Sacred Sites

I am completely fascinated with the Sacred Sites within Ethiopia, especially the Ark of the Covenant. Dr. Akbarali Thobhani and Dr Carrie A. Besnette, Ph.D. will be staying in Ethiopia a week or two longer to study and travel to these places. If I wasn't leaving for Australia 3 weeks later I would have loved to have stayed and travelled with them. I'll save it for next year :-)



http://www.sacredsites.com/africa/ethiopia/sacred_sites_ethiopia.html



The Ark of the Covenant was the most famous object in the Tabernacle and Temple of the ancient Hebrews. Made of acacia wood covered with gold, the top of the Ark bore a carving of two winged cherubim. The cover of the Ark is called the "Mercy Seat" in the Authorised Version of the Bible.


The Ark contained the two replacement tablets of the Ten Commandments, made to replace the tablets smashed by Moses; the rod of Aaron that budded; and a vessel of manna from the wilderness of Sinai.


The Ark was the centre of a yearly ritual performed by the high priest of Israel. Once a year, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, he had to enter the Holy of Holies in the temple with the blood of a goat, sacrificed in the scapegoat ritual, which was to atone for the sins of all Israel. Other than during this ritual, no one was allowed to see the Ark.


It was thought to be the location of the direct presence of God, and as such posed a hazard to mere mortals. To touch the Ark meant instant death, even for an innocuous purpose like preventing it from falling out of an ox-cart. It may be for this reason that the Patriarch of Ethiopia is not eager to make the Ark into a tourist attraction.


The Ethiopians say that Menelik, son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, brought the Ark to Ethiopia. Menelik went on to become the founder of a long dynasty of Ethiopian kings. Haile Selassie, the last King of Ethiopia until he was murdered in 1975 by Marxist revolutionaries, was the last king of Ethiopia to claim descent from Menelik.