Why was it out?
II Chronicles 35:1 Moreover Josiah kept a passover unto the LORD in Jerusalem: and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.
2 And he set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them to the service of the house of the LORD,
3 And said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, which were holy unto the LORD, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; it shall not be a burden upon your shoulders: serve now the LORD your God, and his people Israel,
Why was the ark out of the temple at that time of king Josiah, and not in the most holy place, where it had been placed when the temple was built?
II Chronicles 5:1a Thus all the work that Solomon made for the house of the LORD was finished:
7 And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, to the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims:
9 And they drew out the staves of the ark, that the ends of the staves were seen from the ark before the oracle; but they were not seen without. And there it is unto this day.
Is it possible that the high priest had the Levites safely remove the ark, during the reign of Josiah's grandfather, king Manasseh, when he was doing these things:
II Chronicles 33:1a Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign
4a Also he built altars in the house of the LORD,
5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.
7a And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God,
Or had also, possibly removed it during the reign of Manasseh's grandfather, king Ahaz, when he was doing these things:
II Chronicles 28:1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: but he did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD, like David his father:
2 For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim.
21 For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the LORD, and out of the house of the king, and of the princes, and gave it unto the king of Assyria: but he helped him not.
24 And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem.
II Kings 16:14 And he brought also the brasen altar, which was before the LORD, from the forefront of the house, from between the altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of the altar.
17 And king Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them; and took down the sea from off the brasen oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pavement of stones.
And if so, then perhaps they returned the ark, after Ahaz died, when king Hezekiah reigned, similar to how, later, it was returned again, when Josiah was king?Then, possibly during the reign of Zedekiah, before the city was besieged, and eventually taken, by Nebuchadnezzar, it was safely removed again?If so, then, perhaps the possibly historical account, in the non-canonical book of II Maccabees, describes that:
II Maccabees 2:4 It was also contained in the same writing, that the prophet, being warned of God, commanded the tabernacle and the ark to go with him, as he went forth into the mountain, where Moses climbed up, and saw the heritage of God.
5 And when Jeremy came thither, he found an hollow cave, wherein he laid the tabernacle, and the ark, and the altar of incense, and so stopped the door.
6 And some of those that followed him came to mark the way, but they could not find it.
7 Which when Jeremy perceived, he blamed them, saying, As for that place, it shall be unknown until the time that God gather his people again together, and receive them unto mercy.
II Maccabees may be historical, but it is not inspired scripture.
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