quote: The Queen of Sheba and Her Only Son Menyelek (I) or, The KEBRA NAGAST translated by E. A. Wallis Budge, London, 1932
The Kebra Nagast or the Glory of Kings is essentially a text whose major task is to establish a genetic connection between the Amhara dynasty and that of King Solomon; Solomon and Makeda had baby Menilek I and so begat a dynasty that lasted until the overthrow of Ras Tafari - Haile Selassie...(I wonder, with C.A. Diop, why would a Sudanese dynasty want to claim descent from a ruler of a minor state? -Religion?)
My Favorite Passage!
This is good philological text and I would recommend that it be read in its entirety; but we all have in our readings 'favorite passages, chapters...' Well, mine is the following passage which to me, and me being me, connects some important dots and is consistent with the other religious texts from that time. This passage re-affirms that:
a) HAM is a racial designation...
b) That Egypt and Ethiopia were racial siblings
c) That Judah was originally the province of HAM but through 'divine intervention' was later 'inherited' by the children of SHEM
quote: And then the daughter of PHARAOH appeared before SOLOMON, and said unto him, "It is good to worship the gods like my father and all the kings of EGYPT who were before my father." And SOLOMON answered and said unto her, "They call gods the things which have been made by the hands of the worker in metal, and the carpenter, and the potter, and the painter, and the hewer in stone, and the sculptor; these are not gods, but the work of the hand of man, in gold, and silver, in brass and lead, in iron and earthenware, and in stone, and ye call 'our gods' the things that are not your gods. But we worship none else than the Holy God of ISRAEL and our Lady, the holy and heavenly ZION, the Tabernacle of the Law of God, whom He hath given us to worship, us and our seed after us."
And she answered and said unto him, "Thy son hath carried away thy Lady ZION, thy son whom thou hast begotten, who springeth from an alien people into which God hath not commanded you to marry, that is to say, from an ETHIOPIAN woman, who is not of thy colour, and is not akin to thy country, and who is, moreover, black." And SOLOMON answered and said unto her, "Though thou speakest thus art thou not thyself of [that race] concerning which God hath not commanded us that we should take wives from it? And thy kin is her kin, for ye are all the children of HAM. And God, having destroyed of the seed of HAM seven kings, hath made us to inherit this city, that we and our seed after us may dwell therein for ever. And as concerning ZION, the will of God hath been performed, and He hath given her unto them so that they may worship her. And as for me, I will neither sacrifice to nor worship thine idols, and I will not perform thy wish."
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