There is a very good book by Grant R. Jeffrey called “Unveiling Mysteries of the Bible”. It’s great for anyone interested in Biblical Archeology, with a few caveats noted below.
The “
KEBRA NAGAST” (The Glory of Kings) is a historical text that is considered canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Among other things, it describes how Ethiopia became linked to the Davidic Line. While the Queen of Sheba was visiting Solomon, he seduced her and she bore him a son called Menyelek. He later became Menyelek I, the first Emperor of Ethiopia, and the first in a dynasty that extended over 3000 years until the death of Emperor Selassie during a socialist coup on August 22, 1975.
Dr. Jeffrey family, by chance, became friends with one of the surviving princes (who still lives in Canada, I believe), who told him this story:
After Menyelek was born, the Queen left him in the care of the Solomon to be raised by the priests of the Lord. The youth grew in strength, wisdom, and beauty, looking very much like his father. Menyelek grew angry at the abuses of Solomon’s many foreign wives, who put idols to false gods in the Temple of the Lord. When word came that the Queen, his mother, had died and that he must return to Ethiopia, he hatched a plan.
He arranged with several priests who were still faithful to the Lord to have a replica of the Ark made, one that he could bring with him back to Ethiopia. The night before he was scheduled to leave, there was a great party in Menyelek’s honor, and he arranged to get Solomon very drunk. While Solomon was sleeping off his drunkenness, Menyelek and the faithful priests swapped out the real Ark with the replica, and left with servants, families, etc. for Ethiopia.
When Solomon awoke and discovered what had happened, he roused his army to go bring them back; however, they were stopped by the Lord. The Lord told Solomon to return to Jerusalem; that the Lord had His fill of Solomon’s desecrations of the Temple by his wives, and that Menyelek would be entrusted with the Ark until G_D called it back to Israel.
Fast forward 3000 years. The Ark had remained hidden from the outside world for all this time, but now the socialist coup threatened its safety. Israel began negotiating with a group of Ethiopian generals, who ransomed the Ark for several million dollars and safe passage to Switzerland. The Israelis agreed, and one night a group of Israeli commandos with several government officials entered St. Mary’s church. The commandos included a group of men who met the requirements of the Kohanim, and covered by an Israeli flag, moved the Ark from St. Mary’s to be taken back to Israel.
The Ethiopian generals, BTW, were very distressed when they arrived in Switzerland to find that:
a) the dollars they had been paid were all counterfeit, and
b) someone had tipped off the Swiss that these men were trying to bring counterfeit money into Switzerland.
So if Dr. Jeffrey is to be believed, and his source (a member of the royal family involved in the negotiations) is to be believed, the Ark is in Israel being hidden until the right time comes to reveal it.
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P.S. As far as caveats in Dr. Jeffrey’s book, the biggest one is that as a Protestant, he cannot accept Catholic doctrine, even when that’s where his logic leads him. For example, Dr. Jeffrey lays out a logical, scriptural comparison of the Ark of the Covenant and Mary, showing that Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant, down to the case for the Immaculate Conception. The problem is when he’s driving on that road that proves the Immaculate Conception, where you can see the destination, over that bridge, just before crossing that bridge he makes a hard right turn and goes driving along the river, saying, “Whoa, kids, we don’t want to go THERE; let’s go HERE, and hey – look at the birds!”
