Belloq foi evidentemente bastante tomado pelo "tabernáculo" como um local potencial para abrir a arca. No roteiro de filme , ele é descrito com detalhes consideráveis
INT. THE TABERNACLE
The light in here is lovely, unearthly. Oil lamps burn. The Tabernacle is really several concentric, silk tents, which creates a flowing maze effect. The innermost tent has at its center a 3-foot high, tapestry-covered altar. Belloq watches with gleaming, obsessed eyes as two Nazis carefully lift the actual Ark out of its crate by means of the long poles. The Ark dazzles the eye, seeming to glow gold in this strange light. The two Nazis place it carefully on the altar. Shliemann and some Aides hang back. Marion is nowhere to be seen.
E a novela oficial do filme nos dá algumas dicas sobre o significado histórico do site, bem como o processo de pensamento da Belloq :
The Frenchman was staring beyond the clearing to a stone outcropping on the other side - a pinnacle some thirty feet high with a flat slab at the top. Into the sides of the slope some ancient tribe, some lost species, had carved primitive steps. The appearance was like an altar - and it was this fact that had brought Belloq here. An altar, a natural arrangement of rock that might have been designed by God for the very purpose of opening the Ark.
Quanto ao motivo pelo qual eles precisaram abri-lo usando os tradicionais rituais judaicos (por exemplo, ao invés de apenas tirar a tampa), isso também é descrito. A explicação mais simples é que o comandante alemão opta pelo especialista residente em questões relativas à Arca. Belloq diz que eles precisam do ritual, portanto precisam do ritual:
“I am going to open the Ark,” Belloq said. “However, there are certain … certain preconditions connected with the act.”
“Preconditions? Such as?”
“I don’t think you should worry, my friend. I don’t want to be the one responsible for overloading your already much-worked brain.”
“You can spare me the sarcasm, Belloq. Sometimes it seems to me that you forget who is in charge here.”
Belloq stared at the crate for a time. “You must understand-it is not simply the act of opening a box, Dietrich. There is a certain amount of ritual involved. We are not exactly dealing with a box of hand grenades, you understand. This is not any ordinary undertaking.”
“What ritual?”
“You will see in good time, Dietrich. However, it need not alarm you.”
“If anything happens to the Ark, Belloq, anything, I will personally pull the hanging rope on your scaffold. Do you understand me?”