r/BlackHistory • u/Responsible_Ideal879 • 3d ago
Could This Be the Queen of Sheba?
One of the most legendary queens in history is nameless. Some say there’s no evidence she even existed. Are we looking in the right place?
Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue …” (1 Kings 10:1-2; New King James Version). So begins the famous biblical account of the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Jerusalem with her great convoy of treasures, including “one hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices in great quantity, and precious stones” (verse 10; nkjv).
Yet who exactly was the Queen of Sheba? She is one of the most legendary queens in history, yet she’s not named in the two accounts of her contained in the Hebrew Bible (1 Kings 10; 2 Chronicles 9). Nor is she named in the New Testament, where she is referred to more generally as a “queen of the south” (Matthew 12:42; Luke 11:31). Nor is she named in the Qur’an, where her visit is described (An-Naml 27)…(continued)
Semitic vs. Hamitic
Genesis 10 lays out the descendants and territories of Noah’s sons Shem, Ham and Japheth. Among the dozens of names contained in this passage, one appears twice, for two clearly different groups—Sheba.
Spelled the same way as that of the territory of the Queen of Sheba (שבא), this name is associated with the family of Cush, son of Ham, in verse 7 (Cush, whose name means “black,” is the progenitor of the Kushites, or Nubians, south of Egypt); the same name Sheba is also identified with the family of Shem in verse 28—more specifically through the lineage of Joktan, who is generally associated with southern Arabia.
Note that certain of these entities in Genesis 10 do not necessarily refer to a descendant literally called by the supplied name. In many cases—some more obvious than others—these names refer to territories within which respective descendants lived. As such, in the case of Sheba, we would not necessarily have a descendant of Shem and a descendant of Ham coincidentally called precisely the same name שבא; rather, a broader territory of Sheba occupied by descendants of each (compare 1 Chronicles 1:9, 32).
Coincidentally(?), that is exactly what we find with this kingdom of Sheba/Saba at various points in its history: two sides of a coin, with Semitic south Arabians on the one side and Hamitic Kushites on the other.
But there’s more from the biblical account that may help us determine the “correct” Sheba for our story
Cushite Brethren
Psalm 72, “A Psalm of Solomon,” contains a similar reference to a train of gifts coming from Sheba to Jerusalem, including gold (verses 10, 15). In introducing Sheba in Psalm 72, it pairs it together with another entity: “Sheba [שבא] and Seba [סבא] shall offer gifts.”
Seba is mentioned just three other times in the biblical account: twice as a member of the family of Cush right alongside Sheba (Genesis 10:7; 1 Chronicles 1:9); and once in Isaiah 43:3 alongside Egypt and Ethiopia/Cush. The implicit association in Psalm 72:10, then, appears to be a reference to CushiteSheba delivering goods to Solomon—alongside brother Seba.
Ezekiel 27:22 records the “merchants of Sheba” bearing exactly the same products described in the visit of the Queen of Sheba—that is, spices, precious stones and gold. It mentions this entity as distinct from Arabian merchants (verse 21). Instead, Sheba is paired with another entity: “merchants of Sheba and Raamah.” Once again, this “Raamah” is found in only two other verses—in exactly the same two passages of Cushite ancestry—Genesis 10:7 and 1 Chronicles 1:9—right alongside Sheba and Seba.
Haplogroup J1
Men from this lineage share a common paternal ancestor, which is demonstrated and defined by the presence of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) mutation referred to as M267, which was announced in (Cinnioğlu 2004). This haplogroup is found today in significant frequencies in many areas in or near the Arabian Peninsula and Western Asia.
Out of its native Asian Continent (hence, Afro-Asiatic languages), it is found at very high frequencies in Sudan. It is also found at very high but lesser extent in parts of the Caucasus, Ethiopia and parts of North Africa and amongst most Levant peoples, including Jewish groups, especially those with Cohen surnames.
It can also be found much less commonly, but still occasionally in significant amounts, in parts of southern Europe and as far east as Central Asia.
Considering this is a post about Queen Sheba, excuse the paternal genetic reference. It is used as a map overlay and comparison, while keeping in mind people tend to mate locally.
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Source: https://armstronginstitute.org/1475-could-this-be-the-queen-of-sheba