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Question

A while ago, I watched a documentary on Ethiopia titled “Debre Libanos”.

It claims that Ethiopians have a sacred book in which it is said that Queen Sheba had a son with King Solomon during her visit (biblical story). This son was named Menelik and was the first king of the Ethiopian empire. According to the legend, when he grew up, he went to get the Ark of the Covenant and still today in Ethiopia there is the Ark of the Covenant and a priest consecrates himself for life in a monastery to guard it, without ever leaving the enclosure.

Besides, this belief would be the principle of the Rastafari religion. In fact, they believe that the Messiah will descend from this lineage (Menelik), which is absolutely unlikely, and it is obvious why. However, this conviction has marked a people.

Ethiopians obviously have nothing to do with this belief that originated in Jamaica. But their relationship with the Jewish People has very ancient origins. In fact, in Psalm 87 it is written: “Philistia, Ethiopia, Tyre, of them it can be said: “This one was born there.” But of Zion it must be said: “They all were born here”.

This clearly means that Ethiopia is the daughter of the Mosaic law, in your opinion, is it possible that the Jews, feeling the danger of the strong Roman oppression, have hidden the Ark in Ethiopia?


Answer of the priest

Dearest,

1. According to a document by Jeremiah, the Ark of the Covenant has been hidden on Mount Nebo, the same mount where Moses died, and it has no longer been possible to find it. What reports this episode is the second book of the Maccabees.

Here is what the sacred text says: “You will find in the records, not only that Jeremiah the prophet ordered the deportees to take some of the aforementioned fire with them, but also that the prophet, in giving them the law, admonished them not to forget the commandments of the Lord or be led astray in their thoughts, when seeing the gold and silver idols and their ornaments. With other similar words he urged them not to let the law depart from their hearts. The same document also tells how the prophet, following a divine revelation, ordered that the tent and the ark should accompany him and how he went off to the mountain which Moses climbed to see God’s inheritance. When Jeremiah arrived there, he found a room in a cave in which he put the tent, the ark, and the altar of incense; then he blocked up the entrance. Some of those who followed him came up intending to mark the path, but they could not find it. When Jeremiah heard of this, he reproved them: “The place is to remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows them mercy.” (2 Mac 2:1-7).

2. The documents of Jeremiah, according to the Jerusalem Bible, are apocryphal.

The Apocrypha of Jeremiah were found in the Qumran Caves, but in these books, there is nothing that refers to the fate of the Ark of the Covenant.

3. However, one thing is certain and that is what the prophet Jeremiah reports in Jer 3:16, namely that the ark would no longer be spoken of nor would it be regretted: “When you multiply and become fruitful in the land, says the LORD, They will in those days no longer say, “The ark of the covenant of the LORD!” They will no longer think of it, or remember it, or miss it, or make another.”(Jer 3:16).

This very last statement hints that the Ark of the Covenant has been destroyed.

The Jerusalem Bible says that “in all probability the ark was set on fire by the Chaldeans in 587” (note to Jer 3:16) with the destruction of the temple and the deportation of the Jews to Babylon.

4. It should be remembered that the Ark of the Covenant was the heart of the Jewish worship and the visible sign of Yahweh’s presence among the people.

It contained the tablets of the Law and was covered with the propitiatory, which was a gold lid on which Yahweh descended as on his throne to communicate with the children of Israel (Ex 23:22).

In the desert and in the early days of Israel’s stay in Palestine, all the religious and civil life of the nation took place around the ark.

After the temple was built, the ark was placed in the Holy of Holies and was never removed.

No one was allowed to approach the ark, in the same way that it was believed that it was not permissible to see Jehovah face to face.

Only the High Priest once a year on the day of atonement entered the Holy of Holies to sprinkle the propitiatory with the blood of the victim and placate God’s justice.

5. At the fall of Jerusalem, the ark disappeared without a trace.

In the temple rebuilt after the exile, the ark was missing, in its place there was only a stone protruding from the ground on which the priest made the sacrifice on the day of atonement. 

6. With regard to what we read in the book of Maccabees; it can be said that the author simply reports the tradition but does not express his view.

However, he makes clear that the Jews hoped to find it again because they were certain of its whereabouts.

7. Jeremiah, however, enlightened by God, says that in the new worship, inaugurated by the Messiah, there would be no more need for the ark, nor would it be thought of, nor would it be regretted because God would be much closer to the people by coming to dwell in their souls in grace and so he would manifest himself to their minds and hearts through the Holy Spirit.

With the disappearance of the ark Jeremiah sees the ancient worship abrogated, which would be succeeded by the new one.

8. What you ask at the end, namely whether it is plausible to think that the Jews took the ark of the covenant to Egypt to escape the pressure of the Romans, is anachronistic. 

Because the pressure of the Romans begins in the first century BC.

While the ark was already gone in the new temple built after the deportation to Babylon (fifth century BC) and that of the ark, as we said, there was no trace since the destruction of the Temple in 587 BC.

9. About Sheba, who is said to have had a son by Solomon, there is no trace in the Holy Scriptures. It is instead a legend that appeared in the Islamic environment. It is mentioned in the Koran and so in the seventh century AD.

10. Regarding Psalm 86 where it says “… Philistia, Ethiopia, Tyre, of them it can be said: “This one was born there.” But of Zion it must be said: “They all were born here” it should be noted that in this Psalm the glory of Jerusalem is sung, destined to become the spiritual homeland of all believers and to embrace not only the Israelites, but also the neighbouring pagan peoples (Tyre) and those far away (Ethiopia).

Therefore, no political context should be read in it.

I wish you well, I will remind you to the Lord and bless you.

Father Angelo