- The Bible is the world's
most popular book and the backbone
of its largest religion. Somehow, despite the efforts
of billions of people who have studied its text, these pages contain
several of mankind's greatest unsolved mysteries. Tonight,
we take on two of the Bible's
most famous legends... iconic treasures thought
to bring untold wealth to anyone who can
find them today: King Solomon's mines,
and the Ark of the Covenant. Do they actually exist? Can they still be found? Or have they already
been discovered? To find out,
we'll search through time and across continents, tracking
a surprising relationship between these two
priceless mysteries. And by the end, we may finally
pinpoint their true locations as we go in search of the secrets of the Bible. The Bible isn't just one book. Depending on which branch
of Christianity you follow, it's upwards
of 70 books, written by thousands of authors
over the course of 1,400 years. Its New Testament is famous
for the Gospels of Jesus, and its Old Testament features
the creation of the universe, the exodus from Egypt, and tales of the early kings
of the Israelites, the most successful of whom
was the famed King Solomon. According to the Bible,
Solomon was born in Jerusalem and ascended to power during
the 10th century B.C.E. As a leader,
he expanded Israel's trade and military strength,
founded numerous colonies, and built the first
Hebrew temple in Jerusalem. Solomon was famous
for his wisdom, said to be a gift from God. His proverbs feature
heavily in several religions, including Christianity,
Judaism, and Islam. But he was famous
for something else, too: his incredible wealth, thanks to the legendary
King Solomon's mines. For centuries, many have
speculated that Solomon had access to a near-unlimited
supply of precious metals from a secret underground mine. But unfortunately for those
would-be treasure hunters, its location has been
lost to history. The search for the mine has inspired several books
and movies, with tales
of Solomon's bounty hidden as far away
as the Americas. But in reality,
it's more likely to be found closer to Solomon's
biblical home: specifically, within the kingdom
of the Israelites. And here, less than 200 miles
south of Jerusalem, archaeologists Erez Ben-Yoseph
and Vanessa Workman believe they might have
uncovered the true location of King Solomon's mines. The Timna Valley
is rich in minerals that have been mined
since ancient times, but they're not the minerals
you might expect. - While many people
believed that gold was the resource in Timna, what we see here is the remnants
of a vein of copper. - In Israel and
all the neighboring areas, we don't have any gold. Gold as a metal is very soft. You can't use it for tools
and things like that. - We know today that copper
was the most important resource, the most important metal
in the ancient world. It was made into objects
that were useful in both agriculture
and weaponry, and also to be used
to help build in the period. - Erez's team of archaeologists
has been digging here in Timna for the past 10 years, trying to unravel
the truth behind who controlled
these colossal mines. - Exploring the ancient mines
of Timna, we're asking questions
about who were conducting all of these mining operations,
which society in which periods, the chronology, the technology,
the culture, the trade connections, all of these aspects
of this huge operation. - Archaeologists have long
debated which kingdom owned and operated these mines, with most agreeing that it
couldn't have been Solomon's. - Previous activity in Timna
dated this major period to the Egyptian dynasties
in the 13th century B.C.E. - But is it possible the experts
have been wrong all along? Written evidence provides
an interesting link between King Solomon and copper. - According
to the biblical text, copper was used to furnish and
help build Solomon's temple. - They were building
the pillars of the temple, and they were covering the walls
and other things in the temple with vast quantities of copper. In the time of King Solomon,
whoever had copper had power. It's like oil of today. And these mines were one
of the sources of that power. - Based on extensive
biblical evidence, Erez was convinced
that Solomon had a copper mine in his kingdom. But now he had to prove it. Step one was to analyze
the tools the miners used. - You can see very nicely
the chisel marks. What you can see here
is evidence of mining underground
with metal tools. And these chisel marks
are 3,000 years old. - Unfortunately,
both the Egyptians and the Israelites
used similar tools. So while these marks could mean
this was Solomon's mine, they still weren't
definitive proof. But Erez and Vanessa
had one more place to look. The mining tunnels
were only one part of this massive
ancient operation. - Our real information
for understanding the activity of this period
comes from the smelting camps. - After it was mined,
the extracted copper then had to go through
a smelting process, which involves
heating the raw ore to extract
the base metal within. Once the copper is removed, the excess rock is discarded as a hardened black material
called slag. In order to find
the smelting camps, Erez and Vanessa searched
the Timna Valley for slag. Soon enough, they found precisely
what they were looking for. - On this hill itself we have more than 1,000 tons
of copper slag, which tells us
about a hundred tons of copper produced over about a century. - This is one of the largest
copper smelting camps of ancient times. Once they found it,
the archaeologists next tried to determine its layout. - Because copper was one
of the most valuable resources in the ancient world,
it had to be protected. This means that they built
a defense system around the smelting camps
to keep people out. There was only one access
point into the site: at the pathway that leads
up to the top. - It still
wasn't enough evidence to prove who built the camp. But the picture of
this ancient mining operation was definitely getting clearer. - The wall and the location
of the site are indeed evidence of the need of
defense and protection of this valuable material. But also they protected
the secret of making stone into metal. The knowledge itself
was a commodity. - The technology used in the
smelting camps 3,000 years ago is impressive for us today, and despite years
and years of research, we're still piecing together
exactly what this real ancient recipe was, which at that time
was considered magic. - Clearly, the copper industry
in Timna was well organized. But the question remains: Who was in charge
of its organization? Was it the Egyptians, as historians
have long believed? Or could it possibly have been
King Solomon? Just a few months ago,
Erez and Vanessa made an incredible discovery amongst the tons of leftover
slag the miners left behind. - With the date. That's amazing
I think it's the first one. - Yeah. - I need a special bag
over here. - This new information could
blow the long-sought secret of King Solomon's mines
wide open. - It's crazy,
but this might be the event that we are looking for. - For centuries,
treasure-seekers have pursued the famed King Solomon's mines. But as it turns out,
if they exist, they may have been
hiding in plain sight, in a location that's been
misunderstood for decades. - It's amazing. This area is full of stuff. - Just a few months ago,
in Israel's Timna Valley, archaeologists made
a shocking discovery while excavating the region's
ancient copper mines. - This is rare. - It's a finding that
could rewrite the history of this well-known legend. When Dr. Erez Ben-Yosef
first arrived to the Timna Valley
10 years ago, the area's copper mines
were already well-known. In fact, many believed there
was nothing new to be found. It was commonly accepted that due to the mines'
sophistication, they must have belonged
to ancient Egypt. Unwilling to accept that
as a foregone conclusion, Dr. Ben-Yosef's team
kept digging, and what they discovered
was phenomenal. They discovered
hundreds of remnants of the ancient copper workers: seeds and bones
from their meals, and even parts
of their clothing, all perfectly preserved,
due to the area's dry climate. These items were
so well-preserved, in fact, that they could still be
carbon-dated. The mystery of when these mines
were in operation, and therefore
who controlled them, was about to be solved. The team's findings were sent
to a lab to determine if these mines truly
were Egyptian, or if they could have
belonged to someone else. - And only when the date
came back from the lab, we were amazed,
'cause not a single date fit to the New Kingdom of Egypt. So of course we sent more
and more samples, and the results are clear,
all the dates concentrated around the 10th century B.C.E. The most intense
time of production here was at the time
of King Solomon. For decades, we have wondered what could have been
the source of wealth of this small kingdom
in Jerusalem that controlled a huge area,
according to the Hebrew Bible. And now with this discovery, we suddenly have an amazing
source of wealth that can explain
the power of King Solomon. This is an incredible find
that will force people to rethink history. To me, it's clear that if there
were mines of King Solomon, they were of copper,
and they were here. - If these Timna Valley
copper mines did in fact belong
to King Solomon, it goes a long way toward
proving the Bible's claims of his unimaginable wealth. But one crucial detail
is still missing: Where did his gold come from? I Kings, chapter 10,
of the Bible states... Converted into
today's measurements, that's approximately
25 tons of gold for each year
of his 40-year reign. To put that into perspective, the Bible says that
King Solomon had more than double the amount of the U.S.
gold bullion deposits currently held in
the New York Federal Reserve. Nowhere within the kingdom
of the Israelites can that incredible
volume of gold be found. Therefore, we can only
reach one conclusion: While the kingdom may have had
a lucrative copper mine within its territory, the gold must have been
brought in from outside. Fortunately,
the Bible gives us a clue about who might have
transported it, and where it originated. According to the Bible,
Solomon expanded his kingdom from the southern border
with Egypt all the way to Syria, putting him in a position
to control merchants and freight carriers between
Africa, Europe, and Asia. But only one nearby group
had ships large enough to carry massive quantities
of gold: the Phoenicians. The Bible describes
a clear connection between Solomon and
the Phoenician King Hiram. Solomon gave the Phoenicians
grain supplies, and in return, according to
the Book of Kings... Is it possible that
if we head to Ophir, we might find the source
of Solomon's gold? Unfortunately,
the Bible doesn't tell us exactly where Ophir was. Historians have speculated
that it could have been somewhere in the Middle East,
Africa, or Asia, but its exact location
has remained a mystery... A mystery that may have
recently been solved by a historian in the Tigray
region of Ethiopia. - In the Bible,
the land of Ophir is known as "the land of gold". Ethiopia means, "The land
of the yellowish gold." And the majority of gold
is found here in Tigray. We think that gold
from the Bible is from here. - Situated in the far north
of the country, Ethiopia's Tigray region
is a very likely candidate for the location of Ophir. Because not only is
the land rich in gold, but it also has a surprising
connection to King Solomon. At the time of Solomon's reign, this area was possibly
controlled by another famous
biblical figure: the queen of Sheba. And what's more,
according to the Bible, she and Solomon were quite close
with one another. The Second Book of Chronicles
states that early in Solomon's reign, the queen visited Jerusalem
to seek out his famous wisdom. And she didn't
come empty-handed. Her gifts included
120 talents of gold, around 4 tons of it,
from her kingdom's mines. The queen and Solomon had
a love affair resulting in the birth of a son, forever uniting
these two kingdoms. But the gold
Sheba brought to Solomon was just the tip of the iceberg. She may have possessed
some of the oldest and most famous gold mines
in recorded history. There's a chance those
gold reserves still exist today, in a remote area
just 40 miles from where Sheba's palace
once stood. - All this land where I am
standing is full of gold, and the search continues today. - While the exact location
of the ancient gold mines has remained a mystery, there are still trace deposits
at the surface. To find them,
locals extract earth from the banks of the river, filling their buckets
with sediment. Then they take that sediment
down to the water for sifting. If we're close enough
to the potential source of the queen of Sheba's gold,
the proof will be in this pan. - Oh, wow, look at that! - The search for King Solomon's
mines has taken us out of Israel and into northern Ethiopia. There's a chance that
this could be the source of King Solomon's gold, from ancient mines
controlled by his closest ally, the queen of Sheba. By panning for trace deposits
of gold near the surface, locals in this area
hope to pinpoint the source of
Sheba's treasure... and it appears
they're on the right track. - Look at that. We found gold. - With this much gold
close to the surface, there is almost certainly
a much larger vein nearby. But finding it requires
a major excavation. - These stairs lead us
to a network of hidden tunnels
deep underground. - These tunnels are located
near a high concentration of surface gold deposits, and date to what
the Bible describes as the time of Solomon and
the queen of Sheba. They have only recently
been rediscovered, and the careful work of
exploring them has barely begun. Some historians,
including Sisay, believe they could lead
directly into Sheba's mines. If so, we may be standing
closer than ever before to the source
of King Solomon's gold. With excavation continuing
in Ethiopia, one of the Bible's
greatest mysteries, the true location
of King Solomon's mines, seems on the verge
of being solved. But Solomon left behind
one other incredible treasure that may be even more
valuable than all of his,
or Sheba's, gold. At the height of his power, Solomon's crowning achievement
was the construction of the first Hebrew temple. He built it here,
on Jerusalem's Temple Mount, where the Dome of the Rock
sits today. In Solomon's time,
it looked like this. One of the greatest
buildings of the era, adorned in copper and gold, a majestic structure designed
for an important purpose. This is where Solomon kept
the most powerful object the Israelites possessed: the Ark of the Covenant. Much like the location
of King Solomon's mines, this iconic biblical
artifact has long been lost. But a new theory
is emerging, one that suggests the mines,
the gold, the queen of Sheba, and the Ark of the Covenant
might be connected, and this connection
could potentially lead us to the Ark's
present-day location. According to the Bible's
Book of Exodus, the Ark of the Covenant
was built to house the tablets of the Ten Commandments. It was made of acacia wood,
two and a half cubits long, one and a half wide,
and one and a half high, or in today's measurements,
52 inches by 31 by 31. The entire chest was plated
with gold, inside and out. Four gold rings were
attached to its corners, where gold-plated wood poles could be inserted
to carry the Ark. The lid was also gold,
adorned with two winged cherubs. But it's not just the precious
metals and craftsmanship that make it valuable, because the Ark was also
thought to be a powerful weapon. According to one biblical story, the Ark was once stolen by
a tribe called the Philistines, who were immediately
afflicted by misfortunes, including tumors, boils,
and a plague of mice. Their torment only stopped once they returned the Ark
to the Israelites. Eventually, King David
brought it to Jerusalem, where his son, King Solomon,
installed it in the temple. From there, the mystery begins. The first Hebrew temple
was destroyed in a war with the Babylonians
2,700 years ago, but there's no record
of the Ark among the spoils. It's unusual for such
a valuable treasure to go completely
unaccounted for. The question is,
could the Ark have been moved before the Babylonians arrived? If so, where?
And when? [ religious chanting ] One large group of believers
over 1,200 miles from Jerusalem is convinced that the Ark
ended up in their territory, perhaps even during
King Solomon's reign. It may be an unlikely story
until you realize they live in a place
we've already visited. - Ever since the destruction
of King Solomon's famed temple in Jerusalem, its greatest treasure,
the Ark of the Covenant, has been missing. But some believe that the Ark
may have been moved long before the temple fell to the home of one of Solomon's
most valuable allies: the queen of Sheba. According to the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church, when Solomon and Sheba's son
Menelik came of age, he returned to Jerusalem
to visit his father. Solomon tried
to persuade Menelik to stay and become his heir, but the young prince
returned to Ethiopia as his mother's heir
instead. When he arrived back home, Menelik made
a shocking discovery. There amongst his possessions
was the Ark of the Covenant, which, unbeknownst to him, had been secretly taken
from Israel by members of his entourage. But despite the Ark's power, Menelik's people
suffered no plagues, leading them to assume they
must be its rightful owners. The Solomonic dynasty ruled over
Ethiopia for over 2,000 years, and Ethiopian Orthodox scholars
like Dr. Solomon Getaneh believe the Ark has remained
in the country to this day. [ singing, chanting ] This ceremony has never been
filmed for television before. In the Ethiopian town of Axum, worshippers have gathered
for an early-morning Mass. The focus of today's sermon
is the Ark of the Covenant. - We have seen this morning the
gathering of people for prayer. Now, this is
a unique opportunity to see the Ark of the Covenant
out of the altar. - Just 20 miles
from the Eritrean border, Axum is home to the Cathedral
of Our Lady Mary of Zion, which sits on the holiest ground
in all of Ethiopian Orthodoxy. - This is the most holy church for the Ethiopian
Orthodox religion. Every year, thousands
of people make a pilgrimage here to commemorate the arrival
of the Ark of the Covenant to Axum from Jerusalem. - While there are many
Christian denominations, only this one has based
its beliefs so intently around the possession
of the Ark. Every Ethiopian Orthodox Church
worldwide contains a replica of the Ark
inside its own Holy of Holies. - It is instructed a replica
must be in the church. Without having a replica, the building cannot
be called a church. At the same time, a replica
is a center of the worship. - And in fact, the Ark at
the center of today's ceremony is also a replica. Even the replicas are thought
to have tremendous power, and are rarely
brought into public view. But what about the real
Ark of the Covenant? If it truly exists, and the Ethiopians
still possess it, where can it be found? The Ark is thought to be
too powerful to reside in the main church, so a secure building
was constructed to house it deep underground. And that building is here,
just 100 yards away. - Can you imagine,
right behind me, the 5,000-year-old Ark of
the Covenant with the tablet? The same Ark from
the temple of Solomon. - Unfortunately, the true Ark
is off-limits to visitors, and actually, it can
only be viewed by one man, the guardian monk. According to tradition, the Ark's guardian monk
is chosen by divine prophecy. Once appointed, the guardian
lives inside the chapel and protects the Ark
for the rest of his life. The current guardian has held
his post for nearly 50 years, and is almost never seen. - He usually stays inside,
praying and protecting the most
valuable nucleus of the church. - He's out. He's-- - Look.
- Oh--he's out. - Yeah, yeah, he's outside. This is a rare occasion
the guardian is outside. I am going to try
to talk to him. - This is one of the first times
that a current guardian monk has ever been photographed. It's a once-in-a-lifetime
chance that few believers will ever get to experience. - Normally, the guardian
don't talk to anyone, but I got a rare opportunity. He asked me what people
saying about the true Ark of the Covenant. Then I told him
that some of them say that it's not in Ethiopia. He said the Ark is here, the true Ark of the Covenant
is here. - For now, that confirmation
will have to be enough. - I believed earlier,
I believe now, and forever, but it gives me great,
great pleasure talking to the guardian monk. He blessed me by the hand
that he touched the true Ark of the Covenant
so, I'm extremely happy. - Is it possible that the true
Ark of the Covenant was removed from Israel
and has remained here for thousands of years? For the nearly
50 million members of the Ethiopian
Orthodox Church, there is no question
that the answer is yes. Meanwhile, historians,
other religious groups, archaeologists,
and even the Nazi party, have continued to search
for the Ark. Many of them believe it never
left Israel in the first place, but all agree
that it somehow escaped the temple's destruction. If the Israelites
did manage to save the Ark in the midst of a war, archaeologist Harry Moskoff
believes he knows precisely how
they pulled it off. - Right now,
we're on the southern slope of the Temple Mount. This is the holiest
spot on Earth. Just beyond this wall
is where the Holy of Holies, King Solomon's temple and
the Ark of the Covenant, stood. When the temple was destroyed,
the Ark disappeared. Many people believe
that the Ark may have been destroyed or lost, but I'm here
to tell you that in fact the Ark still exists, even until
today, and is not far from here. - If the Ark truly
remains in Israel, the question is
how did it escape before the temple's destruction? According to Harry, there
is only one possible answer. - There are over
35 acres of tunnels underneath the Temple Mount, and many of them
lead out of Jerusalem. According to my research,
the ancient Israelites in the times
of the First Temple, may have used this tunnel system
to hide the Ark of the Covenant before the destruction
in 586 B.C. - If Harry's theory is correct, we now have an incredible
opportunity to track the Ark. Because even though
access to the tunnels is highly restricted,
with Harry's help, we can enter these
3,000-year-old passages and see them for ourselves. - Where I'm taking you now
is the original tunnel system. Now, this tunnel is really
the closest point that we have to actually
getting to the chamber of the Ark of the Covenant. It's down here,
it's underneath this. - Many religious sources agree
that the Ark of the Covenant once sat securely in King
Solomon's temple in Jerusalem. But when that temple
was destroyed, the Ark may have been saved
by way of a network of secret tunnels
beneath the city. - There are over 50 tunnels
under the Temple Mount, many of them dating all the way
back to King Solomon's day. We know that in
King Solomon's time, the time of the First Temple, the Ark of the Covenant was held
in the Holy of Holies chamber, directly above us. Everything started right here. King Solomon,
in his great wisdom, knew that he might need
an escape route. He used these tunnels
as an insurance plan, in case the temple
would come under attack. - Just as Solomon predicted, the attack came
from the Babylonians, who completely
destroyed the temple. But by then, the Ark
may have been long gone. - There's a story that says
a thousand priests were able to escape
with the temple vessels, and you can easily imagine
the priests rushing these temple vessels
out of these tunnels for safekeeping. - Follow the tunnels,
and we could locate the final resting place
of the Ark, and all the rest of
the temple's treasures. - So if you connect the dots,
what you have is a direct path from the Holy of Holies
directly above us, with the Ark of the Covenant
in it in the First Temple, down straight to the chamber
where the Ark was kept, through these tunnels,
and onward 18 miles, all the way to the plains
of Jericho, to Qumran. I've been working
for over 20 years to find the Ark of the Covenant, and I believe we're closer
than ever before to finding it. But the Ark is very powerful. It is the most powerful object
in the history of mankind. It will only be found
under the right conditions, when it's ready. - Those perfect conditions
may soon be upon us, because in
the plains of Jericho, precisely where
the tunnels lead, treasure hunter Jim Barfield
thinks he may have found the perfect hiding spot, along with an ancient
treasure map that could lead us directly
to the Ark of the Covenant. - These are the ancient ruins
of the community of Qumran. They're most famous
because this is where the Dead Sea Scrolls
were found. - The Dead Sea Scrolls are
ancient Jewish religious texts, some up to 2,500 years old. They were buried here, in caves, and only rediscovered
in the 1940s. But then, in 1952,
one more scroll was found, unlike any of the others. It's different in two ways. First, its material:
not written on parchment, but hammered
into precious copper. And second, its content. It doesn't contain Scripture. It contains something
far more valuable. - The copper scroll is kind
of like a treasure map, listing the locations of the
treasures of ancient Israel, including the Ark
of the Covenant. - For the first time in history, Jim has combined
the copper scroll's instructions with geological surveys
and scientific data to zero in on the potential
location of the buried treasure. - Location number one
on the copper scroll describes 17 talents
of silver service vessels from the temple of Solomon. And the copper scroll says
that they are located "at the steps, heading east,
40 cubits long." - Jim's survey showed
only one location with steps heading east. When he measured them, he knew
he was on the right track. - These steps are exactly
40 cubits long, heading east. I am convinced those 17 talents
of silver service vessels are right here,
under this ground. - Jim is currently lobbying
the Israeli government for permission to excavate. But according to him,
there's far more to uncover than just 17 talents of silver. His map may lead to
even greater treasures, including the Ark
of the Covenant. - Is it possible that
the Ark of the Covenant was secretly rushed
from the first Hebrew temple in Jerusalem just before
the temple's destruction? Treasure hunter Jim Barfield
believes the answer is yes. He has decoded
an ancient treasure map, hammered into a copper scroll,
thousands of years old, which lists the supposed
locations of the most valuable artifacts
from the temple. According to Jim,
they can all be found in the ancient city of Qumran. - The second location
on the copper scroll was surprisingly easy to find, considering the value
of what's buried right here. The copper scrolls describe
this location like this: "In the dry cistern of
the great ruined courtyard "of the peristyle
is hidden polished gold. In front of the uppermost
opening are 900 talents." That is 33 tons of
polished gold at this location. - Armed with a survey of Qumran, Jim was quickly able
to locate the town's cistern. - I came out here with a member
of the Israeli parliament and a very powerful
metal detector, and when we got to this spot, the readings
were off the charts. I could not believe what I saw. I went home and
I buried 30 pounds of silver in my front yard and the
readings didn't even come close. - But the gold was never
Jim's primary target. It's just one more clue that could lead
to the greatest prize of all. - Location number one,
location number two lined up perfectly with my map. But my ultimate goal is
to find location number three, which includes
the temple vessels and the Ark of the Covenant. The copper scroll describes
this location as being at the north end
of the hill of Kohlit. It couldn't be within
the ruins of Qumran, because there are
no hills there. - While Qumran
sits on flat land, there are several
large hills nearby. Jim studied dozens
of satellite images to find one that matched the
copper scroll's description. - It's right here. - Not only does this hill
feature a hidden cave, it also sits
in perfect alignment with the other temple treasures. - Take location number one,
location number two, and you connect them
with a straight line, they will lead directly
to this cave that holds Israel's
most important treasures, including
the Ark of the Covenant. Jeremiah brought
the Ark of the Covenant, the tabernacle of Moses, and buried them
inside of a cave and sealed the entrance. When I got to the cave,
some of the stones looked different than the rest. It appears that
an ancient trowel of some type was used to form this seal. I took a sample of this stone
to two different companies. They said it was an
ancient man-made mortar, unlike any natural formation. - It's clear that whoever
sealed this cave went to great lengths
to hide its contents. Could those contents include
the Ark of the Covenant? - After we identified this as the most likely site
of the cave, we came back with
the high-powered metal detector. When we saw the readings
for this location we knew that this was
the motherlode. - The metal detector readings
at the cave are five times higher
than the 33 tons of gold at site number two, suggesting an even greater prize
could indeed be hidden here. - It's obvious
that something's here. The copper scroll,
the map, the mortar, and the readings
of the metal detector, all of these leave me
with no doubt. In this cave are some of
Israel's greatest treasures, including
the Ark of the Covenant. - If Jim Barfield can get
permission to dig at Qumran, there's a chance he might be
about to finally unearth the Ark of the Covenant. Looking forward,
there's no telling where the hunt
for the Ark might go. But looking backward,
it all leads to one man, a man who simultaneously
held two of the Bible's most famed
and mysterious treasures. If he existed,
King Solomon was quite possibly the most powerful person
to ever live. From his lucrative
copper mines in Israel, to his massive gold reserves
imported from abroad, he controlled
the area's trade routes, and united his kingdom with
another regional superpower. He accomplished all of this while in possession
of the Ark of the Covenant. But as Solomon reached old age
and reflected on his life, he wrote a telling line
in the Book of Ecclesiastes: "All the rivers
run into the sea, yet the sea is not full." Perhaps the old king
had realized that history's ultimate
accumulation of wealth and power still wasn't enough
to provide fulfillment. It's a lesson
that future generations of biblical treasure hunters
would be wise to keep in mind. The search continues.
