The Ezekiel Tablets
The Words of a Prophet
In 1947, a French priest-archaeologist named Jean Starcky learned of a set of mysterious stone tablets inscribed with a legend about the hiding of the Lost Ark. Arriving at the home of a French-Syrian antiquities collector, he learned that the stone tablets were originals or copies of a larger set of tablets that had been removed from the walls of the Tomb of Ezekiel near Babylon. Intrigued, Father Starcky made a handwritten copy of the Hebrew script on the tablets, which he then translated into French.
From Long Ago
Although he was unable to acquire the so-called Ezekiel Tablets, Father Starcky remained fascinated by them. Partly due his work in translating the tablets, scholars realized that the story inscribed on them was virtually identical to a legend published centuries earlier in a collection of mystical writings about the tradition known as Kaballah. Known as The Valley of the King, this 17th century work attributed the story of the hiding of the Lost Ark to an ancient manuscript that had been found and copied.
About an Ancient Quest
Mysteriously, the Lost Ark story inscribed on the Ezekiel Tablets and recorded in The Valley of the King listed multiple locations for the hiding place of the Lost Ark. Was there some sort of secret code involved? In fact, most of the listed locations seemed to be biblical metaphors rather than real. After all, the Lost Ark could hardly have been hidden in the mythical Tower of Babel or the mystical cave of Elijah.
And a Lost Treasure Map
The most intriguing clue in the Valley of the King treasure story, though, was the existence of an ancient treasure map revealing the Lost Ark’s hiding place. According to the story, a priest known as the “night watchman” and four companions had recorded the exact location of the Lost Ark on a treasure map made of copper. But where in the world would one find a treasure map made of copper?