What country did the ark end at?

Answer 1

According to The Bible, there were "two arks" made. The first was wood plated with gold... the second, just wood.

"...they shall make an ark of shittim wood... And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about." (Ex.25:10-11)

Into the ark of gold they put the "broken tables" of stone with the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses, which he threw down in rage.

"...the gold-covered Ark of the Covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. Above the ark were the cherumbim of the Glory, overshadowing the Atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now." (Heb.9:4-5 NIV)

The second [unbroken] set of stone tablets, God commanded Moses to hew out, himself... and to make a "wooden box" to put them in [no gold overlay... no pomp or ceremony].

"...'Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the Words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.'" (Ex.34 NIV)

"So I made the ark out of acacia wood and chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. The LORD wrote on these tablets what He had written before, the Ten Commandments He had proclaimed to you on the mountain... 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." (Deut.10:3-5 NIV)

In both cases... the disappearance of neither ark is discussed in the Bible... nor of the location of either.

Evil dictators from history have sought the Ark, not knowing its location [most people think there was only one]... thinking that possession of it would allow them to wield the Power of God, thereby affording them the power of world domination.

Revelation 11:19, prophesying the time setting when the "last trumpet" sounds, which marks the time of Jesus' return, says: "Then God's Temple IN HEAVEN was opened, and within His Temple WAS SEEN THE ARK OF HIS COVENANT...".

Of course, Revelation, written as it is and reading like a "parable" -- this could be allegory... it could be literal... or it could be both.

Matthew Henry says about this: "...By opening the temple of God in heaven, may be meant, that there was a more free communication between heaven and earth; prayer and praises more freely and frequently going up, graces and blessings plentifully coming down. But it rather seems to refer to the church of God on earth. In the reign of the antichrist, God's law was laid aside, and made void by traditions and decrees; the Scriptures were locked up from the people, but now they are brought to the view of all. This, like the ark, is a token of the presence of God returned to his people, and his favour toward them in Jesus Christ, as the Propitiation for their sins. The great blessing of the Reformation was attended with very awful providences; as by terrible things in righeousness God answered the prayers presented in his holy temple now opened." (Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary)

It would seem that if any government knew that the Ark was in their country... such knowledge would have come to light long ago, as they would have tried to use it to establish their own permanence and power in the world.

In any event... the Bible reveals that there were two arks with two different sets of stone tablets in them. But it doesn't reveal what became of them.

With the possible exception that one of them may, literally, be in the Temple of God in the third heaven which both Paul and John caught glimpses of in their own visions [II Cor.12:1-2].