Discovering Royal Connections

Tents of Mercy Congregation and Humanitarian Aid

Kiryat Yam, Israel

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My own story growing up Jewish in Ethiopia was that due to Communist oppression our family had to keep our Jewish ancestry under cover so as not to get the wrong kind of attention from the authorities. This gave rise to a curiosity and longing to explore and live in my full identity.

In the Communist-stricken metropolis of Addis Abeba, almost daily I saw the big palace that had belonged to the deposed monarchy of the Ethiopian Empire before the Communists took over. Every time we drove past it on the way to school, I wondered what the palace was like inside, and I imagined how the royal family must have lived there in opulence before being overthrown. I dreamt many times of visiting it and envisioned its beauty and luxury.

Through several crises and critical circumstances I found myself leaving my beloved parents in the Ethiopian capital city, and making aliyah (moving to Israel) all by myself at the age of 17. In my new homeland of Israel, I began to revive my Jewish heritage; and while doing so I encountered Yeshua and received Him as my Messiah! Ever since then I have sought to live out my complex identity as an Ethio-Israeli Messianic Jew, or Black Ethio-Israeli Messianic Jew.

I recently had an opportunity to travel from Israel back to the city where I was born, Addis Abeba. While there, I learned that the secretive Royal Palace had finally opened up to the public for visiting. (Communism gave way to a democratic regime in 1991.)

Well, I seized the opportunity and entered the palace I had always longed to see. It is named after 19th Century Menilik II. His ancestor Menilik the First was also called “Ben Chacham” (Son of the Wise Man). Legend has it that Emperor Menilik the First was conceived when King Solomon tricked the Queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10:112), into sleeping with him; that the queen raised him as a Jew in Ethiopia; and then he traveled to Jerusalem to meet his father Solomon and was crowned as ruler of Ethiopia.

The modern emperors of Ethiopia have derived their right to rule based on two dynastic claims: their descent from from Menelik I, the son of Solomon and the son of the Queen of Sheba; and from the kings of Axum. This modern line of emperors of the House of Solomon has ruled Ethiopia going at least as far back as the 13th century. Menilik’s Solomonic dynasty thus continued 225 generations until Emperor Haile Sellasie was deposed in 1974. That was the year I was born.

Walking through the different rooms and courts of the Royal Palace, I found myself pacing through this long history of Ethiopian Jewry and their journey. I had already known of Ethiopia’s deep and official Christian connections going back to the first centuries AD. (We read how Philip explained the Good News of Yeshua’s atonement to the Ethiopian Eunuch-Treasurer in Acts 8: 26-40). However, to my surprise, while looking at all the various royal artifacts of gold, cars, royal garments, weapons, and beautiful architecture from the Royal Family, I couldn’t help but notice a theme common to all of them: the Star/Shield of David - Magen David! Almost every artifact was imprinted with the Magen David seal. [See photos of the white royal residence, imperial coat of arms and Magen David symbols.] The more I walked through the palace, the more it dawned on my spirit how the royal family members were apparently the first Ethio-Messianic Jews!

Needless to say, I came back to Israel full of inspiration from my visit. My first thought went to the importance of each person’s own history. How essential it is to know our roots! If we disconnect ourselves from our roots, we will be homeless, without a true origin of identity. Our history is like the ground in which we are planted. At times God allows us to revisit those grounds to deepen and strengthen our sense of calling and identity.

I wondered how it would have affected my childhood had I grasped that the Royal Family of Ethiopia were Jews. Instead, being Jewish was an identity I was encouraged to hide for fear of persecution. Would it have boosted my self-esteem or made me prideful? But then another question arose…

What if all of us were to suddenly discover that we are part of THE Royal Family in Messiah?

Simon Peter proclaimed, “You are chosen, a royal priesthood,…people for God’s own possession.” (1 Peter 2:9)

Paul claimed that all believers are adopted princes and princesses that God has “…blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places…chosen us…to be blameless before Him…predestined us for adoption as sons…to the glorious praise of His grace.” (Ephesians 1: 3-6)

Truly the most significant and important of our identities is the one we have through Yeshua. It is one adorned with royalty, one we could not have attained for our own selves. May we learn to celebrate the truth of who we are in Him and live out our calling and identity to the fullest.

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