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In combining stories from the rabbinical sources, the koran, and Kebra Nagast (Glory of the Kings), the Ethiopian national saga, You get a tale with the following elements. Solomon, in his never ending search for items to fill the Temple and his house, had heard of this Ethiopian queen. He sent a hoopoe-
- with a message to demand her presence. Despite it being a 2-3 month journey by caravan (thanks, grok!), she responded (by hoopoe mail) that it was a five year journey, but she would see that it was made in 3 years. When she got there, she asked him riddles-
"What is a well of wood, a pail of iron which draws up stones and pours out water?" Solomon answered, "A tube of cosmetic." "What is that which comes from the earth as dust, the food of which is dust, which is poured out like water, and which looketh toward the house?" Solomon answered, "Naphtha." "What is that which precedeth all, like a general; which crieth loudly and bitterly; the head of which is like a reed; which is the glory of the rich and the shame of the poor, the glory of the dead and the shame of the living; the joy of the birds and the sorrow of the fishes?" Solomon answered, "Flax." Other riddles are quoted in the Midrash (Prov. ii. 6; Yalḳ. ii., § 1085): "Seven depart, nine enter; two pour, one drinks." Solomon answered, "Seven days of woman's uncleanness, nine months of pregnancy; two breasts of the mother at which the child is nourished." "A woman saith unto her son, 'Thy father is my father, thy grandfather my husband; thou art my son; I am thy sister.'" Solomon answered, "This mother is one of the daughters of Lot, who were with child by their father" (Jewish Encyclopedia)
At this point, by some "trickery", Solomon managed to get her pregnant. Their son became King Menalek I; and as for her, she became the "Shulamite", the wife of Solomon in the Song of Solomon, based on this verse:
Son 1:5 The Beloved to the Maidens: I am dark but lovely, O maidens of Jerusalem, dark like the tents of Qedar, lovely like the tent curtains of Salmah.
Because she was "Ethiopian", and therefore black.
Now let's look at the real story. And what you'll see is all the ways that these 'storytellers' were trying to REMOVE God from the story.
First of all, what prompted the meeting?
1Ki 10:1 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.
Not his intiative, but hers- because of what she heard "concerning the Name of the LORD". Now, to me this says that there had been some Solomonic evangelism going on. How was this possible? Sheba- despite the stories that is was an Ethiopian (and black) kingdom, was actually by all evidence the kingdom of the Sabeans, across the Red Sea from Ethiopia. A 4th century monument in Ethiopia (then the kingdom of Axum) describes "black and red" peoples, with black on one side of the Red Sea, Red on the Arabian side- the Sabeans were "red"- or as we might put it, dusky, which more fits the Songs passage. Anyway, back to the point, Solomon already had Israelite crews going with Hiram's Phoenicians to acquire things such as the "gold of Ophir", along with apes and other curiousities. Ophir is most generally believed to have been in what is now India- meaning these voyages would go the length of the Red Sea into the Arabian Sea- and would most likely have made port calls at the Sabean kingdom. During these calls, the story was spread of all that God had given Solomon- wisdom and riches- and no doubt the word got to the throne.
We've already talked about how Solomon's wisdom in ruling his kingdom was such that many rulers sought him out for advice- and the Queen, hearing both the stories of his wisdom AND of the God that gave it to him, journeyed to Jerusalem.
When she got there, God says "she tested him with hard questions". The Jewish Encyclopedia gives us instead Greek-style riddles and trivia. Am I going to slog across the desert for a quarter of a year, laden with "camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones" (1 Kings 10:2) to play trivia night? Especially when, as a pagan queen from a faraway land- HOW would she even know about Lot and his daughters- or care?
By the way, I looked into the whole hoopoe thing- they were NEVER used as "carrier pigeons" by any ancient people. It is suggested the rabbis picked the hoopoe for its kingly plumage and a folklore legend of its wisdom. Another way the Jews tried to take it out of God's hands and turn it into an "AEsop's fable".
Now, when I am saying "the Jews", I am specifically and ONLY referring to these teachers who were apparently trying to "de-God" the Bible. They are the ones Jerome described as the creators of "fabula Hebraeorum" in so many things (including trying to make the Hiram that David and Solomon knew into the same "king of Tyre" that Ezekiel prophecied about some 300-400 years LATER!). It's no wonder the common people began to fall away from faith listening to such mental gyrations.
Getting back to the Song passage- I read a little further, to see for myself whether the "Shulamite"- a name which itself was drawn from Solomon's, meaning 'peace'- had any characteristics that would make her seem to be a queen. In the very next verse:
Son 1:6 Do not gaze at me because I am dark, because the sun has looked upon me. My mother's sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept!
Making her "keeper of the vinyards" is a lot like David being a shepherd- it was the worst job they could stick her with. And she was dark because she was tanned, not because she was black. I don't say this to inject racism into this, but to remove it from the story. The rabbis likely would have preferred a black Queen, to denigrate Solomon further into the "mortal realm". But it isn't what GOD said.
Finally, the things she did see, the things he did explain to her, turned her not towards men (or sex), but toward God:
1Ki 10:6 And she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom,
1Ki 10:7 but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard.
1Ki 10:8 Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!
1Ki 10:9 Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the LORD loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness.”
So do I believe Solomon's focus on God saved her? Judge for yourself from Jesus's words...
Mat 12:41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
Mat 12:42 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
Jesus gave 2 examples of pagans saved by grace here... while showing that the Jewish leaders hadn't changed in a thousand years, still trying to keep God out of the story...
Luk 20:1 One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up
Luk 20:2 and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.”
Luk 20:3 He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me,
Luk 20:4 was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?”
Luk 20:5 And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’
Luk 20:6 But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.”
Luk 20:7 So they answered that they did not know where it came from.
Luk 20:8 And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
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