What happened to the Ark of the Covenant?

What happened to the Ark of the Covenant with the 10 commandments? Is it somewhere still today? God's presence is with us all today but are the actual tablets still on earth?

The Ark of the Covenant is a wooded box described in the Old Testament as containing the tablets of stone on which were inscribed the Ten Commandments as well as Aaron’s rod and some of the manna Yaweh provided for the Hebrews during their years of wandering in the desert.

The Ark was made of acacia wood and plated inside and out with gold, and a golden crown or rim ran around it. At the four corners four golden rings had been cast; through them passed two bars of wood overlaid with gold, to carry the Ark. The cover of the Ark, termed the "propitiatory" (the corresponding Hebrew means both "cover" and "that which makes propitious"), was also made of gold. On the cover were two cheribum of beaten gold, looking towards each other, and spreading their wings so that both sides of the propitiatory were covered.

The Ark was kept in the first temple in Jerusalem until the first destruction of the city in 567 BC. In the descrition of the 2nd temple, the one that stood in Jerusalem at the time of Christ, there is no mention of the Ark in any sacred or historical writings.

There are several traditons and stores concerning what happened to the Ark. In 2 Macabees 2, there is a story involving the Ark and the prophet Jeremiah that indicates that it was hidden in a cave " When Jeremiah arrived there, he found a room in a cave in which he put the tent, the ark, and the altar of incense; then he blocked up the entrance. Some of those who followed him came up intending to mark the path, but they could not find it. When Jeremiah heard of this, he reproved them: The place is to remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows them mercy. "

No one really knows if the Ark still exists and if so where it is. There are at least 20 theories about this including the following:

1. Taken to Ethiopia by Menelik, son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (see 1 Kings 10; 2 Chronicles 9; the Ethiopian royal chronicles

2. Taken to Tanis, Egypt by Pharaoh Shishak

3. Taken in battle by King Jehoash of Israel (2 Kings 14)

4. Given by King Hezekiah as tribute payment to Assyrian King Sennacherib (2 Kings 18)

5. Destroyed by King Manasseh when he desecrated the Temple (2 Kings 2;, 2 Chronicles 33)

6. During days of Manasseh, taken by Israelite priests to Elephantine Island on the Nile and eventually reached Axum, Ethiopia (see 2 Kings 21; 2 Chronicles 33)

8. Taken by Jeremiah to Ireland

9. Hidden by Israelite priests beneath the Temple Mount before Babylonian captivity

10. Hidden by Israelite priests beneath Golgotha before the Babylonian captivity

11. Destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon when he plundered and destroyed the Temple (2 Kings 24-25; 2 Chronicles 36; Lamentations 1)

12 Hidden by priests in a cave near the Dead Sea before the Roman destruction of Jerusalem (the Copper Scroll).

13. Taken to Rome and ultimately hidden in the Vatican (Josephus, Wars 7:148-149)

14. Swallowed by the earth (2 Baruch 6)

For Catholics, who see the Blessed Mother as the Ark of the New Covenant, the whereabouts of the original Ark is not an essential issue in our faith.