Many Ethiopian Christians believe that the Ark of the Covenant is located in their country. The story builds off 1 Kings 10 when the Queen of Sheba visits King Solomon in Jerusalem. According to Ethiopian tradition, Solomon and the Queen had a son named Menelik. While visiting his father, he brought the Ark of the Covenant back with him to Ethiopia where it remains today.

I am not convinced that the Ark of the Covenant is in Ethiopia. First, the Ark is mentioned in 2 Chronicles 35:3. This verse states that it was still in Jerusalem during the reign of Josiah who ruled roughly three hundred years after Solomon. This means at least part of the tradition is incorrect. The Ark could not have been taken to Ethiopia at the time of, or shortly after, Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

Secondly, the earliest source for the Ethiopian tradition is the Kebra Nagast,[1] a 14^th-century Ethiopian epic. This means that the earliest written evidence of the Ark of the Covenant being in Ethiopia is almost 2500 years after the days of Solomon. Of course, one could argue that the Kebra Nagast is based on older oral or written documents. This is possible, but there is nothing in Jewish or Christian history outside of Ethiopia to support it. No Jew or Christian mentions the location of the Ark being in Ethiopia before the 14^th century.

All of this taken together is a major weakness for placing the Ark in Ethiopia. At least part of the tradition is false based on the Bible and the other part does have its red flags. My personal belief is that the Ark of the Covenant was destroyed or taken by the Babylonians around the time when they destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. It is therefore likely that the Ark was taken to Babylon in modern-day Iraq.

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree?

[1] I normally do not use Wikipedia articles, but the site does have a good overview of the Kebra Negast here.