Tracking the Ark of the Covenant: By Camel, Foot and Ancient Ford in Search of Antiquity's Greatest Treasure

During the exodus, and long afterward, the ark of the covenant was central to Jewish worship. During the march from Sinai toward the Promised Land, the ark went before the people. Later, David brought the ark to Jerusalem, and when the ark was finally placed in the Holy of Holies, "the glory of the Lord . . . filled the house of the Lord" (1 Kings 8:11). But when the Babylonians ransacked the temple, the ark disappeared forever. In The Wanderings of God, Charles Foster --on camelback, by taxi, and on foot--follows the route that the ark once traveled, recreating the journey for readers and bringing contemporary scholarship to bear on the ark's significance and its fate.