A Journey to the Roots of Rastafari

by Abba Yahudah Sellassie

Ethiopia accepted Christianity as Her sovereign faith after being a Judaic nation for centuries before Christ. Her political seat being the Throne of David makes this event uniquely significant, in that Judaism, as a religion or as a nation had no existing empire. By this, we mean that: after the destruction of Jerusalem in 588BC and the dispersion of the Israelites, the Jews, as a nation, were unable to reconstruct an independent state anywhere in the world except for the empire established in Ethiopia. Therefore, Ethiopia represented the only nation to have made such a transition from Judaism to Christianity. When one makes a thorough study of the traditions of the Biblical Jewish nation one will understand that a Jewish nation could not be reestablished without the Throne and seed of King David. Therefore, Israel, as a place, remains to be the fragmented ruins of a past flourishing Jewish state. The Roman invasion and occupation of Jerusalem created an atmosphere of tension and political unrest that continued, and subsequently led to the destruction of this once glorious city, which used to house the Ark of the Covenant. All this occurred before the birth of Christ who was to be the major element in the events that were to lead to a New Way.