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The Sign and the Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant by Graham Hanc

Description: The Sign and the Seal by Graham Hancock The dramatic story of the discovery of the most important archaeological find since the opening of Tutankhamens tomb. On a quest for the ark, archaeologist Hancock journeyed to a remote corner of Ethiopia, where he located the sacred ark in a small church. Photos. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description The fact of the Lost Ark of the Covenant is one of the grant historical mysteries of all time. To believers, the Ark is the legendary vesel holding the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. The Bible contains hundreds of references to the Arks power to level mountains, destroy armies, and lay waste to cities. The Ark itself, however, mysteriously disappears from recorded history sometime after the building of the Temple of Solomon. After ten years of searching through the dusty archives of Europe and the Middle East, as well as braving the real-life dangers of a bloody civil war in Ethiopia, Graham Hancock has succeeded where scores of others have failed. This intrepid journalist has tracked down the true story behind the myths and legends -- revealing where the Ark is today, how it got there, and why it remains hidden. Part fascinating scholarship and part entertaining adventure yarn, tying together some of the most intriguing tales of all time -- from the Knights Templar and Prester John to Parsival and the Holy Grail -- this book will appeal to anyone fascinated by the revelation of hidden truths, the discovery of secret mysteries. Author Biography Graham Hancock was the East Africa correspondent for The Economist and is the author of several previous books on Africa and the Third World. He lives in Devonshire, England. Table of Contents Contents Acknowledgements I Legend 1 Initiation 2 Disenchantment II Holy Ark and Holy Grail 3 The Grail Cipher 4 A Map to Hidden Treasure 5 White Knights, Dark Continent 6 Resolving Doubts 7 A Secret and Never-Ending Quest III Labyrinth 8 Into Ethiopia 9 Sacred Lake 10 Ghost in a Maze 11 And David danced before the Ark IV A Monstrous Instrument 12 Magic...or Method? 13 Treasures of Darkness V Where is the Glory? 14 The Glory is departed from Israel 15 Hidden History 16 Door of the Southern Countries VI The Waste Land 17 Supping with Devils 18 A Treasure Hard to Attain References Index Review The Seattle Times Anyone who likes a great intellectual detective yarn will plunge into The Sign and the Seal and not come up until the end.The Western Morning News As readable as a first-class detective story... Long Description The fact of the Lost Ark of the Covenant is one of the grant historical mysteries of all time. To believers, the Ark is the legendary vesel holding the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. The Bible contains hundreds of references to the Arks power to level mountains, destroy armies, and lay waste to cities. The Ark itself, however, mysteriously disappears from recorded history sometime after the building of the Temple of Solomon.After ten years of searching through the dusty archives of Europe and the Middle East, as well as braving the real-life dangers of a bloody civil war in Ethiopia, Graham Hancock has succeeded where scores of others have failed. This intrepid journalist has tracked down the true story behind the myths and legends -- revealing where the Ark is today, how it got there, and why it remains hidden.Part fascinating scholarship and part entertaining adventure yarn, tying together some of the most intriguing tales of all time -- from the Knights Templar and Prester John to Parsival and the Holy Grail -- this book will appeal to anyone fascinated by the revelation of hidden truths, the discovery of secret mysteries. Review Text "An extraordinary experience like nothing ever done before in America that I know of. Its important. It matters" Review Quote The Western Morning NewsAs readable as a first-class detective story... Excerpt from Book Chapter 1 Initiation: 1983 It was growing dark and the air of the Ethiopian highlands was chill when the monk appeared. Stooped and leaning on a prayer stick he shuffled towards me from the doorway of the sanctuary chapel and listened attentively as I was introduced to him. Speaking in Tigrigna, the local language, he then sought clarification through my interpreter about my character and my motives: from which country had I come, what work did I do there, was I a Christian, what was it that I wanted from him? I answered each of these questions fully, squinting through the gloom as I talked, trying to make out the details of my inquisitors face. Milky cataracts veiled his small sunken eyes and deep lines furrowed his black skin. He was bearded and probably toothless -- for although his voice was resonant it was also oddly slurred. All I could be sure of, however, was that he was an old man, as old as the century perhaps, that he had his wits about him, and that he did not seem to be seeking information about me out of idle curiosity. Only when he was satisfied with everything that I had said did he condescend to shake hands with me. His grip was dry and delicate as papyrus and from the thick robes that he wore, faint but unmistakable, arose the holy odour of frankincense. Now that the formalities were over I got straight to the point. Gesturing in the direction of the building that loomed in shadowy outline behind us, I said: I have heard of an Ethiopian tradition that the Ark of the Covenant is kept here...in this chapel. I have also heard that you are the guardian of the Ark. Are these things true? They are true. But in other countries nobody believes these stories. Few know about your traditions anyway, but those who do say that they are false. People may believe what they wish. People may say what they wish. Nevertheless we do possess the sacred Tabor, that is to say the Ark of the Covenant, and I am its guardian... Let me be clear about this, I interjected. Are you referring to the original Ark of the Covenant -- the box made of wood and gold in which the Ten Commandments were placed by the prophet Moses? Yes. God Himself inscribed the ten words of the law upon two tablets of stone. Moses then placed these tablets inside the Ark of the Covenant -- which afterwards accompanied the Israelites during their wanderings in the wilderness and their conquest of the Promised Land. It brought them victory wherever they went and made them a great people. At last, when its work was done, King Solomon placed it in the Holy of Holies of the Temple that he had built in Jerusalem. And from there, not long afterwards, it was removed and brought to Ethiopia... Tell me how this happened, I asked. What I know of your traditions is only that the Queen of Sheba is supposed to have been an Ethiopian monarch. The legends I have read say that when she made her famous journey to Jerusalem she was impregnated by King Solomon and bore him a son- a royal prince -- who in later years stole the Ark... The monk sighed. The name of the prince you are speaking of was Menelik- which in our language means "the son of the wise man". Although he was conceived in Jerusalem he was born in Ethiopia where the Queen of Sheba had returned after discovering that she was carrying Solomons child. When he had reached the age of twenty, Menelik himself travelled from Ethiopia to Israel and arrived at his fathers court. There he was instantly recognized and accorded great honour. After a year had passed, however, the elders of the land became jealous of him. They complained that Solomon showed him too much favour and they insisted that he must go back to Ethiopia. This the king accepted on the condition that the first-bom sons of all the elders should also be sent to accompany him. Amongst these latter was Azarius, son of Zadok the High Priest of Israel, and it was Azarius, not Menelik, who stole the Ark of the Covenant from its place in the Holy of Holies in the Temple. Indeed the group of young men did not reveal the theft to Menelik until they were far away from Jerusalem. When at last they told him what they had done he understood that they could not have succeeded in so bold a venture unless God had willed it. Therefore he agreed that the Ark should remain with them. And it was thus that it was brought to Ethiopia, to this sacred city...and here it has remained ever since. And are you telling me that this legend is literally true? It is not a legend. It is history. How can you be so sure of that? Because I am the guardian. I know the nature of the object that has been placed in my care. We sat in silence for a few moments while I adjusted my mind to the calm and rational way in which the monk had told me these bizarre and impossible things. Then I asked him how and why he had been appointed to his position. He replied that it was a great honour that he should have been chosen, that he had been nominated with the last words of his predecessor, and that when he himself lay on his death-bed his turn would come to nominate his own successor. What qualities will you look for in that man? Love of God, purity of heart, cleanliness of mind and body. Other than you, I asked next, is anyone else allowed to see the Ark? No. I alone may see it. So does that mean that it is never brought out of the sanctuary chapel? The guardian paused for a long while before answering this question. Then, finally, he told me that in the very distant past the relic had been brought out during all the most important church festivals. More recently its use in religious processions had been limited to just one occasion a year. That occasion was the ceremony known as Timkat which took place every January. So if I come back next January will I have a chance of seeing the Ark? The monk looked at me in a way that I found strangely disconcerting and then said: You must know that there is turmoil and civil war in the land...Our government is evil, the people oppose it, and the fighting comes closer every day. In such circumstances it is unlikely that the true Ark will be used again in the ceremonies. We cannot risk the possibility that any harm might come to something so precious...Besides, even in time of peace you would not be able to see it. It is my responsibility to wrap it entirely in thick cloths before it is carried in the processions... Why do you wrap it? To protect the laity from it. I remember asking my interpreter to clarify the translation of this last puzzling remark: had the monk really meant to protect the laity from it? Or had he meant to protect it from the laity? It was some time before I got my answer. To protect the laity from it. The Ark is powerful. A great mystery of the Bible In early Old Testament times the Ark of the Covenant was worshipped by the Israelites as the embodiment of God Himself, as the sign and the seal of His presence on earth, as the stronghold of His power, and as the instrument of His ineffable will. Built to contain the tablets of stone upon which the Ten Commandments had been written, it was a wooden chest measuring three feet nine inches long by two feet three inches high and wide? It was lined inside and out with pure gold and was surmounted by two winged figures of cherubim that faced each other across its heavy golden lid. Biblical and other archaic sources speak of the Ark blazing with fire and light, inflicting cancerous tumours and severe bums, levelling mountains, stopping rivers, blasting whole armies and laying waste cities. The same sources also leave no doubt that it was, for a very long time, the cornerstone of the evolving Jewish faith: indeed when King Solomon built the First Temple in Jerusalem his sole motive was to create an house of rest for the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. At some unknown date between the tenth and the sixth century BC, however, this uniquely precious and puissant object vanished from its place in the Holy of Holies of that Temple, vanished without song or lamentation in the Scriptures -- almost as though it had never existed at all. The evidence suggests that it was already long gone when the armies of Nebuchadnezzar burned Jerusalem in 587 BC. Certainly it was not in the Second Temple which was built over the ruins of the First after the Jews had returned from their exile in Babylon in 538 BC. Neither does it seem to have been taken as booty by the Babylonians. Writing in 1987, Richard Elliott Friedman, Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Religion at the University of California, expressed a view shared by many scholars when he described the disappearance of the sacred relic as one of the great mysteries of the Bible: There is no report that the Ark was carried away or destroyed or hidden. There is not even any comment such as And then the Ark disappeared and we do not know what happened to it or And no one knows where it is to this day. The most important object in the world, in the biblical view, simply ceases to be in the story. Indeed so. A close reading of the Old Testament reveals more than two hundred separate references to the Ark of the Covenant up until the time of Solomon (970-931 BC); after the reign of that wise and splendid king it is almost never mentioned again. And this, surely, is the central problem, the real historical enigma: not, human nature being Details ISBN0671865412 Author Graham Hancock Short Title SIGN & THE SEAL Language English ISBN-10 0671865412 ISBN-13 9780671865412 Media Book Format Paperback Year 1993 Residence US Subtitle The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant DOI 10.1604/9780671865412 Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 1993-07-02 NZ Release Date 1993-07-02 US Release Date 1993-07-02 UK Release Date 1993-07-02 Pages 600 Publisher Simon & Schuster Publication Date 1993-07-02 Imprint Simon & Schuster DEWEY 001.94 Illustrations illustrations, map Audience General We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:8296878;

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