Who was the Queen of Sheba?

The queen of Sheba appears in 1 Kings 10 and 2 Chronicles 9. Hearing "of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions" (1 Kings 10:1). She arrived in Jerusalem "with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones," and Solomon answered every question she asked. After seeing his wisdom, his palace, and the splendor of his court, she declared, "It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me" (1 Kings 10:6-7). She blessed the LORD and gave Solomon "an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store" (1 Kings 10:10). The Bible does not give her name. Sheba is generally identified with the kingdom of Saba in southwestern Arabia, in what is now Yemen, a land made rich by the incense and spice trade, though some link it to the Horn of Africa across the Red Sea. Later traditions grew up around her. Ethiopian tradition, especially the medieval Kebra Nagast, calls her Makeda and says she bore Solomon a son, Menelik I, founder of Ethiopia's royal line, while Islamic tradition knows her as Bilqis. These are traditions rather than part of the biblical account. Jesus mentioned her as "The queen of the south" who "came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon," adding, "behold, a greater than Solomon is here" (Matthew 12:42), and held her up as an example of someone who eagerly sought out wisdom.

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