Jeremiah 3:16

When many Israelites had repented and returned to the land, they would not take pride in the ark of the covenant. The ark would not even come into their minds, they would not even remember it, they would not miss it, nor would they attempt to rebuild it. Most scholars assume that the Babylonians took the ark into captivity or destroyed it when they destroyed the temple in 586 B.C. There is no historical record of it following that event. It is possible, of course, that the Jews may have hidden it sometime before the razing of the temple.

"Verse 16b shows that the old economy was to be dissolved. The old covenant, of which the ark was a central feature, was to give way to another-a preview of Jeremiah 31:31-34." [Note: Feinberg, p. 402.]

At this point in the oracle, it becomes clear that at least some in Israel definitely would repent and experience divine restoration, sometime in the future. Note the recurrence of "in those days" and "at that time" (Jeremiah 3:16-18). We believe that the repentance in view will take place at the second coming of Christ, when the Jews realize that Jesus is their Messiah. They will then put their trust in Him (Zechariah 12:10; Zechariah 13:1; cf. Romans 11:26). Much that follows in this oracle concerning the blessings of Israel’s repentance describes millennial conditions. [Note: See Walter C. Kaiser Jr., "Evidence from Jeremiah," in A Case for Premillennialism: A New Consensus, pp. 105-7.]