Menelik I

XXXIII
Menelik I

IBNA HAKIM, the son of the wise man, Solomon, who had adopted the throne name, Menelik I, was anointed by the Jewish high priest, Azariah, before the Ark after his mother, Makeda, died at the age of 60.
During his reign, he patterned his government and set policies, which were similar to those of the Hebrews, and he appointed Twelve Judges, according to the number of tribes of Israel.
Azariah drew up a code of laws and regulations based directly on the laws of Moses and tradition says that this code was the source of all subsequent legal decisions and ordinances,
Menelik I tried to legislate in every way like his father, Solomon, and his grandfather, David. He also adopted many of the engineering techniques of his Israeli friend, Adoniram, in building dams in the highlands where he stored water to irrigate the land in the dry season just as he did in Marib in the Arabian Saba.
He married a Hebrew woman and they had a son, named Thomas. He was to be the second emperor of the Ark.
In 930 B.C., he died at age 50 after reigning for 24 years.

IN 1904, the tomb of Menelik I was found in a large stone mausoleum in Ethiopia. The coffin contained the body of a king still wearing his golden crown. The crown was carefully removed and was placed with the crowns of other Ethiopian kings in St. Mary of Zion Cathedral in Aksum, the ancient capital. It is also the place where the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacle of the Lord God of Israel, had rested for nearly 3,000 years.
The 225th Emperor, Haile Selassie I -- the Power of the Trinity -- and Tafari Makkonen before he took the throne name rode up to the gates of Aksum on his horse during his coronation celebrations in the 1930s where he cut a symbolic cord and, like those many kings before him, declared, "I am the son of David and Solomon, and Ibna Hakim."
(End of Part I of The Glory of The King)