(December 2, 2013 at 5:10 am)Aractus Wrote: That's my point, just because something was written on stone doesn't mean we will find it today.
Ahh the ancient Jews, they were so dutiful in preserving the items touched and used DIRECTLY by their god. Tell me, if you "received" tablets (even replacements) or had a box that "housed" the glory of your tribes god, would you ever lose it? I think it would be handed down to the succeeding generations of believers with fanatical attention to it's preservation. After all, it is the very proof of your sky-daddies existence. Look at the early, persecuted Xians, even they managed to save some things while in the capital of the empire that was trying to exterminate them.
The absence of evidence may not be evidence of absence, but common sense dictates that if the Essenes were able hide manuscripts to save them, then the priests were perfectly capable of hiding those items touched by Yahweh.