Queen Sheba

The story we read from the Keba Negast provides an interesting view of the ancient world. If you were to only read the story, and have no prior knowledge of scripture, you would think that Ethiopia was the most important nation in the ancient world. this prestige is set up by a couple of factors in the Keba Negast, the constant mention of riches and the exclusion of all other nations from the story except Ethiopia and Israel.

The story begins by explaining that the world is divided up into two halves, the northern half belongs to the emperor of Rom and the southern half that includes the southern part of Jerusalem is owned by the Ethiopian emperor. no other nations are mentioned in this sequence, thus Ethiopia stands out as one of the two most important nations on earth at this time.

The second feature of the story that denotes the status of Ethiopia is the constant mention of Ethiopia's riches. the author makes large lists about how many camels and merchants and other things the queen of sheba owns. This would seem to point out that God favors Ethiopia and thus the nations is abounding with riches.

together these facts point to the Ethno-centricity of the Ethiopian text, and provide ample reason for followers of the Ethiopian church to believe that they are some of God's chosen people on earth.