Reference: Queen
Easton
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 1Ki 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" (1Ki 15:13; 2Ch 15:16). In Song 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 (Mt 12:42; Lu 11:31) and the "queen of the Ethiopians" (Ac 8:27), Candace.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And Hadad findeth grace in the eyes of Pharaoh exceedingly, and he giveth to him a wife, the sister of his own wife, sister of Tahpenes the mistress;
and also Maachah his mother -- he turneth her aside from being mistress, in that she made a horrible thing for a shrine, and Asa cutteth down her horrible thing, and burneth it by the brook Kidron;
Daughters of kings are among thy precious ones, A queen hath stood at thy right hand, In pure gold of Ophir.
Sixty are queens, and eighty concubines, And virgins without number. One is my dove, my perfect one, One she is of her mother, The choice one she is of her that bare her, Daughters saw, and pronounce her happy, Queens and concubines, and they praise her.
'A queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and lo, a greater than Solomon here!
'A queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and shall condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and lo, greater than Solomon here!
And having arisen, he went on, and lo, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch, a man of rank, of Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to worship to Jerusalem;
Fausets
malkah "queen regnant" (1Ki 10:1; Da 5:10; Es 1:9); sheegal "the queen consort" (Ps 45:9; Da 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 (1Ki 2:19, etc.); Maachah (1Ki 15:13); 2Ki 10:13, Jezebel; Jehoiachin's mother (2Ki 24:12; Jer 13:18; 29:2).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And Bath-Sheba cometh in unto king Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, and the king riseth to meet her, and boweth himself to her, and sitteth on his throne, and placeth a throne for the mother of the king, and she sitteth at his right hand.
And the queen of Sheba is hearing of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of Jehovah, and cometh to try him with enigmas,
and also Maachah his mother -- he turneth her aside from being mistress, in that she made a horrible thing for a shrine, and Asa cutteth down her horrible thing, and burneth it by the brook Kidron;
and Jehu hath found the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah, and saith, 'Who are ye?' and they say, 'Brethren of Ahaziah we are, and we go down to salute the sons of the king, and the sons of the mistress.'
and Jehoiachin king of Judah goeth out unto the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his chiefs, and his eunuchs, and the king of Babylon taketh him in the eighth year of his reign,
Also Vashti the queen hath made a banquet for women, in the royal house that the king Ahasuerus hath.
Daughters of kings are among thy precious ones, A queen hath stood at thy right hand, In pure gold of Ophir.
Say to the king and to the mistress: Make yourselves low -- sit still, For come down have your principalities, The crown of your beauty.
After the going forth of Jeconiah the king, and the mistress, and the officers, heads of Judah and Jerusalem, and the artificer, and the smith, from Jerusalem --
Belshazzar hath said -- while tasting the wine -- to bring in the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple that is in Jerusalem, that drink with them may the king, and his great men, his wives, and his concubines. Then they have brought in the vessels of gold that had been taken out of the temple of the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and drunk with them have the king and his great men, his wives and his concubines;
The queen, on account of the words of the king and his great men, to the banquet-house hath come up. Answered hath the queen, and said, 'O king, to the ages live; let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor thy countenance be changed:
Hastings
The functions of a queen reigning in her own right would be identical with those of a king (wh. see). The queen as the wife of a monarch in Israel held a position of comparatively little importance, whereas that of a dowager-queen ('queen-mother') commanded great influence (cf. the cases of Bathsheba, Jezebel, Athaliah).
Morish
This is applied, as now, to one reigning in her own right, as the queen of Sheba, 2Ch 9:1-12; and Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, Ac 8:27. The title was also given to the consort of a reigning sovereign, as queen Esther; and to the queen-mother, who often had great influence at court, as Bathsheba, Jezebel, etc.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And the queen of Sheba hath heard of the fame of Solomon, and cometh in to try Solomon with acute sayings, to Jerusalem, with a very great company, and camels bearing spices and gold in abundance, and precious stone; and she cometh in unto Solomon, and speaketh with him all that hath been with her heart, and Solomon declareth to her all her matters, and there hath not been hid a thing from Solomon that he hath not declared to her. read more. And the queen of Sheba seeth the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he hath built, and the food of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the standing of his ministers, and their clothing, and his stewards, and their clothing, an his burnt-offering that he offered up in the house of Jehovah, and there hath not been any more spirit in her. And she saith unto the king, 'True is the word that I heard in my land concerning thy matters and concerning thy wisdom, and I have given no credence to their words, till that I have come, and mine eyes see, and lo, there hath not been declared to me the half of the abundance of thy wisdom -- thou hast added unto the report that I heard. O the happiness of thy men, and the happiness of thy servants -- these -- who are standing before thee continually, and hearing thy wisdom. Let Jehovah thy God be blessed who hath delighted in thee, to put thee on His throne for king for Jehovah thy God; in the love of thy God to Israel, to establish it to the age, He hath put thee over them for king, to do judgment and righteousness.' And she giveth to the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and spices in great abundance, and precious stone; and there hath not been any such spice as the queen of Sheba hath given to king Solomon. And also, servants of Huram, and servants of Solomon, who brought in gold from Ophir, have brought in algum-trees and precious stone. And the king maketh the algum-trees staircases for the house of Jehovah, and for the house of the king, and harps and psalteries for singers; and there have been none seen like these before in the land of Judah. And king Solomon hath given to the queen of Sheba all her desire that she asked, apart from that which she had brought unto the king, and she turneth and goeth to her land, she and her servants.
And having arisen, he went on, and lo, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch, a man of rank, of Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to worship to Jerusalem;
Smith
Queen.
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
ff. The term is applied to Maachah,
and to Jezetiel,
and to the mother of Jehoiachin or Jeconiah,
compare 2Kin 24:12; Jere 29:2
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And Bath-Sheba cometh in unto king Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, and the king riseth to meet her, and boweth himself to her, and sitteth on his throne, and placeth a throne for the mother of the king, and she sitteth at his right hand.
and also Maachah his mother -- he turneth her aside from being mistress, in that she made a horrible thing for a shrine, and Asa cutteth down her horrible thing, and burneth it by the brook Kidron;
and Jehu hath found the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah, and saith, 'Who are ye?' and they say, 'Brethren of Ahaziah we are, and we go down to salute the sons of the king, and the sons of the mistress.'
and Jehoiachin king of Judah goeth out unto the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his chiefs, and his eunuchs, and the king of Babylon taketh him in the eighth year of his reign,
Say to the king and to the mistress: Make yourselves low -- sit still, For come down have your principalities, The crown of your beauty.