From the Death of David to the Death of Ahab - Flavius Josephus

no mention till the days of Josiah, but only of Pharaoh. And, indeed, it
must be conceded, that here, and sect. 5, we have more mistakes made
by Josephus, and those relating to the kings of Egypt, and to that queen
of Egypt and Ethiopia, whom he supposes to have come to see Solomon,
than almost any where else in all his Antiquities.
2. That this queen of Sheba was a queen of Sabea in South Arabia, and not
of Egypt and Ethiopia, as Josephus here asserts, is, I suppose, now
generally agreed. And since Sabea is well known to be a country near
the sea in the south of Arabia Felix, which lay south from Judea also;
and since our Savior calls this queen, "the queen of the south," and says,
"she came from the utmost parts of the earth," Matthew 12:42; Luke
11:31, which descriptions agree better to this Arabia than to Egypt and
Ethiopia; there is little occasion for doubting in this matter.
3. Some blame Josephus for supposing that the balsam tree might be first
brought out of Arabia, or Egypt, or Ethiopia, into Judea, by this queen of
Sheba, since several have said that of old no country bore this precious
balsam but Judea; yet it is not only false that this balsam was peculiar to
Judea but both Egypt and Arabia, and particularly Sabea; had it; which
last was that very country whence Josephus, if understood not of
Ethiopia, but of Arabia, intimates this queen might bring it first into
Judea. Nor are we to suppose that the queen of Sabaea could well omit
such a present as this balsam tree would be esteemed by Solomon, in
case it were then almost peculiar to her own country. Nor is the mention
of balm or balsam, as carried by merchants, and sent as a present out of
Judea by Jacob, to the governor of Egypt, Genesis 37:25; 43:11, to be
alleged to the contrary, since what we there render balm or balsam,
denotes rather that turpentine which we now call turpentine of Chio, or
Cyprus, the juice of the turpentine tree, than this precious balm. This last
is also the same word that we elsewhere render by the same mistake
balm of Gilead; it should be rendered, the turpentine of Gilead, Jeremiah
8:22.
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