Seba (Bible)

Seba (Hebrew: סְבָא) was a son of Cush according to Genesis 10:7 and 1 Chronicles 1:9 and by extension the name of a people or region mentioned in Isaiah 43:3, Isaiah 45:14 and Psalm 72:10.[1]

Psalm 72:10 and Isaiah 43:3 both imply that Seba was a wealthy kingdom. The land of Seba is usually located in South Arabia or the Horn of Africa. On balance, the biblical evidence points to an African location. Both passages in Isaiah associate it with Egypt and Kush. In the Septuagint version of 43:3, Seba is translated as Syene (Aswan), while the Sebaites of 45:14 are described as tall, an adjective elsewhere in Isaiah applied to the related Cushites.[1]

August Dillmann first proposed in 1892 that Sheba (Saba) and Seba were on opposite sides of the Red Sea, with the latter reflecting the presence of Sabaeans in the Horn of Africa. In inscriptions in the Sabaean language from the 6th century BC, local rulers bear the title "mukarrib of Dʿmt and Saba", probably indicating thereby the highlands and the coast, respectively.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Walter W. Müller, "Seba", in Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol. 5 (Doubleday, 1992), p. 1064.
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