Writer believes it is Is the Ark of the Covenant in Yemen? [Archives:2002/45/Culture]

BY GARY VEY
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WWW.VIEWZONE.COM
With all the unsettled world events, it is easy to become distracted from the small discoveries that may, someday, comfort mankind and rescue nations like Yemen from poverty and domination by her neighbors, both near and far.
Prior to the most recent global crises, I had been working on several inscriptions that were translated from the Mareb region and the various museums in Sana’a, using a method of interpretation that proved to be a breakthrough in translating similar writing in other parts of the world, yes, even in America.
The same alphabet that is inscribed on the walls of Saba’s archaeological site has been found on virtually every continent. It is very old, much older even than the Sabaean empire, and I spent most of 2001 visiting sites and documenting these petroglyphs, from Colorado to Yemen to the outback of Australia. While this special language is not to be confused with the more recent Himyaritic, that utilizes many of the same symbols, it does reveal a place in history for Yemen that should, someday, reward the good Yemeni people for their adherence to Allah and their unique respect for other people.
Without becoming too academic or scientific in this article, I would like to share the message obtained from my expedition to Yemen in 2001. I think you will find great comfort in these translations, which have been summarized below:
Menelik (spelled M-N-L-C-C), the only son of Queen Saba (Queen Sheba) and Solomon, was depressed when he learned that his father’s kingdom had been overcome and the temple in Jerusalem was sacked. His grief was deep (“The happiness of the Son was poisoned…”) and this worried his mother.
Shortly after this invasion of Jerusalem, Menelik received word that the Ark of the Covenant (the “cell of the Lord” AT-EL), formerly housed in Solomon’s Temple, was relocated to what is now Yemen and was in the protection of Menelik. The text refers to an “oath” that was taken by Menelik to protect the ark, perhaps agreed upon when he visited Solomon several years earlier.
Menelik also received a warning from Nathan, Menelik’s half-brother, that the ark could be harmful to his health and that it had caused vision problems and “trembling” (seizures?) when Nathan had attempted to interact with it. Menelik, however, had none of these adverse reactions and eagerly interacted with this object, constructing a special chamber underground in which he stored the ark and conversed through it with the Lord.
As the danger of invading neighbors became real for the kingdom of Saba, Menelik announced that the ark had instructed him to enter the underground chamber with the ark, and to have the entire construction covered with sand to conceal it and protect it from hostile forces. Menelik informed his mother, Queen Saba, that he would remain buried with the ark for a long period of time.
Following her only son’s instructions, Menelik was buried with the ark. However, his mother had a chamber constructed adjacent to the ark chamber and had a secret peephole installed so that she could monitor his condition while he was buried. She secretly planned to open the chamber and rescue her son should he be in peril. On many occasions, Queen Saba viewed her son inside the chamber and, on one occasion, noted that he was receiving a revelation of the future from the ark, which made a sound like thunder. As she watched Menelik interact with the ark, she noted that he trembled and shook from the visions that were being shown to him.
As time passed, the thundering noise and movement of her son ceased. On one occasion the queen noted that a worm crawled out from the peephole. This suggested that Menelik had died. The queen was determined to open the chamber and rescue her son but she recalled her promise to him and remembered his words, stating that he would be buried for “a long time.”
She wept (“…cried an ocean of tears…”) that his vision of the future also included the realization that she had doubted his word and she prayed that he would forgive her for her doubts.
Determined to honor her son’s wishes, Queen Saba had the chamber reinforced with stone and consulted with the builders and masons to design an enclosure that would protect the buried chamber from future earthquakes, floods, and other natural phenomenon. The chamber was thus made more sturdy, and a large dam was constructed around the buried chamber to protect it from water and floods.
In the Yemen museum there is another stone which dictates the conditions that should exist prior to any attempt at opening the chamber. These include the occupation of the land by a “friendly” nation and the warning that the ark must not be moved and should not be used for any national or personal benefit. The ark is to be used for the benefit of mankind and petitions to the Lord are to be made by collective prayer in the area of the buried chamber and through the “priest” of the ark (Menelik?).
Following the burial of the chamber and the surrounding temple, Queen Saba “dimmed her kingdom” and moved to Ethiopia with the prohibition that the area where the ark and Menelik were buried should be forgotten, lest future hostile nations and “blind prophets” should seek it out.

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