The Jewish and Christian Sources of the Legend of the Vault
vants of the Temple decided to remove its most sacred items in order to protect them from destruction by the Israelites ’ enemies : chapter 2 , verse 4 1 explains that :
... The prophet [ Jeremias ], being warned by God , commanded that the tabernacle and the ark should accompany him , till he came forth to the mountain where Moses went up , and saw the inheritance of God .
And when Jeremias came thither he found a hollow cave : and he carried in thither the tabernacle , and the ark , and the altar of incense , and so stopped the door .
Then some of them that followed him , came up to mark the place : but they could not find it .
And when Jeremias perceived it , he blamed them , saying : “ The place shall be unknown , till God gather together the congregation of the people , and receive them to mercy .
And then the Lord will shew these things , and the majesty of the Lord shall appear , and there shall be a cloud as it was also shewed to Moses , and he shewed it when Solomon prayed that the place might be sanctified to the great God .”
Here the Ark of the Covenant is therefore hidden on Mount Sinai in a “ hollow cave ,” suggesting a troglodyte or cave dwelling , of which there are many in the Middle East . Other translations also refer to “ a chamber in a cave .” The door is so well sealed that Jeremias ’ companions are unable to find the location : it is thus in effect a kind of hidden secret vault , not yet below the Temple , but still in a place with a pivotal role in the history of Israel — Mount Sinai — and secret and sacred since it can only be revealed by theophany . The Second Book of the Maccabees is not included in the Hebrew Bible , but solely in the Catholic and Orthodox canons . It is acknowledged in the Protestant tradition but considered simply to be an interesting intertestamental text .
II . The Jerusalem Talmud
Also from the Jewish tradition , a passage from the Shekalim tractate in the Jerusalem Talmud ( c . 400 AD ) recounts that :
[ Members ] of the household of Rabban Gamaliel and of Rabbi Hananiah the chief of the priests ... had a tradition from their forefathers that the Ark was hidden there [ in the place of the fourteenth prostration ]. It once happened that a priest who was busy [ there ] noticed that the floor [ of the wood storage area ] was different from the others . He went and told it to his friend but before he had time to finish his words his soul departed . Then they knew for certain that there the Ark was hidden .... It is said
1 I am grateful to Thomas Dufresne for pointing me to this reference . 3