Advent Twenty Three - Christ for all Nations

 23) Yemen

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When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the Lord, she came to test Solomon with hard questions. 2 Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. 3 Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her. 4 When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, 5 the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at[a] the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed. 1 Kings 10

Surely the most famous Yemeni of all time- The Queen of Sheba.  It is said that Esau headed off to the Yemen when Jacob took the ascendance.  Saba, now the land of the Houthis, is where the Queen came from. The Sabean script is related to Ge'ez of Ethiopian fame. 

The Yemen is one of those amazing countries that few people have visited due to war.  The coast was part of the British route to India.  It is a country that has seen too much war and division.  I met a nurse in The Gambia who worked in the Yemen,  she told me how she slept in the male dormitory when she was in the mountain towns, because the men of the house visited their wives in the night in the women's dormitory.  She told me that she always felt safe and welcome.

PRAYER:  May Yemen be a place we remember for its wonderful people.