Ellis on the Ark of the Covenant

[Richard Stanley]

Ralph goes into a considerable discussion of the ark, and more importantly what was inside of it. That latter of which leads to a discussion of the widespread sacred stone(s), likely of meteoritic origin ... and cryptically referred to in such as the Grail legends.

In any case, the most detailed description, out of 3 in the OT, matches well with the arks of the pharaohs, as does the tabernacle does with the typical military campaign tent and security perimeter of the pharaohs.

 

[Charles Watkins]

I wanted to look at the rocks, so I dug out JESUS: KING OF EDESSA and reread Ellis' take on the Elegabal. He mentions there might be a book coming.

If this thing was magnetic meteorite, that would explain some of its magical effects, such as the Sword in the Stone fable. I might take it a bit further to suggest it was an object of study and that the Egyptian priests were able to divine from it the principles of magnetism, which then fed into their understanding of celestial mechanics and the affinity of metals.

Enclosed in a gold-clad chest, it could build up some level of static charge, which could be experienced as the touch of god. Electrical stimulation of the cortex could produce a sublime state.

And as I have observed before, much of the magic of the priesthood appears to be chicanery -- puppetry and parlor tricks to astound the rubes. Not only would iron objects be mysteriously drawn to the meteorite, they could themselves become magnetized, taking on the properties of the god. And once magnetized, their owners could experience the repulsive force.

Imagine what an inventive mind like Hero of Alexandria could do with such a power source as this. Combined with Hero's mastery of pneumatics, pyrotechnics, and acoustics, all manner of miracles would be possible. More than a display object, it could have been the original power source of magic in the ancient world.

 

[Richard Stanley]

I agree. One might also surmise different categories of priests, which also seems to be true today. There are those that are sincere 'true believers' and those that are more into the chicanery. For the former, they might indeed see such natural phenomenon as giving justification for their supernatural beliefs. And, all the more reason to force their beliefs on everyone else.