53. How the Wagon was Given to Ethiopia

Introduction

the glory of Israel had departed with it. Then Solomon told Zadok the priest to go into the Holy of Holies and bring out the covering of the Tabernacle, and to spread over the Tabernacle in its stead the new covering which he had had specially made for the purpose (Chap. 51); and thus saying he placed the new covering in the bands of the high priest. The Queen of Sheba had asked him for a piece of the fringe of the covering of the Tabernacle, and she had repeated her request by the mouth of her son, and Solomon determined to send the complete covering to her. The text mentions the “five mice and ten emerods” which were given to Zion, but it is not clear whether Solomon meant them to be given to the Queen with the covering of the Tabernacle. Acting on Solomon’s instructions, Zadok went and fetched the covering of the Tabernacle (Chap. 52), and gave it to Bayna-Le˙kem, or David, together with a chain of gold.

Then the wagons were loaded, and Bayna-Le˙kem and his companions set out on their journey. The Archangel Michael led the way, and he cut a path for them, and sheltered them from the heat. Neither man nor beast touched the ground with their feet, but were carried along above the ground with the speed of the bat and the eagle, and even the wagons were borne along without touching the earth (Chap. 52).

Michael halted the company at Gâzâ, which city Solomon had given to the Queen of Sheba, and another day’s march brought them to the frontier of Egypt, and they encamped by “the River” (Takkazi), i.e. the Nile. Thus they had performed in one day a journey that generally took the caravans thirteen days to complete (Chap. 53). Whilst they were here his companions took the opportunity of revealing to David the fact that they had carried off the Tabernacle Zion, and that it was there with them. Azaryas told Elmeyas to “beautify and dress our Lady,” and when David II saw her he rose up and skipped like a young sheep, and danced before the Tabernacle even as

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did his grandfather David I (2 Sam. vi, 14). Then he stood up before Zion and made the address to her which is given in Chap. 54. When the natives heard that the Tabernacle of the Law of God was in their midst, they beat drums and played upon flutes and pipes, and the people shouted, and the pylons of the temples, and the idols that were in the forms of men, and dogs, and cats, fell down and were broken in pieces (Chaps. 54, 55). And Azaryas dressed Zion, and spread their gifts before her, and he set her on a wagon with draperies of purple about her. On the following morning David and his company resumed their journey, and men and beasts and wagons were all raised above the ground to the height of one cubit as before. They passed through the air like shadows, and the people ran alongside Zion and worshipped her. When they came to the Red Sea Zion passed over its waters, and the whole company were raised above them to a height of three cubits. The waves leaped up to welcome Zion, and the billows thundered forth praise of her, and the breakers roared their acclamations, and all the creatures in the sea worshipped her as she passed over them. In due course the company arrived at a place opposite Mount Sinai and encamped in Kâdês, and then passing through Medyâm and Bêlôntôs they came to Ethiopia, where they were received with great rejoicings. The description of the route followed by David II is very vague, and it is clear that Isaac’s geographical knowledge was incomplete.

Meanwhile Zadok had returned from the Temple in Jerusalem to Solomon’s palace and found the king very sorrowful, for he had been thinking over the dream which he had twenty-two years before, and feared that the glory of Israel had either departed or was about to depart. Zadok was greatly troubled when he heard what the king’s dream was, and prophesied woe to Israel if the Tabernacle had been carried off by David. Solomon asked him if he had made sure that the Tabernacle was in the Holy of Holies the day before when he

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