Who Is the Queen of Sheba in the Bible?
Investigating the Queen of Sheba and her kingdom
Who is the Queen of Sheba in the Bible? Here is one artist’s depiction of the Queen of Sheba. It comes from the Medieval manuscript Bellifortis by Conrad Kyeser and dates to c. 1405.
Who is the Queen of Sheba? In the Bible we are introduced to an unnamed queen from the land of Sheba who travels to Jerusalem to meet King Solomon (see 1 Kings 10; 2 Chronicles 9). Accompanied by many attendants and camels, the Queen of Sheba brings a large quantity of spices, gold and precious stones with her. She is drawn to Jerusalem because of Solomon’s fame, and she tests the king with hard questions. Solomon is able to answer them all.
Impressed by Solomon’s wisdom—and by the riches of his kingdom—she proclaims, “Your wisdom and prosperity far surpass the report that I had heard” (1 Kings 10:7). The queen gives King Solomon 120 talents of gold, precious stones and the largest quantity of spices ever brought to Jerusalem (1 Kings 10:10). In return King Solomon gives her gifts and “every desire that she expressed” (1 Kings 10:13). After receiving these gifts, the queen returns to the land of Sheba with her retinue.
Investigating the Location of the Land of Sheba
The Biblical account of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon ends there, but later Jewish, Christian and Islamic sources have elaborated the story—adding details to the famous queen’s visit. In his article “Where Is the Land of Sheba—Arabia or Africa?” published in the September/October 2016 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Bar Kribus investigates the location of the land of Sheba and looks at the figure of the Queen of Sheba—both in the Bible and in a text called the Kebra Nagast.
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Queen Makeda
Dated between the 6th–14th centuries C.E., the Kebra Nagast (The Glory of Kings) is an important text to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. It names the Queen of Sheba as the beautiful queen Makeda and identifies the land of Sheba as ancient Ethiopia. Kribus thoroughly examines the latter claim in his article “Where Is the Land of Sheba—Arabia or Africa?”
According to the Kebra Nagast, Queen Makeda travels to Jerusalem and has a love affair with King Solomon. Makeda then returns to the land of Sheba—giving birth to a son, Menelik, along the way. Menelik is raised in Ethiopia, but when he turns 22, he travels to Jerusalem to meet his father. King Solomon is delighted with his firstborn son and tries in vain to convince Menelik to remain in Israel and succeed him as king. However, Menelik chooses to return to the land of Sheba. Solomon sends the firstborn sons of Israel’s elders with his son from Israel to Ethiopia, and the Ark of the Covenant travels with them. To this day, many Ethiopians believe that the Ark of the Covenant resides within the Chapel of the Tablet next to the Church of Maryam Tsion in Aksum, Ethiopia.
Is this the final resting place of the Ark of the Covenant? Many Ethiopians believe that the Ark of the Covenant resides within the Chapel of the Tablet next to the Church of Maryam Tsion in Aksum, Ethiopia. They believe that the Ark traveled with Solomon’s firstborn son, Menelik, from Jerusalem to the land of Sheba. Where is the land of Sheba? According to the Kebra Nagast, it is ancient Ethiopia. Photo: “Maryam Sion in Axum Nebenbau Mit Der Bundeslade 2010” by Jensis65 is licensed under CC-by-SA-3.0
Ethiopians claim the Queen of Sheba as part of their heritage, and through her union with King Solomon, Ethiopians also claimed a connection between their kings and the Davidic monarchy of Israel. Bar Kribus explains: “Their [Ethiopian] kings were seen as direct descendants of the House of David, rulers by divine right.”
But is the land of Sheba truly ancient Ethiopia, as purported by the Kebra Nagast? Archaeological and historical sources document a Kingdom of Saba (Sheba) during Biblical times in modern-day Yemen. Those in ancient Ethiopia were fully aware of the Kingdom of Saba in southern Arabia—and sometimes even appropriated aspects of their culture.
The Queen of Sheba and King Solomon: Another depiction of the Queen of Sheba is seen in Giovanni Demin’s 19th-century painting Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, which shows the meeting of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon.
Where is the land of Sheba? Is it in Africa or Arabia? Bar Kribus wades through history, archaeology, tradition and legend as he pieces together the story of the Queen of Sheba and investigates the land of Sheba. Who has the rightful claim to the Queen of Sheba? Read Kribus’s surprising conclusion in “Where Is the Land of Sheba—Arabia or Africa?” in the September/October 2016 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.
BAS Library Members: Read the full article “Where Is the Land of Sheba—Arabia or Africa?” by Bar Kribus in the September/October 2016 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.
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This Bible History Daily feature was originally published on August 31, 2016.
Related reading in Bible History Daily
Expedition Claims Evidence of Queen of Sheba Found in Ethiopia
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This was a great read,,,,but I’m still scratching my head. LOL for you see, I came hear to hopefully understand why as a young child I gave my oldest sister this nickname?! in my young eyes I saw her as a mean and extremely bossy “Queen a Sheba!!!” lol. kids,,,,go figure!!! so now my sister is about to turn 60 years old, still as bossy as ever!! LOL I love her so much!!! (I am surprised to hear that about the Queen and King Solomon!!! I will dig deeper into that whole thing, THANK YOU!!! Sincerely, Darlene 9/20/18
I remembered similar as a kid. Couldn’t remember the WHY, though. Found this & it came rushing back!
proz.com/kudoz/english/idioms-maxims-sayings/464259-the-queen-of-sheba.html#1198751
“Who does she think she is? The Queen of Sheba?
Explanation:
Example of usage in current language.
This is an expression used to describe someone who thinks very highly of themselves / thinks they are better than anyone else.
(We used to use it when we were kids, might not be used so much now)..
Similar to ‘being the bees knees’! ”
Sounds like the context you used for your sister back then!!
The Queen of Sheba?
She was Bathsheba. They don’t want to say, but King David’s historical name was Pa-Seba (another story). And the mother of Bathsheba was the Pharaoh’s daughter who married King David. Bath Sheba means Daughter of Sheba, the daughter of King David. But King David eventually took Bath Sheba as his wife, so Bath Sheba became Malkah Sheba, or the Daughter of Sheba became the Queen of Sheba (the Queen of King David). And they had a son – Solomon.
Malkah Sheba then moved to the south of Egypt. When she eventually came back to the royal court to meet her now famous son, she did so with great pomp and ceremony befitting a princess of Egypt. This was the story of the Queen of Sheba that we are familiar with, but it was actually mother meeting son. Perhaps you can see what they wanted to keep all of this quiet…
See Solomon Pharaoh of Egypt. (When is says she was the Queen of the South, it meant Queen of Upper Egypt…)
Raplh.. very interesting where did you read that.. would like to read more about this
Sheba is a kingdom in Yemen. Balqees is a queen born in Yemen. I wonder why some people tell and write lies! Grow up!
A pity records were always kept by these Kings and Queens by their scribes , then how is it possible that to this day no accurate truth to this stories of any earlier history.
why do “historians” try so hard to conceal African wealth and heritage? Abyssinia( Ethiopia) is not and was never a part of the Yemen territory. She took to Solomon 4.5 tons of Gold. Queen Makeda is BLACK from Eastern Africa not white as depicted in the photoraph above. Sheba is in Africa not Arabia….. Sheba is old swahili which means copper… ‘ The land of Copper’….
I also believe it is not fair to say the queen of Shebia was white. She was from AFRICA!!! So get the facts right.
Didn’t you know by now? EVERYBODY in the Bible is WHITE! And if you dare say otherwise…
no I think she was from Cebu in the Philippines
also, the problem with modern day theologians and historians, they forget that people in biblical times were always described with either black skin or, olive skin. olive skin color is only slightly lighter than black and, even to this day, people with olive skin color are referred to as light black people. the biggest mis-interpettation of skin color is seen in the pictures of Jesus as a white man but, the bible is very clear his skin color was olive skin or, would be considered black, by today’s standards.
This is very simple. Queen of Sheba CANNOT BE WHITE!!!! NO white people
(Gentiles) in biblical times occupied or lived in Africa or the Middle East…Even to this day. Here is Wisdom…Hypothetical, if she was from Arabia, this would make her a “Shemite”. Remember the story of ESAU(Edom)…Jacob twin brother? Esau is the progenitor of the EDOMITES who are ARABS, Who speak ARABIC, and live in ARABIA. Esau was born of Isaac who is a Shemite Hebrew. That makes Esau a Shemite Edomite. The bible says “They were separated” !!! If I hear one more IGNORANT Black person that says the “Edomites” is the white man, I will scream. My point is…Queen Sheba was Black regardless of whether she from Arabia or Africa. Let me make this clear. Queen Sheba was a “HAMITE” which makes her a African. She is a descendant of ” Cush” who are the Ethiopians.
Menelik I (originally named Ebna la-Hakim, “Son of the Wise”), first Jewish Emperor of Ethiopia, is traditionally believed to be the son of King Solomon of ancient Israel and Makeda, Queen of Sheba and ruled around 950 BC, according to traditional sources. Tradition credits him with bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Ethiopia, following a visit to Jerusalem to meet his father upon reaching adulthood.
According to the Kebra Nagast, King Solomon had intended on sending one son of each of his nobles and one son each of each temple priest with Menelik upon his return to his mother’s kingdom. He is supposed to have had a replica made of the Ark for them to take with them, but the son of Zadok the High Priest secretly switched the replica with the real Ark, and brought it into Ethiopia where it is said to remain to this day in the ancient town of Axum.
Upon the death of Queen Makeda, Menelik assumed the throne with the new title of Emperor and King of Kings of Ethiopia. According to legend, he founded the Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopia that ruled Ethiopia with few interruptions for close to three thousand years and 225 generations later ended with the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974