The story of King Solomon and Queen Sheba, in my mind, does a few things to set Ethiopia apart from other nations. By connecting Queen Sheba (and her son) to the direct blood-line of Solomon, Ethiopia's line of kings becomes important and has ties to places outside their own country. Because the connection to Solomon distinguishes Ethiopia from its sorroun ding neighbors, it also seperates them and in effect raising them above the sorrounding nations. This is especially interesting when thinking about the way in which Ethiopia will later be seperated by their Christianity (in contrast to their Muslim neighbors). Another interesting aspect of this story that makes Ethiopia of more note is their conversion from sun worshipers to the belief in the God of Israel. To me, this 180degree change (seemingly overnight) reflects the same ideas of extremes that were present when we read the Psalms. In the Psalms, the narrator (or whom ever he was symoblizing) was always on one end of the spectrum or the other. He was always completely guilty and in the worst degree, or completely in the Lord's faith and full to the top with his love--there was never any middle ground. With the Ethiopia conversion we see the same extremes. They went from heathinistic sun worshipers to believers in a "sophisticated" God and belief system.