This volume contains an English translation of the famous Ethiopian work, Kebra Nagast, The Glory Of Kings.
This book has been held in the highest honor in Ethiopia for several centuries and has been, and still is, venerated by the people as containing the final proof of their descent from the Hebrew Patriarchs, and of the kinship of their kings of the Solomonic line with Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
1. That the lawful kings of Ethiopia were descended from Solomon, King of Israel.
2. That the Tabernacle of the Law of God, the Ark of the Covenant was brought from Jerusalem to Aksum by Menyelek, Solomon's firstborn son.
3. That the God of Israel transferred His place of abode on earth from Jerusalem to Aksum, the ecclesiastical capital of Ethiopia.
Menyelek was performing the Will of God in removing the Tabernacle of Zion from Jerusalem, as God was satisfied that the Jews were unworthy to be custodians of the Ark wherein His Presence was, and the Ark wished to depart.
Ethiopia had stretched out her hands to God (Psalm 68:31) and He went to her with the Ark, to preside over Menyelek's kingdom, which was established in accordance with the commandments that He had given Moses and the prophets and priests of Israel.
The line of kings founded by Solomon continued to reign even after the Ethiopians became Christians under the teaching of Frumentius and Adesius, and that line continued unbroken until the tenth century of our era.
God then permitted the line to be separated from the throne, and allowed the Zagwe Kings to rule over Ethiopia until the reign of Yekuno Amlak, who restored the Solomonic dynasty in A.D. 1270.
Ethiopian literature documents a legend to the effect that when god made Adam He placed in his body a "Pearl" or "Seed" which He intended should pass from Adam into the bodies of a series of holy men, one after the other, until the appointed time when it should enter the body of Mary, and form the substance of her 1st born...