Queens and Mothers of Afre-Kh: Makeda, Queen of Sheba, Aksum (Ethiopia)

The world first came to learn of the queen of Sheba in the Bible. In the tenth chapter of the first book of Kings, it is written: “And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions.”

 In this biblical account of events that took place around 946 BC, she is described as a wealthy sovereign who traveled a long distance to learn from the wisest king on earth. She arrived in Israel with an impressive caravan carrying gold, precious stones, spices, and a lot of questions. She became a protege of King Solomon’s. It would appear that she made such an impression on him also, that as the account continues, he hid nothing from her. The more she learned about Solomon, his wealth, construction projects, the grandiosity and excellence of his palace courts and judgements, the more amazed the queen was, until “there was no more spirit in her.” After spending some time in his courts as the king’s guest, the queen returned to her own country, whereupon it would appear that she vanished off the surface of the earth.

Attempts to identify where she came from and what became of her have largely yielded no results, until the discovery of the “Kebra Nagast.” The Visual Commentary on Scripture describes the Kebra Nagast (‘Glory of Kings’) as a 14th century chronicle of Ethiopian national and religious history, which traces the descent of all Ethiopian kings to the historic meeting of Queen Makeda of Saba (i.e. Sheba) and King Solomon of Israel. David Allan Hubbard, an Old Testament scholar posits that the chronicle draws its texts from writings of the fathers of the church, the Qur’an, as well as Rabbinical and Apocryphal texts.

According to the Kebra Nagast, the Queen of Sheba and Solomon had a child who was raised in the Axumite kingdom, whose name was Menelik 1. Menelik is believed to be the founding patriarch of the nation of Ethiopia. The chronicle also asserts that the Ark of Covenant (the symbol of God’s covenant with Israel) was transferred from Israel to Ethiopia by courtiers who were sent back to Ethiopia by Solomon with Menelik, Menelik is believed to have visited his father King Solomon when he came of age. The story of Israel’s apostasy is verified by biblical accounts of how the hundreds of pagan wives that Solomon married drew his heart into idolatry. This was described as the reason for the transfer of the Ark. The Ethiopian Orthodox church is said to be in custody of the Ark of Covenant to this day. Ethiopian Christianity is the second oldest church following the church of Armenia. It traces back its history to the 4th century when King Ezana of Aksum became a follower of Christ. However, if the Ark of covenant is truly in its possession, then Ethiopia would have Judaistic roots dating back three thousand years or so, all thanks to the adventures of the Queen of Sheba. You can read more here. More