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Did Ethiopia Steal The Arks of The Covenant?

Did Ethiopia Steal The Arks of The Covenant?

Last updated on: October 20, 2026 at 11:48 am by Rebecca Wallace Keene

Did Ethiopia Steal The Arks of The Covenant? 2026-10-20T11:48:11-04:00 Rebecca Wallace Keene

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The Ark of The Covenant: All Roads Lead to Yemen made by Rebecca Keene with cahtgpt

The Ark of The Covenant: All Roads Lead to Yemen

Did Ethiopia steal The Arks of The Covenant? Welcome back to our Ark Series. We’ve all heard the claim that The Ark of The Covenant is in Ethiopia. How did that tradition develop? What proof exists?

Did Ethiopia Steal The Arks? Where The Bible and Kebra Nagast Agree

Both The Bible and The Kebra Nagast, which tells the story of the Ethiopian monarchs and their descent from King Solomon, say that The Queen of Sheba travelled to Israel and exchanged gifts and wisdom with King Solomon. 1 Kings 10:1-13 says:

10 When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the Lord, she came to test Solomon with hard questions. 2 Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. 3 Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her. 4 When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, 5 the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at[a] the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed. 6 She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. 7 But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard. 8 How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! 9 Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness.” 10 And she gave the king 120 talents[b] of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. Never again were so many spices brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.11 (Hiram’s ships brought gold from Ophir; and from there they brought great cargoes of almugwood[c] and precious stones. 12 The king used the almugwood to make supports[d] for the temple of the Lord and for the royal palace, and to make harps and lyres for the musicians. So much almugwood has never been imported or seen since that day.) 13 King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for, besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country.”

The Kebra Nagast says, “And she arrived in Jerusalem, and brought to the King very many precious gifts which he desired to possess greatly.” It also states, “And the Queen used to go [to SOLOMON] and return continually, and hearken unto his wisdom, and keep it in her heart.”

Where the Sources Differ

1 Kings does say that Solomon gave her whatever she desired, but we should not assume The Ark or Arks were part of this gift exchange. Neither source says that. The Ark was important enough that if it had been gifted that should have been recorded in The Bible and the country of the Queen also would have recorded such a gift. We have found nothing documenting such an exchange.

Did Ethiopia Steal The Arks of The Covenant?

Instead, The Bible ends the story there, and The Kebra Nagast claims that Solomon and The Queen of Sheba, called Queen Maketa of Ethiopia in The Kebra Nagast, spends the night together and The Queen becomes pregnant. It then tells us that later in life the child of that union, Menelik I, travels to Israel to meet his father. Solomon is genuinely thrilled to meet his son, but while his son is there four of the men travelling with him steal the Ark and replace it with pieces of wood. The text is clear that Solomon does not know this has happened until much later and that it devastates him. Thus, this is theft. However, who were the thieves?

Did Israelites Steal Their Own Ark

The story says the men who took the Ark were Israelites who were travelling with Menelik to start a civilization based on Israel in Ethiopia. One of them was the son of the high priest Zadok. They believed Solomon’s idolatry meant G-d’s presence was leaving Israel. Thus, they saw their taking of The Ark as divine will. That means, according to The Kebra Nagast, The Ark was taken by Israelites.

Pay attention to what they actually stole. Our first article in this series established that we are working with the theory of two Arks, a mobile and a stationary. In this tale they leave with only one Ark. This would likely be The Ark that is stationary in The Temple, because the story has them remove it from The Temple and replace it with wood. Their only taking one Ark in this scene is important for our two Ark theory, because later in the Ethiopian tale we will see that they claim to have both.

So, did Ethiopia steal The Arks of The Covenant from Israel? If the Ethiopian tale is true at all it seems Israelites stole at least one of The Arks from Solomon’s rule and moved it to Ethiopia with Menelik I. However, Menelik was unaware of the theft till they were already on their journey. However, there is great reason to doubt the Ethiopian tale.

So, stay tuned and sign up for our newsletter so you don’t miss any steps in our Ark Series. Next week we will explore the Queen of Sheba’s true identity, because as I said in a previous article, all roads lead to Yemen. Was she an Ethiopian queen? Did she have a son with Solomon? If not, the Ethiopian claim falls apart.

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About Rebecca Keene

Rebecca Keene holds a B.S. in Psychology and Religion and is currently pursuing an M.A. in Women, Gender, Spirituality, and Social Justice. An ordained minister, Kabbalah student, and fierce advocate for the marginalized, she is the author of Faith Under the Rainbow: Reclaiming the Truth About Homosexuality and the Bible. Rebecca founded the social media community Reclaiming the Truth and lives in Kentucky, where she practices Non-Denominational Judaism. Read Rebecca's articles at Reclaiming the Truth. You can read more about the author here.

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