The Glory of Kings

...sealed. On certain occasions, the king had the right to break these seals, unbolt the doors, and look upon the face of the god. For example, after his conquest of Egypt, the Nubian king Piānkhi went to visit Rā in his sanctuary near Heliopolis. He was received by the Chief Lector Priest original: "Kherheb", who prayed that the demons original: "fiends" might have no power over him. Having dressed himself in the sacred seteb garment a ritual priestly vestment, and having been purified with incense and sprinkled with holy water original: "censed and asperged", Piānkhi ascended the steps leading to the ark of Rā and stood there alone. He broke the seal, drew the bolts, threw open the doors, and looked upon the face of Rā. After worshipping the Morning and Evening original: "Mātet and Sektet" Boats of the Sun, he drew the doors shut and sealed them with his own seal. In this way, Piānkhi was recognized by Rā as the king of all Egypt. It is not clear whether Piānkhi looked upon a statue of Rā or the holy benben stone A pyramid-shaped stone that was a sacred symbol of the sun god. Many of the sacred arks of Egypt contained no figures of gods, but only objects that symbolized them; in the temples of Osiris, the arks contained portions of that god's body.

The Ark of the Law The Ark of the Covenant, which Menyelek Menelik I, the legendary first Emperor of Ethiopia and son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba covered and stole from the Temple of Jerusalem, was probably a copy of the one made by Moses. For all practical purposes, it was a rectangular box made of hard wood plated with gold, measuring about four feet long, two feet six inches wide, and two feet six inches deep. It featured a cover upon which rested the "Mercy Seat" and figures of the Cherubim Angelic beings. In the KEBRA NAGAST, no mention is made of the Mercy Seat or the Cherubim. Instead, we read that Moses made a case shaped like the "belly of a ship," and the Two Tables of the Law were placed inside it. To the Ethiopians, this case symbolized the Virgin Mary; the case made by Moses carried the Word written in stone, while Mary carried the Word Incarnate Jesus Christ. It cannot be assumed that the Ark stolen by Menyelek was carried in a sacred boat like an Egyptian...