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Sheba

Old TestamentPatriarchsMaleSon of joktan

Sheba, a descendant of Joktan, is associated with the ancient kingdom of Sheba in southern Arabia, known for its wealth and trade.

Sheba illustration
Sheba

Biography

Sheba son of Joktan appears in the Table of Nations in Genesis 10:28 and 1 Chronicles 1:22, listed among the descendants of Shem through Arpachshad, Shelah, Eber, and Joktan. As an eponymous ancestor, Sheba gave his name to a people or region in southern Arabia, associated with the prosperous trading civilization of Saba known from ancient Near Eastern and classical sources. The Joktanite Sheba is to be distinguished from the Abrahamic Sheba (Genesis 25:3), though both names reflect the same geographical and ethnic territory. The kingdom of Sheba became renowned for its luxury trade in gold, spices, and precious stones, and is most famously represented in Scripture by the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon's court (1 Kings 10).

Significance

Sheba son of Joktan's place in the Semitic genealogy of Genesis 10 grounds the later biblical motif of Sheba within the providential ordering of the nations after the flood. The Shebans' renown for wealth and wisdom, demonstrated most dramatically by the Queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon (1 Kings 10:1-13), reflects the biblical conviction that God's glory, manifest in his appointed king, draws the nations. Jesus himself invoked the Queen of the South (Matthew 12:42), implicitly connecting Sheba's heritage to Gentile recognition of divine wisdom. The Joktanite Sheba thus stands at the beginning of a trajectory in which distant nations are drawn into the orbit of God's redemptive purposes.

Verse Appearances (2)

References

  1. Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
  2. Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Translators Individualised Proper Names with all References (TIPNR). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
  3. Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
  4. Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]

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