Today’s new story about this incredible archaeological discovery is being hailed as one of the most improbable and unexpected historic finds in the Middle East’s history. For an entire marble column, which is believed to be over 1,500 years old, to be found intact at a place where thousands of people have walked for centuries is so beyond belief, it borders on the impossible.

What makes this discovery even more remarkable is that it didn’t take a dedicated team of dozens of archaeologists decades upon decades of carefully exploring these ancient grounds to finally unearth this artifact. It simply revealed itself after a recent heavy rain had washed the sand away, allowing a portion of the column to be seen on a routine beach inspection by two Ashdod municipal officers. The story of its discovery can be seen here.

For those unfamiliar with the city of Ashdod, here’s a quick primer: This city comprises one of five cities that in ancient times were the home of the Philistines. The other four were Askelon, Gath, Ekron and Gaza–yes, that Gaza, the region known as the Gaza Strip, which borders the nation of Israel to the east and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. This is also the region that has been the hotbed of terrorist strikes against Israel that had persisted for her entire modern history since being re-established in 1948. The ancient Philistines are today’s Palestinians who reside in this region. Most notoriously, they were the home of Yassir Arafat (1924-2004), the Palestinian leader, and his stubborn refusal to ever acknowledge Israel’s right to exist, just like all the other Arab nations. To say that this caused a strained relationship with their immediate neighbor would be the height of understatement.

Ashdod also has a very interesting history which involves the Ark of the Covenant and the parallels with today’s news story and the Ark of the Covenant are dripping such irony that even I have trouble believing it. But first, let’s look at the details of today’s historic find.

Nobody looked for this artifact…it merely presented itself due to a natural weather phenomena with no human involvement whatsoever. This alone is not earth shattering news. No doubt, throughout history there have been thousands, perhaps millions of discoveries that were found merely by taking a hike in a remote region and seeing something that just…didn’t…seem…to…make…sense. The curious hiker might have stumbled upon a perfectly intact arrowhead, or even older–a fully preserved dinosaur skeleton! But rarely does one find an item like an ancient marble column that is completely intact, having suffered no damage since it was originally created in such a highly visited area. This is the furthest thing from a “remote” location there can be.

Next, this location along the coast of the Mediterranean is a beautiful beach area with rolling sand dunes and pristine waters that are popular with both citizens and tourists in the summer months. It is known as the Ashdod Sand Dune Park. Its sandy hills make a perfect place to challenge 4-Wheel ATV riders as they speed up its constantly changing contours. How could it be remotely possible that at least ONE of those riders hadn’t mistakenly run across the marble column–which had to be mere inches from the surface–and not damaged it? That’s a miracle in itself.

And the AGE! It’s older than 1,500 years! That pre-dates Columbus discovering the New World by almost 1,000 years, let alone the birth of the United States of America! You would think that with that much time, something would have damaged this artifact, but no–it sat in silence under the sand and waited until today to be reintroduced to the world once again.

But the reason I mentioned the Ark of the Covenant earlier is because in Biblical times, Ashdod fought a war against Israel (sound familiar?) which they won, and after their victory, they seized one of the spoils of war which was none other than the Ark of the Covenant (Pro tip: Big mistake. HUGE mistake). This moment is described here in the Book of 1 Samuel:

1 Sam. 4:1–And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Ebenezer: and the Philistines pitched in Aphek. ² And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines: and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men.

4,000 men of Israel were killed! The elders knew they must use the Ark to their advantage:

Verse 3–“…the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath Yahweh smitten us to day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of Yahweh out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies.”

For a while, this strategy worked. Israel felt strengthened and the Philistines grew fearful. But their fear soon turned to determination:

Verse 9–“Be strong and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight. ¹⁰ And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. ¹¹ And THE ARK OF ELOHIM WAS TAKEN….”

30,000 men killed! At this moment, it looked like it couldn’t get any worse for Israel. A combined total of 34,000 fatalities and the loss of the Ark of the Covenant. Where did the Philistines take it?

1 Sam. 5:1–“And the Philistines took the ark of Elohim, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod.”

To make matters worse, the Philistines decided to place this sacred item in the Temple of Dagon, known as the fish-god. This pagan god of fertility had its origins in earlier Babylonian god and goddess worship. A vast number of depictions of Dagon have been identified all throughout the Middle East and almost every image portrays Dagon wearing a hat shaped like a fish’s open mouth. If you’ve ever wondered why the Catholic Pope wears a hat that’s nearly identical to the god Dagon…wonder no more.

The Philistine’s smugness didn’t last very long. Almost immediately, every person in Ashdod suddenly developed a painful case of huge emerods.

Verse 6–But the hand of Yahweh was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof.

So? What’s the big deal? And what in the world is an “emerod”? Ladies and gentlemen, this is one of the greatest punishments in human history. You see, “emerod” is just another word for HEMORRHOID! The entire city of Ashdod developed huge, painful hemorroids and were immediately desperate to put an “end” to this (see what I did there?)! But no matter which other city the Ashdodites tried to take the Ark to, nobody else dared accept it for fear that they too would suffer the identical punishment. It didn’t matter. Regardless of which Philistine city housed the Ark, everyone in the Philistine nation developed hemorrhoids. If you’ve ever had hemorrhoids, you know how extremely painful they can be…so I’ve heard. Today, this condition is easily and quickly treatable but in Old Testament times, no doubt the victims had to just suffer and endure the pain until they went away. Somehow, it took a full seven months before the people of Ashdod finally decided to return the Ark to Israel along with five very special gifts.

1 Sam. 6:1–And the ark of Yahweh was in the country of the Philistines SEVEN MONTHS.

For their trespass offering, what could be more fitting than to cast golden images of your emerods, right?

Verse 4–“Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him? They answered, Five golden emerods, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines: for one plague was on you all, and on your lords. ⁵ Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images of your mice that mar the land; and ye shall give glory unto the Elohim of Israel: peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land.

And this they did. After forming golden hemorrhoids to represent each of the five Philistine cities, they returned the Ark of the Covenant back to Israel, having learned a very painful lesson along the way.

Verse 17–And these are the golden emerods which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto Yahweh; for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Askelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one;

(Nothing says I love you more than the gift of golden hemorrhoids. Sounds like a greeting card. But, I digress.)

As I said at the beginning of this post, today’s news story is just oozing irony. That’s because the method which allowed this discovery of the marble column to even occur was nothing other than a heavy rainstorm. And THAT is exactly the same natural phenomena that will occur in the near future to expose the ACTUAL Ark of the Covenant from its current hiding place in the Golan Heights!

In an earlier blog post, I described in great detail the sequence of events that will occur leading to the discovery of the world’s most significant historic artifact, which will not only include a monsoon-like rainfall, it will be preceded by an earthquake that will loosen the soil, allowing the rain to unearth the Ark. And like today’s story, it will also occur with zero human involvement. You may read that post in its entirety here.

I believe the Bible to be true and can validate that belief with many proofs. Even though I had published the previous story about the Ark of the Covenant long ago, deep down inside of me remained this gnawing thought–Could an earthquake and a rainstorm r-e-a-l-l-y expose the whereabouts of the Ark?

Thus, today’s news story is like a gigantic tease. If all it took was a heavy rain to reveal an ancient marble column, what will happen if an earthquake rumbles the ground first and THEN rain washes away the dirt? It’s like Yahweh is having fun with us, just providing an appetizer for the main course to come.