Ark Drum Of the Lemba!

A researcher "Tudor Parfitt" reckons that the Ark of the Covenant was actually a drum filled with some substance akin to modern day gunpowder, and that it wound up in Zimbabwe after being carried into Africa by the Lemba. The original Ark-drum thing was allegedly destroyed by an expolsion, but the remnants were used to build a replica, which now resides in the Harare Museum of Human Science in Zimbabwe.

Now there are parts of this story which make sense and others which fall short. Mr.Parfitt was the man who traced the genetic relationship between the Lemba and the Judaic Temple Priests, proving their assertion that they were a lost tribe of Israel. The association of the Ark with trumpets, King Solomon dancing in it's presence, and the drums beating around the walls of Jericho, add circumstancial anecdotal evidence. But could a drum really have had the powers ascribed to the Ark in the Old Testament?

On the one hand, the ancient Egyptians also associated musical notes, particularly those of trumpets, with magical powers, but I'm not sure about drums. And, Moses had just departed from Egypt when he received the Ark. Maybe he had it with him already, taken from Pharaoh. That would definitely explain the Pharaoh's burning desire to catch him. The Ark may well have been a prized possession of the Egyptian elite. We'll never know.

Perhaps the drum was merely associated with the Ark, perhaps beating time as the Ark passed around Jericho, and in time became the Ark to a tribe that had ancestors present at the occasion. Maybe the real Ark is still waiting to be found, or maybe it has been found, crated and stored in a huge warehouse someplace where nobody will ever look!