Meaning
Queen 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 1Kings 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" (1Kings 15:13; 2Chron 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.
