As humans, we are surrounded by a history of which we know so little. Infect, you would be surprised by what you think you know and don't know. One of those things in history is the Sabbath and Ethiopia. Did you know that the former King of Ethiopia, his Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie 1, kept the Sabbath with the citizens of the country of Ethiopia as a day of worship to GOD?
Did you know that Sunday worship came into Ethiopia after the war between Ethiopia and Mussolini of Italy?
Did you know that the war was sponsored and encouraged by the Catholic Church?
Did you know that Ethiopia was the last country on planet Earth as a country to keep the SABBATH?
Did you know that the war of 1935 -1937 was organized to destroy the authenticity of worship in Ethiopia that God had established in the Garden of Eden for men?
History records, "The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a war of aggression which was fought between Italy and Ethiopia from October 1935 to February 1937. Those living in Ethiopia and the world often referred to this time as the Italian Invasion, and in Italy as the Ethiopian War.
A short story:
"Tsega’s lived in villages in the mountain highlands of Central and Northern Ethiopia. Their neighbors called them Falasha, the alien ones, the invaders. They called themselves Beta Yisrael, the house of Israel, claiming descent from the family of Abraham. And they dreamed of the day the nation of Israel would officially recognize the Beta Yisrael and open their borders to immigration.
Tsega’s mother had died when he was barely three. An only child, he cherished memories from the early years when he worked beside his father, planting, weeding, and harvesting their little field of corn with a few vegetables. He and the other boys shepherded the village animals. No one worked during the Sabbath, so they gathered extra grass on Friday to feed the animals over the weekend.
Girls and women carried water from the river and prepared the meals, putting extra aside for the holy days. Every child was expected to study in the village school, although girls rarely attended past the first few grades. Israeli tourists sometimes visited from the homeland, bringing cash donations and teaching a few lessons in Hebrew to the whole village.
Tsega easily passed the government’s elementary school exams, moving from grade to grade, finally winning admission to the high school in the Provincial Capitol miles away. He attended classes during the day and worked at the tella bet in the evening. His boss gave him Fridays off, and after school, he would travel home. There Tsega gathered in the temple with the other men and boys (women and girls prayed separately), where they were led in prayer by the Rabbi, following their traditional, ancient version of Jewish prayers."
To read more on this story and more, look up Final Days in the Reign of Emperor Haile Selassie I, Lion of Judah Historical fiction tracing three young lives by Barbara Wyatt Olson.
"Barbara Wyatt Olson is an American writer who lives and writes in Springfield, Illinois. This story is historical fiction told from the perspective of three young, poor Ethiopians who the author knew and loved when teaching there in the years leading up to the 1975 revolution."
