One thousand years BC, Ethiopia was ruled by a line
of virgin queens. One, whose story has survived into modern times was
known as Makeda,-- "the Queen of Sheba." Her tradition was
recorded in the Kebra Nagast,
[the Book of the Glory of the Kings] As per Ethiopian legend, the Queen
of Sheba was born in 1020 BC in Ophir, and educated in Ethiopia. The
historian Josephus said of her, "she was inquisitive into
philosophy and on that and on other accounts also was to be admired."
. Sheba was a center of astronomy , and the ruling monarch
was the chief astronomer/ astrologer, their belief system involved worship of
the Sun and Moon.
Solomon was the son of King David and Bathsheba. his kingdom extended
from the Euphrates River in the north to Egypt in the south. Biblical
sources tell that King Solomon decided to build a magnificent temple. To
announce this endeavor, the king sent messengers to foreign lands to
invite merchants from abroad to Jerusalem to engage in trade there,
Records of an ancient country of Sheba, date from 715 BC.. Sheba also
known as Saba, which translates to "Host of Heaven," and "peace,"
- is believed by some scholars to be that which is currently the country
of Yemen in the South West corner of Arabia where the Red Sea meets the
Indian Ocean.
The people who lived in Sheba were referred to as Sabaeans, and were
described as a tall and commanding people, Semitic in origin, and to
have been descendants of the Biblical land of Cush. [In the Old
Testament genealogy of the nations (Genesis 10:7), Sheba, along with
Dedan, is listed as one of the descendents of Noah's son Ham --i.e. son
of Raamah son of Cush son of Ham] Historically,
Sheba was a country rich in gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Solomon
needed Sheba’s trade routes and commerce; the queen of Sheba needed
Solomon’s cooperation in marketing her country’s goods.
According to Masonic ritual pertaining to the
installation of a Worshipful Master into the Chair of King Solomon, when the temple at Jerusalem had been completed, by the
wisdom of King Solomon and assisted by the strength of Hiram, King of Tyre
and the beautifying skill of Hiram Abiff, the monarchs of the
neighboring countries sent their ambassadors bearing precious gifts to
King Solomon to congratulate him upon the completion of his great and
holy work. But the sovereign of a more distant country —the Queen of
Sheba—not content to send an emissary Went
to Jerusalem personally. The queen came
to Solomon with camels carrying spices, gold and precious stones.
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Sheba: Through the Desert in Search of the Legendary Queen
King Solomon's Mines
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As per legend, Makeda,-- "the Queen of Sheba." bore Solomon her only Son -Menyelek. The
Ethiopians trace the lineage of their royal house to the Queen of Sheba.
They claim that their rulers are descended from Menyelek-- [
The Queen of Sheba & Her Only Son Menyelek a/k/a The Kebra Nagast
]The royal
house culminated in recent history with the Death/Execution of the
225th descendant of King Solomon -
Haile Selassie in 1974. . It cannot be proven with absolute certainty
that the Queen of Sheba bore a son of King Solomon. No archaeological
evidence has been uncovered that supports the story that the Queen of
Sheba visited King Solomon or visa versa. The actual
recorded lineage of the Solomonic dynasty in Ethiopia can only be traced
to 1268.. However, Written
records that tend to support the Queen of Sheba'-King Solomon
liaison survive in both cultures. In the Old Testament Book of
Kings, chapter 10, verses 1 - 13 says:
1 Kings 10:1 And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of
Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with
hard questions.
2 And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels
that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when
she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in
her heart.
3 And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not any thing
hid from the king, which he told her not.
4 And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the
house that he had built,
5 And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and
the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his
cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the
LORD; there was no more spirit in her.
6 And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in
mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom.
7 Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had
seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and
prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard.
8 Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand
continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom.
9 Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee
on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever,
therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice.
10 And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and
of spices very great store, and precious stones: there came no more
such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to
king Solomon.
11 And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought
in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees, and precious stones.
12 And the king made of the almug trees pillars for the house of the
LORD, and for the king's house, harps also and psalteries for
singers: there came no such almug trees, nor were seen unto this
day.
13 And king Solomon gave unto the queen of Sheba all her desire,
whatsoever she asked, beside that which Solomon gave her of his
royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her
servants.
Also:
Matthew 12:42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment
with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the
uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold,
a greater than Solomon is here.
Haile
Selassie, the 20th Century Ethiopian King and Emperor [negus] is
believed to be the 225th descendant of Menyelek, son of The Queen of
Sheba and King Solomon.
Ark of the Covenant
in Ethiopia ?
Menyelek, son of The Queen of Sheba and King Solomon ,as a young man,
journeyed to Israel to meet his father. When leaving Jerusalem Menelik
is said to have then stolen the Ark of the Covenant, which Ethiopian
Christians claim is still in their cathedral in the Church of
Saint Mary of Zion in Aksum.
Included amongst Menyelek's entourage was Azariah the son of the high priest (Zadok) of the temple of Jerusalem.
Before the journey Azariah is said to have had a dream telling him to take the Ark of
the Covenant to Ethiopia. Azariah obeyed the dream and he stole the Ark from the Temple, putting a
copy in its place. When he told Menelik what he had done and Menelik was angry with him but
Azariah convinced Menyelek to take the Ark with them.
Zadok, the high
priest of the Temple, discovered the Ark's disappearance and informed
King Solomon. King Solomon and his army followed Menelik but could not
catch him. [ This story bears similarities to the story of Moses
stealing the Ark from the Egyptians, and the Pharaohs Army could not
catch him - in the Bible it survives as the parting of the Red Sea
scenario] Once again, As per legend While this
was happening, Solomon dreamt that his son should have the Ark and he
returned to Jerusalem and ordered his high Priests to keep its
disappearance a secret.
According to the legend of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the
church of Saint Mary of Zion in Aksum still houses the original Ark of
the Covenant. The Ark and the belief in it, exert a profound influence
on the imaginations and spiritual lives of many Ethiopians.
British journalist Graham Hancock believes that he has found the
exact location of the ark of the covenant. In his book,
The Sign and Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant,
Hancock documents that the ark was removed from Solomon's temple during
the reign of Manasseh, transported to Elephantine Island along the Nile,
and was finally placed in the Church of St. Mary Zion in the small town
of Aksum, Ethiopia, where it has existed to this day.
Ethiopian Jews don't agree with Hancock's portrayal of how the ark
came to Ethiopia. They believe that the ark is in their presence, but
they document its arrival during the reign of King Solomon . Hancock
discounts this theory stating that the ark arrived in Ethiopia nearly
500 years after “the Queen of Sheba's famous visit to Jerusalem”.
Abu Salih an Armenian geographer who lived in the thirteenth
century wrote "Churches and Monasteries of Egypt and some Neighbouring Countries"
described the Ark; it contained "the two tables of stone, inscribed by
the finger of God with the commandments which he ordained for the
children of Israel. The Ark of the Covenant is placed upon the altar,
but is not so wide as the altar; it is as high as the knee of a man, and
is overlaid with gold; and upon its lid there are crosses of gold; and
there are five precious stones upon it, one at each of the four corners,
and one in the middle. The liturgy is celebrated upon the Ark four times
in the year, within the palace of the king; and a canopy is spread over
it when it is taken out from [its own] church to the church which is in
the palace of the king". This sounds exactly like the sort of
processions still seen regularly at church festivals in Ethiopia today,
when the tabot or altar tablet is carried out from a church. (The Ark is
called tabot in Ethiopic, a word used also by extension for the altar
tablets; the word for tablet is actually tsallat, as in tsallata heg,
the ‘tablet of the law’, given by God to Moses at Mount Sinai).
In the 16th century a writer- Arab-Faqih, in a History of the
Conquest of Abyssinia, noted that during the major invasion of Ethiopia
mounted by Imam Ahmad (Grań) at that time, the imam "returned to march
against the town of Aksum, which is said to be an ancient town... (The
king of Abyssinia) brought forth the great idol from the church of Aksum
[presumably the Ark or tablot]; this was a white stone encrusted with
gold, so large that it could not go out of the door; a hole had to be
pierced in the church because of its size; they took it away and it was
carried by four hundred men in the fortress of the country of Shire
called Tabr, where it was left".
In the 18th Century a Scottish traveler
James Bruce lived for several years in Ethiopia, interesting
himself in all facets of Ethiopian life, and legend. He was very
dismissive of the ‘fabulous legends’ about the Ark, though he did add
that "some ancient copy of the Old Testament, I do believe, was
deposited here, probably that from which the first version was made." He
claimed that when he was in Ethiopia King Tekla Haymanot II told him
concerning the Ark that the "whatever this might be it was destroyed,
with the church itself, by Mahomet Gragn‚, though pretended falsely to
subsist there still".
Solomon, Falcon of Sheba: The Tombs of King David, King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba Discovered |
Ralph Ellis
[Jesus: Last of the Pharoahs] believes that he has discovered indisputable links and
comparisons between the Egyptian and Judaic royal lines, that
demonstrate that King David and King Solomon were actually
pharaohs of Egypt. This is why there is no evidence for these
monarchs in the archaeology of modern Israel; for the evidence,
including the tombs, sarcophagi and death-masks of these famous
monarchs, are actually located in the north eastern Nile Delta.
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The Queen of Sheba was also
related to this royal line and, as befitting the great 'Queen of
the South', her sarcophagus was discovered at Deir el Bahri in Luxor. This book also claims to
show the location of King Solomon's Mines and the true
historical identity of Hiram Abiff,
the hero of the Masonic 3rd degree
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Sheba: Through the Desert in Search of the Legendary Queen
The legendary Queen of Sheba
(known in the Islamic world as Balqis or Bilqis) is a
fascinating and perplexing figure. She is the only woman of note
in the Bible or Koran who wields political power. Yet the
historical basis for the Queen of Sheba has never been clear.
This investigative account seeks to unravel the myth and
surprisingly, his search bears some fruit. |
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The Book of King Solomon
Professor Solomon claims to have
found—and translated from the Hebrew—an old manuscript in the
possession of his family. Titled "The Book of King Solomon" and
attributed to a court historian, it chronicles the life of the
celebrated monarch.
What was "the wisest of men" really like? How did he become
king? What cases brought him fame as a judge? What were the
powers of his ring? Did genies help him to build the Temple?
Where did he travel on his flying carpet? What was his
relationship with the Queen of Sheba? Did he once wander about
as a beggar? And did his foreign wives lead him into idolatry?
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Is the ark of the covenant in Ethiopia?
The Quest for the Ark of the Covenant : The True History of the Tablets of Moses |
Misc. Notes
Solomon also appears in the Islamic Koran [Qur'an] , where he is
called Sulayman, Sulaiman or Suleiman. The Qur'an refers to Solomon as
the son of David, as a prophet and as a great ruler imparted by God with
tremendous wisdom, and unusual special powers similar to his father,
David. Solomon was said to have under his rule not only human beings,
but also hidden beings - jinn, jeanies. Solomon is said to have been
able to understand the language of the birds and ants, and to see hidden
glory in the world, not accessible to common humans.
Jewish historian Eupolemus, who wrote about 157 BC, included copies
of apocryphal letters exchanged between Solomon and the kings of Egypt
and Tyre.
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