Sheba

88
THE KEBRA NAGAST
This failed to have the desired effect and the boy persisted. At last the
queen relented:
“His country is a long way away and it’s a difficult journey. Don’t
you want to stay here?”
The young man was good-looking. His eyes, legs, his way of walking,
indeed his whole appearance resembled his father. At the age of twentytwo
he excelled as a soldier, horseman and hunter and in everything else
expected of a young man. He told the Queen: “I am now going to see
my father but I will return here by the grace of God, the Lord of Israel.”
(Chapter 32)
The Queen of Sheba arranged his passage with Tamrin to Gaza on the
Israelite frontier, a city ceded by Solomon to the queen. Before he left the
queen handed Menelik the ring Solomon gave her (chapter 33).
Chapter 34 infers that Menelik was probably in Ethiopia at the start of
his journey, for the text states his next destination was “his mother’s
country” – Arabia. In Gaza the local population noticed his close
resemblance to Solomon, and his presence was reported to Jerusalem.
Benaiah, who had met the queen years earlier, was sent to bring the young
man to Jerusalem (chapters 34 -35).
Solomon, amazed at the young man’s appearance, told him that he did
not so much resemble him but his own father King David and arranged for
Menelik to be given royal robes. When they were alone Menelik handed his
father the ring given years before to the Queen of Sheba and requested that
Solomon give him a part of the fringe of one of the three silk covers that
shrouded the Ark of the Covenant. Tamrin explained Menelik’s instructions
to Solomon:
“Listen Your Majesty, this is what the Queen asks of you. Take this
young man, anoint, consecrate and bless him so he can become king
over our country.”
(Chapter 36)
The Sheba-Menelik Cycle seems to have been translated and
incorporated into the Kebra Nagast by Christian priests in about A.D. 520,
then copied in the first years of the fourteenth century A.D. Chapter 36
states the Queen of Sheba agreed in accordance with Israelite practice that
thereafter only men would be rulers. Knowing her character and experience,
it is very difficult to accept that she agreed to such a measure, especially
when we know that queens later ruled in Ethiopia, Arabia, Syria, and even