Shear-ja'shub (Heb. Shear' Yashub', a^nr; nxd, a 1-emnant shall return; Sept. o KaraXtKp^fic iacovji), son of the prophet Isaiah, who accompanied his father when he proceeded to deliver to king Ahaz the cele- brated prophecy contained in Isa. vii (see ver. 3). B.C. cir. 735. As the sons of Isaiah sometimes stood for signs
SHEATH
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SHEBA
in Israel (Isa. viii, 18), and the name of Maher-shalal- liasli-baz was given to one of them by way of prophetic intimation, it has been conjectured that the somewhat remarkable name of Shear -jashiib intimated that ttie people who had then retired within the walls of Jerusa- lem should return in peace to their tields and villages (comp. Isa. X, 'M-22). Fairbairn's theory that these events occurred only in visions {On Prophecy, I, v, 2) is in violation of the plain import of the language.
Sheath (Heb. '1Z, nadun, 1 Chron. xxi, 27; "li'Fl, tdar, 1 Sam. xvii, 51 ; 2 Sam. xx, 8: Ezek. xxi, 3,4, 6, 30; "scabbard," Jer. xlvii, G; S/'/ic?;, John xviii, 11), the case in which a dagger or sword blade is carried. See Knife; Swohd.
She'ba, the name of several men and places in the Bible, but occurring in two forms in the original : («) Heb. Sheha', X2'>:j (of uncertain etymology, see below), which is the name of three fathers of tribes in the early genealogy of Genesis, often referred to in the sacred books, one of them located in Ethiopia (No. 1, below), and the other two in Arabia (Nos. 2 and 3 respective- ly); (6) Heb. She'ba, ""^"C, an oath, or seven, which is the name of two men, and also of a place (Nos. 4, 5, and 6, below). See also BKKn-siiiinA.
1. ( Sept. '2ajia V. r. 'S.ajiaT. ) First named of the two sons of Kaamah, son of Cush (tien. x, 7 ; 1 Chron. i, 9). B.C. post 2515. This Sheha settled somewhere on the shores of the Persian (iulf. In the Man'sid (s. V.) there is found an identification which appears to be satisfactory — that on tlie island of Awal (one of the "Bahrein Islatids") are the ruins of an ancient city called Seba. Viewed in connection with Kaamah, and the other facts which we know respecting Sheba, traces of his settlements ought to be found on or near the shores of the gulf. It was this Sheba that carried on the great Indian traffic with Palestine in conjunction with, as we hold, the other Sheba, son of Jokshan son of Keturah, who, like Dedan, appears to have formed with the Cushite of the same name one tribe — theCush- ites dwelling on the shores of the Persian Gulf, and car- ry'uig on the desert trade thence to Palestine in con- junction with the nomad Keturahite tribes, whose past- urages were mostly on the western frontier. The trade is mentioned by Ezek. xxvii, 22, 23, in an unmistakable manner, and possibly by Isa. Ix, 6, and Jer. vi, 20, but these latter, we think, rather refer to the Joktanite Sheba. The predatory bands of the Sab^ans are men- tioned in Job i, 15, and vi, 19, in a manner that recalls the forays of modern Beilawin (comp. Joel iii, 8). — Smith. SeeAiiAbiA; Dkdan, etc.
2, (Sept. ^afia v. r. Sa/SEiJ and ^afiav.) Tenth named of the thirteen sons of Joktan son of the patri- arch Eber (Gen. x, 28; 1 Chron. i, 22). B.C. cir. 2350. He seems to have been the founder and eponymous head of the Sabseans (q. v.), and to have given his name to Sheba or Seba (q. v.), a district in Arabia Felix aboimd- ing m frankincense, spices, gold, and precious stones (Isa. Ix, G; Jer. vi, 20; Psa. Ixxii, 15). From this re- gion came the queen to sec and converse with Solomon (1 Kings x, 1-13; 2 Chron. ix, 1-12; Matt, xii, 42; Luke xi, 31). The Sabajans were celebrated for their great trade (Psa. Ixxii, 10; Ezek. xxvii, 22; Joel iii, 8) and for plundering (Job i, 15; vi, 19; comp. Strabo, xvi, 7(i8-780; Abulfeda, p. 9G). (In the following detailed treatment of this name we cliicHy follow Poole's article in Smith's Dictionary.)
It has been shown, in the art. Akahta and other arti- cles, that the Joktanites were among tlie early colonists of Southern Arabia, and that the kingdom which they there founded was, for many centuries, called the king- dom of Sheba, after one of the sons of Joktan. They ap- pear to have been preceded by an aboriginal race, w hich the Arabian historians describe as a people of gigantic stature, who cultivated the land and [)eo])led the deserts dike, living with the Jinn in the "deserted quarter,"
or. like the tribe of Thamiid, dwelling in caves. This jieoide corresjiond, in their traditions, to the aborig- inal races of whom remains are found wherever a civilized nation has supiilanted and disjiossessed the ruder race. But, besides tliese extinct tribes, there are the evidences of Cushite settlers, who appear to have passed along the south coast from west to east, and who, ])robably, preceded the Joktanites and mixed with them when they arrived in the country.
Sheba seems to have been the name of the great South Araiiian kingdom and the peoples which composed it, imtil that of llimyer took its jilace in later times. On this|)oint much obscurity remains; but the Sabieans are mentioned by Diod. Sic. who refers to the historical books of the kings of Egypt in the Alexandrian library, and by Eratosthenes, as well as Artemidorus, or Aga- tharchides (iii, 38, 4G), who is Strabo's chief authority ; and the HomeritK or Himyeritcs are first mentioned by Strabo in the expedition of ^T'dius (iallus (]?.('. 24). Nowhere earlier, in sacred or firofane records, are I lie lat- ter peo])le mentioned, except by the Arabian historians themselves, who place Himyer very high in their list, and ascribe importance to his family from that early date. We have endeavored, in other articles, to show reasons for supposing that in this very name of Himyer we have the Ked Man and the origin of Erythrus, Ery- thriean Sea, Phoenicians, etc. See Ahabia; Ked Sea. The apparent difficulties of the case are reconciled by supposing, as M. Caussin de Perceval [Kssui, i, 54, 55) has done, that the kingdom and its people received the name of Sheba (Arabic, Sebti), but that its chief and sometimes reigning family or tribe was that of Himyer; and that an old name was thus preserved until the foun- dation of the modern kingdom of Himyer or the Tub- baas, whicli M. Caussin is inclined to place (but there is much uncertainty alioiit this date) about a century be- fore our icra, when the two great rival families of Him- yer and Kahlan, together with smaller tribes, were unit- ed under the former. In su]iport of the view tiiat the name of Sheba a|iplied to the kingdom and its people as a generic or national name, we find in the Kami'/s " the name of Seba comprises the tribes of the Yemen in connnon" (s. v. " Seba") ; and this was written long after the later kingdom of Himyer had flourished and fallen. And, further, as Himyer meant the " Ked Man," so, prob- ably, did Seba. In Arabic ihe verb seba — said of the sun, or of a journey, or of a fever — means " it altered" a man, i. e. by turning him red ; the noun seba, as well as sibd and sebee-ali, signifies "wine" (Taj el-Wrus iMS.). The Arabian wine was red; for we read "Kunieit is a name of wine, because there is in it blackness and red- ness" {Silidh BIS.). It appears, then, that in Seba we very possibly have the oldest name of the Ked Man, whence came (po7in^, Himyer, and Erythrus.