Did Antiochus Epiphanes take The Ark of The Covenant to Antioch?

So I have new thoughts about what happened to The Ark.  Many theories say that around the time of the First Temple's Destruction the Ark was hidden in a secret hiding place under or near The Temple.

1 Maccabees 1:21-24 says Antiochus Epiphanes took from The Temple the Menorah, Altar of Incense, Table of Showbread and many other gold and silver vessels.  And in verse 23 "also he took the hidden treasures which he found".  None of this was ever returned or retrieved, Judas Maccabeus had new sacred vessels made in 1 Maccabees 4:47-49.

This isn't like accounts in The Canonical Bible where it's easy to say they would have specified the Ark if it was taken then.  The books of Maccabees are not Scripture but official propaganda of the Hasmoneans, they may have wanted to hide The Ark also being taken, yet none the less included this cryptic statement about him taking "hidden treasures", what other "hidden treasures" could there be since all the other major sacred relics of The Temple were singled out in the prior verse?

Hidden Treasures is in plural, I talked in a prior post about the Rod of Aaron, Jar of Manna and Torah Scroll that were placed in the Ark by Moses but seemingly not there anymore when Solomon placed it in his Temple.  Perhaps Solomon removed them to place them in a hidden chamber that would later wind up also hiding The Ark itself?

Antiochus most likely took them to Antioch, perhaps kept them in the royal palace on the island, or maybe put them somewhere in the Fourth Quarter which was his expansion of the city.  The royal palace was later built over by a Church Constantine built, which itself was destroyed by several earthquakes and wars over the city's history.

Some Islamic Prophecies foretell that The Mahdi will discover the Ark of The Covenant and other Biblical treasures buried at Antioch.  Back when I first read about that researching for my prior Mahdi posts I had no idea what theoretically could have brought them there because I had overlooked this detail of I Maccabees.

"The reason he is called the Mahdi (a.s.) is that he guides the way to a hidden thing. He will bring forth the  Ark of the Covenant  from a place known as Antioch."  (Jalal-uddine AsSuyuti's  Al-Urf Al-Wardi fi Akhbar Al-Mahdi, a part of Al-Hawi li Al-Fatawa)

"He is called the Mahdi (a.s.) because he is the key to something nobody knows. He will bring forth the Ark of the Covenant from the Cave of Antioch." (Nuaim bin Hammad's book Kitab Al-Fitan) and (Ibn Hajar Haithami Al-Makki's book Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar)

Tamin Ad-Dari said " I said, 'O Messenger of Allah  صلى الله عليه وسلم , I have never seen a Roman city like the city of Antioch ( in Turkey, but historically, is part of Syria) and I have never seen more rain than it has.' Whereupon the Messenger of Allah,  صلى الله عليه وسلم , said: 'Yes, that is because the Torah, Rod of Moses, Tablets (of the Ten Commandments), and the Table of Solomon, the son of David, (made of gold and ornamented with precious jewels, emeralds, pearls and rubies) are in its caves. There is not a single cloud that comes from any direction to it that does not pour its blessing in that valley. And the days and night will not pass until a man from my musked children live in it. His name is like my name and his father's name is like my father's name; his manners are like my manners. He will fill the world with fairness and justice just as it had been filled by harm and transgressions'." (Ibn Hibban's book Ad-Dua'fa and Shaykh Abdullah bin Sadek, Grand Muhaddith of Morocco, 's book Al-Mahdi, Jesus and Dajjal)

Ka'b said: "The Mahdi ... excavates Tabout Al-Sakina (Ark of Covenant) from a cave in Antioch (in it, will be the Torah that Allah (t) revealed to Moses and the Gospel that Allah (t) revealed to Jesus..." (Nuaim bin Hammad's Kitab Al-Fitan)

Now I'm not one of those Islamic Antichrist theorists saying we should actually believe these Islamic Prophecies will come true (maybe the "antichrist" will be a Muslim claiming to be the Mahdi I'm undecided on those issues).  Instead these Hadiths may have just recorded some Prophecies given after the fact.  Perhaps referring to discoveries made by Caliph Umar who first captured Antioch for the Arab Empire, or later by Al-Mahdi (775-785).  Or maybe they just come from Ancients who knew things now forgotten related to what I've theorized above.  Maybe they descend from local beliefs the Christians of Antioch had in antiquity before Islam even emerged.

I think the Rod of Moses in this Hadiths may actually refer to the Rod of Aaron.  And remember The Ark also had an early Torah Scroll in it

Being in a Cave perhaps fits the Fourth Quarter, which from the map I looked at seems to include some hills and mountains which could possibly have caves.

This post's title is kind of semi click-bait.  While I do think it's possible the Ark was among what Antiochus Epiphanes took, just the fact that he definitely did take the Menorah, Altar and Table of Showbread built by Solomon (the Mosaic ones were never in The Temple) is itself really significant.  I suspect what one of those Hadiths refereed to as the Table of Solomon was really originally Solomon's Table of Showbread.

Antioch is where Believers were first called Christians in Acts, treasures of Solomon's Temple being there during the New Testament era when the city became a major Capital of the True Temple of God is very interesting.

If an early text of one of The Gospels wound up with these treasures, my first hunch is it's Mark's.  Acts 13 implies John Mark was also in Antioch when Paul and Barnabas left on their first journey from there, Chuck Missler argued Mark's Gospel was already written by that time based on what the Greek text calls Mark.  And we know Peter spent time in Antioch as well from Galatians, Mark's Gospel was according to tradition him writing down what Peter had preached.  Still the association of the Nazarenes with this region makes it not impossible a copy of Hebrew Matthew wound up in Antioch, and Hebrew Matthew being what early Muslim sources meant by the original Injil fits some theories I've had about the origins of Islam.  However I can't entirely rule out any of them.

Another note, the person Muslim Tradition remembers as Habib'i Neccar/Habib Al-Najjar is probably Simeon called Niger of Acts 13 in my opinion.

A Muslim scholar named Ibn Hazm of Cordoba (994-1064) claimed that Mark wrote "His Gospel in Greek at Antioch".  Ephrem the Syrian seems to have claimed John's Gospel was written at Antioch in his commentary on the Diatessaron, but remember Mark was also named John so there could be confusion there.

However if these prophecies are going to be taken advantage of by a Muslim Anticrhist's End Times deception, then what they may produce claiming to be the original Gospel might actually be an Ebionite version of Matthew, since the Ebionite view of Jesus is very similar to the Islamic view.

The Crucifixion at the site of Solomon's Temple?

This is a follow up both to my post about Solomon’s Temple and the Second Temple possibly not being on the same location, and my post about The Vail of The Temple.

Christians have long wanted to view Genesis 22:14 as saying the place where Isaac was offered is the same spot as where Jesus was Crucified.  The problem has been Mt Moriah being clearly identified as where Solomon's Temple was (The name Moriah appears in The Bible only twice, Genesis 22:2 and 2 Chronicles 3:1), and we know Jesus wasn't Crucified inside The Temple.

The Garden Tomb theory is based in part on saying that location is also on the same mountain as the Temple Mount, and was originally it's peak.  But the Garden Tomb in question is too old, and I have long felt that location for The Crucifixion was least likely to be true.

However now that I've opened the door to the possibility that the Second Temple wasn't where the First Temple was.  Where was Solomon’s Temple site in the time of Christ?  Could it be where the Passover was fulfilled in 30 AD?

What if Jesus was Crucified where Animals would have been killed in Solomon's Temple?   And maybe the Tomb where he was buried and rose from the dead was beneath the Holy Place or Holy of Holies, his Body laid beneath where The Ark once rested?

Now needless to say if this is true it rules out the Mount of Olives model that I had favored at one point, since that's to the East and probably where Solomon placed his Idols.

Placing Solomon's Temple to the West would happen to fit The Church of The Holy Sepulcher.  In my post about Venus maybe being the Star of Bethlehem, I was interested in the implications of Hadrian building a Temple to Venus on that site.  In the apocryphal Prophecy attributed to the Tiburtine Sybil, The Church of the Holy Sepulcher seems to play the role modern Futurist Christians tend to give The Temple in Bible Prophecy.  The actual presumed Tomb of Jesus there is directly under its largest Dome, which is interesting.  

That would place the Brazen Altar in the Katholikon, perhaps about where the Omphalos is.  I recall seeing in a documentary I watched years ago, a woman saying she thinks the Crucifixion site was within The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, but not at the traditional spot.  This part I may be remembering wrong, but I think she placed it in the Katholikon.

However I have seen models of the Tabernacle and Temple that interpret the Brazen Altar as being as being not directly east of the entrance to the Holy Place, but a little further south.

Also it could be that if the Tomb is the Holy of Holies and the Brazen Altar to the East of it.  That the traditional Rock of Golgotha could equate to where the Red Heifer was killed, to the east of the Gate of the Tabernacle. Fitting the desire to connect Numbers 19 to Hebrews 13:11-13.

But I'm not quite willing to support The Church of The Holy Sepulcher being the site of either  Solomon's Temple or Calvary just yet.  It may be too far West (and North) given where I think Jebus proper was.

What if the real site of Jesus Crucifixion and Resurrection was where the Nea Ekklesia was built?  Which in my main post on thinking Solomon’s Temple wasn’t where the second Temple was I came to favor for it’s location.

The Garden that exists by that site now happens to by sheer coincidence be called The Garden of The Resurrection, the intent being to refer to Israel's modern Resurrection as a nation.  And that Armenian Church is called The Church of the Archangels, I have suggested before that Michael's actions in Daniel 12 could be tied to the events of the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

Some people have theorized Jesus was Crucified on a still standing Tree, with only part of the Cross being what he carried.  Which makes me curious about the Olive Tree believed to mark the Holy of Holies in that model.

However I have come to realize that if that Armenian Church is where Ananias lived as it’s actual tradition claims, then it was within the City at Christ’s time and thus not where the Crucifixion would have been.  

The people who before me argued it was the site of The Temple were basing most of their arguments on it being the Second Temple.

One more compelling argument for the possibility of Jesus burial being where the Holy of Holies was where the Ark of The Covenant rested,  is in the word for Ark itself.

The Hebrew word translated Ark when referring to the Ark of the Covenant is not the same Hebrew word used for Noah’s Ark or the basket the carried Moses.  It’s ‘arown Strong Number 727.  This word is used almost exclusively in direct reference to the Ark of the Covenant, including I think every time the KJV translates it Ark.  Of course I lean towards the theory that there were two Ark of the Covenants and this word is used of both.  But still it’s almost always of an Ark containing Tablets of The Law.

Six of the exceptions to this are places where the KJV translated it “chest”, in two accounts of the same events.  2 Kings 12:9-10 and 2 Chronicles 24:8-11.  This chest was also placed in The Temple, it was a chest for depositing funds for The Temple.

Coincidentally the name given to Ornan who originally owned the Threshing Floor the Temple was built on in 2 Samuel 24 is Araunah, basically this word with a Heh added at the end.  Interesting but still not the exact same word, but the most similar any other word in Scripture is.

But the exact word in question does appear one other time in Scripture, in the very last verse of the Book of Genesis.  Where the KJV translates it “coffin” because it describes where Joseph’s body was laid to rest.  Joseph is viewed as a type of Christ, and the Tomb Jesus was buried in was originally built for another man named Joseph.

The references to Jacob and Joseph being “embalmed” in Genesis 50:2-3 and 26 are often assumed to refer to Mummification because of who/where people assume Mizraim was.  But the actual etymology of the word just means to spice or anoint a body, exactly as was done with Jesus.

So perhaps the last verse of the first book of The Bible is providing us a type picture of the Burial of Jesus while at the same time providing the first usage in Scripture of a word used almost exclusively of The Ark of The Covenant?

And for further connection between Genesis 50 and this subject.  Genesis 50:10-11 says the children of Jacob stopped to mourn at the Thresshingfloor of Atad on the way to burying Jacob. Now this is often assumed to be east of the Jordan, but if Mizraim was in Arabia rather then Africa, then Beyond Jordan in this context could mean west of the Jordan.  Canaanites being there could be a reason to see this as west of the Jordan, as well as that they aren't described as crossing the Jordan to get from here to Hebron/Mamre.  Atad isn't used as a place name anywhere else, it means "thorn", so could it be a reference to the same thorns that the Crown of Thorns was made from?  And could this Thresshingfloor have later become the Thresshinglfoor of Ornan the Jebusite?

And then there is John 20:12 where after the Tomb is found empty Mary Magdalene sees two angels standing where the body of Jesus had laid, one at the Head and the other at the Feet.  Could they correspond to the two Cherubim on the Atonement Covering?

Update March 20th 2018: I've abandoned this view as explained here.

The Ark of The Covenant

This post is a follow up of sorts to my The Mercy Seat is Not a Throne post.  I stand by all my main points made there, but I want to talk about some other issues related to The Ark I've studied since then, some of which may provide new context to what I discussed there.  And some of that material will be retreaded here.

This is partly about how I've become more skeptical of my past support of it being in Aksum.

1: Contents of The Ark

Hebrews 9:4 indicated that in addition to The Tablets, The Ark also contained the Rod of Aaron, and the Jar of Manna.  This is often viewed as a contradiction because of 1 Kings 8:9.

There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when Yahuah made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.

II Chronicles 5:10 says the same thing.  However these verses are set at the consecration of Solomon's Temple, after The Ark had been captured for awhile by The Philistines.  They may have taken the other objects in there but didn't see any value in broken stone tablets.

Hebrews 9 is referring to the Time of Moses. Exodus 16:33-34 says the Pot of Manna was placed before Yahuah and before the Testimony.  That could be consistent with in the same container, The Ark.  Numbers 17:10 says the same about Aaron's Rod.

Deuteronomy 31:25-26 adds a Scroll, presumably the first Torah Scroll, though one that timeline wise wouldn't have included Deuteronomy, into the Ark.  Why would Hebrews 9 leave that out?  Hebrews hardly contradicts more being in there, it's likely the writer was more drawing on verses set at an earlier point in the timeline of the wandering.

2. Was it in The Temple in the days of Hezekiah?

In Kings the last clear reference to The Ark is during the reign of Solomon.   In Chronicles this is also true save one verse from the Reign of Josiah which implies it had already left but that it might be possible to get it back..... More on that later.

But 2 Kings 19:15 is often cited as proof that it was there in the time of Hezekiah, because he "prayed before Yahuah, and said, O Yahuah God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubim".  And they assume this term must always refer to the Cherubim on The Mercy Seat.

But Solomon's Temple had some things The Tabernacle didn't.  One of those was it's own larger pair of Cherubim in the of The Holy of Holies, placed there already before The Ark was brought into it.  This is recorded in 1 Kings 6 starting in verse 23 (The Ark was brought to The Temple in chapter 8) and 2 Chronicles 3 starting in verse 10 (The Ark was brought there in chapter 5).

And it also could just be a poetic title of Yahuah based on his dwelling between the actual living Cherubim in his Heavenly Throne Room.

So it could have been there at that time.  But we have no direct proof it was.

3. Could Shishak have taken it?

Once one accepts there is no proof of it still being there later. It becomes easy to conclude the most logical option is Shishak took it.  The movie Raiders of The Lost Ark is based on this assumption.  And as I said before a belief it could be in Egypt might be key to some End Times deceptions.

On my Revised Chronology blog I talk about Shishak a lot, to some degree I've changed my mind about him over it's history.  In one post (at the time I'm first writing this the most recent on the Shishak tag is dated November 4th 2016 though I've edited it since then) I pointed out overlooked aspects of the Chronicles account that showed no battle was fought, Rehoboam was convinced by a Prophet to willingly hand over tribute.

To me that makes it unlikely The Ark (or anything else in The Holy Place) was removed then, Rehoboam would have stripped The Temple of all the purely decorative Gold.  But they wouldn't have handed over The Ark.  The Prophet's words were obeyed to avoid something that tragic.

4. What do I think of 2 Maccabees?

If that story is true The Ark was hidden in a cave on Mt Sinai/Horeb.  Which I've argued recently could be in Yemen but I'm not going all in on that.  I certainly view it as in Arabia, east of the Gulf of Aqaba.  But I've grown more skeptical of Jabal el Laws.

However I have argued against giving credence to the Deutercanonical books.  So I don't think that's what happened.

5. Where do I think The Ark is?

The Bible tells us, in the Book named for the premise that it is Revealing mysteries to us.  In The Book of Revelation chapter 11, after the 7th Trumpet is sounded in it's very last verse.

And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

Now I know the counter argument, "The Tabernacle was modeled after The Temple in Heaven, so this is just what The Ark copied".  But you see what makes The Ark different is it's the one thing that wasn't an exact replica, it's there in place of the Four Living Cherubim.

This is the fate of The Ark being reveled to The World at the time The Beast is setting up his deception which I think may include a counterfeit.  Michael Rood who supports the Ron Wyatt theory I debunked, sees The Ark as possibly relevant to the Covenant of Daniel 9.  If there is an end times significance to the 70th Week, I think he's right but for the wrong reason.

5a. When did it leave Earth for Heaven?

Ezekiel 10 describes when Yahuah's divine presence left Solomon's Temple shortly before the fall to Nebuchadnezzar., and it's been noted how that presence never returned to The Second.  Though The New Testament supports it having some Holy Spirit presence till Pentecost, via John 4.  I think what only The First Temple had was The Word/Logos, while the second had only the Spirit.

The account of it's leaving makes reference to the Cherubim.  Maybe Yahuah took The Ark with him?

6. What about Jeremiah 3:16?

And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith Yahuah, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of Yahuah: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.

My Mercy Seat post refuted seeing The Mercy Seat in verse 17.

But I also saw recently someone argue that because no one could enter the Holy of Holies in Ancient Israel, even the beginning of the condition described as ending here hasn't happened yet.  That is a massive abuse of the text, the intent here is clearly to allude to the Pilgrimage Festivals.  Under the New Testament we no longer need to go to Jerusalem or Shiloh or Bethel to observe those Feasts, because now WE are God's Temple and Tabernacle.  Wherever we gather He is there.  So I agree with the face value reading that this means the purpose of the Ark is served, it has one last function when the 7th Trumpet sounds and that is it.

7. Were there two Ark of the Covenants?

The last and most shocking issue I shall cover.

In Exodus it is clear that the first Tablets, which God made directly and which were broken.  Were placed in The Ark made of Gold that has The Mercy Seat as it's lid.  And that Ark was made by Bazael.

Deuteronomy 10 says God had Moses on his own make another Ark of only Wood and place the second set of Tablets inside them.  Some see this as a contradiction and evidence of the Documentary Hypothesis.  But it's perfectly consistent if one considers that God wanted a second humbler Ark to be made for some reason.

The Ark with the Broken Tablets is the only one with a "Mercy Seat". And thus the one associated with the Yom Kippur Sin Offering in Leviticus 16.  That Ark had the broken Tablets, therefor the Atonement in question can be viewed as the Atonement for the breaking of that Covenant.

Deuteronomy 10 is a reference back to when the Second Set of Tablets were first made around Exodus 33-34, so it's not saying this Ark wasn't made till near the end of the wandering.  Interestingly at that same time Exodus describes a separate Tent of Meeting outside the Camp when the Mishkan hasn't been made yet.  Numbers 11 and 12 also seem to refer to this tent outside The Camp.  Could it be a humbler Tabernacle for a humbler Ark?  In 1 Chronicles 17:5 Yahuah says he went from Tent to Tent and from one Mishkan to another.

This Link discuses the possibly of there being more then one Tent of Meeting.

Attempts to figure this mystery out by saying something like the Ark of Yahuah is the Golden one and the Ark of God is the Wooden one won't bear out, both are used interchangeably of the Ark the Philistines captured.  Still 1 Samuel 14:18 says Ark of God, viewing that as the Wooden Ark perhaps works best with how in general the Golden Ark is depicted as never leaving Kirijath-Jearim during this time.

Rabbinic tradition actually says there were two Arks.  Rashi's assessment that the Wooden one was the only one used in battle except when The Philsitines took it as a punishment I'm not sure will bear out. Though it might agree with the theory that the Wooden Ark became the Drum of Thunder of The Lemba tribe.

In my post on Bethel The House of God I attempted to explain why Judges 20:26-27 placed The Ark in Bethel when other passages say it was in Shiloh all that time.  If there were two Arks then we have a possibly simpler answer.  In this passage it is called the Ark of the Covenant of God.

Aven(Also rendered On) and Bethaven are used in The Bible of two locations.  On/Heliopolis in Egypt.  And seemingly a place near Bethel in Joshua 7:2, but also seems to be used as a synonym for Bethel in Hosea and Amos after Bethel became home to Jeroboam's Idol.  Samuel 14:18-23 possibly also links The Ark of God with Bethaven.

I recently argued that Zion, Which is The City of David is Bethlehem, not Jebus as popularly assumed.  One area where my argument gets difficult is the time frame from when David Brings The Ark to Zion after becoming sole ruler, to Solomon placing it is his Temple.  There being Two Arks could solve some of that.

Now I return to that verse from the time of Josiah.  2 Chronicles 35:3.

"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 Yahuah your God, and his people Israel"

I notice that he didn't say "did Build for it".  Maybe the Ark in question here was never previously in Solomon's Temple?

I think the Ark of Gold with The Mercy Seat as it's Lid is what had those other objects placed in it.  And that it was kept in The Tabernacle with the other Holy Relics built for The Tabernacle.  And as such it was at Shiloh all through The Judges period, and then got taken by The Philistines and wound up at Kirithjearim.  When it was separate from The Tabernacle of Meeting, the Tabernacle had no Ark while it was at Nob and Gibeon.

I think the Ark of Wood was in Bethel all through the Judges period and still so down into the Reign of Saul and even the start of David's Reign.

During the reigns of David and the start of Solomon's reign I'm not always sure which Ark is where.  He originally brought the Ark from Kirithjearim to Zion.

The Ark of Gold was the one Solomon originally placed in The Temple.  And perhaps the other was placed in the Tabernacle of David in Zion when he moved the Daughter of Pharaoh out of there.  And later that Wooden Ark was the one mentioned in 2 Chronicles 35.

7a. Which one do I think was taken to Heaven?

Very likely both.

If one is still on Earth it's the Wooden lesser one.  But it might have had a Counterfeit Mercy Seat, designed to look like a Throne placed on it.  Maybe it's in Aksum, and had been on Tana Kirikos and at Elephantine.

The Mercy Seat is NOT a Throne

I believe Ron Wyatt's proposed location for the Red Sea Crossing and Mount Sinai (Jabal El Lawz) are mostly correct, they were confirmed by Bob Cornuke and endorsed by Chuck Missler.

But I'm inclined to be much more skeptical of Ron Wyatt's other claimed discoveries, I haven't looked too deep into most.  But I'm most unnerved by many implications of his Ark of the Covenant/Mercy Seat claim.

For starters it's dependent on the Garden Tomb model of where Jesus was crucified and buried, which I find interesting but has a major flaw with the Tomb being way to old, (Jesus was buried in a new Tomb no body had previously been buried in,) I haven't seen it's supporters adequately deal with that yet.

But even assuming that theory is correct.  It bothers me how people who fully believe his claim, like especially Michael Rood, are constantly adding this extra Biblical information to how they describe The Crucifixion.

And then there are all the stories he tells about encountering Angels in the room where it was and everything.  If he was explicitly trying to introduce New Scripture we'd all see it as being the same thing Joseph Smith did.

One thing from his story often left out when others talk about it is how he claims the last time he went into that hidden room, the Ark and almost everything else was gone, with the implication that the Israeli Government took them.  And when he tells that story about the Tablets, the Angel defines the Tablets as being The Ten Commandants which contradicts The Bible, and then ties it into the Seventh Day Adventist view of the Mark of The Beast.

I've been a strong supporter of the Ark being in Ethiopia but getting there a different rout then the Menelik legend.  Following the research of Graham Hancock (not a Believer) in his The Sign and The Seal which was followed up by Believer Bob Cornuke and endorsed by Chuck Missler.

One thing both those Ark theories have in common is claiming with alleged eye witness testimony that The Mercy Seat is a Throne.  Which I accepted myself at face value till I decided to look deeper into that a few weeks ago, and found that claim doesn't hold up, and is based on a bad translation.  Because of that I've been starting to doubt Cornuke's claim somewhat too.

The "Mercy Seat" is one word in The Hebrew.  Strong number 3727 Kapporeth, which comes from from 3722 Kaphar being it's feminine plural.  They both mean Mercy, no word for chair or seat or throne is used.  The Greek term used in Hebrew 9:5 is Strong number 2435 hilasterion which comes from 4233, is the same.  The Greek word for Throne that is sometimes translated Seat particularly in Revelation is Thronos.

Jeremiah 3:17 following 3:16 is the main Bible verse Chuck Missler likes to cite to say the Throne is the Mercy Seat and thus The Mercy Seat has eschatological significance.  He then ties that into Ezekiel 43:7.  The Hebrew word translated Throne in both those verses, and of God's heavenly four wheeled flying Throne, and the Throne of David is Kicce, strong number 3678.  In Ezekiel 43:7 I feel the Mercy Seat, if it will still exist at all, is probably Yahuah's Foot Stool rather then Throne.  That fits 1 Chronicles 28:2 and Psalm 132.

When God is described as dwelling "between the Cheirbuim" that could be referring to the Cheirmbum that were part of the design of the Solomon's Temple itself rather then on the Mercy Seat.

Michael Rood's depictions of the Mercy Seat show only 2 of the 4 wings of the Cherubim on the Ark spread out, with the other two at their sides.  That doesn't match what Exodus 37:9 describes.

And the cherubims spread out their wings on high, and covered with their wings over the mercy seat, with their faces one to another; even to the mercy seatward were the faces of the cherubims.

Clearly all 4 wings are spread over the lid.

In Ezekiel and Daniel 7 God is described as having a Four Wheeled flying Throne.  I think the Shekeniah Glory in a sense is that Throne.  I believe Yahuah's Throne in the Holy of Holies of The Tabernacle and Solomon's Temple was the same Throne as his Heavenly Throne.  And if anything The Mercy Seat was his Foot Stool.  The Yom Kippur description in Leviticus 16 clearly has Yahuah ABOVE the Mercy Seat, not on it.

Michael Rood has also made it part of his view of Bible Prophecy that at the start of the 70th Week "The Messiah" who he views as Jesus, will "confirm the Covenant" (referring to Daniel 9 70 Weeks Prophecy), by revealing The Ark to The World.

Now I feel there is an unwitting danger there, I do not question Rood's intentions, I'm convinced he is a true Brother in Christ.  But this idea of an Eschatological role for The Ark/Mercy Seat combined with mistakenly making The Mercy Seat a Throne, I see as having potential for an End Times deception.

Paul in II Thessalonians 2 does describe The Man of Sin as "sitting" in The Temple.  Michael Rood thinks he'll sit on The Ark, so for that reason I'm certain he'll recognize The Abomination of Desolation for what it is when it happens even if he's mistaken on the events leading up to it.

Isaiah 14:13 describes Satan as having a Throne of his own, that he wants to make higher then the Most High's.  The word there is Kicce also.  Haggai chapter 2 refers to The Throne of the Nations.

Revelation 2 in the letter to Pergamos makes reference to Satan's Seat (Seat being Thronos).  Because of the nature of the letters to the Seven Churches, I don't necessarily think Satan's Thronos is literally in Pergamos, though it could be. I may touch on one theory for where it could be later in this study or in a future one.  In my past Seven Churches post I theorized that what Jesus meant by Satan's Seat allegorically in this context was the Serapis Temple (a cult that originated in Hellenistic Egypt based on Osiris and Apis/The Golden Calf and maybe also Apollo) not the more famous Altar of Pergamom.

In Revelation 13 The Dragon/The Serpent/The Devil/Satan gives his Thronos and his power and his authority to The Beast.  The same Authority he offered Jesus in his third Temptation.

In Revelation 16 when the 6th Bowl of God's Wrath is poured out this Thronos is mentioned again.  Because of how this ties into the rest of that chapter and the following ones.  I'm convinced it must be located (at that time) west of the Euphrates.

Going back to Isaiah 14.  Satan wants to place his Throne on the "Sides of the North", on the one hand this refers to God's Heavenly throne room.  But The Tabernacle and Temple is modeled after that.  Psalm 48 is the only other usage of this phrase "Sides of the North", where it is linked to Zion.

Now for those who think The Antichrist could be someone claiming to be the Islamic Mahdi, there are Mahdi Prophecies that say he'll discover The Ark of The Covenant and other ancient Relics like the original Torah Scroll and Gospel to Refute Judaism and Christianity.  Here is a Sunni Muslim website on the subject, one I'll be talking about more in the future.  And here is another Muslim claim that the Mahdi will have the Ark, and that Muhammad had it.

The sources conflict on where these things will be found.  Some imply Antioch, some Rome, given the context of the origins of Islamic eschatology Constantinople could be what is meant by Rome, which would make two options in modern Turkey, same modern nation as Pergamon.  Others say by or in the Sea of Tiberius, an ancient name for the Sea of Galilee.  There is also a related prophecy about the waters receding from Alexandria in Egypt to uncover the treasures of Duhl-Qarnain, further confirming early Muslims saw him as Alexander The Great.

I have my skepticism of the Islamic Antichrist theory, but I do view all these false prophecies as potential satanic seeds for the Antichrist even if they wind up being irrelevant to how the End Times actually plays out.

Another reason to suspect a possible Egyptian origin for a counterfeit Ark would be how the Masonic Enoch built the Great Pyramid theorists like to claim the dimensions of the sarcophagus in the King's Chamber has the same dimensions as the Ark of the Covenant.  I'm not sure how accurate that claim is but I know it's out there.  Here is one crazy variation that says Moses stole The Ark from the Pyramid.

The theory about the journey of the Ark I said above that I used to and still kind of do favor does have it go through Egypt.  In fact II Chronicles 35:21 is thought of as implying Pharaoh Necho had direct access to it.

But the most famous theory about the Ark's fate in modern popular imagination is the one used in the premise of Raiders of The Lost Ark.  Which is that it was taken to Egypt by Shishak.  The common theory among many Atheist Bible Skeptics (if they concede it existed at all) is that Shishak taking it is the only logical fate, but it wasn't fully admitted in the text because of national pride.  I don't know if that was a factor in Lucas and Spielberg using that theory or not.

You can however be an Inerrantist and still favor that theory.  The strongest Biblical argument for the Ark being in The Temple anytime after that is the "Dwelleth between the Cheirbum" references, and I already addressed that phrase.  Besides that Josiah's request in II Chronicles 25:3 tells us that it was removed sometime before then and implies it's location was known, but nothing more concrete.  It being in the same chapter as the Necho reference has been interpreted as explaining why Josiah inexplicably attacked Necho.

Maybe it's possible Shishak took it but the rest of the going to Ethiopia theory of Cornuke is also true.

Maybe an Ark substitute of some kind was created for the Onias Temple?

Another thing Bible critics love to make a big deal out of is objects in the ancient Egyptian Pagan religion that kind of resembled The Ark and claim Moses just ripped those off.

However given what I've argued above one key difference to weaken that argument is that the Egyptian Arks were Thrones for Idols and/or looked like Thrones.  The Japanese Omikoshi I feel is more legitimately similar to The Ark of The Covenant because it's not a Throne, only a container of sacred relics.

So the gist is, could it be some Ancient Egyptian relic will be found in the End Times and claimed to be the Ark?

[Update: Follow Up Post]]

Bethel, The House of God

The geography of Ezekiel 48 has Ezekiel's Temple not in the city of Jerusalem but miles to the North of it.

One problem existing among a few people who understand that correctly like Jack Kelly of GraceThruFaith.com is they have a desire to say Ezekiel's Temple will be the same one The Antichrist will desecrate.  (some say this while still thinking the Temple is in Jerusalem in which case all I need to do is point out Ezekiel's geography).

I've already addressed the error of connecting the Abomination of Desolation to Ezekiel 44 when refuting a heresy far more dangerous then anything Jack Kelly teaches.  The words for Abomination are completely different.

There are a lot of people trying to come up with uninformed interpretations of what the Outer Court being trodden under foot of the Gentiles in Revelation 11 means.  Luke 21:24 however clarifies it, the same terminology is used there, it is about Jerusalem being under foreign occupation.  I believe the same time frame is intended, ending with The Rapture and the Last Trumpet.

The city refereed to as Spiritually Sodom and Egypt where Jesus was Crucified is indisputably Jerusalem.  Some insist the "Holy City" of the first few verses of Chapter 11 can't be the same then.  This duality of Jerusalem is what The Bile is constantly about, it is God's Holy City because of his covenant with David, but it's also constantly in rebellion.  Just read Luke 19:41-44.

Jack Kelly talks about how The Jews refer to Ezekiel's Temple as the Third Temple (but admits those same Jews are expecting to build it in Jerusalem).  The Jews lack the New Testament therefore they are missing pieces of the puzzle.  They are ignorant of Jesus warning that the Abomination of Desolation will happen again.  Revelation has Jerusalem rocked by devastating Earthquakes at least twice, in 11 and 16 in the Seventh Bowl of Wrath.  I think it's unlikely the Antichrist's Temple will survive that.

The Jews seeking to rebuild The Temple may like to say they're going to fulfill Ezekiel 40-48, but their actual plans don't match that.  The Temple institute is expecting to have a Menorah and a Veil and a Wall of Separation and separate courts for Gentiles and Women, and a High Priest.  We Christians know that Ezekiel's lack of mentioning these things isn't taking them for granted, everything lacking in Ezekiel's Temple has New Testament significance.

But Size is the biggest issue, the size of Ezekiel's Temple is larger then the entire modern city of Jerusalem.  And the geography envisioned is dependent on changes to the land that happen in the Seventh Bowl of God's Wrath.  Every theorized location for Ezekiel's Temple has an inhabited city there currently with Jewish and Muslim populations, modern Israel isn't going to permit destroying any of those.

Now that I've addressed that error, let's discus the significance of Ezekiel's Temple being outside the City.

Some might wonder, how does that make sense when the city is called "YHWH is There" in the last verse of Ezekiel?  Well first Ezekiel says The Temple will be open only on Sabbaths, New Moons and the Holy Days.  Only citizens of New Jerusalem, His Bride, get to be with Him 24/7.

I find it interesting how The Ark was constantly separate from The Tabernacle during the time between it leaving Shiloh and the Dedication of Solomon's Temple.  For 60 years The Ark was at Kiriath-Jearim till David brought it to Zion.  The Tabernacle however was at Nob till Ahimelech was killed and then was at Gibeon till The Temple was dedicated.  So from the 8th year of David till the 11th year of Solomon the Ark was in Zion and the Tabernacle further North.

Gibeon can't work in my opinion as equivalent to where Ezekiel's Temple will be since it's not even close to directly north, it's way to the west.  It's merely an interesting type picture.

Where do I think Ezekiel's Temple will be?  My mind has shifted on that.

I first made this post when I favored Shechem or around there, but then I updated it as I leaned towards Shiloh for the longest time (same location Jack Kelly favors).  And I still feel Salem of Melchizedek isn't Jerusalem but rather Shiloh and/or in the Shechem area.

But as I was looking recently at some of the maps of Ezekiel's geography that I consider the most accurate.  The Holy Portion does not seem to go far enough North to include Shiloh.  In fact it occurred to me that Shiloh seems to be in the land allotted to Judah in Ezekiel's allotment.  That struck me as significant since the name of Shiloh is associated with Judah in Genesis 49:10.

I've actually grown skeptical recently of the assumption that Shiloh is a name for The Messiah in that verse.  It's the prior verse Revelation 5 identifies with Jesus.  I see Christians constantly citing Rabbinic opinions that Shiloh is the Messiah, which makes me laugh, they're people who don't think Jesus was The Messiah.  Either way I think it would make sense if in the Messianic Kingdom the capital of Judah is Shiloh.

Anyway as I was observing these maps it started to occur to me Bethel might fit.  I did a google search and others had indeed calculated Bethel about 11 or 12 miles North of Jerusalem would be the center of the Holy Portion.  But these scholars did not see the center as where The Temple is as I do, so they argued for it being the start of a stairway or something leading to The Temple or the City.  The Ladder Jacob saw connected Heaven to Earth, not two Earthly locations.

Genesis 28:16-22 KJV

And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.  And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.  And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.

 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

No place in Genesis or the whole Torah is more blatantly defined as the House of God, yet we keep over looking it.  I also wonder if the "Gate of Heaven" comment is a clue to the geography of Revelation 19:11 and how it ties in with Zechariah 12-14 and Isaiah 63.  Something I'm still studying.

In Genesis 31:13 God called Himself "The God of Bethel".

In Genesis Jacob returns there to keep his promise, and God makes further promises to Jacob.  And Deborah, Rebecca's nurse, was buried beneath an oak tree.  Later in Judged 4:5 another more famous Deborah lives under a Tree at Bethel.

It was Jacob who named the place Bethel.  Moses however uses the name retroactively twice when discussing Abraham's travels.  Genesis 12:8.

And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.

And he returned there in 13:3, most of the events of that chapter take place there.

BTW, in Hebrew "Called upon the name of YHWH" is the same phrase as the end of Genesis 4.  I keep seeing people say the Hebrew really says at the end of Genesis 4 men "profaned the name of The LORD", but like the claims about what the Hebrews says of Nimrod being a mighty hunter "Before The LORD" that claim doesn't hold up in my attempts to verify it.

It's interesting that this is east of Bethel.  Again the size of Ezekiel's Temple complex is huge.  What if Bethel is the site of the Holy Place, and Abraham's altar equates to the Brazen Altar?  (the Hebrew words for Pillar and Altar refer to distinct things).

If you look at diagrams of Ezekiel's Temple, the Brazen Altar is at the center, with three gates leading to it and the Holy Place to the West.  The East Gate is sealed after The Temple is consecrated (Hai which is a different transliteration of Ai, means ruin or heap).

Judges 20:18-27 says the Ark was kept at Bethel at that time, the KJV obscures this by translating the name "the house of God".   Does this contradict other passages like Joshua 18, Judges 19 and 1 Samuel 1-13 that seem place the Ark and Tabernacle in Shiloh all this time?

Judges 21:19 refers to Shiloh as north of Bethel when saying a yearly Feast of YHWH was kept there.  Genesis 49:10 defines Shiloh as Gathering place of the People.  It could be Bethel was the usual keeping place of The Ark but Shiloh was where the Feasts were held.  Or maybe the two cites just weren't as far from each other as the modern archeological identifications would have us think?

1 Samuel 7:16 refers to Bethel as a place Samuel regularly visited.  In 1 Samuel 10:3, Samuel sends Saul to Bethel to the "Hill of God", where he has a profound Spiritual experience.

I've also been contemplating theories about the Geography of Eden.  I've watched this video from Rob Skiba.  I really don't like the Pyramid stuff and I could do without the Flat Earth stuff.  But he still has interesting speculations.

I'm thinking that Adam was created by the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, maybe around Joppa.  And then maybe The Garden was Bethel, and Abraham's Altar where God made animal skin garments for Adam and Havvah.  And maybe the Oak tree that Deborah was buried under was roughly where the Tree of Life was? (not the actual same tree of course).  Deborah means Word.

Now because of Jeroboam the land of Bethel was tainted by a Golden Calf, and it comes up in Amos and Hosea because of that.  But a Prophet of YHWH foretold Josiah would destroy that Idol and cleanse the area.  And indeed he did.  No such cleansing happened for the site of the equivalent Idol set up at Dan, why is that?  Maybe it has something with do the different destinies for Dan and Bethel.

Did The Lost Tribes go to Japan?

I did a post on why in general I think The Lost Tribes went East rather then West, where I mentioned the Japan theories.  The role DNA studies play in speculating about the Lost Tribes in Japan I addressed on my Revised Chronology Blog.  I've been wanting to do this post specifically on the Japan theories for awhile.

Most blogs or articles on The Lost Tribes in Japan aren't going to mention Anime and Video Games (and maybe Godzilla) as much as I'm going to.  But being a Nerdy Fundamentalist is part of my gimmick, and I figure mentioning what Western Pop Culture likes most about Japan can make this subject accessible to people it wasn't before.  But if you're going to read this mainly for that then I should warn you it may take awhile to start popping up.

I think this theory could have truth in it, but I shall keep a skeptical eye.  Plenty of arguments made for it I think certainly range from bad to being quite a stretch.  And there is plenty of reason to suspect Nicholas McLeod was being deliberately dishonest and manipulative about many things.

Critics of the theory will point out that proponents are being very selective in what Japanese customs they'll mention, including both relatively nation wide ones and local isolated ones, and not mentioning ones that don't fit.  I understand that.

Thing is, I at least am not going to suggest Israelites were the only ancestors of the Japanese.  There were probably multiple migrations of people to the Islands that make up Japan, and even the ones that brought Hebrews may not have brought only Hebrews.  And there are also things that may not be explainable only by a Biblical origin, but when viewed next to other less common similarities become more interesting.

The Suwa-Taisha local ceremony that is argued to parallel the offering of Isaac is perhaps the most compelling.  I'll deal with it later, but before discussing a possible specific Tribal identity.

The oldest versions of the theory focus on saying it's the Priestly and/or Aristocratic clans that had Israelite origins.  While a later version focused on certain lower class and outcast populations.  It's possible each of those could have some truth to them with Israelites still not being the only ancestors of any group.  The DNA study touched on the Northern Kingdom's non Levitical priesthood.

The more moderate versions often focus on the Hata Clan, speculating them to have been Nestorian Jewish Christians from the Third Century AD.  Which strictly speaking wouldn't be a Lost Tribes connection at all.  But a lot of Christian theology about the Lost Tribes says Christians have knowingly or not often sought out the Lost Tribes in the spread of the Gospel.  Now a lot of that can tie into Two House theology which can be dangerous.  But it's something to keep in mind.  If the Hata Clan has the specific origin speculated (Jewish Christians who were once in Assyria), then combined with other speculation of mine they could have included descendants of the maternal half siblings of Jesus.

Seeing Hexagrams popping in Japan cited as evidence can be particularly controversial, because some object to The Star of David.  And that symbol is hardly unique to Judaism.

The comparison between the Omikoshi and The Ark of the Covenant can seem compelling.  A western person looking at it tends to think "that's what an Oriental version of The Ark would look like".  Thing is similar things do exist in other religions.  In fact Bible skeptics love to look at similar objects serving a similar function in Egypt and just accuse Moses (or someone much later) of copying that.

What sets The Ark apart is that there can be only one because this is Monotheism.  However based on The Lemba and their Drum of Thunder I can believe exiled Israelites may have decided to have something else play the same ceremonial function.  Especially Northern Israelites who after Jeroboam followed Moses much less strictly then the Lemba do.  The Ethiopians are also okay with replica Arks, and they claim to have the real one.

The overall comparison of the standard layout of a Shinto Shrine to the Tabernacle/Temple of Solomon, (with the Honden as the Holy of Holies and Haiden as the Holy Place), has a lot of parallels that are pushing it and others that are just pretty standard for any Temple.  What's striking to me is how Shintoism doesn't practice Idolatry in the strictest sense, the Hondens house sacred relics that represent the Kami but aren't viewed as being the Kami itself.

And, that access to the Honden is so restricted.  Most Pagan Temples of antiquity certainly took precautions to protect their inner sanctum from being vandalized, but they wanted them to be open for the Public to see the Idol.  A lot like the Lincoln Memorial or a Catholic Church.  Often with the priests performing parlor tricks to make the Idol seem alive.  But the Honden in Shintoism and the Holy of Holies in Mosaic Judaism, are strictly off limits to laymen.

The argued similarity between Shinto Shrines and Solomon's Temple partly interests me because I'm a Legend of Zelda fan.  Playing Zelda games as a kid/teenager who knew nothing I know now about Shintoism I always felt the Temple of Time (particularly as it is in Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess) seemed like the inner Sanctum of Solomon's Temple.  With the main room you first enter being the Holy Place, the Altar of Time equating to the Altar of Incense, the Door of Time equating to the Veil, and the Room of Time being the Holy of Holies.  With the Pedastool of Time being about where the Ark would be, or God's Throne in the Heavenly Temple in Revelation 4.

Of course that isn't the only area where I've read my Christianity into Zelda.

The architectural aesthetics of the Temple of Time being like a Medieval Catholic Church/Cathedral which often drew on The Temple's design are perhaps one reason for that.  But now that I know more about Shintoism I think the design of a Shinto Shrine was likely a major influence.  That the inner most room houses a sword (The Master Sword) is good evidence of that.  The Relics housed in Hondens are usually either a Sword, a Mirror or a Stone of some kind, based on the imperial regalia of Japan.

But it is interesting that 1 Samuel 21:9 tells us the Sword of Goliath was kept behind the Ephod in the sanctuary of Ahimelech.  The Sword of Goliath was probably much larger then The Master Sword being the Sword of... well... Goliath.  It's size probably more comparable to The Biggoron Sword.  However Cloud and Sephiroth's swords are too ridiculously huge to be practical weapons even for Goliath.  British Israelism sometimes tries to make the Sword of Goliath become Excalibur of Arhturian Legend, with the Sword of Nuada (one of the four Treasures of the Tuatha de Danann) being an identity it took along the way.

One of the first aspects of Shintoism one might be likely to see in Japanese media is the Miko (Shrine Maiden).  Rei Hino in Sailor Moon, the woman who sings that really long song to awaken King Ceaser in Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla, Yuna in Final Fantasy X is like a Miko, the six Maidens in Legend of Zelda Four Swords Adventures are called Mikos in Japan.  And there are some Animes with Miko in the title, one of which I'm hesitant to mention here.

The Miko doesn't usually come up discussing this topic because most people assume ancient Israel didn't have any kind of ceremonial virgin status.  However my study of the word Almah conjectures it might have refereed to something like that.  The Miko vow of Chastity is not life long which makes it more like what I've conjectured for the word Almah (because Mary was one) then either Vestal Virgins or Nuns.  It seems that originally the Mikos served as Oracles or Prophetesses of some sort.  The Bible does record there being Prophetesses in Ancient Israel, at least one of whom (Miriam the sister of Moses) is affiliated with the word Almah, and possibly a second given how you think Isaiah 7 ties into Isaiah 8.

The Far East usually sees Dragons as positive benevolent beings rather then monsters needing to be slain like in the West.  The few exceptions, the few examples of seemingly evil Dragons in Eastern mythology are Japanese, Japan has the Benevolent type too of course.  Now Evil Dragons don't have their sole origin in The Bible, but still this being a particular characteristic of Japan in contrast to it's neighbors is interesting.  Video Games like Zelda and Final Fantasy and Anime like Escaflowne featuring Dragon Slaying are usually assumed to reflect a western influence, and while Arthurian style romance is a connection there, it may also be because it's not as alien to Shinto thinking as one might assume.

It is possible to look at Izanagi as an Adam figure, and Izanami as Havvah/Eve.  I've talked about that when discussing Evangelion.  Though upon further thought they seem more similar to the Kabbalistic concept of Adam Kadmon and Lilith, though I feel the Kaballists party gave Lilith significance that belongs to Eve.  The traditional burial cite of Izanami is Mt. Hiba, a name that could come from Havvah/Eve.

I also can't help but suspect Beth-El is remembered in their legends. with the "Floating Bridge of Heaven" being Jacob's Ladder, and the "Pillar of Heaven" being Jacob's Pillow.  Remember Beth-El was also called the "Gate of Heaven".  And this part of the mythology is supposed to be before the islands of Japan were created.

It's also possible to see Amenominakanushi, Takamimusuhi and Kamimusuhi as possibly being a corruption of The Trinity (which I believe can be deduced from the Hebrew Bible alone).  Takamimushi is attributed with the act of creating Mankind, but he made Ten original Humans from Mud rather then just one Adam.  Takami is usually interpreted to mean Height or High, it could work as a Japanese translation of Elyon.

Now some websites comparing the Shinto pantheon to the Canaanite one (which the Israelites also backslid into worshiping, especially in the North) slip up I feel by comparing Amaterasu to Astarte or Asherah.  Rather I feel an interesting similarity between the Canaanite and Shinto pantheons is having a female solar deity (Shapash/Amaterasu) and a male moon god (Jerah/Tsukuyomi), male moon gods are far from rare, in fact them being female is just about unique to the Greco-Romans.  But females for the main personification of the sun are known to my knowledge only among the Canaanites, in Shinto and among western and northern European Celtic/Germanic/Norse mythologies which I think likely borrowed it from the Phoenicians and Dan.  But among the European examples the sun goddess was never a leading deity of the pantheon, while Amatersau is often defined as the lead god of Shintoism.  And The Bible does hint at Sun Worship being very popular at certain times at least.  Like in the account of Josiah where we're told he tore down Sun worshiping altars.

There is even a specific myth the two solar goddesses have in common, involving her not shining for awhile until persuaded to shine again.

The comparison of Baal-Hadad to Susanoo is valid, though there are other Baal candidates among the Shinto Kami as well, but it's Susanoo who kills Orochi, an evil Dragon that resembled the Lotan of Ugarit, Lotan often gets compared to the Biblical Leviathan.

Yomi could also be compared to Sheol.

After Izanami is dead and the main Shinto Kami come into the picture, Izanagi functions similarly to El in the Ugraic texts (and the Sumerian Anu), as a more distant ruling God who's offspring are fighting with each other over direct rule of the Earth.  Ugarit had different kinds of gods as Baal's rivals though, Ugarit ultimately sided with Baal, but both can come off as villains.  Common motifs but different perspective.

Something else notable is when Wikipedia is explaining how the English "god" might be a flawed translation of Kami says.

The wide variety of usage of the word can be compared to the Sanskrit Deva and the Hebrew Elohim and the arabic Allah, which also refer to God, gods, angels or spirits. 

I think Sama or Kami-Sama makes a good translation of Adonai also.

Of the claims attributed to McLeod the most problematic is his imagined first Emperor Osee.  The first Emperor of Japan according to known Japanese history and mythology is Jimmu, born in 711 BC and began his reign in 660 BC.  McLeod claimed with no source that the first Emperor was Osee who began his reign in 730 BC.  730 BC is when Ussher dated the proper beginning of Hosea's reign as the last king of Northern Israel.  Osee makes sense as a hypothetical Japanese form of Hosea, and McLeod would have likely used Ussher's dates.

Hosea is interesting.  He did NOT continue the "Sins of Jeroboam" which was Idolatry, but did do evil, what that evil was isn't clarified.  His death isn't recorded, he was taken into captivity in the deportation usually dated to 722 BC but which Ussher dates to 724-721 BC.  He could have continued as a leader of his people in Exile like Jechoniah would during the Babylonian Exile, and later his descendants.  We don't know how old he was at any point, it's possible he could have had a son in 711 BC and lived to 660 BC if he was like 30 in 730 BC.  So it seems McLeod's intent was to imagine Hosea as the father of Jimmu but forgot to make all the pieces of his puzzle clear.  Still there is no real evidence Osee came from anything other then his imagination.

But the name Oshi does exist, it's the name of a Castle in Japan that was the object of the Siege of Oshi in 1590.  Searching this Wikipedia page it pops up in the lesser known names of many Japanese Emperors.  Oshi is also the name of a Japanese Board Game.  The instruction sheet of which links itself to Jimmu.  Another similar name is Oshii.  But that is a very tenuous connection for a likely fabricated story.

And now I've learned something I'd missed before.  The Son of Amatersau and father of Ninigi who's said to be the first to travel to Japan, is named as Ame no Oshihomimi no Mikoto.  The Oshi element is part of that name, and is in the only part that is the individual name (some references to him say only Oshihomimi).  A Hebrew origin for Homimi could come from HaMem (The Mem), Mem being the name of a letter of the Hebrew Alphabet.  Memi is also an existing Jewish family name.

So if the traditional dates are a little exaggerated but not as much as most skeptics would say, particularly if you gave the dates for Jimmu to Ninigi.  Then Oshihomimi can fit the time-frame of Hosea king of Israel perfectly.  Maybe before the main Japanese sources were written 711-660-585 were remembered as the important dates of a founder figure, and assumed that was Jimmu and worked the rest of the chronology from there.  Or maybe Ninigi and Jimmu were originally the same person, but an expanded genealogy was added to the mythology later.  Or the generations between them were added, King Hosea could have had a son born around 734-730 BC who'd be old enough to reproduce in 711 BC, and he certainly could have had a Grandson reach adulthood by 660 BC.

The father of Oshihomimi was Susanoo, the Kami who is possibly equivalent to Baal.  Hosea didn't engage in the Sins of Jeorboam, which means not Idolatry presumably.  But he could have been given titles that referenced the Sun, and used the word Baal in the sense of it meaning Husband or Master/Lord.  Or his parents may have been named Hadad and Sapash.  Correction, at least one parent of King Hoshea is named in 1 Kings 15-17,  Elah which could be interpreted to mean "goddess" in Hebrew, though it's normally taken to mean Oak or Elm.

The myths of the traditional ancestors of Jimmu are sometimes compared to the Patriarchs of Genesis.  Ninigi fell in love with Konohanasakuya-hime, but her father wanted him to marry her older sister.  The details playing out as similarly to Jacob as some make it sound I can't verify and have seen contradicted.  A verifiable parallel between Hoori and Joseph I can't find.

Japanese theories, like Native American ones, will often make a key factor out of the Arzareth reference of II Esdras 13:45 where Hosea is Osea, which I talk about here.

I've decided I don't want to retread everything claimed on this subject elsewhere.

Now on to the Suwa-Taisha tradition.  How it's usually presented is as follows.

At the back of the shrine "Suwa-Taisha," there is a mountain called Mt. Moriya ("Moriya-san" in Japanese). The people from the Suwa area call the god of Mt. Moriya "Moriya no kami," which means, the "god of Moriya." This shrine is built to worship the "god of Moriya."

At the festival, a boy is tied up by a rope to a wooden pillar, and placed on a bamboo carpet. A Shinto priest comes to him preparing a knife, and he cuts a part of the top of the wooden pillar, but then a messenger (another priest) comes there, and the boy is released. This is reminiscent of the Biblical story in which Isaac was released after an angel came to Abraham.

The knife and sword used in the "Ontohsai" festival

At this festival, animal sacrifices are also offered. 75 deer are sacrificed, but among them it is believed that there is a deer with its ear split. The deer is considered to be the one God prepared. It could have had some connection with the ram that God prepared and was sacrificed after Isaac was released. Since the ram was caught in the thicket by the horns, the ear might have been split. 

In ancient time of Japan there were no sheep and it might be the reason why they used deer (deer is Kosher). Even in historic times, people thought that this custom of deer sacrifice was strange, because animal sacrifice is not a Shinto tradition.

My friend went to Israel and saw a Passover festival on Mt. Gerizim in Samaria. He asked a Samaritan priest how many rams were offered. The priest answered that they used to offer 75. This may have a connection with the 75 deer which were offered at Suwa-Taisha shrine in Japan.

 Because it seems this festival has, because of the modernization of Japan, ceased being practiced how it used to be, it is difficult to independently verify the details. It's considered odd because usually Animal Sacrifice wasn't a thing in Shintoism.

 (note, I've tried and failed to verify the Samaritans offering 75 Rams claim, and some sites repeating this claim on this subject say 75 lambs but I haven't verified that either.  It reminds me of how 70 Bulls are offered during Tabernacles according to Numbers 29.  But it is certainly true the Samaritan affiliate Unleavened Bread with the Offering of Isaac)

After a good deal of digging I have independently verified the mountain being called Moriya by finding these two websites.

http://www.japanvisitor.com/japan-temples-shrines/suwa-shrine-nagano
https://punynari.wordpress.com/2010/09/04/suwa-grand-shrine-a-touhou-pilgrimage/
And now I can add the Wikipedia page for Takeminakata.

There it is spelled Moreya-No-Kami (God of Moreya).  And the Kanji used to spell it are given as 洩矢神(Mode Arrow Kami), but Google Translate seems to think the Moreya part is only pronounced Mo Ya.  Which suggests the name as it's traditionally pronounced isn't natural to Japanese.  This Wikipedia page is about how the the grander Japanese national mythology ties Suwa in, it doesn't tell us much about the local significance.

[[Update April 30th 2017: And now Moreya has it's own Wikipedia page. ]]

And the Deer affiliation I verified with these three sites

http://www.greenshinto.com/wp/2011/11/29/suwa-taisha-in-wonderful-nagano/
http://tsukaguchi.blogspot.com/2015/08/suwa-taisha.html
http://memim.com/suwa-taisha.html
[[Update APril 30th 2017: and now a reference exists on Wikipedia.]]
[[Update October 2017: and now I have one specifically mentioning the 72 Deer.  And here is one also for 4/15 being the date. ]]

I've found a Jewish website that lists Deer as being Kosher.
http://www.chabad.org/library/howto/wizard_cdo/aid/133726/jewish/Which-Animals-Are-Kosher.htm
Deer definitely fit the requirements for qualifying as Clean laid out in Leviticus 11:3 and Deuteronomy 14:6.  What's interesting about the above random Jewish site is that of all Land Animals considered Kosher, Deer is the only example listed that isn't specifically talked about in Numbers 28-29.  Deuteronomy 14:4-5 does specifically mention Deer among many others however.

[Update: I've speculated that the Hebrew word for Ram could have become confused for a type of Deer, and the Song of Solomon's references to Roes, Harts and Hinds may be key to that.  And I've also considered that the mistake went the other way.]

That the time of year for the festival is Spring Time I've verified here.
http://www.japanvisitor.com/japanese-festivals/festival-april
The precise ritual in question happening on specifically April 15th I have verified here.
http://tsukaguchi.blogspot.com/2015/08/suwa-taisha.html
Which I just noticed is one of the Links I already provided, I archived these months ago not all at the same time.

April is in Springtime, the Hebrew Month of Nisan usually happens in March and April, rarely it could spill over into May.  The 15th of Nisan is Passover/First day of Unleavened Bread.  The 14th is the day the Lamb is killed.

Jewish traditions suggesting the offering of Isaac happened at the same time that would later become Passover can be traced back to at least the book of Jubilees, where combining the information from Jubilees 17:15 and 18:3, places the offering of Isaac on either the 14th or 15th of Nisan.  (Jubilees adds some Job inspired reason for what God does here that I don't approve of however.)  Given what the offering of Isaac means to Christians, we should be very attracted to connecting it to Passover.  April 15th is also while The Sun is in Aries The Ram (or used to be at least).

I found one example of the entire ritual being described Independent of making a Lost Tribes connection.  It does compare it to the Offering of Isaac, but in the way scholars love to compare mythical motifs they don't really think are directly connected.  Ritual Sacrifice Blood Redemption.

I found something online talking in-depth about the local customs, with no discussion of The Bible or Lost Tribes. Jomon Pottery Not all of it is available on the free preview, but the ritual in question seems to be alluded to on page 175 (I think it may be described in more detail on page 169 which I currently can't see).  This book also confirms that Mishaguji was originally Mi-Saku-Chi, on page 178.  The meaning speculated for Saku is blossoming, or manifesting the life-force under the soil or in the womb.  In Hebrew Isaac (derived from Zachaq) means laugh, but the laughter of Sarah was because she didn't expect to be able to conceive a child.

So we have a name phonetically similar to Moriah, which in Hebrew is MoriYah, the right time of year, and the similarity of the ritual itself.  I think that is an awful lot to be a coincidence.

One thing I want to add that usually isn't mentioned on this subject, the Suwa-Taisha area also has a sacred tree.  It's unclear from what I've read if it's on the Mountain called Moryia or somewhere else.  It's a purely conjectural hunch of mine that maybe the most ancient long forgotten origin of the veneration of that tree was it being identified with or used as a representation of the Tree of Life.

As far as my bringing up Japanese Media goes.  One of the links verifying the name Moriya is about a video game franchise I'm not familiar with yet, Touhou.  It seems interesting however.  But it's a genre of games that don't suite me, and I'm not sure they've even been localized in the West.  And I only have Nintendo systems.

So those are my thoughts on the subject.  It's not something I'd consider definitively proven, but it's interesting.

Update October 2016: Tribe of Gad?

I decided I wanted to add to this my thoughts on something I read recently.  It seems some link Japan specifically to Gad, or at least The Imperial Family.

The argument is mostly an old archaic name for The Emperor, Mikado, they point out the Mi in Japan is an honorary Prefix.  I do know that the K and G sounds in Japanese can become confused, for example the Japanese word for god is usually spelled in our alphabet as Kami, but in compound words like Megami (Goddess) and Shinigami (god of death) or either Yagami the K is a G instead, though the Japanese Kanji for Kami is no different.  But sometimes it's still a K in compound word like Mikami or Omikami or Okami.  And an O or U at the end seems to be a common result of transliteration into Japanese.

What other sites I've read so far haven't pointed out is the Hebrew letter Mem can also be a prefix that means "from" or "from the".  Example, Nahem mean "Comforter" and Menahem means "from the Comforter".  So Megad/Migad would mean "from Gad". Though perhaps the Mi as a prefix in Mikadesh and Mishkan is a better comparison here.

Japan like many nations has had many alternate names for itself (Yamato though is strictly speaking just the largest island).  Some names known are Jippon, Nippon and Niphon.  One name the Chinese have called them is Zeppen.  That has lead some to an argument that that name could come from Ziphion, Gad's firstborn son (Genesis 46:16).

Could this claim for the Imperial line overlap with the theories about them coming from Samaria's last King Hoshea discussed above?  His tribal Identity isn't clearly stated, in fact it doesn't seem to be for many Kings starting with Omri.  Hoshea may or may not be a native of Samaria, Samaria as the capital could have had a more diverse population then most cities.

The earlier King Menahem is called Ben Gadi or "Son of Gadi", Gadi is the same in the Hebrew as "Gadite", so perhaps Gadi wasn't the personal name of his father but rather this phrase identifies him as a Gadite?

The house of Menahem does NOT like Jeroboam, Baasha or Ahab have a declaration that it's male line was or will be entirely blotted out.  His son Pekahiah was killed in a coup by Pekah ben Remaliah.  Pekah is later killed in a coup by Hoshea ben Elah.  Could Hoshea have been of Menahem's house, that is often called the House of Gadi?   Hoshea and Menahem both paid tribute to the same Assyrian King, Tiglath-Pileser.

Maybe Elah was Pekahiah's brother?  Or Sister, ending with a Heh is usually grammatically feminine in Hebrew but our assumptions about some names forget that. Or maybe Elah was a wife of Menahem or Pekahiah?

We are repeatedly told there is more to the story in an alluded to Northern Kingdom counterpart to Chronicles, but it hasn't been preserved since it (being kept by a less faithful Kingdom) wasn't God's Word.

The idea of Kings coming from Gad is intriguing to me because I've noticed something about Moses Blessing on The Tribe of Gad in Deuteronomy 33:20-21 that most don't.  It's a blessing that seems to imply Royal status, similar terminology to that used of Judah in Genesis 49:9-10.  So Lost Tribes speculation aside that convinced me Samaria did have a Gadite dynasty.

Japanese Shinto Shrines tend to have Lion statues serving as mystical guards.  Possibly connected to the two Lion statues that were before Solomon's throne (1 Kings 10:19 and I Chronicles 9:18), or to the Lion imagery in Gad's blessing.  People comparing Shinto Shrines to the Temple will misquote those Solomonic references to make it sound like those Lions were in The Temple.

Lions being symbolic of Kingship isn't limited to Biblical symbolism.  Whether or not it all traces back to the Lion of Judah is hard to determine.  But it's interesting that a very notable example of that symbolism in modern Pop Culture is the Disney movie The Lion King.   It being associated with Africa is interesting in-light of the Aksumite Royal family's claim of descent from Solomon.  But what's interesting here is how that symbolism is among the things The Lion King has in common with Kimba The White Lion, the Anime franchise it clearly borrowed much from.

Gad is sometimes defined as being Israel's elite warrior class, based on Jacob's Prophecy and some other verses like 1 Chronicles 5:18, 12:8 and 26:32.  For seeing them in Japan that could make us think of the Ninja or Samuri clans.

Below is taken from Britam's description of Gad given for the purpose of supporting their bias for European identifications, in this case Sweeden.

"Gad asserts himself. He is capable. He has a pioneeer initiating aspect. He is adventurous, enterprising, and concerned with material wealth sometimes at the expense of family considerations. Gad belongs to a group. Peer pressure is important to him. When you deal with someone from Gad chances are you will be impressed with their friendliness, with their letting you into their circle. The problem is that it will require an OK from the circle. Gad checks back with the group and prefers not to finally commit himself/herself unless the "group" also does. It is not only how Gad himself sees you. It can also be how Gad thinks the group will see you and how the both of you will fit in with the group.
Gad is open to others but prefers unions with his own kind as does everybody but with Gad it is even more so. Families from Gad have a tendency to split up yet retain contact over distance and time. Not everyone succeeds in this but those who can do it are to be congratulated. Family is important and valuable. Gad is also a "chopper", a "cutter-off". Gad knows how to chopp somebody off, to let them go. Gad is frisky and alive. Look at his stone. It contains the simplest and dullest of all colors yet it is attractive and dynamic. Gad can put life into the mundane. There is an aspect of innocence and eternal youth about Gad."

I feel like it happens to describe Japanese culture fairly well.  In the sense that it can be read as describing an individual it could fit many Anime protagonists, I see a little of Tsukino Usagi in that description of Gad.  Some of that kinda describes Anime itself.

Does that fit Japan better then Sweeden?  I don't know, I've never watched a Sweedish cartoon.  But I'd' say Sweeden is claiming to be Dan right in it's very name, like her cousin Denmark.

As far as Britan's desire to identify the Goths with Gad goes.  I believe the Goths, Geats and Gautr descended from the Gutians of ancient Mesopotamia who descended from Gethur son of Aram son of Shem son of Noah.

I've already elsewhere criticized Britam's desire to associate Ephraim with Royalty.

Update December 2nd 2017: Some changes and new thoughts.

I still think the Tribe of Gad went to Japan.  I no longer think the royal family of Japan came from Hosea, or that Manehem Ben Gadi was of Gad.  Son of the Gadite would be a weird way to call someone a Gadite, but if it's identifying a more distant ancestor it could be the Gadi who was the spy representing Manasseh in Numbers 13.  Manehem first came from Tirzah, a city of Western Manasseh.  I think Hosea and the others deported in 722 BC wound up in the Americas.

Instead I now think that Hoori the grandfather of Japan's first Emperor could be the Huri named in 1 Chronicles 5:14.

It has also become my hunch that perhaps all three Trans-Jordan Tribes (Deported in 745 BC) wound up in Japan, but may have contributed to other populations of Asia along the way.  I still think the Emperor's family probably chiefly came from Gad.  And that Moses blessing for Gad in Deuteronomy 33 gives them a Royal destiny similar to Judah's in Genesis 49.

But given how Jimmu comes from an intermingling of lines in the mythology.  I think it's interesting to note that Jimmu is often depicted/described as wielding a great Bow.  Jehu used a Bow and Arrow when he overthrew Jehoram, and archer imagery can be linked to Joseph going back to Genesis 49.

Some have attempted to connect the Kumaso mentioned in Japanese legends with Moab.  Some verses call the Moabites the "people of Chemosh", like the only time the name Chemosh pops up in the Torah.  That could be evidence of Chemosh being an ancestral deity, perhaps an important son or grandson of Moab.  However the Moabites weren't deported till the Babylonian captivity, and I agree with reasons to think they wound up in Span and/or Portugal.

But the land of Reuben was also land that first belonged to Moab (a fact taken advantage of by some wanting to claim Ruth wasn't a Moabitess).  Deuteronomy 2's statement that Yahuah wouldn't give Israel any of Moab's land came after they already conquered much of the Trans-Jordan, some specifically from Moab.  So it means He's not giving them anymore of Moab, nothing south of the Arnon river.

The Japanese etymology of Kumaso is that it comes from Kuma, meaning Bear.  But the Ainu do worship Bear deities under that name.  It's not impossible that Chemosh too was a Bear deity, or often depicted in a Bear form.  Or maybe the Bear association came after migrating to Japan.  Reubenites who fell into idolatry may likely have worshiped the local Idol who was named Chemosh.

As far as Eastern Manasseh aka Gilead goes.  Some of my other beliefs about Manasseh's destiny would lead me to wonder if it's possible that Japanese Americans are a bulk of the ones descended from Manasseh, but perhaps also the Japanese in Brazil.  But to be more scholarly about it, when Genesis 48 says Manasseh would be a "great people" the Hebrew word for "people" is Am, which could also be rendered Em.  So that kind of makes me think of the Emishi and thus Princess Mononoke.  Or the name of the Emishi could also be related to Nimshi, the grandfather of Jehu, a king of Israel who's origin was in Giliead/Eastern Manasseh.

There are theories of the Japanese being among pre-Columbian visitors to the Americas, including specifically in New Mexico.   Empress Jingu is said to have traveled to some far off land and conquered it, assumptions that this was Korea are largely how this myth is discussed.  But I think it could be America.  The Emishi were driven east as they were presumably wiped out, perhaps some of them fled across the Atlantic.  Also Mitochondrial Haplogroup B is a genetic connection between the Japanese and Native South Americans.

Yuri is the Japanese word for Lily.  The modern pop-culture association of Lilies with Lesbianism in Japanese media is a recent development.  But it comes from a more ancient association of Lilies in general being Feminine.  Biblically Lilies are also Feminine, like in the Song of Solomon, and the Shoshanim mentioned at the start of some Psalms like Psalm 45.

Attempts to give some Japanese words a Hebrew origin include saying Gaijin comes from Goyim, thing is I don't think Goyim meant that till pretty late.

What's interesting to me is there are two Kanji pronounced Ya, making one think of the shortened form of YHWH, Yah.  Both have sometimes been combined with Kami/god to create names pronounced Yagami.

One means Eight. Which seems like a random association for Yah unless you've like me fixated on Iesous having a Greek Gemetria value of 888 and seeking to tie that into the TNAK significance of various Eighth Days.  Japanese mythology mentions a palace called Yahiro-Dono.  Origonally I had speculated this Pillar could be a memory of the Pillar Jacob set up at Bethel, but now I'm thinking it could also be the Pillar set up at Gilead in Genesis 31:45-52.  The word for Pillar used in these verses is Matsebah/Mazebah, perhaps what Matsuri the Japanese word for Festival comes from

The other means Night.  Which could be a product of Yah being sometimes wrongly thought to be a Moon god because of His preference for a Lunar Calendar.  And that His days begin at Sunset rather then Sunrise, and wanted His Tabernacle/Temple facing West rather then East to specifically oppose Sun-worship.

The Kanji that is pronounced Kami or sometimes Gami when put in a name, also has a totally different pronunciation, Shin, which sometimes becomes Jin when part of a name.  The Jin of Islamic/Arabic mythology are sometimes equated to the Shedim of Jewish folklore.  Nehemiah Gordon theories that Shaddai used in a Biblical Title of Yahuah, El Shaddai, is related in meaning to Shedim/Shade.  In Rabbinic and Kabalistic writings Yahuah as El Shaddai is sometimes just represented by the Hebrew letter Shin.