Did God instruct the Archangel Michael to bring the Ark of the covenant to Heaven to be safe from man?

Answer 1

The supposed fate of the Ark of the Covenant has fascinated people down through the ages. 2 Maccabees 2:4-8 reports that just prior to the Babylonian invasion, Jeremiah ordered the Ark to be placed in a cave and for the cave to be sealed. Another favourite, attributed to Rabbis Shlomo Goren and Yehuda Getz is claim that the Ark is hidden beneath the temple mount, having been buried there before Nebuchadnezzar could steal it away.

Revelation 11:19 does mention the Ark of the Covenant as being in heaven which, if true, would be consistent with the Archangel Michael taking it there, although the story appears to be based on a Jewish tradition about the priests hurling the Ark skywards and God taking it back into Heaven. Before we accept Revelationas evidence that the Ark is in heaven at all, we should look at the historicity of the Book of Revelation. We do not know who wrote the book, except that his name was John, for which reason scholars usually refer to him as 'John of Patmos', and that the early Church Fathers were uncertain whether he was the apostle John. Scholars regard the book as imaginative theology, rather than a genuine vision, but even a vision is no more than a vision - it is not eyewitness proof.

Finally, the true scholar would ask whether the Ark of the Covenant ever really existed. The strong consensus of scholars is that there was no Exodus from Egypt as described in The Bible, and no military conquest of Canaan. Archaeologists have pieced together a completely different pre-history for the Hebrew people. The importance of this is that if there was no Exodus, there was no Ark of the Covenant. This was a legend written centuries after the events of the Books of Exodus and Numbers supposedly took place.

There is no credible evidence that the Ark of the Covenant is in heaven or that the archangel Michael took it there.

Answer 2

Not according to Jewish tradition. See also:

http://judaism.answers.com/jewish-history/where-are-the-ten-tribes-where-is-the-ark-of-the-covenant