Queen

The Hebrews had no word properly answering to our term ’queen,’ which is the feminine of ’king;’ neither had they the dignity which that word denotes. Among them there was neither a ’queen regnant’ nor a ’queen consort.’ The Jewish kings however had, like other eastern monarchs, a chief wife in their harem, and this is no doubt the rank indicated in the Bible by the words which we render ’queen.’

Very different was, and is to this day, in Western Asia, the position of the king’s mother, whose state is much the nearest to that of an European queen of any with which the East is acquainted. It is founded on that essential principle of Oriental manners which in all cases considers the mother of the husband as a far superior person to his wife, and as entitled to more respect and attention. This principle should be clearly understood, for it extends throughout the Bible, and is yet entirely different from our own social arrangements, under which the mother, as soon as she becomes widowed, abandons her place as head of the family to the daughter-in-law. Examples of the great influence possessed by the king’s mother, occur frequently in Scripture.

In how marked a manner does the mother of Solomon come forward at the end of her husband’s and the beginning of her son’s reign! She takes an active part in securing her son’s succession; it is in the conviction of her commanding influence that Adonijah engages her to promote his suit, alleging ’he will not say thee nay;’ and then, when Bathsheba appears before her son, the monarch rises from his place, advances to meet her, bows himself before her, and seats her on the right hand of his throne (1 Kings 1-2). That the king’s mother possessed high dignity is further evinced by the fact that Asa found it necessary to remove his mother Maachah ’from being queen,’ on account of her abuse of the power which that character conferred (1Ki 15:13). Jezebel was, as already stated, very powerful in the lifetime of her husband; but it is only under her son that she is called ’the queen;’ and the whole history of his reign evinces the important part which she took in public affairs (2Ki 9:22; 2Ki 9:30; 2Ki 9:37; 2Ki 10:13). Still more marked was the influence which her daughter Athaliah exercised in Judah during the reign of her son Ahaziah, which was indeed such as enabled her at his death to set the crown on her own head, and to present the anomaly in Jewish history of a regnant queen (2 Kings 11).

Queen. This title is properly applied to the queen-mother, since in an Oriental household, it is not the wife, but the mother of the master, who exercises the highest authority. Strange as such an arrangement at sight appears, it is one of the inevitable results of polygamy. An illustration of the queen-mother’s influence is given in 1Ki 2:19; ff. The term is applied to Maachah, 1Ki 15:13; 2Ch 16:16, and to Jezetiel, 2Ki 10:13, and to the mother of Jehoiachin or Jeconiah, Jer 13:18, compare 2Ki 24:12; Jer 29:2.

malkah "queen regnant" (1Ki 10:1; Dan 5:10; Est 1:9); sheegal "the queen consort" (Psa 45:9; Dan 5:2-3); gebirah "powerful mistress," "the queen mother." Polygamy, lessened the influence of the kings wives, whose hold on his affections was shared by others and was at best precarious; but the queen mother enjoyed a fixed position of dignity. So Bathsheba (1Ki 2:19, etc.); Maachah (1Ki 15:13); 2Ki 10:13, Jezebel; Jehoiachin’s mother (2Ki 24:12; Jer 13:18; Jer 29:2).

Queen of heaven, Jer 7:18; Jer 44:17-19; Jer 44:25, is the moon, worshipped as Ashtaroth or Astarte, to whom the Hebrew women offered cakes in the streets of Jerusalem.

This is applied, as now, to one reigning in her own right, as the queen of Sheba, 2Ch 9:1-12; and Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, Act 8:27. The title was also given to the consort of a reigning sovereign, as queen Esther; and to the queen-mother, who often had great influence at court, as Bathsheba, Jezebel, etc.

QUEEN (βασίλισσα).—A title occurring only once in the Gospels (Mat 12:42, Luk 11:31), in our Lord’s reference to the queen of Sheba as ‘the queen of the south.’ The visit of the queen of Sheba to king Solomon is related in 1Ki 10:1-13 and in 2Ch 9:1-9, and the chief object of her journey was to satisfy herself as to his great wisdom, the report of which had reached her, although she was also attracted by the accounts which had been brought to her of his riches and magnificence. It is to the former of these two purposes of her visit that our Lord refers. The Pharisees had demanded of Him a special sign, and He replied that no such sign should be given them, but that they should have a sign in Himself and in His burial and resurrection, as the Ninevites had had in Jonah. But the Ninevites, He added, would in the judgment condemn the men of that generation; for they had repented at the preaching of Jonah, who was a sign to them, while the men of that generation, He implied, would not repent at the preaching of one greater than Jonah. Then, referring to the celebrated queen, He added: ‘The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it; for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.’

The connexion between the case of the Ninevites and that of the queen of Sheba does not lie on the surface. Some have supposed that our Lord refers to a woman as the correlative to the men of Nineveh previously spoken of. Others think that, having spoken of the Ninevites to whom without any seeking of theirs a preaching of repentance was brought, He refers, to complete the warning, to one who was herself a spontaneous seeker of wisdom. Without setting aside these suggestions, it is more to the point to observe that our Lord brings into juxtaposition the two characteristics—so strongly emphasized in the case of Jew and Gentile—of the desire for a sign, and the seeking after wisdom; and it has been suggested that St. Paul may well have had this whole incident in mind when he wrote 1Co 1:18-27 (see esp. 1Co 1:22). We may also notice how our Lord in effect boldly claims to be what St. Paul says that He is, ‘the wisdom of God.’ Solomon was ‘wiser than all men’ (1Ki 4:31), and later Jewish literature delighted to magnify his wisdom (cf. Wis 7:17-21). For our Lord, then, to claim before a Jewish audience to be ‘something more’ than Solomon, was to claim to be Wisdom itself. We may also remark how here again, as in the discourse at Nazareth, our Lord chooses His examples from among Gentiles (cf. also Mat 8:11-12; Mat 10:15; Mat 11:22-24).

Abyssinian legend has many strange tales of the queen of Sheba, declaring that she came from Ethiopia, that her name was Maqueda, and that she had a son by Solomon. (For many curious details, see Ludolf, Hist. Aethiop. ii. 3; Vitœ sanctorum indigenarum, ed. K. Conti Rossini; Legend of the Queen of Sheba, ed. E. Littmann; also Josephus Ant. viii. vi. 5). All this, however, probably rests on a confusion between Seba (סְבָא) and Sheba (עְבָא), cf. Psa 72:10. Our Lord’s phrase, ‘the queen of the south,’ falls in with the most widely accepted opinion, i.e. that Sheba was in South Arabia; her land was accordingly more than a thousand miles from Jerusalem, a fact which justifies our Lord’s words, ἐκ τῶν περάτων τῆς γῆς (cf. Jer 6:20).

Albert Bonus.

QUEEN.—The functions of a queen reigning in her own right would be identical with those of a king (wh. see). The queen as the wife of a monarch in Israel held a position of comparatively little importance, whereas that of a dowager-queen (‘queen-mother’) commanded great influence (cf. the cases of Bathsheba, Jezebel, Athaliah).

kwēn: The Bible applies this term: (1) To the wife of a king (“queen consort”) (מלכּה, malkāh). In the Book of Esther it is the title given to Vashti (Est 1:9) and Esther (Est 2:22); compare Son 6:8 f. Another Hebrew word for queen consort is גּבירה, g^ebhı̄rāh, literally “mistress” (compare 1Ki 11:19, the wife of Pharaoh; 2Ki 10:13, “the children of the king and the children of the queen”). In Neh 2:6 and Psa 45:9 we find the expression שׁגּל, shēghāl, which some trace back to שׁגל, shāghal, “to ravish,” a rather doubtful derivation. Still another term is שׂרה, sārāh, literally, “princess” (Isa 49:23). The Septuagint sometimes uses the word βασίκισσα, bası́lissa; compare Psa 45:9. (2) To a female ruler or sovereign (“queen regnant”). The only instances are those of the queen (malkāh) of Sheba (1Ki 10:1-13; compare 2Ch 9:1-12) and of Candace, the queen (basilissa) of the Ethiopians (Act 8:27). In Mat 12:42 (compare Luk 11:31) Christ refers to the queen of the south (βασίλισσα νότου, bası́lissa nótou), meaning, of course, the queen of Sheba. (3) To a heathen deity, השּׁמים מלכת, m^elekheth ha-shāmayim, “the queen of heaven” (Jer 7:18; Jer 44:17 ff). See QUEEN OF HEAVEN.

(4) Metaphorically, to the city of Babylon (Rome) (Rev 18:7): an expression denoting sovereign contempt and imaginary dignity and power.

(âáóßëéóóá)

The only person bearing this title that meets us in the apostolic writings is Candace, queen of the Ethiopians (Act_8:27). This people appear frequently to have had female sovereigns, and the name Candace seems to have been handed on from one to another, as we meet with several queens of this name in their early history. The only other passage in which the title occurs is Rev_18:7, where Babylon is represented as sitting as a queen, priding herself upon her power and immunity from sorrow (cf. Isa_47:7).

G. Wauchope Stewart.

Psa 45:9 (b) This is one of the names applied to the church. She will one day be married to the Bridegroom and will stand at His right hand as His bride forever. She is called a queen because she is married to the King of kings.

Rev 18:7 (b) This word describes the pride of Babylon (the great false religions of Christendom) in which she takes the place of being the bride of the King of kings, whereas in reality she is really a harlot, and is so named by our Lord.