The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1921-12-25
How Sheba's Queen
Visited Solomon

Visited Solomon
1. And when the queen Of shsba heard
of the fame Of Solomon concerning the
name Of the Lord, she came to prove him
with hard questions.
2. And she came to jerusalem with 4
very great train, with camels that bare
.piee., and very much gold. and precious
stones: and whom she was come to Solo
mon, she communsd with him Of all that
was in her heart.
3. And Solomon told her all her 1uss.
tiens: there was not any thing hid from
The king, which he told her not.
6. And she .aid to the king, It was
true report that heard in mine own land
Of thy acts and Of thy wisdom. .
~. Howbsit l believed not the words,
until came, and mine eyes had seen it'
and behold, the half was not told
10. And she gave the king an hundred
and twenty talents Of gold. and Of spicss
very great store, and precious stonss.
there came no more such abundance Of
spiees as these which the queen Of Shsba
s.ee to king Solomon.
Is. And king Solomon gave unto the
queen of Shsba all her desire, Whatsoever
she asked, beside that which Solomon
gave her of his royal bounty. So she
turned and went to her own country, she
and her servants.--i. kinss r., I-I5.
THE Bible, In the foregoing words,
describes the visit OF the Queen OF
= Sheba to Solomon, wisest of all
kings.
Further on in the Old Testament, In the
Song of Solomon. one of the. greatest love
poems in all literature, there occurs this
curious line:
Il am black but comely, o ye daughters
of Jerusalem. as the tents of Kedar, as the
curtains Of Solomon"
Biblical commentators have long puzzled
over the meaning OF these words. II was
clear that they were uttered by one OF the
sweethearts or wives Of Solomon. There
was no doubt either. that ne lady speak
she was not white or olive skinned like
the daughters Of Jerusalem. Beside clear.
ly stating that she was black, she en-
phasized that fact by comparing herself
to the tents of Kedar" and the curtains
of Solomon" so that there could be no mis-
understanding about 1t.
1t is known that the tents OF Kedar
were made OF the hair Of the black camels,
or II not were dyed. At any rate, they
were always black. The reference to the
curtains of Solomon deals with the leg
endary fact that the coverings of his bed
were made OF black to keep out all light
while he slept.
The commentators were, therefore,
forced to one of two conclusions--the first
that King solomon loved black woman
OF unusual beauty and attachments. or that
the paragraph must be taken ~ an ex.
ample of Oriental imagery. Considering
the first explanation unpleasant, they have
long accepted the second.
Not one, howevet, ever thought of link
ing up the description to. the Queen of
Sheba. Why should they have! Any
mention of the queens complexion was
considerably omitted both from the re-
port of her pilgrimage in l. Kings and Its
repetition in ii. Chronicles TX, liz. Paint.
ers, medieval and modern, to whose i'm.
egination the incident appealed, always
portrayed her as a beautiful white woman,
usually with reddish or fair hair, In the
cid morality plays and the countless poems
and stories to which her trip TO Jeruselem
gave rise. the image in poets or writer's
minds has clearly been that of lovely,
slluring, wise woman, with no more pig.
nentation Of the skin than one finds
among Oriental races--except for one curl.
GUS reference In an old Arabic tale, OF
which more later.
Consequently the picture most people
have of the adventurous queen Is that of
. lovely white or, at most, olive skinned
woman.
But in the light of certain recent dis
coveries made by an expedition from Har-
ward University in Africa, II seems GER
hin that the Queen of Sheba could not