Sheba

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Sheba ( Hebrew שְׁבָא šəvā ' ) is the name of several people mentioned in the Hebrew part of the Bible . The name is rendered as Saba in some translations .

Son of Joktan

In the list of the descendants of Noah, which is passed down in the book of Genesis , Sheba is mentioned as one of the thirteen sons of Joktan ( Gen 10.28  EU ).

Son of Jokschan

The book of Genesis mentions a grandson of Abraham named Sheba. He is named as the firstborn son of Jokschan, one of the sons of Abraham with his third wife Ketura ( Gen 25.3  EU ).

Son of Bichris

Chapter 20 of 2 Samuel tells how a man from the tribe of Benjamin named Sheba, son of Bichri, called for apostasy from King David . Apparently there was dissatisfaction among the northern tribes as they felt that David's own tribe, Judah , was favored by them. After the failure of the coup d'état of Absalom , a son of David, Sheba called on the northern tribes of Israel to stop following David:

“But it happened that there was a nefarious man there whose name was Sheba, a son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. He blew the trumpet and said, We have no part in David, nor an inheritance in the son of Jesse. Everyone go to his tents, Israel! "

- 2 Samuel 20.1  LU

The words with which Sheba called on the northern tribes to apostate are very similar to the words with which they finally separated from the dynasty of David after Solomon's death and founded the northern kingdom of Israel ( 1 Kings 12.16  EU ). As a result of this call from Sheba, all the tribes except Judah fell away from David and followed Sheba. However, he does not seem to have found permanent support anywhere and withdrew to the extreme north of the settlement area of ​​Israel to Abel-Bet-Maacha. When the city was besieged by David's followers, led by Joab , a woman from the city wall entered into negotiations with Joab to save the city. At her persuasion, the city's residents finally killed Sheba, which brought the uprising to an end. ( 2 Samuel 14.1-22  EU ).

Descendants of Gad

In the 1st book of the Chronicle , a Sheba is named as one of the heads of the clan of the Gad tribe, who settled east of the Jordan ( 1st Chronicle 5,13  EU ).

Individual evidence

  1. Stuttgart Explanatory Bible. 2nd Edition. German Bible Society , Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-438-01121-2 , p. 416f