Who was the Queen of Sheba?
A foreign ruler heard reports about Israel's king and travelled a vast distance to test them with hard questions of her own. Scripture never gives her name, yet Jesus singled her out a thousand years later — so who was she, and what made her worth remembering?
Where Sheba lay
Her homeland was a real and wealthy kingdom, not a legend. One writer places it in the trading world of Arabia:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinSheba was known to ancient writers such as Strabo and Pliny. It was the centre of a vast commercial empire in the south-western part of the Arabian peninsula. The ruins that can still be seen there testify to a great civilisation.
Commentators differ on which family line she came from. Some connect Sheba with the descendants of Joktan of the line of Shem, in southern Arabia. Others read the Lord's own description of her as pointing elsewhere:
J. G. BellettThe Sheba this history speaks of must have been connected with the last of these, the descendant of Ham, because the Lord speaks of the queen as being from "the south," and "from the ends of the earth," while Keturah's family was sent to the east, and Shem's portion was more at home or central.
Why she came
Royal visits in the ancient world usually meant politics. Hers did not.
W. W. FeredayHer visit was not one of courtesy, such as monarchs sometimes pay to one another; nor was it a political visit, designed to arrange treaties that might benefit her kingdom; still less was it a visit of curiosity, so that she might see and hear the most remarkable man of his time. Her journey to Jerusalem was entirely a matter of the soul; "the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord." Like Nicodemus later, she had a sense of need within, which she felt conversation with God's servant might remove.
Her arrival also answered something Solomon had already asked for. At the dedication of the temple he had prayed for the foreigner who would come from a distant country for God's name's sake:
W. W. FeredayBlessed be God, He has always had true sheep outside the fold, and some notable examples are shown to us in the Word — the queen of Sheba, Ittai the Gittite, Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, and others. Whatever His dealings in a given age, and these in that age were with Israel, there has always been room in His great heart for those who wanted Him, wherever and whatever they might be.
Her journey was faith
She had no miracle to convince her, no proof — only a report.
H. L. RossierShe believed the word that had been spoken to her; she believed in the excellence of Solomon, having only what she had been told to judge by. It is always so with faith. It is attracted by the Person and the perfections of Christ.
Bellett notes how little she had to work with, and how much she made of it:
J. G. BellettWe may presume she had never heard the voice of a prophet, or seen the oracles of God. She had no advantages, as we speak, from education, and was a complete stranger to the God of Israel. Her soul had, therefore, only a slender stock to trade with. She had simply heard, in her own land, of Solomon, his acts and his wisdom. This was all she had; but with such small provisions she was ready to take a long, untried journey.
Questions answered, then glory
Her hard questions were dealt with first. What followed went past anything she had come for.
W. W. FeredayWhat she heard satisfied her; but what she saw overwhelmed her. She found herself in the presence of the man whom God had exalted; she saw his glory and majesty; she noticed the dignity and happiness of those who served him; and there was no more spirit left in her.
Jesus' verdict on her
The Lord held her up against people who had far more light than she ever had:
William KellyThis showed her earnestness of purpose in coming to hear the wisdom of Solomon. The wise and wealthy son of David was not the vessel of the Word of God in his ordinary speech, as the Lord Jesus was; yet she came without a single miracle to attract her, without a sign to guide or confirm her, and heard the wisdom of Solomon: "and behold, something greater than Solomon is here."
A picture of what is coming
Her visit also points forward. She was the first of many rulers to seek Solomon out, and that pattern is not finished:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinIn all this glory that came to Solomon we have a prophetic type of the glory that will come to Him who is greater than Solomon. When He occupies the throne, the Gentiles will seek Him and praise the King as the queen of Sheba praised Solomon.
Summary
- Real — a queen of a wealthy Arabian trading kingdom, unnamed in Scripture, called by Jesus "the queen of the South"; commentators differ over whether her people descended from Shem or from Ham.
- Report — she had no prophet, no Scriptures, no sign; only news of Solomon "concerning the name of the Lord" — and she acted on it.
- Road — she crossed a thousand miles on the strength of that report, which is exactly how faith moves toward Christ.
- Reward — her hard questions were answered, and then the glory she had not asked to see left her with no spirit in her.
- Rebuke — because she travelled so far for so little, she stands as a witness against those who stayed near and would not come to One greater than Solomon.