The Queen of Sheba and Her Only Son Menyelek (Kebra Nagast)

Introduction removed the outside covering to give it to David, and Zadok said he had not done so (Chap. 56). Then Solomon told him to go at once and see, and when he had gone into the Holy of Holies he found there nothing but the box which Azaryas had had made to take the place of the Tabernacle. When Zadok saw that Zion had departed he fainted, and Benaiah found him lying there like a dead man. When Zadok revived he cast ashes on his head, and went to the doors of the Temple and in a loud voice bewailed the loss of the glory and protection of Israel.

When Solomon heard the news he commanded men to make ready to pursue those who had stolen Zion, and to slay them when they found them (Chap. 57). When the soldiers were ready Solomon set himself at their head, and his mounted scouts rode in all haste to Egypt, where they learned that the fugitives had left the place nine days before (Chap. 58). When Solomon himself arrived at Gâzâ he found that the report which his scouts had made to him was true, and his heart sank.

Near Egypt he met envoys of Pharaoh who had been sent to him with presents, and he asked one of them for news of the thieves. This man told him that he had seen the company of David II in Cairo travelling through the air, and that all the statues of kings and gods in Egypt had fallen down in the presence of the Tabernacle of Zion, and were dashed in pieces (Chap. 59). When Solomon heard this he returned to his tent and wept bitterly, and gave vent to the lamentations that form (Chap. 60).

When Solomon returned to Jerusalem he went with the elders into the House of God, and he and Zadok embraced each other and wept bitterly. Then they dried their tears and the elders made a long speech to Solomon in which they sketched the past history of the Ark of the Covenant, i.e. the Tabernacle Zion. They reminded him how the Philistines captured it and carried it into the house of Dagon, and how they sent it away with sixty gold figures of mice, and sixty phalli, and how, when lxix