Raiders of the Lost Ark: Any of you guys ever go to Sunday school?

As the film's title would indicate, Indiana Jones is one of the "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

After teaching a college class one day, two officers come to visit Doctor Jones.

After questioning his association with a former colleague, they read him part of an intercepted a German communique.

Putting the pieces, he determines that Nazis have found the area where the Lost Ark is buried.

Colonel Musgrove is confused and ask, "The Lost Ark?"

Indiana replies, "Yeah, the Ark of the Covenant. The chest the Hebrews used to carry the Ten Commandments around in."

Somewhat flabergasted, Major Eaton stutters out, "Alright now, what do you mean the Ten Commandments, you're talking about THE Ten Commandments?"

Indiana : Yes, the actual Ten Commandments. The original stone tablets that Moses brought down out of Mount Horeb and smashed, if you believe in that sort of thing. [the officers stare at him blankly] Didn't you guys ever go to Sunday School?

Indiana then continues, explaining the mystery around the Ark's disappearance.

The Sunday School Answer To What Happened.

What happened to the Ark? The Sunday school answer is that no one knows.

The Bible does not cover every subject nor provides every answer. In this case, there is no Scriptural mention of the Ark going to Tanis.

The movie was right in the fact that a city named Tanis existed.

According to the National Geographic Society's website (visited 7/18/2024), "In reality, the Ark was never hidden in Tanis, the sandstorm didn't happen... Tanis was known by many names. Ancient Egyptians called it Djanet, and the Old Testament refers to the site as Zoan. Today it's called Sân el-Hagar. The site, in the Nile Delta northeast of Cairo, was capital of the 21st and 22nd dynasties, during the reign of the Tanite kings in Egypt's Third Intermediate period."

What Bible Says About The Ark

The Ark stayed with Israel from its creation, Exodus 25:10-11, until it was briefly captured and held by the Philistines.

In 1 Samuel 5:1 we read, "After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod." In reading the remainder of the chapter, they returned it to Israel because people contracted tumors and many had died.

The Ark stayed with Israel until Jerusalem what captured. After that, Scripture is silent about where it went.

The apocryphal book of 2 Maccabees in chapter 2, there are indications that the Ark was put into a cave. But this book was written 100s of years after Jerusalem's capture.

What To Do When The Bible Is Silent

There are many more topics and questions not directly address by Scripture.

Here are some "light hearted" examples.

1. Was it an apple in the Garden of Eden?
   Who knows. Genesis 3:6b states, "So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it."
2. How many wise men should up for Jesus' birth?
   Zero. The wise men did not arrive until Jesus was a toddler. We only know about three gifts, so people assume three wise men. Matthew 2:1-12 covers the whole event, but look at verse 11, "Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary His mother, and falling to their knees, they worshiped Him."
3. Should I buy a house?
   There is no prohibition about buying a house but Proverbs 22:7b warns, "the borrower is slave of the lender."
4. Why did Jesus heal a blind man by spitting in the dirt and rubbing mud on his eyes?
   John 9 recounts the whole interaction between Jesus and the man, the Pharisees and the man, and finally the Pharisees and the parents of the man. No answer was given why Jesus spit into the dirt.
5. In 2 Kings 5, Naaman’s was told to go wash seven times in the Jordan River and to heal his leprosy. Why?
   There is no specific reason given.

While the Bible might not explicitly answer a question, Scripture WILL provide principals to live by.

Listening to your pastor's weekly sermon and attending a Sunday School class are important but spending time reading the Bible yourself is just as, if not more, important.

We are dive into the Bible and use a good translation (not a paraphrase) and reputable commentaries or history books to learn and understanding when the Bible clearly answers a question and when it provides principals.

We Need More Than Just Attending Sunday School

Often "Sunday School Answers" are weak and lame. If giving one, people are often attempting to answer a complex question with an answer that is simplistic like, "God. Jesus. The Bible says so. Etc."

Paul tells Timothy, and us by extension, in 2 Timothy 4:2-5, "be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

Timothy's ministry was to preach at a specific gathering of believers. Our ministry will be connected to the gifts we have been given in order to live out the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."