Sheba

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176 THE ARK OF THE COVENANT AND ISRAELITE INFLUENCES population groups of ancient Hebraic origin who support the <strong>Sheba</strong>-Menelik Cycle story but have endured hundreds of years of persecution. The Beta Israel or Black Jews of Ethiopia are usually referred to as Falasha, which is usually taken to mean a wanderer, tenant, or outsider; or as Kayla, a Cushitic word of unknown origin. The Beta Israel consider both words insulting. No other African people has been so thoroughly studied or discussed. In the 1980s and 1990s 25,000 Beta Israel were airlifted to Israel from refugee camps in Sudan. It is believed their total population in Israel is just under 40,000. The erosion of their beliefs and customs through assimilation into the highly volatile and militaristic society of modern Israel is a matter of considerable controversy. The Beta Israel are Agaw in origin, but had overwhelmingly abandoned their Cushitic language for Semitic Amharic or Tigrinya Semitic before their exodus to modern Israel. 2 Their sacred book, the Ge’ez Old Testament, is identical to that used by Christian Ethiopians. Their knowledge of Judaism was confined to events before the Babylonian captivity and their traditions state that they had arrived in Ethiopia during Solomon’s reign and later when Jeremiah warned of impending doom. One tradition claims they are descendants of Agaw who had lived in Arabia. Archaeological evidence shows that a common culture did exist on the opposite shores of the Red Sea, ca. 1500-1000 B.C.E., but no inscriptions exist to indicate their language. The Beta Israel believe they are descendants of Menelik’s followers. The Beta Israel worshipped in buildings called the House of God, yet they venerated pagan rituals and practiced spirit possession. They faced east when praying, believing it to be the direction of Jerusalem, and probably never had any historical link with Palestine. They built special ritually “unclean” huts for menstruation and childbirth and practiced circumcision and clitoridectomy. Sharing Christian traditions, the Beta Israel hierarchy included monks and nuns, high priests, low priests and lay personnel. As mentioned earlier, Nazarite practices (Samson, of Old Testament fame, was a Nazarite) are found only among the Beta Israel. However, clearly the Beta Israel, along with the Qemant, who have a weaker Hebraic tradition, are culturally almost identical to their Christian neighbors. All observed Mosaic dietary laws and had similar beliefs in a heaven for the good, a hell for the damned, angels, Satan, a first and second coming of a messiah, resurrection, and a day of judgment. The chief authority on the Qemant, Frederick Gamst, best summarized the three
QUEEN OF SHEBA AND BIBLICAL SCHOLARSHIP 177 groups – the Qemant, the Beta Israel, and the Amhara-Tigrinya - as follows: The…Qemant…have a largely pagan but somewhat Hebraic religion, with Christian elements. The Beta Israel [have] a largely Hebraic but somewhat pagan religion, with Christian elements. The Amhara and Tigray practice a Christianity markedly ba-orit (following the Old Testament). The Ethiopian church is monophysite and was under an Egyptian abun (archbishop) from the fourth century until 1952. In medieval times, when European contacts became more common, European observers were immediately struck by the Orthodox Church’s Israelite practices, for example circumcision. Some accepted that the Ethiopians had inherited them from Solomon’s kingdom through Menelik’s companions; a claim seemingly supported by the book of Isaiah and the book of Zephaniah, which mention Israelites in Kws. The Aksumite priesthood believes it is the inheritor of the Hebrew Aaronite priesthood (the Beta Israel priests believe they themselves are Aaron’s descendants). Their churches are traditionally built on small hills in the manner of synagogues and follow the three divisions found in Israelite religious architecture rather than the basilica model used by early Christians elsewhere. The Orthodox Church has also adopted many terms from Syriac Aramaic for items specifically associated with Judaism such as kahen (priest), menorah (seven-stemmed candle holder), and words for skull cap, a priest’s ritual belt, and probably a priestly breastplate modeled on that worn by the Jewish high priest. The Orthodox church denied Jesuit accusations that its adherents were forbidden to eat pork, but in practice Ethiopian Christians abhor it. The custom of rearing only white chickens - even though hawks find their yellow chicks easier to spot - may have some Hebraic ritual symbolism. Ethiopian Christians generally follow Mosaic dietary laws but have no sanction against consuming milk and meat in the same meal. The basis of the Ethiopian legal code from ca. A.D. 1450 until 1930 was the Fetha Nagast (the Law of the Kings). It was originally a twelfthcentury A.D. Arabic document compiled in Egypt by a Coptic scholar, who based the code on the Torah, the New Testament, decisions and canons of early church councils, Roman civil law, and tenets of Qur’anic law. When discussing sexual relations, the Fetha Nagast reminds Orthodox Christians:
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Queen of Sheba and Biblical Scholar
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QUEEN OF SHEBA AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR
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CHAPTER ONE Sheba, Zionism, and the
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CHAPTER TWO The Search for Evidence
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CHAPTER THREE Writing the Old Testa
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CHAPTER SIX Western Arabia and the
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Sheba

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