Monday, May 11, 2009

The Queen of Sheba and an Ethiopian Zion

The story of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba is most significant to Ethiopia's image as a nation in how it connects Ethiopia to the holy land of Israel. If one thinks of the two nations Israel and Ethiopia as being symbolized by their respective rulers, then this story documents the union of Israel and Ethiopia. You can see the religious transformation that Ethiopia went through, when the Queen talks about how her people worship the sun and idols and other material things. However, because she is open-minded to pursuing knowledge, she accepts Solomon's teachings of one God, the God of Israel. I think the love affair between Solomon and the Queen could be seen as symbolic of Israel passing it's religion on to another culture; instead of Solomon's seed being a child, it could be the religion of Israel. This religion probably branched off into the Falaxas and the Christians both of which have been very prominent parts of the religious make-up of Ethiopia.

Another aspect of Ethiopia that we discussed in class that I saw a connection to in the reading, is the belief in an Ethiopian based Zion, instead of Zion based in Israel. I think that the way that Solomon tricked the Queen into violating their promise not to take advantage of one another by making her drink the water from his bowl could be seen as provocation for God to punish Solomon and Israel. Because of the way Solomon manipulated the Queen, Solomon had a dream about a sun that rose over Ethiopia. Solomon said, "[God] paid no heed whatsoever to Israel", which shows God abandoning Israel and choosing Ethiopia as the new promised land. Also, thinking about the way that Solomon talks about the Queen as having strength, a beautiful form, and a pure body, when taken in the context of Ethiopia as a country it is easy to see why it would be thought of as a holy land. Plus, before the Queen returns to Ethiopia, Solomon tells the Queen that "[Ethiopia] shall be blessed through thee" --a sign of God favoring Ethiopia and the Queen.
Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. infadecimalMay 13, 2009 at 5:10 AM

    Good post. One of things i'm not sure of, is that God completely abandons Israel. That would be bad. While Ethiopia might be the new promise land, God can't just abandon the previous promise land. I'm really not sure what to think of Solomon's dream, but another part of it is that the sun rose over Ethiopia, and the sun was what the Ethiopians worshipped before Solomon's influence. That's another i don't think that God just abandoned them. It think it might have greater significance, and might refer to the thought that Solomon's God does not exist, because the real god is the sun, and that's why it did not pay attention to Israel, and instead rose over Ethiopia. Just a little food for thought.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMay 20, 2011 at 6:57 AM

    God did abandoned them. The Ark of the Covenant was moved. The Falashas are the true Jews not those people in present day Israel. They are just impostors who assumed the culture of the people who were driven out of the land. The present day people are nothing more than people who migrated from European nations to that part of the world.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)