Within the collective imaginary of humanity, the Ark of the Covenant is the ultimate sacred object. It is the mystical artefact that has elicited the most profound fascination and mystery throughout the ages. However, no one knows what became of this container, altar of the divine manifestation of YHWH, memorial of the law given to the prophet Moses, and we can only speculate about its existence in the past. Historical research is facing a series of challenging questions that lie on the blurred boundary between reality and imagination, between what actually happened and what is merely a tale or a myth.
There are few documentary sources that tell us about the Ark of the Covenant. They all refer to the same religious and narrative context: the Bible. This book is a collection of writings belonging to different eras, often interpolated between each other. The lack of other sources, such as Egyptian or Babylonian ones, makes it difficult to determine the historical accuracy of biblical stories. Attempts to identify the context in which the Ark of the Covenant originated, was placed in Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem, and then disappeared, have so far been inconclusive. The fate of the ancient world’s most important relic is still shrouded in mystery.
The exodus from Egypt and the Ark of the Covenant
According to the Book of Exodus, the Israelites once lived in Egypt1. However, when they became too numerous, the pharaoh enslaved them out of fear of losing power over the kingdom. Therefore, Yahweh, the living God, commanded the prophet Moses to free the Israelites and lead them to the Promised Land:
“So indeed the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have truly noted that the Egyptians are oppressing them. Come, now! I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt”.
Book of Exodus 3, 9-10
At Pharaoh’s refusal, Yahweh sent the ten plagues2. He finally parted the sea to allow them to escape.
“As the water flowed back, it covered the chariots and the charioteers of Pharaoh’s whole army which had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not a single one of them escaped. But the Israelites had marched on dry land through the midst of the sea, with the water like a wall to their right and to their left”.
Book of Exodus 14, 15-31
According to the biblical accounts, the Israelites began a forty-year journey through the desert. During this time, God provided for their sustenance with food that fell from heaven, manna, and Moses received the Tablets with the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai3. Therefore, Yahweh commanded the Israelites to build an ark to store them.
“At that time the Lord said to me: «Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden ark»; The Lord wrote on these tablets what he had written before, the Ten Commandments he had proclaimed to you on the mountain, out of the fire, on the day of the assembly. And the Lord gave them to me. Then I came back down the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made, as the Lord commanded me, and they are there now”.
Deuteronomy 10, 1; 10, 4-5
The Ark of the Covenant, sacred vessel
Thus, the Ark of the Covenant was a container, as suggested by the word ‘ārōn used in the biblical text. It was made of acacia wood. Taking into account the Jewish cubit measurement (approximately 45 cm), its dimensions were 112 cm long and 67 cm wide. To this we must also add the thickness of the gold covering. In Exodus 37:1, we discover that its builder was Bezalel.
“You shall make an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits high. Plate it inside and outside with pure gold, and put a molding of gold around the top of it”.
Book of Exodus 25, 10-11
The measurements reveal that the Ark of the Covenant was quite small. In fact, since the Israelites were traveling through the desert, they had to carry it with them wherever they went. Not surprisingly, the biblical description focuses on the presence of rings and poles for transporting the Ark.
“Cast four gold rings and fasten them on the four supports of the ark, two rings on one side and two on the opposite side. Then make poles of acacia wood and plate them with gold. These poles you are to put through the rings on the sides of the ark, for carrying it; they must remain in the rings of the ark and never be withdrawn”.
Book of Exodus 25, 12-15
The nomadic condition of the people of Israel depends directly on Yahweh. The poles of the Ark, in fact, could never be removed.
The contents of the Ark
As mentioned, the Ark contained the Tablets of the Law received by the prophet Moses on Mount Sinai. Interestingly, the sacred texts refer to it as the “testimony“. Thus, it was the proof of the existence of Yahweh and his intervention in the history of the Jewish people.
“Put the tablets of the testimony that I will give you into the ark”.
Book of Exodus 25,16
It is unclear whether the Ark of the Covenant contained any other objects. Some biblical passages – such as Hebrews 9, 4 – suggest that it also housed the manna and Aaron’s rod. This had turned into a serpent before the pharaoh and, blossoming, had established the priestly order of the Levi’s tribe. However, other passages seem to rule this out, suggesting that these sacred relics may simply have been carried in procession with the Ark on certain occasions4.
“There was nothing in the ark but the two stone tablets which Moses had put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites at their departure from the land of Egypt”.
I Kings 8, 9
The Ark of the Covenant, historical memorial and powerful weapon
The Israelites carried the Ark at the head of the procession in the desert. The relic was an object of identity through which they recognised themselves as the chosen people, whom God had freed from slavery under the Egyptian pharaoh, and to whom he had promised a land. The Ark was covered by the veil of the tabernacle on which Moses had consecrated it, made of animal skins (perhaps badger) and a purple mantle5.
Thanks to the divine power that accompanied it, the Ark of the Covenant was also a formidable weapon against enemies. Biblical sources recount that, after forty years in the desert, the Israelites finally reached the Promised Land in Canaan. Here Yahweh commanded them to carry the ark in procession around the walls of Jericho, that suddenly collapsed to the ground at the end of seven days6. Furthermore, when the Philistines took possession of the sacred relic, it unleashed a terrible plague among them. It lasted for seven months until the Ark of the Covenant was returned to the Israelites7.
“The Philistines, having captured the ark of God, transferred it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. They then took the ark of God and brought it into the temple of Dagon, placing it beside Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next morning, Dagon was lying prone on the ground before the ark of the Lord”.
I Samuel 5, 1-3
The Ark of the Covenant, throne of God
The Ark of the Covenant had the power to manifest the Shekhinah, the presence of Yahweh. It marked the place of encounter with the divine wherever it was. The manifestation of the living God took place on the propitiatory, kapporeth in Hebrew. This was the golden cover, placed over the Ark, which served as a sacred throne. Two sculptures of winged cherubim, facing each other, were on it.
“You shall then make a propitiatory of pure gold, two cubits and a half long, and one and a half cubits wide. Make two cherubim of beaten gold for the two ends of the propitiatory, […].
There I will meet you and there, from above the propitiatory, between the two cherubim on the ark of the commandments, I will tell you all the commands that I wish you to give the Israelites”.
Book of Exodus 25, 17-18; 25, 22
Once settled in Canaan, the Israelites placed the Ark inside the dĕbhīr, or sancta sanctorum, of Solomon’s Temple8.
Egyptian and Babylonian arks
Although the biblical sources emphasise the Ark of the Covenant’s great cultural and religious value, it was not unique. In fact, we know similar Egyptian and Babylonian artefacts with the dual function of container and throne of God.
Similar to Jewish ones, Late Bronze Age Egyptian arks consisted of a container chest. In the palanquin type, winged figures adorned the top. Two poles and a base shaped like a sacred boat allowed it to be lifted and carried in procession. It could contain objects offered to the deity or its simulacrum. The lid of Egyptian arks, similar to the propitiatory, was called the throne of mercy9.
Even in Babylon, where Nebuchadnezzar deported the Israelites after the conquest of the Jewish Kingdom in 586 BC, we can find thrones similar to arks. The Akkadian term karabu, meaning “blessing”10, is the etymological origin of Kĕrūbhīm, the cherubim of Jewish tradition, represented on the propitiatory of the Ark of the Covenant. Similarly, the Assyrians and Babylonians of Mesopotamia placed statues of karibu to protect sacred places. They were genies with wings, part human, part animal.
In Babylon and Egypt, it was also customary to lay the scrolls containing laws, or alliance treaties between nations, at the foot of a statue of a deity, which thus became a witness to the sacred oath. In the Jewish Ark of the Covenant, the Tablets of the Law are thus placed in its footstool11. Yahweh himself acted as guarantor of the covenant made with the Israelites.
“Let us go to his dwelling place, let us worship at his footstool, saying, Arise, Lord, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might”.
Psalm 132, 7-8
The God of Israel יהוה
In Egyptian and Babylonian religion, a simulacrum houses the presence of the divinity. There could be no hierophany without a dwelling place, without matter, which is an indispensable element of it. Instead, the God of the Israelites is transcendent, he is totally other than the tangible world. The dimension of the Lord is the absolute sacred, and therefore cannot be represented, nor seen, nor named. There is no depiction of Yahweh on the Ark because he is the living and present God. He manifests himself among the cherubim. The divine and ineffable nature of Yahweh appeared to Moses through a mysterious voice that, from a burning bush, announces: “Am who I am”.
“God replied, «I am who am». Then he added, «This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I Am sent me to you»“.
Book of Exodus 3, 14
The translation of the Hebrew expression (האֶֽהְיֶ ראֲשֶׁ האֶֽהְיֶ, transliterated into ʾehyeh ʾašer ʾehyeh) does not give proper expression to the numerous semantic facets it contains. The imperfect ehyeh, first person singular of the verb hayah, can be used in both the past and the present, and even in a future tense. God, therefore, is the one who has been, who is, and who always will be. The biblical text affirms the eternity of the Creator and also the infinity of his covenant with Israel. God is present in history and will be there at all times for his people. He will accompany them throughout their wanderings in the desert and beyond12. This statement is necessary to dispel any doubts, since Yahweh never shows himself:
“But my face you cannot see, for no man sees me and still lives.”.
Book of Exodus 33, 20
The identity of God, in the original semitic texts indicated by the tetragrammaton YHWH (יהוה), could not even be pronounced. The Tablets of the Law given to Moses prescribed “You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain”13. Thus, the original Hebrew vocalisation of the consonants YHWH is unknown, but scholars hypothesise that it was Yahveh14.
The Levites
Nobody could see the Ark of the Covenant, because it manifested the presence of God. A tent of meeting concealed the relic and, during the journey, leather and cloth covered it. For the same reason, no one could touch the chest; only members of the tribe of Levi could carry it.
“When they came to the threshing floor of Nodan, Uzzah reached out his hand to the ark of God and steadied it, for the oxen were making it tip. But the LORD was angry with Uzzah; God struck him on that spot, and he died there before God”.
II Samuel 6, 1-8
The atonement sacrifice
Inside the Temple of Solomon, similarly, the Ark of the Covenant remained hidden from view. Only the High Priest could see it once a year on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. On this occasion, during a ritual sacrifice, the priest sprinkled the propitiatory Ark with the blood of a goat, called scapegoat. In this way, Yahweh could forgive the impurities of his people15. This explains the etymology of the term kapporeth, from the verb kapar, which means to atone for or cover up sins.
Between reality and legend
For centuries, scholars have debated whether the Ark of the Covenant was a real object or a narrative myth. This is an enormously complex debate which encompass broader reflections on the historicity of the Holy Scriptures. The difficulty lies in defining the boundary between truth and myth. It also touches on sensitive issues of belief and faith. While the veracity of the Exodus stories cannot be completely denied, it would be absurd to take every detail literally. Biblical texts often contain periphrases, metaphors, parables and sometimes pure legend.
Maximalists and minimalists
In this regard, studies of biblical philology and archaeology have multiplied in recent decades, revealing often antithetical positions. The genuine intentions of the maximalists W. F. Albright16 and G. E. Wright17, who attempted to verify the Bible through archaeology, on the assumption that it constitutes a historical source, were opposed by the minimalists, who consider the sacred texts to be merely a literary work. The latter include W. G. Dever18, J. Van Seters19 and others belonging to the Copenhagen School, such as N. P. Lemche20, T. Thompson21, P. R. Davies22.
Today’s critics are mostly in an intermediate position, but not without varied facets. Authors such as I. Finkelstein and N. A. Silberman23, Ze’ev Herzog24 recognise a substratum of truth in the sacred texts, but at the same time emphasise how their scope was particularly amplified through myth.
The Ark of the Covenant: a fund of truth
In particular, it is possible that the Ark of the Covenant really existed: there are too many descriptions and accounts to consider it merely the fruit of ancient imagination. Furthermore, as mentioned, the relic belonged to a category of artefact that was common in Egypt and Babylon. It is much more difficult to ascertain historical details. For example, when the Israelites built the Ark and located it in Solomon’s Temple. The information provided by the Bible are very vague. Moreover, there are no other sources, such as Egyptian or Babylonian ones, that can clarify the matter.
The exodus narrative: two possible scenarios
The first major difficulty is tracing the historical moment when an exodus of people “in the number of six hundred thousand men able to walk, not counting the children”25 took place from Egypt to Canaan, crossing the Sinai desert, destroying the walls of Jericho and establishing a kingdom under Kings David and Solomon. Based on biblical references and a few archaeological findings, scholars have proposed two possible datings.
The hypothesis of an “ancient” Exodus makes the Hebrews coincide with the Hyksos people, who were in Egypt until the reign of Ahmose (around 1550 – 1525 BC). Furthermore, a papyrus preserved in the Brooklyn Museum attests the presence of nomads from Palestine, known as Hapiru, passing through Egypt during that period. However, it is unclear whether they really correspond to the Hebrews.
Most supporters of the historicity of the Exodus, however, place the events during the Egyptian New Kingdom, as the biblical text contains a reference to the cities of Pi-ton and Pi-ramses, built under the pharaoh Rameses II (around 1279-1212 BC):
“Then a new king, who knew nothing of Joseph, came to power in Egypt. He said to his subjects, «Look how numerous and powerful the Israelite people are growing, more so than we ourselves! Come, let us deal shrewdly with them to stop their increase; otherwise, in time of war they too may join our enemies to fight against us, and so leave our country». Accordingly, taskmasters were set over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. Thus they had to build for Pharaoh the supply cities of Pithom and Raamses”.
Book of Exodus 1, 8-11
The flight of the Hebrews may have taken place during the reign of his son Merenptah (around 1213-1203 BC). Indeed, a stele found at Merenptah’s funerary temple in Thebes contains a reference to a people called ysrỉr, whom the pharaoh defeated in the land of Canaan. It is clear from the hieroglyphics that these people were nomads. Indeed, there is no indication of a land but the stele only contains human ideograms.
The little exodus
Nevertheless, many scholars believe that the historical significance of the Israelites’ exodus into the desert should at least be scaled down26, especially given the few archaeological finds that can prove it. For example, this is what Israeli archaeologist Z. Herzog says:
“This is what archaeologists have learned from their excavations in the Land of Israel: the Israelites were never in Egypt, did not wander in the desert, did not conquer the land in a military campaign and did not pass it on to the 12 tribes of Israel. […] The united monarchy of David and Solomon, which is described by the Bible as a regional power, was at most a small tribal kingdom […].
Most historians today agree that at best, the stay in Egypt and the exodous occurred in a few families and that their private story was expanded and “nationalized” to fit the needs of theological ideology”.
Z. Herzog, Deconstructing the walls of Jericho, Haaretz, 1999
The disappearance of the Ark of the Covenant
The writing of the last version of the Book of Exodus probably occurred in a time span between the 7th and 5th centuries BC, long after the events described in it, through the interpolation of older documents from different sources. Without wishing to enter into the merits of the historiographical discussion on the origin of the Pentateuch – the documentary hypothesis of J. Wellhausen27 and the supplementary one of J. Van. Seters28 – we can understand how, in this centuries-long process of textual integration and codification, many narrative elements were exaggerated, mythologised or reinterpreted.
In 586 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar conquered the southern Kingdom of Judah and destroyed Jerusalem, including Solomon’s Temple, which housed the Ark of the Covenant. Many Israelites were deported to Babylon, and it is possible that the biblical texts were addressed to them. The stories of the Exodus, therefore, were not only accounts of a distant past, but appeared at least relevant. They served people who had once again become homeless and lost their place of worship, and who now had to rediscover their identity.
Nebuchadnezzar plunders the Temple of Solomon
But what happened to the Ark of the Covenant? One might imagine that this relic disappeared at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. However, biblical texts list the sacred furnishings plundered by the Babylonians from Solomon’s Temple and the Ark is not present among them, as if it were already in another place:
“On the seventh day of the fifth month (this was in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, came to Jerusalem as the representative of the king of Babylon. He burned the house of the Lord, the palace of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every large building was destroyed by fire […]
The bronze pillars that belonged to the house of the Lord, and the wheeled carts and the bronze sea in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke into pieces; they carried away the bronze to Babylon. They took also the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the bowls, the pans and all the bronze vessels used for service. The fire-holders and the bowls which were of gold or silver the captain of the guard also carried off. The weight in bronze of the two pillars, the bronze sea, and the wheeled carts, all of them furnishings which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, was never calculated”.
II Kings 25, 8-9; 25, 13-16
In 539 BC, Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylon and allowed the Israelites to return to Palestine. On that occasion, the king also returned the sacred furnishings of Solomon’s Temple, but even among these there is no mention of the Ark of the Covenant29. Is it possible that it had already been destroyed before Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest of Jerusalem? Or rather, had the Israelites placed the sacred relic in a safe place?
Has the Ark of the Covenant been lost?
The last time the biblical text mentions the Ark of the Covenant, before Nebuchadnezzar destroys Solomon’s Temple, is in II Chronicles:
“[Josiah] He said to the Levites who were to instruct all Israel, and who were consecrated to the Lord: «Put the holy ark in the house built by Solomon, son of David, king of Israel. It shall no longer be a burden on your shoulders. Serve now the Lord, your God, and his people Israel»”.
II Chronicles 35, 3
It is unclear where the Ark had been taken in the meantime, but King Josiah ordered it to be returned to Jerusalem’s Temple. Josiah established a strict monotheistic cult of Yahweh in Judah. The biblical accounts of his reign (640-609 BC) are much more precise and, suspiciously, rich in historical references. For example, the Egyptian pharaoh is no longer the indistinct and metaphorical figure of the Exodus, but has his name: Necho II, of the 26th dynasty. It was Necho who sent an invading army to Palestine. Hence Finkelstein’s suspicion that the Book of Exodus was composed during the reign of Josiah as anti-Egyptian propaganda30. Instead, the Second Book of Chronicles, which recounts the events of the Babylonian exile, dates from a later period: the 4th century BC.
The Ark as a cultic typology
We cannot be sure whether the Ark of the Covenant built during the Exodus in the desert and the one relocated by Josiah to the Temple were the same relic. In fact, it cannot be ruled out that it was rebuilt several times. One hypothesis is that sources refer to the Ark as a type of cultic object. Indeed, the Bible states that the Temple of Solomon had already been plundered several times before Nebuchadnezzar’s arrival: by Pharaoh Sisak31, identified by most as Sheshonq I, who reigned from 945 BC to 924 BC; by the king of Israel Ioas (early 8th century BC)32; by the king of Judah Ahaz33; and again by his son Hezekiah (at the turn of the 8th century BC), who used the furnishings to pay tribute to the Assyrian king Sennacherib34.
In any case, the Second Book of Chronicles tells us that the Israelites relocated the Ark of the Covenant to Solomon’s Temple at the end of the 7th century BC. When the Babylonians arrived in Jerusalem a few decades later, the Ark had already disappeared.
Did the prophet Jeremiah hide the Ark of the Covenant?
Another hypothesis is that the Ark survived the repeated looting of Solomon’s Temple. The relic was too valuable to be left unguarded and it would certainly have been moved to a safer place in case of danger. At the beginning of the 6th century BC, as Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian troops prepared to besiege Jerusalem, Jeremiah may have saved the Ark. According to the Second Book of Maccabees, the prophet hid it on Mount Nebo:35
“The same document also tells how the prophet, following a divine revelation, ordered that the tent and the ark should accompany him and how he went off to the mountain which Moses climbed to see God’s inheritance. When Jeremiah arrived there, he found a room in a cave in which he put the tent, the ark, and the altar of incense; then he blocked up the entrance”.
II Maccabees 2,4-5
The account of the Maccabees dates back to the 2nd century BC. It is likely that it simply collects the legends and sayings of that time. The events narrated are to be understood primarily in a symbolic sense: the place where the Ark was hidden by Jeremiah “is to remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows them mercy“36. It is difficult to understand whether the mercy moment of which Jeremiah speaks refers to the end of the Babylonian captivity, or whether it has only an eschatological meaning.
The testimony of Tacitus
The Roman historian Tacitus, who lived between approximately 55 and 120 AD, reports that at that time the Ark of the Covenant was no longer in the Temple of Jerusalem. In fact, there was only a stone in the Sancta Sanctorum that recalled its ancient location.
“The first Roman to subdue the Jews and set foot in their temple by right of conquest was Gnaeus Pompey; thereafter it was a matter of common knowledge that there were no representations of the gods within, but that the place was empty and the secret shrine contained nothing”.
Tacitus, Historiae, V, 9.
Tacitus’ account could suggest that the Ark of the Covenant was destroyed, or that the memory of where it had been hidden was lost.
The Ark of the Covenant and the Knights Templar
The fate of the Ark has given rise to a long tradition and many stories over the centuries. For example, the Talmud, one of the sacred texts of Judaism, states that “The Ark was buried in its place“37. Since the place designated for the custody of the relic was Solomon’s Temple, it has been hypothesized that it was somehow hidden in a secret recess of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
A Christian legend has it that the Ark of the Covenant remained in that place even after the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem by the Roman general Titus in 70 AD. Then, Then, during the Crusades in the Holy Land, the Knights Templar, occupied the Temple Mount area during the Crusades in the Holy Land and found the Ark, which became part of their legendary treasure. The Templars perhaps transported the Ark to a stronghold, guarded it until the dissolution of the Order between 1312 and 1314. From that moment on, all trace of it was lost.
The Ark of the Covenant and Ethiopia
A widespread tradition of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church holds that the sacred Jewish container is still kept in Africa today. According to the Kebra Negast, an important historical and religious text also called the Glory of the Kings38 and written between the 4th and 6th centuries AD, the Ark was transported to Africa before the destruction of Solomon’s Temple. The text, inspired by certain biblical passages39, recounts that Solomon gave the sacred relic to his son Bayna-Lehkem, whom he had conceived with the Queen of Sheba, Machedà. Bayna-Lehkem became ruler of Ethiopia under the name Menelik I. He then ensured that the Ark was kept in an inaccessible location within his kingdom.
The Ark served as a symbol to legitimise the kingship of Menelik I dynasty, but this legend has always aroused great interest and mystery. Ethiopian tradition has it that it is still kept in the Cathedral of Our Lady Mary of Zion, in Axum, in a chapel called “Tabot”, meaning “treasure”. However, nobody can access it to see the Ark: a monk guards the entrance day and night, at the cost of his own life.
The Ark of the Covenant, eternal throne
Although historical and archaeological research still faces numerous uncertainties, we can say that the Ark of the Covenant exists. Certainly not in the literal sense, not only as an object of form and matter; it exists above all as a cultural expression of peoples and religions, as a spiritual symbol suspended between story and myth. Its value transcends tangible reality and is inscribed in a meta-historical dimension. The Ark of the Covenant does not belong to this world or this time. It could not be otherwise: “your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever“40.
Samuele Corrente Naso
Notes
- Book of Genesis 45. ↩︎
- Book of Exodus 7-12. ↩︎
- Book of Exodus 24. ↩︎
- Exodus 33-34; Book of Numbers 17, 25-26. ↩︎
- Book of Number 4, 6. ↩︎
- Joshua 6. ↩︎
- I Samuel 5-6. ↩︎
- I Kings 8. ↩︎
- D. A. Falk, The Ark of the Covenant in Its Egyptian Context: An Illustrated Journey, Hendrickson Publishers, 2020. ↩︎
- F. Fuchs, A. Bonicatti, Ernst Fuchs, Milano, Electa, 1984. ↩︎
- Psalm 132, 7. ↩︎
- H. Küng, Dio esiste, Fazi editore, Roma 2012. ↩︎
- Book of Exodus 20, 7. ↩︎
- S. D. Sperling, Encyclopedia of Religion, vol. 7, New York, Macmillan, 2005. ↩︎
- Leviticus 16. ↩︎
- W. F. Albright, Views of the Biblical World, International Publishing Company J-m Ltd, 1959. ↩︎
- G. E. Wright, Biblical Archaeology, Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd, 1962. ↩︎
- W. G. Dever, What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It? What Archaeology Can Tell Us about the Reality of Ancient Israel, Eerdmans, 2001. ↩︎
- J. Van Seters, Abraham in History and Tradition, Yale University Press, 1975. ↩︎
- N. P. Lemche, The Old Testament Between Theology and History: A Critical Survey, Westminster John Knox Press, 2008. ↩︎
- T. Thompson, The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives, Harrisburg, Trinity Intl, 2002. ↩︎
- P. R. Davies, Scribes and Schools, Westminster John Knox, 1998. ↩︎
- I. Finkelstein, N. A. Silberman, The Bible unearthed. Archaeology’s new vision of ancient Israel and the origin of its sacred texts, 2001. ↩︎
- Z. Herzog, Deconstructing the walls of Jericho, published in Haaretz magazine on October 29, 1999. ↩︎
- Exodus 12, 37. ↩︎
- Ibidem note 24. ↩︎
- J. Wellhausen, Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels, 1883. ↩︎
- J. Van. Seters, The Pentateuch: A Social-Science Commentary, New York, t&t clark, 1999. ↩︎
- Ezra 1, 7-11. ↩︎
- Ibidem note 23. ↩︎
- I Kings, 14, 25-26. ↩︎
- II Kings 14, 14. ↩︎
- II Kings 16, 8 ff. ↩︎
- II Kings 18, 15-16. ↩︎
- II Maccabees 2, 1-8. ↩︎
- II Maccabees 2, 7. ↩︎
- Talmud: Yoma 53b. ↩︎
- E. Cerulli, Storia della letteratura etiopica in Storia delle letterature di tutto il mondo, II ed., Milano, Nuova Accademia Editrice, 1961. ↩︎
- I King 10, 4. ↩︎
- Psalm 45, 6. ↩︎
