Kebra Nagast

Kebra Nagast — Budge — Section 26

in g the history of the coming of the “ spiritual and heavenly Zion,” the Tabernacle of the Law of the God of Israel, of her own free will from Jerusalem to Ethiopia, and to make it quite clear that the King of Ethiopia was descended from Solomon, the son of David, King of Israel, and through him from Abraham and the early Patriarchs. But Christ also was descended from Solo¬ mon and the early Patriarchs, and he was the Son of God, so the King of Ethiopia being a kinsman of Christ was also a son of God, and he was therefore both God and king to his people. The Kebra Nagast was intended to make the people of Ethiopia believe that their country was specially chosen by God to be the new home of the spiritual and heavenly Zion, of which His chosen people the Jews had become unworthy. This Zion existed originally in an immaterial form in heaven, where it was the habitation of God. Moses made, under Divine directions, a copy of it in wood and gold, and placed in it the Two Tables of the Law, the pot of manna, the rod of Aaron ; and the Shechinah dwelt on it and in it. * This material copy was called “ Zion, the Tabernacle of the Law of God.” When Solomon finished building his Temple Zion was established therein in the Holy of Holies, and from it God made known His commands when He visited the Temple. It was at all times held to be the visible emblem of God Almighty and the material duplicate of the immaterial Zion in heaven. The fame of the wisdom of Solomon reached the ends of the earth, chiefly because he traded with merchants from the sea coast and from the countries to the south of Palestine on each side of the Red Sea. These mer¬ chants brought the precious woods and stones, and the scents, and the spices, and the rich stuffs and other objects with which he decorated the Temple and his own palace, and when their caravans returned home their servants described to eager listeners the great xxxiv Introduction