high-priest came before the
king. Jethro, "the priest of Midian," represented a peculiarly Arabian
institution.

The name of "Arab" was applied to certain tribes only of northern
Arabia. We hear of them in the Old Testament as well as in the Assyrian
inscriptions. In the Old Testament the name seems to include the
Ishmaelite clans to the east of Edom. Their "kings," it is said, brought
tribute to Solomon; a colony of them was established at Gur-Baal in the
south of Judah. We learn from the Assyrian texts that they could be
governed by queens; two of their queens indeed are mentioned by name.

It was also a "queen of the south," it will be remembered, who came to
hear the wisdom of Solomon. Sheba, the Saba of classical antiquity, was
an important kingdom of south-western Arabia, which had grown wealthy
through its trade in spicery. From time immemorial Egypt had imported
frankincense from the southern coasts of the Arabian peninsula, and the
precious spices had been carried by merchants to the far north. The
caravan-road of trade ran northward to Midian and Edom, touching on the
one side on the frontier of Egypt, on the other on that of Palestine.
The road and the country through which it passed were in the hands of
the south Arabian kings. Their inscriptions have been discovered at
Teima, the Tema of the Old Testament, not far inland from El-Wej, and in
the days of Tiglath-pileser the kings of Saba claimed rule as far as the
Euphrates. It was no strange thing, therefore, for a queen of Sheba to
have heard of the power of Solomon, or to have sought alliance with so
wealthy and luxurious a neighbour. His province of Edom adjoined her own
possessions; his ports on the Gulf of Aqaba were open to her merchants,
and the frankincense which grew in her dominions was needed for the
temple at Jerusalem.

The people of Sheba belonged to the south Arabian stock. In both blood
and language they differed considerably from the Semites of the north.
Physically they bore some resemblance to the Egyptians, and it has been
suggested that the Egyptians were originally emigrants from their
shores. They lived in lofty castles, and terraced the slopes of the
mountains for the purpose of cultivation, as they still do to-day.
Civilisation among them was old; it was derived, at least in part, from
Babylonia, and the dynasty which reigned over Babylon in the age of
Abraham was of south Arabian descent. Some of them crossed the Red Sea
and foun