I remember reading about an ancient religion of Ethiopia that survived in only a few villages in a remote rural area. A religion that was similar to Judaism in some respects but came from a non-Jewish origin. Graham Hancock wrote about it in The Sign and the Seal. I can’t remember the name of that religion or any details about it, but Hancock thought it had picked up influences from Judaism over the years as it existed in areas where Jews also lived. I would go to the library and look it up, but the library’s closed for the night right now. Hancock’s main investigation was whether the Ark of the Covenant really existed in Ethiopia (they didn’t let him look at it, duh, of course), but this was an interesting sideline: a tiny remote ancient religion that no one had ever heard of.
I did some poking around with Google, and found the answer: the religion is called Qemant. They were not completely unknown, as Frederick C. Gamst published a study of them in 1969. No doubt Hancock drew upon this book for his research. They are considered a pagan group that absorbed Mosaic elements from their Jewish neighbors. They prefer to worship outdoors in sacred groves. They have a tradition that the founder of their religion brought it to Ethiopia from Canaan, which dovetails with certain passages in Genesis.
Jah, Rastafari!
Of course, the Ethiopian in the bible wasn’t really Ethiopian. When the bible talks about Ethiopia in the bible, it’s really talking about the Kingdom of Nubia, which is in what’s now Sudan.
That sentence fragment has been brought to you by the Department of Redundancy Department.