The Original Passage Used to Carry the Ark to the Chamber

          Before permanently sealing the passageway, Ron had gone into the chamber with the Ark and opened the original entrance (through which it was carried) to see if he could follow it to it's point of origin. When he opened it, he discovered on the other side a very large tunnel which extended in both directions. He observed that the tunnel appeared to be a natural tunnel that had been enlarged since he saw chisel marks. But the bad news was that it was completely blocked with large stones in both directions. The problem now to be solved was determining the path taken by those who put the items in the chamber.

          To resolve this question, Ron began by using simple reason. The items had been in the temple- that was their point of origin. They were now in this chamber, many feet below ground level. A great number of tunnels have been found under the temple mount and the city, but none that he knew of were heading in this direction. Was the entrance into the tunnel within the city or was it somewhere across the street in front of the northern wall? Ron had an idea as to where to begin his search. 

          "Zedekiah's Cave"

          In the winter of 1854, Dr. Barclay, a physician and missionary, went for a walk in Jerusalem. He was walking to the site of the traditional "Jeremiah's Grotto" which is along the same Calvary escarpment. As he walked past the Damascus Gate, suddenly his dog, running ahead of him, vanished. As he searched for his dog who didn't respond as he usually did to his owner's whistles, he heard a muffled barking coming from the direction of the city wall. When he approached the wall, he noticed a deep hole and when he peered inside, he heard his dog's familiar bark. And this is how "Zedekiah's Cave" was discovered (or rediscovered.)

          This vast cavern is located underneath the Muslim section of the city, extending 750 feet into "Mt. Moriah", beginning at the trench or dry moat separating the northern and southern portion. It is 325 feet wide at the maximum point and the average height is almost 50 feet. It was clearly a stone quarry, but at what point it was in use, we really do not know. There are those who believe it's stone was used in the first temple, and that may be true. But it's existence was not a well known fact and most likely it was always kept completely sealed for fear of any enemies trying to tunnel into the city. So little is known for sure about the giant quarry, but one point everyone agreed on was the fact that there was no entrance into the city from the quarry.

          Viewing the diagram (below) of it's layout, the dark areas are pillars of solid rock left in place to support the ceiling, like the pillars left in a coal mine. As the miners work their way back out of the mine after depleting it of all it's coal, they remove these pillars of coal and the mine usually caves in. These were obviously left in place to prevent the cavern from collapsing since part of the northern city is above it. As Ron examined the quarry carefully, he noticed one thing that bothered him.

          When Ron begins a project, the first thing he does is determine the easiest way to accomplish the task that requires the least work, and as he walked the giant quarry, something didn't make sense. He tried to put himself in the "shoes" of the ancient stonecutters as he surveyed this massive quarry.

          Seeing how deep into the side of the mountain the quarry extended, he thought about how much work it would have been to bring all that stone out of the quarry, carry it through one of the northern gates and into the city. It would have been easier to quarry it out of the quarry across the street than to haul it out of that cavern.

          To Ron, the solution was obvious- to cut a hole through the ceiling of the quarry and simply haul the rocks up into the city. The more he thought it about, the more obvious it became to him- yet, no one had ever found an entrance into the quarry from the city.

          So Ron began to examine the rock pillars. And sure enough, he found one that wasn't a stone pillar at all. It was a giant mound of earth and debris, piled up, he believed, to the ceiling and through the hole in the ceiling. On the surface it would look like normal ground. But unable to examine the section above ground, he didn't know if the rock had been cut in a manner that would allow the cut-out section to fit back over the hole like a "man-hole cover" or if it was only the piled up earth that filled the hole. But he was convinced that the hole is there. 

          A Tunnel in the Quarry
           
          With this new information, Ron wondered it there were any tunnels leading from the quarry. If so, perhaps the Ark and other items had been lowered through the hole from the area north of the temple mount into the cavern, and then through a tunnel to it's present location. So he began to look for tunnels. And sure enough, he found one.

          Almost completely hidden from view by boulders and overhanging rock, there was an opening into the cave wall that was sealed with several large cut rocks and it was heading in the right direction. But it was a long ways from the site Ron had worked in all those years. If this was indeed the tunnel which led to the chamber, Ron would have quite a project ahead of him in clearing such a long tunnel. 

          "The Guardian Cherub"

          In the late 1800s the cavern was systematically researched and plotted by Frenchman Charles Clermont-Ganneau who surveyed every nook and cranny in the mammoth quarry, making sketches, drawing maps and diagrams. During this survey, he spotted a flat etching in the rock, which he carefully sketched. It appeared to be a creature with wings, a lion's tail and body, and a man's head with a long, flowing beard wearing a strange-looking hat. The etching was removed by chiseling a slab of rock around it and it was taken to the Palestine Exploration Offices in London. The drawing made by the Frenchman is reproduced below.

          The similarity in basic features between this creature and a cherub from the Israelite palace in Samaria (sketch below) can be seen.

          The style of the etching (according to authorities that specialize in that area of expertise) indicated that it was to be dated to the approx. 7th century BC when Israel was under the cultural influence of Assyria. This would place it before the Babylonian captivity, which WAS the correct time-frame during which Ron believed the items were hidden.

          And if we return to the passage in 2 Maccabees, which again we stress is not to be considered reliable, there IS a remark about some of Jeremiah's companions during the time he supposedly had the objects hidden in the cave:

          "Some of his companions came to mark out the way, but were unable to find it. When Jeremiah learnt of this he reprimanded them."

          Was this etching done by these "companions? It's an interesting theory, but- who really knows?

          Ron still believed it was significant. IF the tunnel Ron had found WAS the passage through which the Ark and other articles from the temple were transported to the chamber, just possibly someone did etch this cherub as symbolicy "guarding" the tunnel entrance. Remember Eden?

          GEN 3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden CHERUBIMS, and a flaming sword every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

          The etching WAS located near the blocked entrance... but, of course, again this is just a theory. 

          Radar- A Tunnel under the Road?

          Ron used the sub-surface interface radar in later years to check for the existence of a tunnel running from the underground quarry to the area of the escarpment. He did find a tunnel-like void crossing under the street in the correct direction that was, as best he could determine, about 20 feet under the road. But because it is quite a distance to the site he had excavated, and because of the buildings, etc. now built in the area, he couldn't follow the line of the "void" to it's final "destination".

          He used the radar on the blocked up entrance in the underground quarry and found that there was a void behind the blocks.

          (The author in front of the blocked-up tunnel)

          All that was now left was to open up the entrance, which he did. And there was a tunnel. But several feet inside, the passageway was again blocked with big rocks and dirt- to Ron, it looked as if whoever had blocked it had tried to camouflage the fact that it was a plugged tunnel and make it look like natural earth and rocks. The next decision he had to make was whether to attempt to clear out the extremely long tunnel or keep working within the original site and try to find the main tunnel from that end.

          Click to continue...
          or