Obokano - King Davids Harp

The Harp played by King David, was an African one. Even better, it was a historically well known Bantu instrument. And we have speculated that the shape and make of this harp, will reveal Lake Galilee and the off course its true shape. As the Lake (not a sea), also called Lake Tiberias and Lake Kinnor, last being the Hebrew name the lake got after this instrument. We think the Obokano is a close as its gets to King Davids harp. So then, this particular Harp from East Africa, has the right amount of strings, being 7 of them, and looks very much like something that could be thrown into a sheep herders satchel. The Obokano belongs now to a tribe associated with the 12 Tribes, namely the Abagusii (Kisii or Mkisii/Wakisii) of Kenya. So lets get into this !

Obokano from Kenya, cowhide and reed strings

Now, it stands to reason that the Lake we are looking for, and we do believe it was a lake and not a sea, would it not look like this image? This large bowl-shape lyre from Kenya is called an Obokano, made from the Ometembetree. Seven reed strings tuned on a crossbar at the top, with a resonator box made from cow or goats hide. In the strictest of traditions of the Gusii, the women are not allowed to touch this instrument. as doing so would make them infertile the elders would say. this instrument is really imbedded in Gusii culture and said, by songs and culture, to go all the way back to King David comforting King Saul from going mad. It is used at weddings and various ceremonies to this day, like circumcision and also especially after the harvest times (check also the Nyathi of the Luo). Traditionally the Gusii use this instrument for calling upon rain and other ancestral songs, that has been less encouraged after the spread of modern Christianity.

Now, people must not get confused, The Christianity that spread after uMsindisi had ascended to Heaven and what His disciples where teaching, should not be compared to modern/liberal Christianity. They do not have much in common. People were healed just by the mere sight of Paul and Peters shadows. Where is this healing now? If this Gospel spread again hospitals would become empty. The way we see it, that We as followers of the Way, should regard ourselves as free men and women, not seeking to be lorded over by people who seek to control us. We follow Christ, we seek the Father. We do not follow contemporary pastors or cults disguised as churches, we do not worship people, but SoNiNi naNiNi. We serve the Oldest one.

That being said, historical off-shots, escaped from Jerusalem being destroyed by Romans and the times of trouble after that, we get later tribes like the Gusii. They like many other Bantu tribes, have so so much Biblical history imbedded in their culture. Now the Abagusii, Kisii (Mkhisii in Swahili), which we will do another article on soon, is another one of these Bantu "groups" that are said to be indigenous to the Nyamira counties (former Nyaza) and other parts that you find in the great Rift Valley province in Kenya. Whatever people mean when they write things like indigenous, we are not sure, its like whoever writes these things classifies people like scientific genres classify trees or plants. It is not right. Still, we use it for mapping the Biblical tribes, so it does serve a somewhat purpose. As far as language, almost all the Bantu languages in the Great Lakes area, relate to one another. Talking about Ngurimi, Rangi, Mbugwe, Simbiti, Zanaki, Ikoma and Maragoli. However, the Ekegusii language is a subject of debate, and people say the above along with Kuria, are rather distinct from other Bantu languages. Perhaps not interesting to everyone out there, but for us these are just more traces left of His People. More pieces of the grand puzzle of Biblical history. Which is African history, they are one and the same.

Ungesabi lutho,

SoNiNi unathi