Didn’t you see the end of the movie? It’s tucked away in some huge government warehouse …

Following the Exodus, Israel’s worship centered around the ark of the covenant, but it had a rather checkered history after that. It was captured by the Philistines in battle (I Samuel 4:1-11). The Philistines sent it back, and it was stored on outlying farms (1 Samuel 7:1, 2 Samuel 6:9-11). David brought it to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:17-18). Solomon built the temple, and installed the ark within it (1 Kings 8:1-9). A couple centuries later, the nation’s worship had fallen into neglect: we have two chapters about Josiah’s reforms, primed by the rediscovery of the scroll of the law (2 Kings 22:1 – 23:25) — with no mention of the rediscovery of the ark. Just a tantalizing glimpse (2 Chronicles 35:3) of Josiah commanding the Levites: “Put the sacred ark in the temple.” Why wasn’t it already there? We are not told.

A century and a half later, in 587 BC, the Babylonians sacked the city of Jerusalem. The ark — or perhaps just the gold that covered the box, with the box itself destroyed by fire — would have been among the plunder.