Sheba

94
THE KEBRA NAGAST
Sea over to Arabia, where they arrived in Ethiopia (sic). This makes no
sense; and neither does the account of Solomon’s pursuit. On discovering
the theft of the Ark, Solomon’s troops ride out for Mesr (Egypt), where
they are informed that Menelik’s party had left nine days earlier. Some of
the troops, returning to Solomon, report that Menelik had taken three days
to travel from Jerusalem to the Takezze.
Meanwhile the remaining force continues the pursuit to the Red Sea.
Solomon himself then joins the chase and reaches Gaza (see Map 7). After
that, thwarted, he returns in sorrow to Jerusalem. Chapter 59 of the Kebra
Nagast is an interpolation. It states that Solomon met a messenger sent
from Alexandria by the Egyptian pharaoh, who informed him that he had
seen Menelik’s party pass through Cairo, which they had reached after
three days from “the river of Egypt.” This section can be disregarded
because Alexandria and Cairo were respectively founded 600 and 900 years
after Solomon. Martin Gilbert’s Atlas of Jewish History places “the river of
Egypt” at Wadi al-Arish just south of modern Gaza.
Chapters 61 - 62 deal with memories of the Ark, its role in Israelite
history and the agreement Solomon made with his notables never to reveal
its loss. Chapter 63A records that Solomon’s marriage to pharaoh’s
daughter led him to tolerate her pagan religious practices. The last part of
the Sheba-Menelik Cycle, (chapters 84-93A) concerns Menelik’s return to
Ethiopia with the Ark. It states that the queen abdicated in favor of her son
and created an Israelite state under the Torah with a priesthood under
Azariah as high priest and Elmeyas as chief deacon.
The Sheba-Menelik Cycle is the earliest part of the Kebra Nagast. Its
message reveals that Ethiopia was the successor state to Solomon’s
kingdom, and its king was the descendant of King Solomon and the Queen
of Sheba, who ruled over a mixed population of Israelites and Sabaeans.
Southwest Arabian, Old Testament and northeast African studies are
specialized fields. Sometimes, though not frequently enough, scholars take
an interest in all three areas. This lack of cross specialization results in
researchers working in separate fields, finding puzzling information that
would make more sense if they worked together. Second, monolingual
English researchers can miss vital information published in another
language.
In 1973, Roger Schneider, an archaeologist from Luxembourg,
published a work in French in the Dutch journal Bibliotheca Orientalis
entitled Deux inscriptions Sudarabiques du Tigré (“Two South Arabian
Inscriptions from Tigre”). Other researchers quoted his work, especially