Wood Decay in Ark of Covenant

[cloudyday2]

I would say no. And then only exposed surfaces would be covered. It is not a preservative.

It seems that it would help to have a coating that prevents passage of the air - just as painting a piece of steel slows the rusting process. The water in the air would not be able to reach the acacia wood, and also any wood-eating microbes would not be able breath or cross the gold barrier. I suppose termites would be unaware of the tasty wood beneath the gold coating if the coating was airtight?

 

[Speedwell]

When photos were first released some people thought they spotted the Ark of the Covenant there. Turns out it was just a similarly-designed chest. The design itself seems to be based on a common type box with carrying poles used in Egypt.

Storage conditions also figure into this. If it is in a dry vault or desert cave it's good. Buried in the ground it would be gone by now, all but the gold leaf. The Ethiopians claim to have it and if so are presumably taking care of it.

 

[cloudyday2]

Storage conditions also figure into this. If it is in a dry vault or desert cave it's good. Buried in the ground it would be gone by now, all but the gold leaf. The Ethiopians claim to have it and if so are presumably taking care of it.

and of course stone tablets would be fine too if they were inside.

 

[sjastro]

Haven't you heard of Eric Von Daniken?
The Arc of the Covenant was a communication device between Moses and alien spaceships.

Furthermore poor Uzzah died of an electric shock when he handled the Arc which was an oversized capacitor with several hundred volts across the positively and negatively charged gold plates.

 

[sjastro]

On a more serious note the long term adhesion durability of gold leaf on wood is the issue.
Tutankhamen's mummy was located in a set of coffins.
Despite being in a dry static environment for over 3000 years followed by a century in a mostly air conditioned environment, the outermost gold leaf coffin required restoration work due to cracks and other forms of damage .
Egypt begins the restoration of Tutankhamun coffin

 

[cloudyday2]

On a more serious note the long term adhesion durability of gold leaf on wood is the issue.
Tutankhamen's mummy was located in a set of coffins.
Despite being in a dry static environment for over 3000 years followed by a century in a mostly air conditioned environment, the outermost gold leaf coffin required restoration work due to cracks and other forms of damage .
Egypt begins the restoration of Tutankhamun coffin

If the gold leaf can need maintenance for a coffin that is rarely exposed to anything damaging then I suspect the Ark of the Covenant would have needed frequent maintenance. After the Temple was built it would have been better.

 

[sjastro]

If the gold leaf can need maintenance for a coffin that is rarely exposed to anything damaging then I suspect the Ark of the Covenant would have needed frequent maintenance. After the Temple was built it would have been better.

A further note to my previous post.
It's not only the adhesion of the gold to the wood that needs to be taken into consideration, but also gold to gold adhesion since gilding was not a single layer process.
The Egyptians used a gypsum plaster as the adhesive and it is the cracking of this plaster that required restoration work on Tutankhamen's coffin.

I don't think we make any inferences about the maintenance on the Ark based on what the Egyptians used.
The Ram in a Thicket which is an example of Sumerian art and perhaps more applicable to the Old Testament used bitumen as the adhesive instead.
Since the object was buried, the wooden core had decomposed leaving the gold layers as a shell on the head and legs.

 

[Kylie]

The Ark of the Covenant was made of acacia wood covered in gold leaf. How quickly would the acacia wood decay (disallowing for discussion purposes the possibility that God would miraculously prevent decay)?

I believe there were wooden artifacts in King Tut's tomb (?). Of course the climate in Egypt is different. The gold leaf might protect the wood from the air though.

The Ark of the Covenant existed in the Bible from the time of Moses to the time of Solomon and possibly longer. Would the Ark need maintenance to replace decayed wood over time?

Wood decay is something that very much depends on not just the type of wood, but the conditions under which it is kept. Wood that is kept in warm moist conditions will decay much faster than the same type of wood that is kept cold and dry, for example.

Assuming that the Ark was real, and that it was primarily in a desert environment, I think the wood it was made of would have lasted quite well.

 

[cloudyday2]

Wood decay is something that very much depends on not just the type of wood, but the conditions under which it is kept. Wood that is kept in warm moist conditions will decay much faster than the same type of wood that is kept cold and dry, for example.

Assuming that the Ark was real, and that it was primarily in a desert environment, I think the wood it was made of would have lasted quite well.

I guess the Ark would have been in a desert environment only for its first 40 years according to the Bible. After that, the Ark seems to have been at various sites like Shiloh. I read somewhere that archaeologists have found structures with the dimensions of the Tabernacle that they suspect were used to house it indoors prior to the building of the Temple of Solomon.

It seems to me that the climate was not ideal for preservation of the Ark. Even inside the Temple of Solomon, there was only a veil separating the Holy of Holies where the Ark rested. If they at least had an airtight door it would have been a lot better for the Ark. The gold coating was probably the key to preservation. If the gold coating was thicker than normal and airtight and carefully maintained by the caretakers then maybe the wood could last a long time?

 

[cloudyday2]

Another thing I have wondered about: maybe the actual Ark was somehow an embarrassment to the monotheistic goals at the time of King Josiah.

 

[Tinker Grey]

Jerusalem get 21.8 inches of rain per year (Jerusalem, Israel - Detailed climate information and monthly weather forecast | Weather Atlas); Dallas gets 36.14.

It's pretty dry even for "non-desert".

 

[Kylie]

I guess the Ark would have been in a desert environment only for its first 40 years according to the Bible. After that, the Ark seems to have been at various sites like Shiloh. I read somewhere that archaeologists have found structures with the dimensions of the Tabernacle that they suspect were used to house it indoors prior to the building of the Temple of Solomon.

It seems to me that the climate was not ideal for preservation of the Ark. Even inside the Temple of Solomon, there was only a veil separating the Holy of Holies where the Ark rested. If they at least had an airtight door it would have been a lot better for the Ark. The gold coating was probably the key to preservation. If the gold coating was thicker than normal and airtight and carefully maintained by the caretakers then maybe the wood could last a long time?

If the wood was covered in a way that did not let the air get to it, then it could have lasted quite a while. Still, since it was never in an environment like a rainforest, I think even some exposure would not have had too deleterious an effect.

 

[tturt]

Chief artisan of the Tabernacle selected by God:
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship." Exo 31, 36-39