You wrote...
It was placed in what was believed to be the most sacred place n earth: in the innermost part of the Temple. The altar of incense was placed before it. It was anointed with blessed oils. It was placed under the guardianship and care of the Levitical priesthood. handling it casually or carelessly was considered sacrilegious only a consecrated man (like Eleazar) could have charge of the Ark people carried it in a festal procession, and sang and danced before it Joshua and the elders of Israel prostrated before the Ark.
You are overlooking that they did not initiate any of this. God commanded it. All of it. They obeyed God.
This in no way has anything to do with the idolization of purported relics.
My point is the same, and even stronger if God DID command it. He commanded the veneration of holy objects.
This demonstrates that there is a difference between veneration and idolatry.
Veneration is not "the idolization of" persons, places or objects. It is showing high respect for things associated with God's mighty works, or things consecrated to God. If you put flowers on a casket or at a gravesite, you are venerating the dead. There is nothing wrong with that. The flowers were not commanded by God, but nevertheless placing them as a funerary custom is an almost universal Christian practice, pleasing to Him because it shows our reverence toward His gift of life.
It's veneration. Not idolatry.