The Hebrew term for “ark” translates to “closet” or “cupboard” when taken literally. It’s estimated that it took 60 kilograms of gold to build the Ark of the Covenant, a feat which would require nearly 20,000 wedding rings to provide a modern perspective. The ark was measured in cubits which was a biblical measurement approximately the length of an adult male forearm, with the ark itself being 4 cubits in length by 1.5 cubits height and 1.5 cubits wide. The ark is described within the Bible as the “throne of God”. This symbolism was most likely borrowed from the Egyptians as a similar shrine was found within the tomb of Tutankhamun, guarded by the Egyptian god Anubis, remarkably similar to the way in which it is described to be guarded by God in the Bible. Portable shrines were incredibly common in ancient Egypt and although the Bible states that the Ark of the Covenant was instructed by God, it clearly was manufactured using borrowed ideas, religious motifs, and building techniques. Although Ethiopia vehemently protests that the Ark of the Covenant resides within a single temple in Ethiopia, most experts believe that it was destroyed by the Babylonians during the destroying of the temple in which the Ark of the Covenant was held, in 586 A.D.. The alternate theory is that the Ark of the Covenant has simply fallen apart due to the ravages of time and therefore no longer exists anywhere in the world