After the first temple was built, the Tent of Meeting was stored away, along with its boards, hooks, bars, pillars, and sockets. Even so, they used only the table which Moses had made, and the candlestick which Moses had made. The candlestick which Moses made did not require oil of anointing, for the first act of sanctification had sanctified it for its time and for all time. When the Ark was stored away, with it were stored away the bottle of manna, the jar of oil for anointing, the staff of Aaron, its buds and flowers, and the chest in which the Philistines had placed wood for the God of Israel. All of them were in the House of the Holy of Holies. And when the Ark was stored away, the commandments were stored away. Who stored it away? Josiah the King stored it away. Why did he do so? When he saw written in the Torah, The Lord will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known, He commanded the Levites and they hid it away,⁠a as it is said, And he said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, put the Holy Ark in the house which Solomon, the son of David, King of Israel, built: You need no longer carry it upon your shoulders. He said to them, “Hide it away for future use, so that it will not be taken away into exile like the rest of the temple utensils, so put it back in its place, as it is said, now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel.” At once the Levites hid it away. M. R. Eliezer says, “The Ark was taken away in exile to Babylonia, as it is said, behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your father's have stored up till this day shall be carried to Babylonia, no thing will there be left, says the Lord, and thing refers only to the commandments which are in it.” N. R. Simeon says, “Lo, It says, In the spring of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylonia with the precious vessels of the House of the Lord - this refers to the ark.” O. R. Judah b. Laqish says, “The Ark was hidden away in its place, as it is said, and the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the Holy Place before the inner sanctuary; But they could not be seen from outside; And they are there to this day.” When the first Temple was destroyed, kingship ceased from the house of David, and the ‘urim and tummim ceased, and cities of refuge came to an end, as it is said “And the Tirshatha said unto them, that they should not eat of themost holy things, till there stood up a priest with ‘urim and with tummim ”(Ezra 2:63), like a man who says to his friend: Until Elijah will come, or: Until the dead will live. When Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, the latter prophets, died, the Holy Spirit came to an end in Israel, but even so, they made themhear through an echo. It happened that the sages entered into the house of Guria in Jericho and theyheard an echo saying: There is a man who is worthy to [receive] the Holy Spirit, but his generation is unworthy for that, andthey set their eyes upon Hillel the elder. And when he died, they said about him: Woe for the humble man, woe for the pious man, the disciple of Ezra. Another time they were in sitting in Yavne and heard an echo saying: There is a man who is worthy to [receive] the Holy Spirit, but his generation is unworthy for that. They set their eyes upon Samuel the Little. And when he died, they said about him: Woe for the humble man, woefor the pious man, the disciple of Hillel the Elder. Also he said at the time ofhis death: Simeon and Ishmael [are destined] to [execution by] sword, and his associates [are destined] to death, and the remainder of the people will be for spoils, and much distress will come after that. And he said it in Aramaic. Also concerning R. Judah b. Baba they ordained that they should say about him, Woe for the humble man, woe for the pious man, disciple Samuel the Little. But the times did not allow it. The year in which Shimon the Righteous died [he said to them] "in this year I will die" "how do you know this?" they responded. He (Shimon the Righteous) responded: "all of the Yom Kippur days there was an old man dressed in all white who would go with me into the holy of holies and leave with me, on this year he went in with me but did not come out with me." Seven days passed after the holiday and he died. From the time of the death of Rebbi Shimon the Righteous they ceased blessing in the name of Hashem.