The Queen of Sheba

Solomon was visited by a queen from the African nation of Sheba who had heard stories of his fantastic wisdom and wealth and she traveled 4,000 miles to meet this legendary man. The Bible does not say how long Makeda stayed in Jerusalem, but the chronicles of Ethiopian history indicate that she and Solomon had sexual intercourse and she gave birth to a son on her way home, suggesting Makeda must have stayed in Jerusalem for at least nine months.

The queen also converted to the faith of Israel and brought Levites back to Sheba. All the men in Ethiopia were circumcised and became full-fledged Jews even though they had no bloodline to Abraham. This story is corroborated in the Book of Acts when Philip meets the treasurer from Ethiopia and he is converted to Christ. As a result, Ethiopian Jews began to convert to Christianity in the first century and the Coptic Christian Church was born.

However, not all men converted to the Christian faith and that is the reason there are still black Jews in Ethiopia. This is a fascinating story of God reaching into Africa and rescuing the people of Sheba from pagan worship some 2,900 years ago.