SHEBA (sheba), (Heb. sheb-aw').
1. Son of Raamah (Gen. x :7; 1 Chron. i :9) who, it is thought, inhabited Arabia Felix, where his father Raamah dwelt. B. C. after 2515. (See 4.) 2. Son of Joktan (Gen. x:28; 1 Chron. 1:22), whom Bochart places in Arabia Felix. (See 4.) 3. C. about 2350 3. The elder son of JoIsslian, son of Ket until ( Gen. xxv :3 ; 1 Citron. i :32), B. C. probably after 2200. "He evidently settled t.onte•herc in Arabia, probably on the eastern shore of the Arabian Gulf, where his posterity appear to have become incor porated %vitli the earlier Sabeans of the Joktanic branch." B. C. about 1980. (See SABEAxs.) 4. Kingdom of SHEBA or SEBA (see also SA BEANS). In the A. V. the term seems to be ap plied to three different tribes.
(r) to the Sebaiim (with a santech) the de scendants of Seba or Saba, son of Cush. %vlio ultimately settled in Ethiopia (see the article SEBA).
(2) The Sliebaiint (with a shin), the descend ants of Sheba, son of Joktan, the Saba', of the Greeks and Romans, who settled in Arabia Felix. They are the 'Sabzeans' of Joel iii :8, to whom the Jews were to sell the captives of Tyre. The unpublished Arabic Version, quoted by Pocock, has 'the people of Yemen.' Hence they are called 'a people afar off,' the very designation given in Jer. vi :2o to Sheba, as the country of frankin cense and the rich, aromatic reed, and also by our Lord in Matt. xii :42, who says, the queen of Sheba, or 'the south,' came from the earth's ex tremes.' (3) To another tribe of Shebans (also with a shin), a horde of Bcdawee marauders in the days of Job (ch. i:15) ; for whether we place the land of Uz in Iduinxa or in Austitis, it is by no means likely that the Arabs of the south would extend their excursions so very far. We must, there fore, look for this tribe in Desert Arabia ; and it is singular enough, that besides the Seba of Cush, and the Shaba of Joktan, there is another Sheba, son of Jokshan, and grandson of Abraham, by Keturah (Gen. xxv :3) ; and his posterity ap pear to have been 'men of the wilderness.' as were their kinsmen of Midian, Ephah, and Dedan. To them, however, the above-cited passage in the prophecy of Joel could not apply, because in respect neither to the lands of Judah nor of Uz could they be correctly described as a people 'afar off.' As for the Sabaim of Ezek. xxiii :42 (which our version also renders by 'Sa bxans'). while the Kethib has the term 'drunk ards,' which better suits the context. Yet, as if to increase the confusion in the use of this name of 'Sabxans; it has also been applied: (4) To the ancient star worshipers of Western Asia, though they ought properly to be styled Tsabians, and their religion not Sabaism but Tsabaism, the name being most probably derived from the object of their adoration. the host, i. e., of heaven (see an excursus by Gesenius in his translation of Isaiah, On the Astral IVorship of the Chaldceans).
(5) The name of or Sabians, has also been given to a modern sect in the East, the Mandattes, or, as they are commonly but incor rectly called, the 'Christians' of St. for they deny the Messiahship of Christ, and pay superior honor to John the Baptist. They are mentioned in the Koran tinder the name of Sabionna, and it is probable that the Arabs con founded them with the ancient Tsabians above mentioned.
5. The eldest son of Cush (Gen. x :7; 1 Chron.
i :9), who gave name to the country of Seba or Saba, and to one of the tribes called Sabzeans, not, however, the Shebaiim (with the letter shin), but the Sebaiint (with the letter samech). There
seems no reason to doubt that their ultimate set tlement was in that region of Africa which was known to the Hebrews as the land of Cush. and to the Greeks and Romans as Ethiopia ; and the Scriptural notices respecting them and their coup try have been already anticipated in the articles Cusit and ETHIOPIA. If the kingdom of Seba was the far-famed M (Joe, and the kingdom of Sheba, the no less famous Vernon, then it is with peculiar propriety that the king of African Seba in the west and the king of Asiatic Sheba in the east are represented by the Psalmist (Ps. lxxii :to) as bearing their united homage to the 'great king of Judah.' The commerce and wealth of these Sabzeans of Ethiopia, as also their gi gantic stature, are alluded to by the prophet Isaiah (ch. xliii :3 ; xlv :t4), and his testimony is confirmed by the profane writers of antiquity. The passages quoted, however, are the only places in Scripture where the Sabxans of Africa are ex pressly mentioned ; for the Sabxans of Job i :15 were a tribe of Bedawees, or 'men of the desert,' descended from Sheba, grandson of Keturah; and the Sabzeans of Joel iii :8 were the posterity of another Sheba, son of Joktan, in Arabia Felix. There was, indeed, another Sheba, the son of Raagmah and the grandson of Cush, and consequently the nephew of the Seba who is the subject of the present article, but his posterity appear to have mingled with those of his uncle. As for the 'Sabxans' mentioned in our version at Ezek. xxiii :42, although the Keri reading be Sabaim, the Kethib has Sobeim, 'drunkards,' which gives a better sense; besides that elsewhere the African Sabzeans are not styled Sabaiim, but Sebaiim, and the Arab Sabzeans, Shebaiim.
N. M.
6. Son of Bichri, of Benjamin, a turbulent fellow, who, after the defeat of Absalom, when the tribe of Judah came to David, and brought him over the river Jordan, on his way to Jerusalem, sounded a trumpet, and proclaimed, "We have no share in David." Israel, in consequence, for sook David, and followed Sheba (2 Sam. xx :1, etc), B. C. r023. When the king arrived at Jeru salem, he sent Abishai in pursuit of the traitor. Joab also took soldiers, and, crossing the country north of Jerusalem, he arrived at Abel-beth maacah, a city at the entrance of the pass between Libanus and Anti-libanus, to which Sheba had re tired. Joab besieged the place; but a discreet woman inhabiting the city, having persuaded the people to cut off Sheba's head, and to throw it over the wall, Joab and his army retired.
7. A Gadite chieftain who lived in Bastian in the time of Jeroboam II (I Chron. v:13), B. C. 781.
8. A city of Simeon (Josh. xix:2). Its site may be the Tell es-Seb'a, a little east of Beer sheba.
9. Queen of Sheba (I Kings. x; 2 Chron. ix), called queen of the South (Matt. xii :42 ; Luke xi:31), was, according to some, a queen of Arabia ; but, according to others, a queen of Ethiopia. Josephus says that Saba was the ancient name of the city of Meroe, and that the queen, of whom we are speaking, came thence; which opinion has much prevailed. The Ethiopians still claim this princess as their sovereign, and say that her posterity reigned there for a long time. The eunuch of queen Candace, who was converted and baptized by Philip (Acts viii :27) was an officer belonging to a princess of the same country— Ethiopia.