queen

A woman sovereign, consort or wife of a king, or a mother of a king. Israel, unlike other nations around it, knew no legitimate female sovereigns. A king’s wife in ancient Israel apparently had no official function, though marriages were often contracted to cement alliances with other nations (2Sam 3:3; 1Kgs 3:1; 1Kgs 16:31; 2Kgs 8:25-27). The queen mother (mother of the king) had a more important role than the queen consort (wife of the king) in both Israel and surrounding nations (1Kgs 2:19; 1Kgs 15:13). Athaliah (2Kgs 8:26; 2Kgs 11:1-4) was a queen mother who actually usurped the throne of Israel for seven years upon the death of her son, Ahaziah. Two foreign queens are mentioned in the Bible, the queen of Sheba (1Kgs 10; 2Chr 9) and Candace, queen of the Ethiopians (Acts 8:27).