and the coast thereof. And when the men of 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:05.240 Ashdad saw that it was so, they said, the ark 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:08.039 of the God of Israel shall not abide with us, 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:11.640 for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon, 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:15.560 our God. They sent therefore and gathered all the lords 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:18.759 of the Philistines unto them, and said, what shall we 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:21.520 do with the Ark of the God of Israel. And 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:23.880 they answered to let the ark of the God of 0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:28.200 Israel be carried about unto God. And they carried the 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:32.679 Ark of the God of Israel about thither. And it 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:35.360 was so that after they had carried it about, the 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:38.120 hand of the Lord was against the city with a 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:41.759 very great destruction. And he smote the men of the city, 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:45.240 both small and great. And they had immrods in their 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:49.880 secret parts, emmiads in their secret parts, immrods in their 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:54.920 secret parts, emirods in their secret parts, emads in their 0:01:54.960 --> 0:02:02.920 secret parts. Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:11.560 how Stuffworks dot Com. Hey you welcome to Scuff to 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:13.800 Blow your mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:16.480 Joe McCormick. And if you couldn't guess by that opening, 0:02:16.560 --> 0:02:18.960 obviously we're gonna be talking about the Ark of the 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:22.800 Covenant today. Robert. I think it was when I came 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:25.680 back from Thanksgiving break that you were like, we're doing 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:28.120 the Arc of the Covenant on the show, and I 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:30.600 was like, what the heck are you talking about? Now? 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:33.200 You know, I'm always up for an exploration of some 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:36.240 kind of weird ancient artifactory something like that. So so 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:38.880 we're we're good to go. But why did you want 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:42.000 to talk about the arc on this show? Robert, Well, 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:44.760 it's like nothing we've gone after before. Jah. I was like, 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:47.560 um no, that that the arc is. I guess it 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:49.720 basically comes down to the arc has along fascinated me. 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:54.280 I grew up watching Raiders of the Lost Arc, the 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:57.400 Indiana Jones movie. I had it on VHS and I 0:02:57.400 --> 0:03:01.080 would sit there and watch said and solved in slow motion. 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:04.160 Pretty much every special effect in the film I would 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:08.320 watch in slow motion, from the melting of Nazis to just, uh, 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:10.799 you know, more practical stuff as well. Uh and you 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:13.280 like sit your parents down and your grandparents into a 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:16.760 frame by frame face melting analysis, that sort of thing. Yeah, 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:19.919 it just it always fascinated me. And then if you're 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:23.880 setting in church, and I grew up attending church, you 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:26.239 you pick up the Bible and you flip around and 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:30.200 you look at you read the interesting passages and certainly 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:33.040 the passages about the Ark of the Covenant are some 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:36.840 of the more fascinating. Uh, this's just there's just they 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:39.400 just resonate with mystery and like what is this about? 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:41.600 And so I feel like throughout my life I have 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:44.800 come back to it, and uh, in each time I've 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:48.000 I've looked at it with new eyes, and more recently 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:50.960 I've been thinking, uh, you know what, what are some 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:54.920 scientific possible scientific explanations, even if they're a bit fringy 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:58.600 in places regarding the arc, surely they exist, and lo 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:01.680 and behold they do well. The way that the Arc 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:05.240 connects to a lot of scientific topics is very interesting. Generally, 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:08.040 it tends to connect to them and kind of uh yeah, 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:11.360 like you say, fringey often kind of like uh pseudo 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:13.920 pseudo scientific kind of ways, but gives you a good 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:17.880 mysterious jumping off point to talk about real science. So yeah, 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:20.120 we want to talk about the myth today. We want 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:23.360 to talk about some weird fringe and pseudoscience believes people 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:25.479 have had about the arc and how that connects to 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:28.840 weird ideas about ancient technology to talk about real science 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:32.080 and technology potential in the ancient world. And uh, I 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:33.880 think it's gonna be a lot of fun. Now, I 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:35.800 have to admit it. As much as I love the 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:38.880 discussion module our Facebook group, it is associated with stuff 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:42.359 to build your mind. I actually checked in with the 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:45.520 Movie Crushers this is the group associated with Chuck Bryant's 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:49.480 Movie Crush podcast, because I was curious what it what 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:51.680 it was, what it is like a two have never 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:55.279 seen Raiders of the Level Lost Arc, and also what 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:57.520 it is like to have seen Raiters of the Lost 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:00.360 Arc but with some sort of underlying understand thing pre 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:03.880 existing understanding of the Ark of the Covenant, because I 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:06.240 can relate to to to neither of those like the 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:09.200 Ark of the Covenant as it's revealed, and Raiders of 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:11.440 the Lost Art has pretty much always been there in 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:14.400 my life. Essentially, Raiders is a book of the Bible 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:17.880 in a way. Yeah really, I saw that, and then 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:21.000 later on I learned how to read and came back 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:24.039 into and learned what the Bible had to say about it. 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.000 But you know, in Sunday School, we just never got 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:30.000 the mrods. I don't know why they left the mrods out. 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:32.120 I would have loved that when I was seven. Well 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:34.200 we'll get we'll get to this, but I think one 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:37.720 of the issues, of course his translation. In some translations, 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:40.000 they're referred to as tumors. I think that's where I 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:42.840 encountered the first time, and I was like, whoa, back up, 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:45.400 The Ark of the Covenant is giving the enemies of 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:48.640 God tumors. Uh, And that's what that's one of This 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:50.440 was post Raiders, but then I was But then I 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:52.520 was like, oh, I'm really hooked now, Like this is 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:56.080 this is even more you know, Eldric horror heaped upon 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:58.560 the mystery of the arc. It makes you want to 0:05:58.600 --> 0:06:01.160 imagine an alternate universe in which Raiders to the Lost 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:03.599 Ark was not made by Spielberg and Lucas, but was 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:06.520 made by David Cronenberg. And so when they open the arc, 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:10.120 it's kind of like the tumor gun from Videodrome. Yeah, exactly. 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:12.400 I think that again, that's one of the things about 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:14.200 about The Ark of the Covenant is is it's just 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:16.880 so weird, and we're going to keep touching in on 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:19.000 that weirdness, and we're also going to keep referring to 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:22.720 Raiders of the Lost Arc throughout this episode because this episode, 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:25.600 more than anything that we've covered before, because it's just 0:06:25.720 --> 0:06:29.240 free license to talk about that movie at nausea. Yeah, 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:31.920 there's a lot of fascinating stuff just in the original 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:35.600 Arc mythology, but the the Indiana Jones treatment of the 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:39.400 story partially merges it with something kind of like Pandora's Box, 0:06:39.920 --> 0:06:44.039 Like it becomes just a container of unknown and unutterable 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:47.280 mystery where there isn't quite so much that feeling in 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:50.640 the Bible stories, though it is a strange and sacred 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:53.679 object of profound power. Now, two of the big questions 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:56.920 that are generally mold over concerning the Arc, uh, first 0:06:56.920 --> 0:06:59.560 of all, what was it? And then secondly, where is 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:01.880 it now? Now we're mostly going to ruminate over the 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:04.640 first question, because the second is one of those questions 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:07.520 that tends to lead to one of two places. Either 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:10.400 the fact that it's simply lost to history, likely destroyed 0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:13.360 in some prior age or or hidden away and lost, 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:15.960 assuming that there was such an object, and that's the 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:19.840 other possibility is that it simply did not exist um 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:22.920 Or it leads one to various speculative or even downright 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:27.840 conspiracy theories involving you know, the Knights templars perhaps, Or 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:30.320 there's the notion that it's it's currently hidden out of 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:33.480 sight in the chapel of the tablet in northern Epethiopia, 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:36.200 which is possible, but there's no no proof or that 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:38.920 it was taken to heaven, an answer that requires more 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:40.880 of a speculative lead than the notion that the arc, 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:45.440 like so many treasures of history, simply failed to survive history. Now, 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:46.840 one of the main things that we're going to be 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:49.320 exploring in this look at the Arc is that the 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:51.920 Arc of the Covenant is yet another one of these 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:56.120 ancient stories, these objects of ancient myth, which there have 0:07:56.200 --> 0:07:59.440 been great efforts by modern writers to ground the myth 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:03.679 and what we now know about science and technology, reimagining 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:06.440 what the ancients believe to be magic as some kind 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:10.520 of lost powerful science or technology. And we've discussed before 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:14.400 some of the risks of technologizing the myth. Uh, it's 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:18.000 not necessarily always wrong, but it's an impulse that's not all. 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:21.400 It's also not always justified. There's a sort of naive 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:25.520 way of reading ancient texts that says, Okay, let's take 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:29.640 what they say happened basically at face value, but posit 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:33.640 a different explanation for it than they would have. And 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:35.960 while this can be a fun exercise, I love doing it, 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:38.360 I personally enjoy it. We shoul always remember not to 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:41.719 start feeling like this is a necessary and especially not 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:46.640 like it's a parsimonious exercise, when in reality, ancient histories 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:49.840 of all kinds, religious texts, myths, and so forth are 0:08:49.920 --> 0:08:52.600 likely to be full of narratives that are the result 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:57.439 of creative imagination and things like exaggeration across time and retellings. 0:08:57.640 --> 0:09:00.319 In other words, there's no event that you ness really 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:03.680 have to explain, because the events described in these ancient 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:07.800 stories often just didn't take place. Right. We can't treat 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:10.640 a description of the arc in uh in the whole 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:14.160 Testament as being the same as say, you know, fossil 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:17.320 evidence or a or a crater, right right, We we 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:19.360 just don't know. I mean, it might be based on 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:22.240 something that actually happened, but we don't know. But if 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:24.760 we take the route of saying, well, okay, if these 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:27.600 stories are based on something people saw, are based on 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:31.160 something that actually happened. When we look at history that way, 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:33.559 ancient history with a bit of science under the belt, 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:38.400 there is this insatiable itch the retro sci fi hermonutic 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:41.160 which I've been looking for a concise name for, and 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:43.560 I think I just realized the perfect one for for 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:45.640 this era of that which I'm gonna I'm gonna start 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:49.199 calling bronze punk. So you've got Yeah, you've got steampunk 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:52.240 for the Victorian era, You've got adam punk for the 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:55.480 atomic age. And I think we should have bronze punk 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:59.560 as the name for this retroactive technologizing of the time 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.679 period of classical civilizations in the ancient Near East, including 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:06.280 the Hebrew Bible and its contemporary civilizations and texts. So 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:09.920 with those important caveats, I think we should begin a 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:13.720 bronze punk adventure into the ark Bronze Bronze punk does 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:16.600 have a lot of of of opportunity here. It gives 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:19.599 us a chance to bring back uh tal Us, the 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:23.760 Bronze automaton. Oh, that's a classic example we would tell us. 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:25.640 I think they'd be bronze. I don't want to be 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:28.199 too rigid about the time period that applies to either, 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:29.760 because a lot of the stuff we're talking about here, 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:32.600 I think would technically be bridging Bronze Age and Iron 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:35.840 Age in the regions that are affected. But all that aside, Yeah, 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:38.679 anything it doesn't need to stand in the way of 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:42.480 Talus battling the Ark of the Covenants. Let'm saying, well, 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:46.840 before we get into all these supposed bronze punk explanations 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:49.280 of what the arc might have been if it existed, 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:51.360 and if some of the stories about it are based 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:55.160 on things people saw, we we should just explore the myth, 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:57.680 like what is the story of the arc and what 0:10:57.800 --> 0:11:00.480 do the text say about it? All? Right? Yeah, Well, 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:04.880 we're talking here about the airon Hobart, the Arc of God, 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:08.080 the Arc of Testimony, the Arc of the Covenant, just 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:10.600 a few names that were used to describe it. Here 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:14.440 a gold plated wooden chest used by the ancient Hebrews 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:17.120 to house the two stone tablets of Law given to 0:11:17.240 --> 0:11:19.920 Moses by God, and it was also said to contain 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:22.520 a couple of other holy relics, such as Aaron's rod, 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:26.560 a magical item used by Moses brother, as well as 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:29.120 a pot of manna, the supernatural food stuff that fell 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:31.760 from the heavens to feed the Israelites in the desert. Now, 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:34.040 in addition to being made of gold, to the other 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:37.199 decorative element that is a signature of the art are 0:11:37.240 --> 0:11:40.559 the two cherubim that are depicted atop it. Now. I'm 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:43.040 not quite sure why this has happened, but in modern 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:48.160 English usage cherubs or cherubim that has come to mean 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:52.080 naked baby angels like you would see on those cards 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:54.840 or the creepy little statues people put on their dressers. 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:59.920 But cherubim are not naked cute baby angels, right, right, 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:02.959 Even though, like if we describe something as bearing cherubic 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:06.840 today we're describing so it's got like a baby with 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:08.960 fat cheeks, or maybe an adult with a fat with 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:11.559 fat cheeks and kind of a baby's face. But really 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:15.400 it should be a horrifying adjective to to heap on something. 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:19.520 It should mean that it is an object or personification 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:23.400 of just holy wrath. Right. Classical example would be Angel 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:25.920 stationed outside the garden of Eden with a flaming sword 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:28.640 to keep people out. That's right, I mean that that 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:30.719 is a chair of the true chair of forget the 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:35.120 Renaissance art here that they're kind of like God's supernatural heavies. 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:38.720 But as with any sort of mythological creature, you do 0:12:38.760 --> 0:12:40.559 see a lot of variety in the way they're depicted, 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:44.319 ranging indeed from the bestial to the more human oid 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:48.040 depictions of the art tend to favor of a version 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:52.000 of winged humanoids. But we could, and perhaps we should 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:55.040 do an entire episode on angels and religious traditions in 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:58.360 the future, because there's so much fascinating material there. So 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:00.200 we're talking about creatures that would have been for ast 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:03.240 your second circle and the hierarchy of angels and their 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:06.800 descriptions include or tend to include the form of a lion, 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:09.440 the form of a man, the form of an eagle, 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:13.120 or any hybrid of these forms. I've actually seen it 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:17.040 described that they sometimes are representative as having four faces, yes, 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:20.040 and the four the four faces would include the lion 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:23.200 to represent the beasts of the wild, the man to 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:26.760 represent the world of humans, I think, an oxen face 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:30.880 to represent the world of domesticated animals, and then an 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:33.120 eagle face to represent the world of birds, which I 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:36.359 guess are somehow different than wild animals. Yeah, these depictions 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:39.080 of of the chairs often look kind of like emblems, right, 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:42.640 with like folds of multiple wings and haloed heads of 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:46.240 these creatures and a human poking out now. According to 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:49.720 Carol rose Um, folkloreis who I frequently sign on the show. 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:53.400 In her book spirits, fairies, leprecns, and goblins, and Encyclopedia 0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:57.600 Hebrew religious writings state that images of Chibian guarded the 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:01.200 Ark of the Covenant, as well as Solomon's temple and 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:06.079 their divine messengers attending spirits and disseminators of knowledge. Now 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:09.520 it's possible, Rose points out the Cherubim are derived from 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:13.720 the Assyrian Lamassu or se Dow, and these were the 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:19.160 female and male, respectively, benevolent demons in ancient Assyria and Babylon. 0:14:20.080 --> 0:14:22.600 They would have protected palaces and temples, and they were 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:26.760 there often depicted as winged bulls or lions with human heads, 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:30.840 and they mostly remained invisible and were assigned in the 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:34.120 manner of guardian angels to protect an individual human from 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:38.360 the evil uh tuku. There are some amazing carvings of 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:41.480 these in the met in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:44.760 I believe from the palace of the Assyrian king Ashurbanapul 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:46.400 the second, or maybe not the palace, but I think 0:14:46.440 --> 0:14:50.240 commissioned by that king, and that they're fearsome and wonderful 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:52.840 to behold, Yes they are, and to come back to 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:56.160 Raiders of the Lost Arc. These are of course presumably 0:14:56.560 --> 0:14:59.480 the the the entities we see flying around after the 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:01.800 Nazi open the Ark of the Covenant at the end 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:04.840 of the film, the Cherubim, Yeah, yeah, because it first 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:08.080 thought look like like women, you know, sort of beautiful 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:10.320 ghost women. And then of course the face changes and 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:14.520 it becomes this kind of snarling, skeletal lion type face, 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:18.040 and then of course it's death for all who view 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:21.960 the ark. Now for a for an artifact that has 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:27.240 come to be imbued with so much mystery retrospectively, the 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:31.360 Bible actually does just straightforwardly explain how to build the arc. 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:35.280 It's like minute specifications on what you're supposed to do 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:39.040 to make one. Yeah. And also it almost makes you wonder, like, 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:41.320 what's the big deal about losing it, because clearly you 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:43.960 have you have a strict set of instructions on how 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:46.280 to build another one. Well, I mean I think they 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:49.840 were just like magical beliefs about the sacredness of what 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:52.760 it contains. Oh yes, certainly, but that but that ultimately 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:54.920 is the thing, right, The art is a container, a 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:58.720 fancy container. Uh perhaps even a holy container if you're 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:01.840 approaching with that worldview, but just a container for other 0:16:02.080 --> 0:16:05.640 otherwise holy relics. That is one thing that I think 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:07.880 makes it very fascinating and kind of unique. And there 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:11.560 are probably some other great artifacts like this, but fascinating 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:15.720 in that it is uh this artifact with all this significance, 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:18.600 but it is essentially just a vessel for other things. 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:22.160 It's a container, it's not a statue. Well, should we 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:24.640 read the instructions from Exodus twenty five in case anyone 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:27.840 wants to build along as we as we do the podcast. 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:30.720 Let's build it all right, um, get your your cubit 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:34.280 ruler ready, and they shall make an arc of shittim wood. 0:16:34.720 --> 0:16:37.240 Two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:40.280 and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:42.880 a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:46.440 shalt overlay it with pure gold within and without shalt 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:49.320 thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:52.760 of gold round about. And thou shalt cast four rings 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:55.120 of gold for it, and put them in the four 0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:58.080 corners thereof, And two rings shall be in the one 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:00.600 side of it, and two rings in the other side 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:03.520 of it. And thou shalt make staves of shittim wood 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:06.639 and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put the 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:09.120 staves into the rings by the sides of the arc, 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:12.280 that the arc may be born with them. The staves 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:14.480 shall be in the rings of the arc. They shall 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:16.640 not be taken from it. Now I want to jump 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:18.560 in here and said, they say that this is exactly 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:21.360 the kind of description of the arc that is disappointing 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:24.080 when you're a child, you've seen raiders and then you 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:25.800 want to read about it in the Bible, and you 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:28.560 just find this this kind of boring description of how 0:17:28.600 --> 0:17:30.760 to build one. Oh, there are better stories. We got 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:32.920 the m roads. We're gonna get to some more later. Well, 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:36.840 this this description is about to get a lot more interesting, 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:39.400 and certainly we'll tie into some stuff we're gonna discuss later. 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:42.960 And thou shalt put into the arc the testimony which 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:46.159 I shall give thee. And thou shalt make a mercy 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:49.119 seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:51.680 be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half 0:17:51.800 --> 0:17:55.480 the breath thereof. And thou shalt make two cherubims of 0:17:55.560 --> 0:17:58.560 gold of beaten work. Shalt thou make them in the 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:02.040 two ends of the mercy seat. And make one cherub 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:04.600 on the one end and the other cherub on the 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:08.160 other end, even of the mercy seat. Shall ye make 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:12.240 the cherubims on the two ends thereof, So, in other words, 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:14.479 make the two cherubs face each other on the ends 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:16.480 of the mercy seat. Believe a space, because that space 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:20.200 is important. Anyway continues, And the cherubims shall stretch forth 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:23.760 their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:27.000 and their faces shall look one to another toward the 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:30.560 mercy seat. Shall the faces of the cherubims be, And 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:33.800 thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the arc, 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:36.879 and in the arc thou shalt put the testimony that 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:40.400 I shall give THEE, and there I will meet with THEE. 0:18:40.440 --> 0:18:43.240 And I will commune with THEE from above the mercy 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:46.840 seat from between the two cherubims, which are upon the 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:50.120 arc of the testimony of all things which I will 0:18:50.160 --> 0:18:54.600 give THEE in commandment unto the children of Israel. Okay, 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:58.280 So this thing is a container, as we've been saying, 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:01.520 but it's also a chair, and it's a chair for 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:05.639 God himself. Right, the ideas that that mercy seat is 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:10.040 where God is going to manifest It sounds from the 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:12.280 instructions like there is going to be a presence of 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:17.040 the Lord there, and uh and Moses and perhaps you know, 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:20.760 some other priests. Whoever is in charge, whoever is authorized 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:23.840 to do so, will actually commune with God. It is, 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:27.480 in the words of Belloc, a radio for speaking to God. 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:30.719 A transmitter. But it's really more like a video phone 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:34.160 than than just a transmitter. Right, yeah, it's like FaceTime, 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:37.600 you know. On that note, let's take a quick break, 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:40.639 and when we come back, we'll discuss the story of 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:42.919 the arc, because that too will be important as we 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:46.360 get into some of these scientific ideas regarding the arc. 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:52.239 Than alright, we're back. Alright, So if the arc was 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:55.760 actually built, about when do we think that would have happened. 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:58.320 It would have been about three thousand years ago. Now 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:00.639 we've seen the instructions in the Bible where they believed 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:03.720 God had sent his people, uh, you know, the detailed 0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:06.000 plans on how to make the arc. But what do 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:08.840 they do with it once they've got it. Well, after 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:10.879 they've they've built it, they carried around with them and 0:20:10.880 --> 0:20:13.640 they use it as a central part of their religious observations. 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:17.359 I mean, it's essentially a mobile altar piece. Right, I 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:18.919 mean it's it's a it's a temple that you can 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:22.040 pick up and move. So think back again to that 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:24.080 part about the mercy seat. This is the point from 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:27.120 which God speaks to the children of Israel. And if 0:20:27.200 --> 0:20:30.000 Raiders is any indication, it's also from Wincey sends out 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:34.280 his smiting laser beams of Holy Nazi frying death. Now 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:37.600 the wording here is interesting because it is the and 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:40.600 I'm I'm possibly a butchering this of course, but the 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:44.760 haw copperette well and coufer that's k k a p 0:20:45.080 --> 0:20:48.800 h a r means to cover, but kapareth means a 0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:51.919 thing of wiping out or cleansing. So they carry it 0:20:51.920 --> 0:20:54.480 a bit before them when during the Exodus, and it 0:20:54.520 --> 0:20:59.000 was said to clear impediments and poisonous animals in their path, 0:20:59.520 --> 0:21:01.639 and it was even said to stop the flow of 0:21:01.680 --> 0:21:04.119 the river Jordan's so that they could cross into the 0:21:04.119 --> 0:21:07.640 Promised Land. But it was also conceived of as a 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:10.520 kind of a magical weapon of war. Right, Yeah, they 0:21:10.560 --> 0:21:13.680 marched with it at the Siege of Jericho. Of course 0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:15.920 that you know, they were blowing those trumpets, but still 0:21:16.000 --> 0:21:18.560 the arc was there. And as they're blowing those trumpets. 0:21:18.760 --> 0:21:22.399