Sheba

QUEEN OF SHEBA AND BIBLICAL SCHOLARSHIP 59
Shabaka, and Sennacherib. The most important figure to support the Old
Testament’s veracity is, however, the Queen of Sheba, who paid a state
visit to Solomon’s court and is mentioned in the book of Kings, the book of
Chronicles, in the New Testament by Christ in Matthew and in Luke, by
Flavius Josephus, in the Islamic Qur’an, and in the Ge’ez Kebra Nagast.
If the story of the Queen of Sheba is true, it can therefore prove that the
Old Testament is also true. But this presents a paradox. Jewish tradition and
even modern scholarship not only denigrate the Queen of Sheba but often
dismiss her as a myth.
Of all the figures in the Old Testament, the Queen of Sheba was the
only one with a truly questioning mind, the one person who wanted to find
the truth, and not have it dictated to her. Her story deals with more than a
meeting with Solomon. It also covers the founding of a new Zion in Africa,
but most of all it tells the story of her life, which is the key to understanding
the history of the Old Testament, the minds of the priests that created
Judaism, and the world that women lost. The story of the Queen of Sheba is
very much about the human spirit, freedom of thought, intellectual inquiry,
and confidence in the essential goodness of people.
Sheba’s realm is usually referred to by archaeologists as Sabaea.
Today people in the area she once ruled in Africa will look blankly if asked
about “Sheba” but respond enthusiastically to “Saba.” All authorities agree
that Sabaea was located at the southern end of the Red Sea in Arabia but
also extended to substantial settlements in Africa.
Strong monsoons brought increased rainfall to southern Arabia
between 7000 and 3000 B.C.E. producing thick vegetation, which in turn
produced highly fertile soils. The era from 3000 to 1000 B.C.E. was
southern Arabia’s Bronze Age. Early in this period terraced cultivation was
introduced that sustained a large population. Even today Yemen has one of
the highest population densities in the Middle East (100-150 per square
kilometer). Arab traditions say that the Arabs are descended from two
groups of people: the first from north-central Arabia associated with
Ishmael, Abraham’s son by Hagar; and the second from the southwest
corner of Yemen. The origins of the Bronze Age Yemenis are unknown,
but it is possible they were African Semitic or even Cushitic speakers.
By the time the first written inscriptions began appearing in southern
Arabia around 1000 B.C.E. it is clear that one population group identified
itself as Sabaeans (Shebans) and had achieved some influence or control
over other peoples in the same area. From this evidence it seems that the