‘The Question of Solomon

The prophecy of CHRIST

According to the interpretation of prophecy, the name SOLOMON signifieth in the secret speech “CHRIST“. And as Solomon built the house of God, so Christ raised up His Body and made it into the Church. And when He said unto the JEWS, “Throwdown this house, and in three days I will build it up [again],” He spoke to them of the house of His Body. And as SOLOMON multiplied wives from alien peoples because of their beauty and winsomeness, and desires [arose] in him in his feigning love [for them], so CHRISTgathered together from alien peoples those who had not the Law, but who believed on Him. And there was no uncircumcised man to Him, and no pagan; and there was no slave and no JEW, and no servant and no free man; but He gathered them all into His heavenly kingdom by His Flesh and Blood. And in the Song of Songs SOLOMON himself sang and said, “There are sixty mighty men round about the bed of SOLOMON, all of them trained in war and holding swords, each man with his sword upon his thigh.” The number sixty indicateth the number of the righteous Patriarchs, and the Prophets, and the Apostles, and the Martyrs, and the Believers, and the Saints, and the Monks who have resisted the evil thought and the war of SATAN. And the word “sword” is, being interpreted, the word of the Scriptures. The word of the Lord cutteth like a straight sharp razor, and in like manner the Scriptures cut from men’s hearts the danger caused by lying dreams by night. And the words “bed of SOLOMON” are being interpreted, the Church of CHRIST.

Again SOLOMON sang, saying, “King Solomon hath made a litter for himself,” and these words are to be interpreted that CHRIST hath put on our body. The name SOLOMON in the language of the Hebrews is, being interpreted, “CHRIST“. And the foolish Jews imagine that the words of David, “The Lord said unto me, ‘Thou art my son and I this day have begotten thee,'” were spoken concerning SOLOMON his son. “O God, give Thy judgment to the king, and Thy righteousness to the son of the king, so that he may judge thy people with righteousness and thy needy ones with justice. And he shall live and they shall give him of the gold of Arabia, and shall pray for him continually, and shall follow him [with good words], and he shall be a support for the whole earth on the tops of the mountains, and his fruit shall be greater than the cedar, and he shall flourish in the city like the grass of the earth, and his name shall be blessed forever, and his name shall be before the sun. I have brought thee forth from the belly before the Morning Star. God hath sworn, and He will not repent, thou art His priest forever, after the appointment of MELCHIZEDEK.”

Concerning this prophecy and others like thereunto, which DAVID prophesied concerning Christ, the foolish Jews, who are blind of heart, say that what DAVID said at the beginning of his book was spoken concerning his son SOLOMON; this do the JEWS say, and they make CHRIST be SOLOMON because of the similarity of name, and the wisdom, and because He was the Son of DAVID in the flesh. And although those who came after David and SOLOMON, namely ELIJAH and ELISHA, knew this, they ascribed SOLOMON’Ssin to him in the Book of KINGS in order that they might put to shame the Jews, wJewsre blinded in heart and the enemies of righteousness. And SOLOMON the King, the son of David the King and Prophet, was himself also King and Prophet, and he prophesied many similitudes concerning CHRIST and concerning the Church, and he wrote four books of prophecy, and is numbered with ABRAHAM, ISAAC, and JACOB, and DAVID his father in the kingdom of the heavens.

The lamentation of SOLOMON

Now I will tell you how he died. His days were sixty [years] when a sickness attacked him. And his days were not as the days of David his father, but they were twenty [years] shorter than his because he was under the sway of women and worshipped idols. And the angel of death came and smote him [in] the foot, and he wept and said, “O Lord God of Israel, I am conquered by the terrestrial law, for there is no one free from blemish before Thee, O Lord, and there is no one righteous and wise before Thee, O Lord. For Thou dost scrutinize and try the heart. Nothing is hidden from Thee. Thou lookest upon the hidden things [as if they were] revealed, and Thou searchest out the heart. Have mercy upon me, Lord. Thou examinest the heart of man and dost try the reins. Have mercy upon me, Lord. Thou hearest both the whisper and the thunderclap. Have mercy upon me, Lord. And if Thou hast mercy upon the righteous who have not transgressed Thy commandments, what is there wonderful in Thy mercy? Have mercy upon me, Lord. But if Thou shouldest show mercy upon me, a sinner, Thy mercy would be a marvelous and gracious thing. Have mercy upon me, Lord. And although I have sinned remember ABRAHAM, and ISAAC, and JACOB, my fathers who did not transgress Thy commandment. Have mercy upon me, Lord, for Thou art merciful and forgiving; for the sake of David thy servant have mercy upon me, Lord. O Master of the world, and of kings and governors, have mercy upon me, Lord. O Thou who makest fools to be wise, and the wise to be fools, have mercy upon me, Lord. O Turner of sinners and Rewarder of the righteous, have mercy upon me, Lord.” And as he spake these words tears streamed down his face, and he searched for his napkin.

And the Angel of God went down to him and said unto him, “Hearken thou unto what I shall say unto thee, for the sake of which God hath sent me. From being a wise man thou hast turned thyself into a fool, and from being a rich man thou hast turned thyself into a poor man, and from being a king thou hast turned thyself into a man of no account, through transgressing the commandment of God. And the beginning of thy evil was the taking of many wives by thee, for through this thou didst transgress His Law, and His decree, and the ordinance of God which Moses wrote and gave to you, to ISRAEL, that ye should not marry wives from alien peoples but only from your kinsfolk and the house of your fathers, that your seed might be pure and holy and that God might dwell with you. But thou didst hold lightly the Law of God, thinking that thou wast wiser than God and that thou wouldst get very many male children. But the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men, and He hath only given thee three sons: the one who carried off thy glory into an alien land, and made the habitation of God to be in Ethiopia; the one who is lame of foot, who shall sit upon thy throne for the people of Israel, the son of the kin of thy kin from TARBÂNA, of the house of JUDAH; and the one who is the son of a Greek woman, a handmaiden, who in the last days shall destroy REHOBOAM and all thy kin of Israel; and this land shall be his because he believeth in Him that shall come, the Saviour. And the tribe of REHOBOAM and those who are left of Israel shall crucify Him that shall come, the Redeemer, and the memory of you shall be blotted out from the earth. For they shall think out a plan which they shall not be able to establish, and He will be wroth with them and blot out the memorial of them.

“And as for thee, JOSEPH, the son of Jacob, shall be a symbol of thee. For his brethren sold him into the land of Egypt from Syria, the country of LÂB (LABAN), and on his going down into the land of Egypt there arose a famine in Syria and in all the world. And through his going down he called his kinsfolk and delivered them from famine and gave them a habitation in the land of Egypt, the name whereof is GÊSHÊN (GOSHEN). For he himself was King under PHARAOH, King of Egypt. Similarly, the Saviour Who shall come from thy seed shall set thee free by His coming, and shall bring thee out of SHEÔL, where until the Saviour cometh thou shalt suffer pain, together with thy fathers; and He will bring thee forth. For from thy seed shall come forth a Saviour Who shall deliver thee, thee and those who were before thee, and those who shall [come] after thee, from ADAM to His coming in the kin of your kin, and He shall make thee go forth from SHEÔL as JOSEPH brought out his kinsfolk from the famine, that is to say the first SHEÔL in the land of famine, so also shall the Saviour bring out of SHEÔL you who are His kinsfolk. And as afterward the EGYPTIANS made [the kinsmen of JOSEPH] slaves, so also have the devils made you slaves through the error of idols.

“And as MOSES brought his kinsmen out of the servitude [of EGYPT], so shall the Saviour bring you out of the servitude of SHEÔL. And as Moses wrought ten miracles and punishments (or, plagues) before PHARAOH the King, so the Saviour Who shall come from thy seed shall work ten miracles for life before thy people. And as MOSES, after he had wrought the miracles, smote the sea and made the people pass over as it were on dry land, so the Saviour Who shall come shall overthrow the walls of SHEÔL and bring thee out.

As Moses drowned PHARAOH with the Egyptians in the Sea of ERITREA, so also shall the Saviour drown SATAN and his devils in SHEÔL; for the sea is to be interpreted by SHEÔL, and PHARAOH by SATAN, and his hosts of EGYPTIANS by devils. And as Moses fed them [with] manna in the desert without toil, so shall the Saviour feed you with the food of the Garden (i.e., Paradise) forever, after He hath brought you out from SHEÔL. And as MOSES made them dwell in the desert for forty years, without their apparel becoming worn out, or the soles of their feet becoming torn, so the Saviour shall make you dwell without toil after the Resurrection. And as JOSHUA brought them into the Land of Promise, so shall the Saviour bring you into the Garden of Delight. And as JOSHUA slew the seven Kings of CANAAN, so shall the Saviour slay the seven heads of ’IBLÎS. And as JOSHUA destroyed the people of CANAAN, so shall the Saviour destroy sinners and shut them up in the fortress of SHEÔL. And as thou hast built the house of God, so shall churches be built upon the tops of the mountains.”

MARY, Our Lady of Salvation

“And again, there shall be unto thee a sign that the Saviour shall come from thy seed, and that He shall deliver thee with thy fathers and thy seed after thee by His coming. Your salvation was created in the belly of ADAM in the form of a Pearl before EVE. And when He created Eve out of the rib He brought her to ADAM, and said unto them, ‘Multiply you from the belly of ADAM.’ The Pearl did not go out into CAIN or ABEL, but into the third that went forth from the belly of ADAM, and it entered into the belly of SETH. And then passing from him that Pearl went into those who were the firstborn, and came to ABRAHAM. And it did not go from ABRAHAM into his firstborn ISHMAEL, but it tarried and came into ISAAC the pure. And it did not go into his firstborn, the arrogant ESAU, but it went into JACOB the lowly one. And it did not enter from him into his firstborn, the erring REUBEN, but into JUDAH, the innocent one. And it did not go forth from JUDAH until four sinners had been born, but it came to FÂRÊS (PEREZ), the patient one, And from him, this Pearl went to the firstborn until it came into the belly of JESSE, the father of thy father. And then it waited until six men of wrath had been born, and after that, it came to the seventh, DAVID, thy innocent and humble father; for God hateth the arrogant and proud, and loveth the innocent and humble. And then it waited in the loins of thy father until five erring fools had been born when it came into thy loins because of thy wisdom and understanding. And then the Pearl waited, and it did not go forth into thy firstborn. For those good men of his country neither denied Him nor crucified Him, like ISRAEL thy people; when they saw Him Who wrought miracles, Who was to be born from the Pearl, they believed on Him when they heard the report of Him. And the Pearl did not go forth into thy youngest son ’ADRÂMÎ. For those good men neither crucified Him nor denied Him when they saw the working of miracles, and wonders by Him that was to be born from the Pearl, and afterward, they believed in Him through His disciples.

“Now the Pearl, which is to be your salvation, went forth from thy belly and entered into the belly of ‛ÎYÔRBĔ‛ÂM (REHOBOAM) thy son, because of the wickedness of ISRAELthy people, who in their denial and in their wickedness crucified Him. But if He had not been crucified He could not have been your salvation. He was crucified without sin, and He rose [again] without corruption. And for the sake of this, He went down to you into SHEÔL and tore down its walls, that He might deliver you and bring you out, and show mercy upon all of you. Ye in whose bellies the Pearl shall be carried shall be saved with your wives, and none of you shall be destroyed, from your father ADAM unto him that shall come, thy kinsman ‘ÊYÂḲÊM (JOACHIM), and from EVE thy mother, the wife of ADAM, to NOAH and his wife TARMÎZÂ, to TÂR (TERAH) and his wife ’AMÎNYÂ, and to Abraham and his wife SÂR (SARAH), and to ISAAC and his wife RĔBḲ (REBECCA), and to Jacob and his wife LĔY (LEAH), and to YAHÛD and his bride TĔ‛EMÂR (TAMAR), and to thy father and his wife BÊRSÂBÊḤ (BATHSHEBA), and to thyself and TARBÂN thy wife, and to REHOBOAM thy son and his wife ’AMÎSÂ, and to ÎYÔ‛AḲÊM (JOACHIM) thy kinsman, who is to come, and his wife ḤANNÂ.

“None of you who shall have carried the Pearl shall be destroyed, and whether it be your men or your women, those who shall have carried the Pearl shall not be destroyed. For the Pearl shall be carried by the men who shall be righteous, and the women who have carried the Pearl shall not be destroyed, for they shall become pure through that Pearl, for it is holy and pure, and by it they shall be made holy and pure; and for its sake and for the sake of ZION He hath created the whole world. ZION hath taken up her abode with thy firstborn and she shall be the salvation of the people of Ethiopia forever, and the Pearl shall be carried in the belly of ’AYÔRBĔ‛ÂM (REHOBOAM) thy son and shall be the savior of all the world. And when the appointed time hath come this Pearl shall be born of thy seed, for it is exceedingly pure, seven times purer than the sun. And the Redeemer shall come from the seat of His Godhead, and shall dwell upon her, and shall put on her flesh, and straightway thou thyself shalt announce to her what my Lord and thy Lord speaketh to me.

“I am Gabriel the Angel, the protector of those who shall carry the Pearl from the body of ADAM even to the belly of ḤANNÂ, so that I may keep from servitude and pollution you wherein the Pearl shall dwell. And MICHAEL hath been commanded to direct and keep ZION wheresoever she goeth, and URIEL shall direct and keep the wood of the thicket which shall be the Cross of the Saviour. And when thy people in their envy have crucified Him, they shall rush upon His Cross because of the multitude of miracles that shall take place through it, and they shall be put to shame when they see its wonders. And in the last times a descendant of thy son ’ADRÂMÎS shall take the wood of the Cross, the third [means of] salvation that shall be sent upon the earth. The Angel Michael is with ZION, with DAVID thy firstborn, who hath taken the throne of David thy father. And I am with the pure Pearl for him that shall reign forever, with REHOBOAM thy second son; and the Angel URIEL is with thy youngest son ’ADRÂMÎ[S]. This has I told thee, and thou shalt not make thy heart to be sad because of thine own salvation and that of thy son.”

When SOLOMON had heard these words, his strength came [back] to him on his bed, and he prostrated himself before the Angel of God, and said, “I give thanks unto the Lord, my Lord and thy Lord, O thou radiant being of the spirit, because thou hast made me hear a word which filleth me with gladness, and because He doth not cut off my soul from the inheritance of my father because of my sin, and because my repentance hath been accepted after mine affliction, and because He hath regarded my tears, and hath heard my cry of grief, and hath looked upon my affliction, and hath not let me die in my grief, but hath made me rejoice before my soul shall go forth from my body. Henceforward [the thought of] dying shall not make me sorrowful, and I will love death as I love life. Henceforward I will drink of the bitter cup of death as if it were honey, and henceforward I will love the grave as if it were an abode of costly gems. And when I have descended and have been thrust down deep into SHEÔL, because of my sins, I shall not suffer grief, because I have heard the word which hath made me glad. And when I have gone down into the lowest depth of the deepest deep of SHEÔL, because of my sins, what will it matter to me?

If He crushes me to powder in His hand and scatter me to the ends of the earth and to the winds because of my sins, it will not make me sorrowful, because I have heard the word that hath made me rejoice, and God hath not cut my soul off from the inheritance of my fathers. And my soul shall be with the soul of David my father, and with the soul of ABRAHAM, and ISAAC, and JACOB my fathers. And the Saviour shall come and shall bring us out from SHEÔL with all my fathers, and my kinsmen, old and young. And as for my children, they shall have upon earth three mighty angels to protect them. I have found the kingdom of the heavens, and the kingdom of the earth. Who is like unto God, the Merciful, Who showeth mercy to His handiwork and glorifieth it, Who forgiveth the sins of the sinners and Who doth not blot out the memorial of the penitent? His whole Person is forgiveness, and His whole Person is mercy, and to Him belongeth praise.” Amen.

The Question of SOLOMON

SOLOMON turned and looked at the Angel and stretched out both his hands and said, “My lord, is the coming of the Saviour of which thou speakest near or far off?” And the Angel answered and said unto him, “He will come three and thirty generations from thy kin and p. from thy seed and will deliver you. But ISRAEL will hate their Saviour and will be envious of Him because He will work signs and miracles before them. And they will crucify Him and will kill Him, and He shall rise up again and deliver them, for He is merciful to the penitent and good to those who are His chosen ones. And behold, I tell you plainly that He will not leave in SHEÔL His kinsmen of ISRAEL by whom the Pearl hath been carried.”

When the Angel of God had spoken these words unto SOLOMON, he said unto him, “Peace be unto thee.” And SOLOMON answered and said unto him, “My lord, I beseech thee, I would ask thee one question; be not unheedful of my cry.” And the Angel said unto him, “Speak, ask me thy question, and I will make thee know what I have heard and seen.” And Solomon said unto him, “Now I am grieved because of Israel, His people, whom He hath chosen as His firstborn from among all the ancient tribes of His inheritance; tell me, will they be blotted out after the coming of the Saviour?” And the Angel of God answered him again and said unto him, “Yea, I have told thee that they will crucify the Saviour. And when they have poured out His blood on the wood of the Cross they shall be scattered all over the world.”

Solomon said, “I weep for my people. Woe to my people! who from first to last has always provoked their Creator to wrath? I and those who have been before me are unworthy to have mercy shown unto us because of the evil of our works, for we are a faithless generation. Woe unto those who shall pour out innocent blood, and calumniate the righteous man, and divide his spoil, and who neither believe on His word nor walk in His Commandment! Their judgment is waiting, and their error abideth; great is their punishment. And their sin is waiting, and it shall never be forgiven to them, and the sin of their fathers shall be remembered; for their work was the sin, and they shall be destroyed by that which they themselves have imagined. And woe also unto my soul! for I who have been honored shall on my death be treated with contempt; and I who have been renowned for wisdom upon the earth shall become dust. In what way is the king superior if he hath not done well upon the earth to the poor?

Their falling into the grave is the same, and their path in the deep is the same. Of what benefit (or, use) are we who are men? We are created in vain, and after a little time, we become as if we had never been created. As for the breath which we breathe, if it ceases for a short time, our soul passeth away, and if the beat of the spark of our heart which moveth in our mind passeth away we become dust, and our friends and acquaintances hold us to be a loathsome thing. And the understanding of our mind which is above [in] our heads [is destroyed] when our soul is poured out, and we become worms and filth, and when the heat of our body hath passed away we become nothingness and we pass away like the dissolving of a cloud. What then? To multiply speech is useless, and the goodliness of the stature is destroyed, and the strength of kings is blotted out, and the might of governors is destroyed and is no more found. And we all pass away like shadows, and when we have passed away in death our name is forgotten, and the trace of us cannot be found; after three generations of our children there is none who will remember our name.”

straightway he turned his face to REHOBOAM his son, and he said unto him, “O my son, withhold thyself from evil and do the things that are good so that thou mayest find many days upon the earth. And do not bow down to strange gods, and do not worship them, but fear and honor God only, so that thou mayest conquer thy foes and thy adversaries, and mayest inherit the habitation of thy father in the heavens, and also eternal life.”

He said unto him, “Write me in the role of the Book, and lay it in the chest.” And he said unto ZADOK the priest, “Anoint my son and make him king. As my father DAVID, my lord, made me king whilst he was alive, even so, do I make my son REHOBOAM king? And his seed shall be the salvation of myself and of my fathers forever, according to what the Angel of the Lord spake unto me.”

‘PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION’
‘PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION’
The Arrival of Kebra Nagast Manuscripts in Europe’
‘MÂKĔDÂ’
‘The Queen of SHEBA’
‘Legends of Solomon’
‘Arabic Text’ 

‘The Contents of the Kebra NagastT Described [ch1-59]’
‘The Contents of the Kebra Nagast Described [ch 60-117]’
‘THE GLORY OF KINGS’- [ch1-10]
‘The Glory of Zion’-[ch11-20]’
The queen came to Solomon the king’-[ch-21-25]
‘Solomon gave Commandments to the Queen’-[ch 26-29]
‘The King of Ethiopia traveled’-[ch 30-34]
‘They made the Son of King Solomon’- [ch 35-39]
‘ The Ten Commandments’-[ch 40-44]
‘They carried away Zion’-[ch 45-49]
‘The Wagon was given to Ethiopia’-[ch 50-55]
‘The Fall of Zadok the Priest’- [ch 56-60]
‘The sin King Solomon’-[ch 61-65]
‘The Question of Solomon'[ch 66-69]
‘Mary the daughter of David’-[ch 70-75]
‘The King of Persia’-[ch 76-80]
‘Abraham traveled to Egypt’-[ch 81-87]
‘This is what ye shall eat: the clean and the unclean’-[ch 88-91]
‘The first war of the Ethiopian King’-[ch 92-95]
‘Prophecy about Christ’-[ch 96-99]
The Ark of the covenant-[ch100-104]
‘The Coming of Christ”-[ch 105-109]
‘The return of Zion’