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And the Queen rejoiced, and she went forth in order to depart, and the King set her on her way with great pomp and ceremony. And SOLOMON took her aside so that they might be alone together, and he took off the ring that was upon his little finger, and he gave it to the Queen, and said unto her, "Take [this] so that thou mayest not forget me. And if it happen that I obtain seed from thee, this ring shall be unto it a sign; and if it be a man child he shall come to me; and the peace of God be with thee! Whilst I was sleeping with thee I saw many visions in a dream, [and it seemed] as if a sun had risen upon ISRAEL, but it snatched itself away and flew off and lighted up the country of ETHIOPIA; peradventure that country shall be blessed through thee; God knoweth. And as for thee, observe what I have told thee, so that thou mayest worship God with all thy heart and perform His Will. For He punisheth those who are arrogant, and He showeth compassion upon those who are humble, and He removeth the thrones of the mighty, and He maketh to be honoured those who are needy. For death and life are from Him, and riches and poverty are bestowed by His Will. For everything is His, and none can oppose His command and His judgment in the heavens, or in the earth, or in the sea, or in the abysses. And may God be with thee! Go in peace." And they separated from each other.
And the Queen departed and came into the country of BÂLÂ ZADÎSÂREYÂ nine months and five days after she had separated from King SOLOMON. And the pains of childbirth laid hold upon her, and she brought forth a man child, and she gave it to the nurse with great pride and delight. And she tarried until the days of her purification were ended, and then she came to her own country with great pomp and ceremony. And her officers who had remained there brought gifts to their mistress, and made obeisance to her, and did homage to her, and all the borders of the country rejoiced at her coming. Those who were nobles among them she arrayed in splendid apparel, and to some she gave gold and silver, and hyacinthine and purple robes; and she gave them all manner of things that could be desired. And she ordered her kingdom aright, and none disobeyed her command; for she loved wisdom and God strengthened her kingdom.
And the child grew and she called his name BAYNA-LE?KEM. And the child reached the age of twelve years, and he asked his friends among the boys who were being educated with him, and said unto them, "Who is my father?" And they said unto him, "SOLOMON the King." And he went to the Queen his mother, and said unto her, "O Queen, make me to know who is my father." And the Queen spake unto him angrily, wishing to frighten him so that he might not desire to go [to his father] saying, "Why dost thou ask me about thy father? I am thy father and thy mother; seek not to know any more." And the boy went forth from her presence, and sat down. And a second time, and a third time he asked her, and he importuned her to tell him. One day, however, she told him, saying, "His country is far away, and the road thither is very difficult; wouldst thou not rather be here?" And the youth BAYNA-LE?KEM was handsome, and his whole body and his members, and the bearing of his shoulders resembled those of King SOLOMON his father, and his eyes, and his legs, and his whole gait resembled those of SOLOMON the King. And when he was two and twenty years old he was skilled in the whole art of war and of horsemanship, and in the hunting and trapping of wild beasts, and in everything that young men are wont to learn. And he said unto the Queen, "I will go and look upon the face of my father, and I will come back here by the Will of God, the Lord of ISRAEL."
And the Queen called TÂMRÎN, the chief of her caravan men and merchants, and she said unto him, "Get ready for thy journey and take this young man with thee, for he importuneth me by night and by day. And thou shalt take him to the King and shalt bring him back hither in safety, if God, the Lord of ISRAEL, pleaseth." And she prepared a retinue suitable to their wealth and honourable condition, and made ready all the goods that were necessary for the journey, and for presenting as gifts to the King, and all that would be necessary for ease and comfort by the way. And she made ready everything for sending him away, and she gave to the officers who were to accompany him such moneys as they would need for him and for themselves on the journey. And she commanded them that they were not to leave him there, but only to take him to the King, and then to bring him back again to her, when he should assume the sovereignty over her land.
Now there was a law in the country of ETHIOPIA that [only] a woman should reign, and that she must be a virgin who had never known man, but the Queen said [unto SOLOMON], "Henceforward a man who is of thy seed shall reign, and a woman shall nevermore reign; only seed of thine shall reign and his seed after him from generation to generation. And this thou shalt p. 40 inscribe in the letters of the rolls in the Book of their Prophets in brass, and thou shalt lay it in the House of God, which shall be built as a memorial and as a prophecy for the last days. And the people shall not worship the sun and the magnificence of the heavens, or the mountains and the forests, or the stones and the trees of the wilderness, or the abysses and that which is in the waters, or graven images and figures of gold, or the feathered fowl which fly; and they shall not make use of them in divining, and they shall not pay adoration unto them. And this law shall abide for ever. And if there be anyone who shall transgress this law, thy seed shall judge him for ever. Only give us the fringes of the covering of the holy heavenly ZION, the Tabernacle of the Law of God, which we would embrace (or, greet). Peace be to the strength of thy kingdom and to thy brilliant wisdom, which God, the Lord of ISRAEL our Creator, hath given unto thee."
And the Queen took the young man aside and when he was alone with her she gave him that symbol which SOLOMON had given her, that is to say, the ring on his finger, so that he might know his son, and might remember her word and her covenant which she had made [with him], that she would worship God all the days of her life, she and those who were under her dominion, with all [the power] which God had given her. And then the Queen sent him away in peace.
And the young man [and his retinue] made straight their way and they journeyed on and came into the country of the neighbourhood of GÂZÂ. Now this is the GÂZÂ which SOLOMON the King gave to the Queen of ETHIOPIA. And in the Acts of the Apostles LUKE the Evangelist wrote, saying, "He was the governor of the whole country of GÂZÂ, an eunuch of Queen HENDAKÊ, who had believed on the word of LUKE the Apostle."
And when the young man arrived in his mother's country he rejoiced there in the honour [which he received], and in the gifts [that were made] to him. And when the people saw him they thought him to be the perfect likeness of SOLOMON the King. And they made obeisance to him, and they said unto him, "Hail, the royal father liveth!" And they brought unto him gifts and offerings, fatted cattle and food, as to their king. And [the people of] the whole country of GÂZÂ, as far as the border of JUDAH, were stirred up and they said, "This is King SOLOMON." And there were some who said, "The King is in JERUSALEM building his house"—now he had finished building the House of God—and others said, "This is SOLOMON the King, the son of DAVID." And they were perplexed, and they disputed with one another, and they sent off spies mounted on horses, who were to seek out King SOLOMON and to find out if he were actually in JERUSALEM, or if he were with them [in GÂZÂ]. And the spies came to the watchmen of the city of JERUSALEM, and they found King SOLOMON there, and they made obeisance to him, and they said unto him, "Hail, may the royal father live! [Our] country is disturbed because there hath come into it a merchant who resembleth thee in form and appearance, without the smallest alteration or variation. He resembleth thee in noble carriage and in splendid form, and in stature and in goodly appearance; he lacketh nothing in respect of these and is in no way different from thyself. His eyes are gladsome, like unto those of a man who hath drunk wine, his legs are graceful and slender, and the tower of his neck is like unto the tower of DAVID thy father. He is like unto thee exactly in every respect, and every member of his whole body is like unto thine."
And King SOLOMON answered and said unto them, "Where is it then that he wisheth to go?" And they answered and said unto him, "We have not enquired of him, for he is awesome like thyself. But his own people, when we asked them, 'Whence have ye come and whither do ye go?' said, 'We have come from the dominions of HENDAKÊ (CANDACE) and ETHIOPIA, and we are going to the country of JUDAH to King SOLOMON.'" And when King SOLOMON heard this his heart was perturbed and he was glad in his soul, for in those days he had no children, except a boy who was seven years old and whose name was ÎYÔRBE?ÂM (REHOBOAM). It happened to SOLOMON even as Paul stateth, saying, "God hath made foolishness the wisdom of this world," for SOLOMON had made a plan in his wisdom and said, "By one thousand women I shall beget one thousand men children, and I shall inherit the countries of the enemy, and I will overthrow [their] idols." But [God] only gave him three children. His eldest son was the King of ETHIOPIA, the son of the Queen of ETHIOPIA, and was the firstborn of whom [God] spake prophetically, "God sware unto DAVID in righteousness, and repented not, 'Of the fruit of thy body will I make to sit upon thy throne.'" And God gave unto DAVID His servant grace before Him, and granted unto him that there should sit upon the throne of Godhead One of his seed in the flesh, from the Virgin, and should judge the living and the dead, and reward every man according to his work, One to whom praise is meet, our Lord JESUS CHRIST, for ever and ever, Amen. And He gave him one on the earth who should become king over the Tabernacle of the Law of the holy, heavenly ZION, that is to say, the King of ETHIOPIA. And as for those who reigned, who were not [of] ISRAEL, that was due to the transgression of the law and the commandment, whereat God was not pleased.
And SOLOMON the King sent the commander of his army, on whose hand he was wont to lean, with gifts and meat and drink to entertain that traveller. And the commander set out with a great number of wagons, and he came to BAYNA LE?KEM, and embraced him, and gave him everything that SOLOMON the King had sent unto him. And he said unto him, "Make haste and come with me, for the heart of the King is burnt up as with fire with the love of thee. Peradventure he will find out for himself whether thou art his own son or his brother; for in thine appearance and in thy conversation (or, manner) thou art in no way different from him. And now, rise up quickly, for my lord the King said unto me, 'Haste and bring him hither to me in honour, and comfort, and with suitable service, and in joy and gladness.'" And the young man answered and said unto him, "I thank God, the Lord of ISRAEL, that I have found grace with my lord the King without having seen his face; his word hath rejoiced me. And now I will put my trust in the Lord of ISRAEL that He will show me the King, and will bring me back safely to my mother the Queen, and to my country ETHIOPIA."
And JOAS (?), the son of YÔDÂ?Ê, the commander of the army of King SOLOMON, answered and said unto BAYNA LE?KEM, "My lord, this is a very small matter, and thou wilt find far greater joy and pleasure with my lord the King. And as concerning what thou sayest, 'my mother' and 'my country', SOLOMON the King is better than thy mother, and this our country is better than thy country. And as for thy country, we have heard that it is a land of cold and cloud, and a country of glare and burning heat, and a region of snow and ice. And when the sons of NOAH, SHEM, and HAM, and JAPHET, divided the world among them, they looked on thy country with wisdom and saw that, although it was spacious and broad, it was a land of whirlwind and burning heat, and [therefore] gave it to CANAAN, the son of HAM, as a portion for himself and his seed for ever. But the land that is ours is the land of inheritance (i.e., the promised land), which God hath given unto us according to the oath that He swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, where sustenance is [ours] without anxiety, a land that yieldeth fruit of every kind in its season without exhausting labour, a land which God keepeth watch over continually from one year to the beginning of the revolution of the next. All this is thine, and we are thine, and we will be thine heirs, and thou shalt dwell in our country, for thou art the seed of DAVID, the lord of my lord, and unto thee belongeth this throne of ISRAEL."
And the headmen of the merchant TÂMRÎN answered and said unto BENAIAH, "Our country is the better. The air (i.e., climate) of our country is good, for it is without burning heat and fire, and the water of our country is good, and sweet, and floweth in rivers, moreover the tops of our mountains run with water. And we do not do as ye do in your country, that is to say, dig very deep wells [in search of] water, and we do not die through the heat of the sun; but even at noonday we hunt wild animals, namely, the wild buffaloes, and gazelles, and birds, and small animals. And in the winter God taketh heed unto us from [one] year to the beginning of the course of the next. And in the springtime the people eat what they have trodden with the foot as [in] the land of EGYPT, and as for our trees they produce good crops of fruit, and the wheat, and the barley, and all our fruits, and cattle are good and wonderful. But there is one thing that ye have wherein ye are better than we are, namely wisdom, and because of it we are journeying to you."
And JOAS (read BENAIAH), the commander of the army of King SOLOMON, answered [saying], "What is better than wisdom? For wisdom hath founded the earth, and made strong the heavens, and fettered the waves of the sea so that it might not cover the earth. However, rise up and let us go to my lord, for his heart is greatly moved by love for thee, and he hath sent me to bring thee [to him] with all the speed possible."
And the son of the Queen rose up, and arrayed JOAS (BENAIAH), the son of YÔDÂ?Ê, and the fifty men who were in his retinue, in gorgeous raiment, and they rose up to go to JERUSALEM to SOLOMON the King. And when they came nigh unto the place where the horses were exercised and trained, JOAS (BENAIAH), the son of YÔDÂ?Ê, went on in front, and came to the place where SOLOMON was, and he told him that [the son of the Queen] was well-favoured in his appearance, and that his voice was pleasant, and that he resembled him in form, and that his whole bearing was exceedingly noble. And the King said unto him, "Where is he? Did I not send thee forth to bring him as quickly as possible?" And JOAS (BENAIAH) said unto him, "He is here, I will bring him quickly." And JOAS (BENAIAH) went and said unto the young man, "Rise up, O my master, and come"; and making BAYNA LE?KEM to go quickly he brought him to the King's Gate. And when all the soldiers saw him they made obeisance unto him, and they said, "Behold, King SOLOMON hath gone forth from his abode." And when the men who were inside came forth, they marvelled, and they went back to their places, and again they saw the King upon his throne; and wondering they went forth again and looked at the young man, and they were incapable of speaking and of saying anything. And when JOAS (BENAIAH), the son of YÔDÂ?Ê, came in again to announce to the King the arrival of the young man, there was none standing before the King, but all ISRAEL had thronged outside to see him.