The lost Ark of the Covenant

Church, is considered the holiest place in all of Ethiopia. It is said to have been built to house the Ark of the Golden Covenant.

It is said that when a European named Alvarez visited St. Mary's Church in the 1520s, the ark of the Golden Covenant was still preserved in the inner temple of the ancient church, and Ethiopian legends about the Queen of Sheba and her only son Menelik were recorded. In the 1530s, a man named Ahmed, nicknamed "Glagin" (meaning "lefty"), declared a holy war against Ethiopia, and as Ahmed's army approached, the relic was moved "somewhere else."

One hundred years later, peace was restored throughout the empire, and the Ark of the Golden Covenant was returned to the second St. Mary's Church. It is said that the Ark of the Golden Covenant was kept there until 1965. Emperor Selassie ordered it to be moved to a new, more secure chapel. According to people in Ethiopia, Haier at the time. Emperor Selassie is the 225th descendant of Menelik, the son of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon.

In Ethiopia, some people associate these sites with the Queen of Sheba. An open reservoir on a hill near the ancient city of Axum is known as the pond of the Queen of Sheba; A mausoleum to the west of the ancient city of Axum is known as the burial of Menelik, son of the Queen of Sheba.

So how is the Ark of the Golden Covenant connected to the ruins here? What kind of object is it?

In the early records of Israel, the Ark of gold was used to house the stone tablet that God gave Moses on Mount Sinai. Therefore, the stone tablets and the chests in which they were held were a testimony between God and Israel. In Exodus 25:22, God says to Moses, "I will let you know that I am there, speaking to you between the two little angels on the lid of the ark, above the ark of Testimony." For this reason, the Ark of the Golden Covenant is sometimes seen as God's stepstool. According to legend, it was this ark of gold that led the Israelites into Canaan. It was then taken to Jerusalem by King David and placed in the Supreme Court of the new Temple by King Solomon.

The Ark of Gold was regarded as the jewel of Jerusalem, but there are many opinions about its whereabouts, and it seems to have become a unique knowledge over the centuries.

Many believe the Ark was destroyed when the Babylonians captured and razed Jerusalem in 587 BC or 586 BC.

According to one theory, the Ark of the Golden Covenant was destined to return to the Temple Mount, where it would be placed in the Supreme Chamber of a newly built temple. The new temple will be built in the time of the Messiah to reveal heaven and earth.

Arab chroniclers say the ark was safely moved to Arabia. After the Crusades and the capture of Jerusalem, the Knights Templar searched everywhere for the Ark of the Golden Covenant, but could not find it.

Another theory is that the Ark of the Golden Covenant is now sealed in the Vatican vault.

A more recent theory is that when the Romans burned one of the second temples in 70 AD, the Ark of the Golden Covenant was rescued through a secret passageway. The tunnel is about 30 kilometers long and leads east near Qumran, where the Ark of the Golden Covenant is still buried.

According to a long-held legend, after the ark was placed in the temple, it was stolen by the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba and brought back to Ethiopia.

The Falasha people of Ethiopia claim to be descended from the Jews who escorted the Ark of the Golden Covenant to Ethiopia. One of the traditional titles of the country's monarchs is "Lion of the Jews," and Ethiopia's historic royal families claim to be descendants of King David and King Solomon. The Ethiopian church also claims to have kept the ark for centuries.

So how did the legend of the Ark being brought to Ethiopia come about? Was the Queen of Sheba a real person, a monarch of Ethiopia? Did she visit Israel during the time of Solomon (i.e., about 3,000 years ago)?

It turns out that in the old testament. Kings chapter 10, with a record like this: the 10th century BC, in the middle of the kingdom of Israel under the governance of king Solomon, peaceful country and safe people, very thriving, in particular, he spent 20 years building the Lord the temple and the royal palace magnificent, majestic, more make him famous. A foreign king, the Queen of Sheba, admired him so much that she came to Jerusalem with a large escort and camels laden with spices, precious stones, and much gold to meet King Solomon.

King Solomon reigned from 960 BC to 930 BC, which puts the Queen of Sheba in the 10th century BC, 3,000 years ago. A similar account of the Queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon is repeated in 2 Chronicles 9. The Queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon is also mentioned in chapter 27 of the Koran. But the Queen of Sheba is only written in a few words in both the Old Testament and the Koran, and neither her name nor who she was has been identified, so who she was and what she did has remained a mystery for 3,000 years.

However, in addition to the Bible records, in the folk, there are also some beautiful and moving legends about the queen of Sheba.

It is believed that the region of present-day Yemen was the birthplace of an ancient civilization, ruled alternately by the Minai and Saba. After the Menai and Saba, a member of the same ethnic group, the House, who are closely related to Ethiopia in Africa, dominated the region for hundreds of years. The Queen of Sheba mentioned in the Old Testament was a king belonging to this branch.

In Ethiopian legend, the Queen of Sheba is identified as the queen of Axum, Ethiopia, in the 10th century BC. Legend has it that the Queen of Sheba was named Mazda. It is said that when she arrived in Jerusalem, she was warmly received by King Solomon. Then King Solomon fell in love with her at first sight and got her pregnant. Before the Queen of Sheba returned home, she was pregnant. King Solomon gave her a ring and said, "If you bear a son, give him the ring and let him come to me with it." Upon her return, the Queen of Sheba gave birth to a son named Ebina Hakim, which means "son of the wise."

When Ebina Hakim was a man, the Queen of Sheba gave him the ring and told him to go to Israel to meet his father. When Abner Hakim came to Jerusalem, King Solomon was overjoyed and wanted him to stay and rule Israel after him. When Hakim refused, King Solomon anointed him with the holy oil of his succession and sent him back to Ethiopia, making it a law that only Hakim's descendants could rule Ethiopia. Ebina Hakim returned and became king of Ethiopia, known as Menelik. From then on, when his descendants succeeded to the throne, they had to perform a solemn ceremony to swear that their throne came from Solomon.

Since Menelik came to the throne, the Queen of Sheba has been out of sight. The legend does not tell the latter half of her life, so, since then the queen of Sheba's true face has become more mysterious, and the ancient state of Sheba in what also hangs in the balance.

It is worth mentioning that some historical documents also regard the legend of the Queen of Sheba in Ethiopia as a historical fact and written into the official history. The Ethiopian Chronicles of the King's Exploits, for example, refers to the Queen of Sheba as Queen Mazda in Ethiopian history.

At his enthronement in 1928, Haile Selassie, Ethiopia's last emperor, solemnly declared: "I am the descendant of David Solomon and Ebina Hakim." Article 2 of Ethiopia's new constitution, enacted in 1955, reads: "The lineage of King Haile Selassie continues unremitly through the dynasty of Menelik I, the Queen of Ethiopia, the Queen of Sheba and son of King Solomon of Jerusalem..." This shows that Ethiopia has always considered itself a descendant of the Queen of Sheba.

Did the Queen of Sheba bear King Solomon a son named Menelik? Did her son go to Jerusalem? Did you bring the Ark back to Axum? In the face of this series of questions, are waiting for the latecomer to answer.