“The Queen of Sheba asked: ‘What are the seven that are kept apart and nine that enter, the two that offer drink, and the one that drinks?” King Solomon answered: “The seven that are kept are the seven days of menstrual impurity. The nine that enter are the nine months of pregnancy. The two that offer drink are the breasts, and the child is the one who drinks.” (Midrash Proverbs)
The medieval rabbinic mind was fascinated with the Queen of Sheba and her famous encounter with Solomon in Jerusalem, as detailed in today’s chapter. Her name is not mentioned in the Bible, nor what were the riddles with which she came to visit the king of Israel, along with a vast entourage, gifts of rare spices and many bags with precious gold. The official reason for the visit according to our author is her intellectual curiosity. But just like the rabbinic imagination gets creative in filling in the many missing gaps in this story, so do many other world traditions, and some of them come up with very different and colorful reasons, riddles, and outcomes of this royal visit.
The basic biblical description starts like this:
וּמַֽלְכַּת־שְׁבָ֗א שֹׁמַ֛עַת אֶת־שֵׁ֥מַע שְׁלֹמֹ֖ה לְשֵׁ֣ם יְהֹוָ֑ה וַתָּבֹ֥א לְנַסֹּת֖וֹ בְּחִידֽוֹת׃
The Queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame for the sake of YHWH’s great name, and she came to test him with riddles.
Kings I 10:1
The Midrash mentions four riddles - all to do with birth, sex, private parts and tribal differences. What’s that about is discussed by ancient and modern interpretation, including recent Feminist, Post Colonial and other fascinating approaches found in
a lot of books and research.
But the actual Biblical text drops other cues that what this visit is really about is business. The partnership with Hiram of Tyre created a maritime trade route that weakened Africa. Sheba, likely a kingdom in a region assumed today to include part of Yemen and Ethiopia, was in financial and therefore survival danger. The queen comes with considerable gifts to get Solomon to change course and be her ally. It seems that she succeeded. But where the Biblical story keeps it terse, later traditions, including Muslim, Christian, and most importantly, Rastafarian, explore the story in much greater depth and with way more lush detail.
In the Quran, the foundational scripture of Islam, her name is Bilqis, and it's Solomon who first hears about her fame. In this version he hears through his conversation with the birds that she has the most magnificent throne and he gets curious. Their dialogue - through a hoopoe bird leads to her visit.
But by far the most extensive and important version of this story is found in Kebra Nagast - The Glory of Kings, the 14th century Ethiopian sacred text that according to scholar Nadia Nurhussein "gave textual authority to a then newly articulated mythology of Abyssinia’s long imperial history, legitimizing a “Solomonic” dynasty' that claimed to reach back three thousand years earlier to the union of King Solomon and the supposedly Ethiopian Queen of Sheba."
In this version the queen’s name is Makeda, and when she leaves Jerusalem after several months it’s not just with a business deal but also with a baby in her womb. Their son Menelik I will become the first emperor of Ethiopia. That crown was worn by his descendents until 1974.
And according to some traditions, after his visit to Jerusalem to meet his father he’ll return to the Capital city of Aksum with the Ark of the Covenant - which may still be in Ethiopia.
One of my favorite spots in Jerusalem is the Ethiopian chapel, as part of the Coptic Monastery Deir_Es-Sultan at the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. One of the chapel walls is devoted to the scene between Solomon and The Queen of Sheba, with emphasis to the heavy shoes they are both wearing, a sign of opulence and power.
Whoever she was, she likely existed, as did her gold mines, as Archeologists suggest. This queen represents one of the strongest images of queen and ruler, perhaps the only one ever depicted as Solomon’s equal, and likely much more.
The royal visit leaves excess in its trail. With all this new gold and the trade deal that just made, Solomon builds his own throne, like none has seen, complete with six steps and fourteen golden lions, two on each step on two by his side. Ships loaded with African goods bring parrots and monkeys, more spice and gold.
Listen to the prophet’s voice detailing every bit of Solomon’s opulence, and pay attention to the undertone. The lions are silent but soon comes the roar.
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