Commentaria in III Regum
You will say: Saba is here written with schin; therefore it denotes the one in Arabia. I answer: The Rabbis wrongly placed the point here on the right horn, and so made it schin, whereas it should have been placed on the left, and it should be read sin.
Moreover this queen is called by Josephus Nicaule, by the Rabbis in the book Juchasin Nicola, by Damian de Goes in his Ethiopian embassy Maqueda. Josephus adds that by this queen the root of the opobalsam was first brought into Judea, which, however, will be said elsewhere not to seem probable. Glycas adds that she was a Sibyl, and proposed a riddle about distinguishing the faces of boys and girls.
Some fable that this queen foretold that he who should be wiser than Solomon (Christ) would be hanged on the Cedron. See Gretser, book 1 On the Cross, chapter 4.
The cause of her coming was to hear and learn the wisdom of Solomon, as Christ says, Matthew 12:42. Hence St. Bernard wisely, writing to the queen of Jerusalem, epistle 289, proposes this queen to her for imitation: “The queen of the South,” he says, “came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, that she might learn to be a king’s consort and so to rule: otherwise you do not rule well, if you are not ruled well.” Whence Cassiodorus, book 10, last epistle, compares Amalasuntha (that is, daughter of heaven), queen of the Goths, remarkable for wisdom and piety, with the queen of Saba.
Allegorically, as the queen of Saba came from Ethiopia the Church came from the Gentiles to Christ, to drink in the knowledge of salvation. So Eucherius, Angelomus, book 2 Offices, chapter 10, St. Gregory on Psalm 7, Prosper, book 2 On Predestination, chapter 27. Christ suggests the same enough, saying, Matthew 12: “The queen of the South came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold a greater than Solomon here.”
5. SHE HAD NO LONGER ANY SPIRIT—as if to say: She was rapt out of herself by admiration and amazement, says Vatablus. Allegorically St. Gregory on Psalm 7, taking the Church by this queen: “The Church of the elect,” he says, “gathered from the Gentiles, having known the grace of Christ and, having found the teachers of the Gospel doctrine, casting away the spirit of pride and laying aside all the haughtiness of elation, has learned to distrust herself, and to hope greatly in the mercy of her king.”
8. BLESSED ARE THY MEN, AND BLESSED ARE THY SERVANTS, WHO STAND ALWAYS BEFORE THEE, AND HEAR THY WISDOM.—This is truer in Christ, the antitype of Solomon, as he himself teaches, Luke 11:28. Anagogically, it will be most true in heaven, where “we shall see the God of gods in Sion,” and “shall have no longer any spirit” from admiration of the glory “which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man.” So Angelomus. “And in truth,” says Eucherius, “that which God hath prepared for them that love him is not comprehended by faith, not reached by hope, not contained by charity, it goes beyond desires and wishes; it can be acquired, it cannot be estimated. Man shall see his merits grow by an unimaginable largeness of recompense; he shall have fruit from the perception of it, he shall not have weariness from satiety.”
11. BROUGHT FROM OPHIR THYINE TREES.—In Hebrew almugim, or algumim, of which I spoke on Apocalypse 18:12. The Chaldee translates, wood of corals, which under water have the appearance of wood like shrubs, but when drawn out into the air harden into stone. Vatablus translates, Brazil wood; others, ebony; the Septuagint translate “hewn.” Angelomus says: Thyine woods are incorruptible, and thorny in the likeness of the white thorn. Our version and the Septuagint translate “pine” in 2 Paralipomenon 2:8. Here our version translates “thyine,” because these unknown woods which in Hebrew are called almugim were like the wood of the thyia, a tree of which Pliny thus writes, book 13, chapter 16: “Theophrastus, who first writes from the age of Alexander the Great, which was about the four hundred and fortieth year of the city of Rome, already attributes great honour to this tree, reporting the roof-beams of ancient temples made of it.” He understands transverse beams, such as the supports of the house of the Lord are also explained to be; from which it is clear that the tree was very tall. And he adds: “and a certain immortality of the wood, in straight pieces incorruptible against all decay. Nothing is more curled than the root, nor is anything more precious made from any other.” So Pliny from Theophrastus, whence you may rightly gather that musical instruments were made from this tree. Theophrastus himself, however, says that this tree grows in Egypt around the shrine of Ammon, and in the region of Cyrene, like the cypress in branches and leaves and trunk and fruit, but most of all like the wild cypress. So Theophrastus, book 5, chapter 5.
Moreover in 2 Paralipomenon 2:8 our version and the Septuagint add arceuthina woods, that is, juniper; more recent translators, fir: for beros is fir: because Hebrew names suit many things, and signify several things.
12. AND THE KING MADE OF THE THYINE TREES THE FRAMES OF THE HOUSE OF THE LORD.—By “frames” understand beams. It is added that he made steps in the house of the Lord.
13. SO SHE RETURNED.—After she had surveyed all the deeds and sayings of Solomon, and therefore remained with him many months, or a year, as some will have it, dealing and conversing with him familiarly and often, nay, as many report, conceiving a son by him. For it is so undoubted among the Ethiopians that their Emperors derive their origin from Solomon and the queen of Saba, that it is a thing without controversy among them, of which all their books are found full. And therefore their Emperors are called Israelites, and glory in that name. And lest the kingdom should ever pass by inheritance to others, the sons of the Emperors are wont to be kept on the mountain Guixen-Amba, so that if male offspring fail, those who are to succeed the present Emperor may be taken thence as Emperor.
The history of the queen of Saba, and in what way she bore offspring by Solomon, the most ancient books which are kept in the church of Axum thus narrate. A certain merchant, Tamarin by name, having returned from Jerusalem, had told the queen of Saba of the glory and wisdom of Solomon which he had seen and heard: and she was inflamed with so great a desire to see the king that she at once began to plan the journey, and at length, leaving her country and kingdom, set out for Jerusalem with a great retinue of her nobles and a truly royal pomp, so that she was an object of admiration even in Jerusalem itself. There she was received most magnificently by Solomon, and after seven months, instructed now in the true worship of the one God, and in all those things which she had desired to know, when she was preparing to return to her country and kingdom, she was invited by Solomon to a most splendid supper, and passed the night in his palace, and conceived offspring by Solomon, which afterwards, nine months and five days having passed, she brought forth when she was already entering the borders of her kingdom.