queen Summary and Overview

No explicit mention of queens is made till we read of the "queen of Sheba." The wives of the kings of Israel are not so designated. In Ps. 45:9, the Hebrew for "queen" is not "malkah", one actually ruling like the Queen of Sheba, but "shegal", which simply means the king's wife. In 1 Kings 11:19, Pharaoh's wife is called "the queen," but the Hebrew word so rendered (g'birah) is simply a title of honour, denoting a royal lady, used sometimes for "queen-mother" (1 Kings 15:13; 2 Chron. 15:16). In Cant. 6:8, 9, the king's wives are styled "queens" (Heb. melakhoth). In the New Testament we read of the "queen of the south", i.e., Southern Arabia, Sheba (Matt. 12:42; Luke 11:31) and the "queen of the Ethiopians" (Acts 8:27), Candace.

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 2Kin 24:12; Jere 29:2

malkah "queen regnant" (1 Kings 10:1; Daniel 5:10; Esther 1:9); sheegal "the queen consort" (Psalm 45:9; Daniel 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 (1 Kings 2:19, etc.); Maachah (1 Kings 15:13); 2 Kings 10:13, Jezebel; Jehoiachin's mother (2 Kings 24:12; Jeremiah 13:18; Jeremiah 29:2).