Maccabee Ark

One point that seems to discredit the Maccabees as scripture is the story that the Ark of the Covenant was taken and hidden in a cave on Mount Nebo.

If Maccabees is proven to have false stories it would also discount the councils such as Trent that canonized it. It would prove they were not being led by the Holy Spirit. One false prophecy or false story is about the Ark of the Covenant being on Mt. Nebo.

2Ma 2:4  It was also contained in the same writing, how the prophet, being warned by God, commanded that the tabernacle and the ark should accompany him, till he came forth to the mountain where Moses went up, and saw the inheritance of God.

2Ma 2:5  And when Jeremias came thither he found a hollow cave: and he carried in thither the tabernacle, and the ark, and the altar of incense, and so stopped the door.

2Ma 2:6  Then some of them that followed him, came up to mark the place: but they could not find it.

2Ma 2:7  And when Jeremias perceived it, he blamed them, saying: The place shall be unknown, till God gather together the congregation of the people, and receive them to mercy.

2Ma 2:8  And then the Lord will shew these things, and the majesty of the Lord shall appear, and there shall be a cloud as it was also shewed to Moses, and he shewed it when Solomon prayed that the place might be sanctified to the great God.

2Ma 2:9  For he treated wisdom in a magnificent manner: and like a wise man, he offered the sacrifice of thc dedication, and of the finishing of the temple.

2Ma 2:10  And as Moses prayed to the Lord, and fire came down from heaven, and consumed the holocaust: so Solomon also prayed, and fire came down from heaven and consumed the holocaust.

This was never accomplished in any return of Israel or when Christ came to the earth. It speaks of the tabernacle (Tent - not the temple)

When Israel returned they rebuilt the wall and temple, and did not use the tabernacle. There was no evidence of the tabernacle and altar being found.

Also Christians have an altar that those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.

Heb 13:10  We have an altar whereof they have no power to eat who serve the tabernacle.

Many Christians look forward to the rebuilding of the tabernacle, but it has no part in the Christian covenant, but was a shadow.

2 Maccabees also mentions the Ark of God, but Revelation mentions the true Ark is in heaven and not Mount Nebo.

Rev_11:19  And the temple of God was opened in heaven: and the ark of his testament was seen in his temple. And there were lightnings and voices and an earthquake and great hail.

It seems 2 Maccabees is uninspired and a false story.

The Catholic church has stated the ark story was from a non-biblical letter inserted into 2 Maccabees. Here is their explanation.

But on a more serious note, what about this verse from Maccabees? Since this is from Sacred Scripture, does this not prove irrefutably that the Ark is on the summit of Pisgah in Mount Nebo? As the Catholic Encyclopedia points out, the answer is no, for a very simple reason relating to Scriptural infallibility. Regarding the passage from Maccabees cited above, the Encyclopedia notes that:

"[T]he letter from which the above-cited lines are supposed to have been copied cannot be regarded as possessing Divine authority; for, as a rule, a citation remains in the Bible what it was outside of the inspired writing; the impossibility of dating the original document makes it very difficult to pass a judgment on its historical reliability."

If we re-read Maccabees carefully, we see that indeed, the account is said to be transcribed from a letter, and letters and outside writings which are quoted in the Bible do not therefore gain canonicity, but retain their original authority. Therefore, the fact that this citation appears in 2 Maccabees does not give it any infallible authority, though, as the Encyclopedia says, neither ought it to be discarded automatically.

http://unamsanctamcatholicam.blogspot.com/2007/09/did-jeremiah-hide-ark-on-mt-nebo.html

This does seem to discredit parts of the Apocrypha as divinely inspired. There are other places where the Apocrypha has stories that aren't confirmed as scripture.