The Life and Adventures of Bruce, the African TravellerHead, Francis Bond, Sir
History
The Life and Adventures of Bruce, the African Traveller
Head, Francis Bond, Sir
Bruce, James, 1730-1794; Ethiopia -- Description and travel
It is said by the Abyssinians that this Queen of Sheba or Saba left her
country a Pagan; but that, having received Solomon's answers to the hard
questions which she put to him, she returned converted to Judaism,
bringing with her a young child called Menilek, whose paternity was
ascribed to Solomon; and it may here be observed, that both the Jews and
Christians of Abyssinia still believe that the fourteenth Psalm is a
prophecy, not only of their queen's journey to Jerusalem, but that there
she should have a son, who was to be king over a nation of Gentiles.
The Abyssinians declare that Menilek, after residing some years with his
mother, was sent by her to his father, Solomon, to be instructed; that
he then took the name of David, and was anointed and crowned, in the
Temple of Jerusalem, as King of Ethiopia. After this ceremony he is said
to have returned to Azab, or Saba, accompanied by a colony of Jews, and
by a high-priest, Azazias, who brought with him a Hebrew transcript of
the Law. The moment had now arrived for the Queen of Saba to carry her
great and hitherto secret objects into execution. Abyssinia was
converted to the religion of Jerusalem; and, by the last act of the
queen's reign, she settled a new mode of succession to the crown, which
has existed very nearly to the present day.
She enacted, first, that the throne should be hereditary in the family
of Solomon for ever; secondly, that, on her demise, no woman should be
capable of wearing the crown, which should thenceforward descend to
heirs-male, however distant; and, lastly, that the heirs-male of the
royal house should be kept imprisoned on a high mountain, there to
remain until their death, or until they should be called to the throne.
The queen having decreed that these laws should be irrevocable, died,
after a long reign of forty years, in the year 986 before Christ. She
was succeeded by her son Menilek, whose posterity, according to the
annals of Abyssinia, and according to the belief of all the neighbouring
nations, have reigned ever since; their device being a lion passant,
with this motto: "Mo ansaba am Nizilet Solomon am Negade Juda;" which
signifies, "The Lion of the race of Solomon and tribe of Judah hath
overcome."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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