And when was the first time she was described as African? It happens in the "Kebra Nagast," the origin story of the Ethiopian royal family. So, he said this is an allegory about a spiritual union between Israel and the Gentile Church, as represented by the non-Israelite Queen of Sheba. In the first half of the 3rd century, the Christian theologian Origen of Alexandria wrote a commentary on the Bible's Song of Songs and claimed that the Queen of Sheba was the beloved in the poem who says she is "Black and beautiful." Song of Songs caused a lot of trouble for Origen because it's a pretty steamy love poem, and he didn't like the idea of God being interested in sex. So when was the first time she was described as Black? He lived in the Mediterranean world where most people were a shade of brown, so being slightly darker or slightly lighter is not something he would have thought deserved mention. While there are texts and traditions from the time that reflect on darker or Black skin, Josephus doesn't. But Josephus still doesn't say the Queen of Sheba was Black? So by having Sheba visit Solomon, Josephus made him seem connected to wealthy and exotic places. And Ethiopia was oftentimes known as the edge of the world. At the time, Egypt was the richest province in the Roman Empire. He wrote for a hostile audience of Romans, trying to convince them that Solomon was very important and made a huge impact on the world. Josephus was a general who fought in the Jewish revolts against the ancient Romans and was then captured and taken to Rome. In the late 1st century, the Jewish historian Josephus wrote a history of the Jews where he retold the stories of the Bible and says the Queen of Sheba ruled over Ethiopia and Egypt. (Later Muslim religious commentators refer to her as Balqis.) At what point does Sheba come to be associated with Africa?
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Does the Qu'ran indicate the Queen of Sheba's skin color? She then says she's been a fool to worship the wrong god and instead chooses to worship Solomon's god. When she lifts her clothes to keep them dry, he tells her she's mistaken. The woman visits Solomon in his palace, in a room which is made from glass tiles that she mistakes for water. When the bird came back, it said it had been in this land where they worship the sun and the ruler is a woman. It says that Solomon had troops made up of both humans and animals and that one day, as he reviewed his army, he saw that a hoopoe, a type of bird, was missing. Yes, but the Qur'an tells a very different story. The Queen of Sheba also appears in the Qur'an. Back then, they viewed differences between peoples mainly in terms of where they came from and their lineage. I don't think it would have been noticed when the Kings and Chronicles were written (550-400 B.C.E.). Why do you think the Bible doesn't mention her skin color? She mainly represents an outsider figure visiting Solomon and confirming to readers that the King is as great as the rest of the narrative has been trying to tell us. The Bible is actually not all that interested in who she is. Solomon gives her gifts, and then she goes back on her way. She looks around at his house, sees how wonderful it is, and offers praise. The story is that she hears reports of King Solomon's fame and comes to visit him with gold and precious jewels and more spices than had ever been seen in Israel. The Queen of Sheba is only mentioned twice in the Bible, in 1 Kings 10:1-12 and 2 Chronicles 9:1-13. TJE asked Stinchcomb about how those texts gave rise to the queen we know today. In her dissertation and a paper earlier this year in the journal Religions, Jillian Stinchcomb, the Florence Levy Kay Fellow in Hebrew Bible and Mediterranean Cross-Cultural Textual Traditions, has tracked how ancient and medieval writers built up the Queen of Sheba's legend.
And apart from the Bible, we have no proof she ever existed. The land of Sheba is thought to refer to the port city of Saba in Yemen, though even that is uncertain. The Bible says nothing about her appearance. On her album, Black Is King, Beyoncé described herself as an heir to her legacy.Īnd a recent article at the online Jewish feminist site Alma declared her the " Black Jewish queen … you probably didn't learn about in Hebrew school." Meet the Queen of Sheba, a scarcely mentioned figure in the Bible who nonetheless looms large in the public imagination. Halle Berry played her in a 1995 made-for-TV movie.
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