The Rastafari religion is one of the worlds youngest religions, only coming to prominence after the ascension of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie in 1930. According to some strains, no pun intended, Selassie fulfilled the role of Jesus as the Second Coming prophesied in the Book of Revelations. 

Rastafarianism is Judeo-Christian, monotheistic, patriarchal, and take a literalist view of the Bible, which is not the same Bible as found in traditional Christianity. One of their sayings is, ‘God is man and man is God.’ They also smoke loads of weed in a ritualistic setting. Meditating on the teachings, ‘knowing’ God, instead of just ‘believing’ in God. 

According to their narrative, Haile Selassie was the 225th Emperor to rule Ethiopia in a line stretching back 3000 years to the time of King Solomon. Solomon and the Queen of Sheba had a son called Menelik l, the legendary first Emperor of Ethiopia. 

Menelik is said to have brought the Ark of the Covenant from Jerusalem to Axum in Ethiopia in the 10th century BCE. The Old Testament is indeed very vague about what happened to the Ark, a great mystery. Did the Egyptians take it, the Babylonians, the Romans, what happened to the most sacred of all sacred objects to be housed in the Temple? It was so sacred that the Temple was specifically built to contain the Ark. 

More importantly even, what was the purpose of the Ark? Tons of theories speak about all kinds of magical qualities, that it was a weapon of some kind, or linked to gold. Discovering the true meaning of the Ark is akin to the search for the Holy Grail or Philosophers Stone. Many embark on the quest, few manage to cross the veil. 

The Lion of Judah has been the emblem of the city of Jerusalem since 1949, and was officially adopted in 1958. Because Jesus was said to be from the royal line of David and Tribe of Judah, he is referred to as the Lion of Judah in the Book of Revelations. 

Then one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals’ Revelations 5:5.