Knowing hardly anything about Ethiopia or its history, I found the story of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba a real eye-opener. The story from the Kebra Negast divulges a rich religious history I never knew existed in Ethiopia, and I think this story provides special significance to the people of the country. There are several reasons why I think so, including the fact that the Queen of Sheba learns of God directly from Solomon and chooses to no longer worship the sun, and also because she had a child with Solomon. It would be a great source of strength and belief for Ethiopia to have the son of the Queen of Sheba also be the son of King Solomon...and having such a ruler with a significant religious background would be all the more justification to follow a new God (or continue following this religion later on).Whether or not this story is true is another issue, but I think the Ethiopian twist on the story to have the Queen of Sheba play such a huge role adds a positive change to the way they would view their religious history. For Ethiopians, it's more then just a new religion making its way into their country...rather, their Queen made an impression on the great King Solomon and had a son (Bayna Lekhem) with him. And then she introduced the new God to her people. I know that this story changed my own perspective about Ethiopia simply by reading this account, so I'm sure such a narrative would affect the people who are more directly related to this story (aka, the Ethiopians).
Here's a link to some more information about Ethiopian Christianity and its history:http://www.bethel.edu/~letnie/AfricanChristianity/EthiopiaHomepage.html
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ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I could stand reading any further into the Kebra Negast, unless I was Ethiopian, either (mainly because of the stylistic structure of writing, "and, and, and ... etc.") ... Their "spin" on the Bible is definitely unexpectedly enlightening: containing stories of moral, in a different cultural aspect, like in the Bible. But, the religion is more integrated into Ethiopian's nationality than in America where church and state are separated. So, naturally, the Queen of a powerful Ethiopian country will be close to godly!
ReplyDeleteI agree the story Kebra Negast, was a real eye-opener for me. I knew nothing about Ethiopia, however after reading this story I felt as though I was able to learn about a little about their culture.
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