Sheba

Sheba is a name given to men, a people and a land. Two men called Sheba turn up in the family lists of Genesis 10 and 25, and Ezekiel 27 speaks of “the merchants of Sheba” trading spices, precious stones and gold. The best-known visitor is the queen who “heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD” and “came to prove him with hard questions” (1 Kings 10:1). The Sabeans, whose name sounds much like it, are the raiders in Job 1:15 who “fell upon them” and carried off Job’s servants’ animals. Start with 1 Kings 10.

8 verses

Genesis

Genesis 10:7

And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.

Genesis 10:28

And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba,

Genesis 25:3

And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim.

1 Kings

1 Kings 10:1

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.

Job

Job 1:15

And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

Isaiah

Isaiah 43:3

For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.

Ezekiel

Ezekiel 27:22

The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants: they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold.

Ezekiel 27:23

Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

An oath, seven. (1.) Heb. shebha, the son of Raamah (Gen. 10:7), whose descendants settled with those of Dedan on the Persian Gulf.

(2.) Heb. id. A son of Joktan (Gen. 10:28), probably the founder of the Sabeans.

(3.) Heb. id. A son of Jokshan, who was a son of Abraham by Keturah (Gen. 25:3).

(4.) Heb. id. A kingdom in Arabia Felix. Sheba, in fact, was Saba in Southern Arabia, the Sabaeans of classical geography, who carried on the trade in spices with the other peoples of the ancient world. They were Semites, speaking one of the two main dialects of Himyaritic or South Arabic. Sheba had become a monarchy before the days of Solomon. Its queen brought him gold, spices, and precious stones (1 Kings 10:1-13). She is called by our Lord the “queen of the south” (Matt. 12:42).

Read the full entry

(5.) Heb. shebha’, “seven” or “an oak.” A town of Simeon (Josh. 19:2).

(6.) Heb. id. A “son of Bichri,” of the family of Becher, the son of Benjamin, and thus of the stem from which Saul was descended (2 Sam. 20:1-22). When David was returning to Jerusalem after the defeat of Absalom, a strife arose between the ten tribes and the tribe of Judah, because the latter took the lead in bringing back the king. Sheba took advantage of this state of things, and raised the standard of revolt, proclaiming, “We have no part in David.” With his followers he proceeded northward. David seeing it necessary to check this revolt, ordered Abishai to take the gibborim, “mighty men,” and the body-guard and such troops as he could gather, and pursue Sheba. Joab joined the expedition, and having treacherously put Amasa to death, assumed the command of the army. Sheba took refuge in Abel-Bethmaachah, a fortified town some miles north of Lake Merom. While Joab was engaged in laying siege to this city, Sheba’s head was, at the instigation of a “wise woman” who had held a parley with him from the city walls, thrown over the wall to the besiegers, and thus the revolt came to an end.

From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

Sheba

one of the towns of the allotment of Simeon, (Joshua 19:2) probably the same as Shema. (Joshua 15:26)

Sheba

(seven , or all oath).

(1.) A son of Raamah son of Cush. (Genesis 10:7; 1 Chronicles 1:9)

(2.) A soil of Joktan. (Genesis 10:28; 1 Chronicles 1:22)

(3.) A son of Jokshan son of Keturah. (Genesis 25:3; 1 Chronicles 1:32) We shall consider, first, the history of the Joktanite Sheba; and secondly, the Cushite Sheba and the Keturahite Sheba together. I. The Joktanites were among the early colonists of southern Arabia, and the kingdom which they there founded was for many centuries called the kingdom of Sheba, after one of the sons of Joktan. The visit of the queen of Sheba to King Solomon. (1 Kings 10:1) is one of the familiar Bible incidents. The kingdom of Sheba embraced the greater part of the Yemen, or Arabia Felix. It bordered on the Red Sea, and was one of the most fertile districts of Arabia. Its chief cities, and probably successive capitals, were Seba, San’a (Uzal), and Zafar (Sephar). Seba was probably the name of the city, and generally of the country and nation. II. Sheba, son of Raamah son of Cush settled somewhere on the shores of the Persian Gulf. It was this Sheba that carried on the great Indian traffic with Palestine, in conjunction with, as we hold, the other Sheba, son of Jokshan son of Keturah, who like Dedan appears to have formed, with the Cushite of the same name, one tribe.

Sheba

(on oath), the son of Bichri, a Benjamite, (2 Samuel 20:1-22) the last chief of the Absalom insurrection. The occasion seized by Sheba was the emulation between the northern and southern tribes on David’s return. (2 Samuel 20:1,2) Sheba traversed the whole of Palestine apparently rousing the population, Joab following in full pursuit to the fortress Abel Beth-maachah, where Sheba was beheaded. (2 Samuel 20:3-22)