Tuesday 18 Aug 2009
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A few weeks ago, we got a small pile of National Geographic magazines for Geography and modern archaeology. Archaeology is in my heart’s deepest interests and being a Christian, makes the digs that are being excavated even more exciting. Christian archaeologists have more reason to be joyous over remains of the past, for we know the maker of these people and artifacts, and many of the more ancient specimens found confirm even more the Bible’s claims on history. The facts are too overwhelming to not see that the word of God can apply to ever area of our lives.
Well, one month’s article of National Geographic ( April 2009) had the face of a Egyptian queen on the front. The title spoke of a queen ruling Egypt and her name was Hatshepsut. Ruling her country for a peaceful 22 years, she was a builder and trader of sorts, determined to make her mark on the world being the only great female ruler of Egyptian history. She had a great expedition to the land of Punt where she brought back myrrh trees and many other things. No one is sure of where Punt may have actually been located, although Egyptian inscriptions indicated Punt being in Palestine rather than in the much thought Africa. Also in Hatshepsut’s reliefs, some of the wonderful things she returned with from Punt are gold, incense, ebony, myrrh, and monkeys.
After our trip to the Creation Museum on Monday, I found a book that I took home with me - Unwrapping the Pharaohs by Dr. Ashton and David Down. I had heard a friend mention it, but I had never seen it other than a few magazines. In this intriguing book is a chapter on Hatshepsut being the most likely candidate for the Biblical Queen of Sheba found in 1 Kings 10.
(picture from National Geographic)
The queen is known as the “queen of Sheba“. An excerpt from Unwrapping the Pharaohs is the best explanation of the identification of Sheba, so I will place it here. This is found on page 121:
“Sheba is usually identified with Marib in Yemen, but for this there is only very flimsy circumstantial evidence. Two thousand years ago the Jewish historian Josephus wrote, “There was then a woman, queen of Egypt and Ethiopia…When this queen heard of the virtue and prudence of Solomon, she had a great mind to see him….Accordingly she came to Jerusalem with great splendor and rich furniture.”
Jesus Christ also identified her as coming from Egypt. He said in Matthew 12: 42, “The queen of the South will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn if, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.” Daniel 11:5 and 8 refer to the king of the south as the king of Egypt, so it would be logical to identify the queen of the south as the queen of Egypt.”
There is much more evidence due to the inscriptions of Hatshepsut’s walls and character of Solomon to come to the conclusion that she was indeed the Queen of Sheba who visited Solomon in Jerusalem.
By: ThePainter
.... Responses to “Hatshepsut, Queen of Sheba?”
on 19 Aug 2009 at 11:34 am Miss Eyebright
What interesting thoughts! I would never have thought about The Queen of Sheba being an Egyptian queen. Isn’t history and archeology fascinating?
Have a very bright, very cheerful day!
Miss Eyebright
Taken from: http://www.painterofwords.com/?p=2540
