<p>Nebuchadnezzar's first question to Ben Sira is bizarre. "How does the rabbit shave her head?"</p>
<p>The answer Ben Sira gives connects this strange question to one of the most famous encounters in the Hebrew Bible -- the visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon. According to the Alphabet of Ben Sira, composed between 700 and 1000 CE, it was Solomon himself who invented a depilatory paste made from quicklime and arsenic. And he invented it for a very specific reason.</p>
<p>When the Queen of Sheba came to Jerusalem to test Solomon's wisdom, the king wanted to be intimate with her. But he discovered she was covered in body hair. So Solomon, out of his legendary wisdom, created this chemical mixture -- crushing arsenic and quicklime, mixing them with water -- and applied it to her skin. The hair fell away, and only then were they together.</p>
<p>The story is provocative on multiple levels. It casually reveals that Nebuchadnezzar's mother, according to this tradition, was the <a href='/texts/sefaria-legends-of-the-jews-2030.html'>Queen of Sheba</a> herself -- making the Babylonian king a descendant of Solomon's union with her. That's a bold genealogical claim, linking Israel's wisest king to Babylon's most feared conqueror.</p>
<p>When Nebuchadnezzar demands proof, Ben Sira simply declares: "I am a prophet, and the Holy Blessed One reveals all sealed matters to me." The king accepts this. In the world of this text, prophetic authority trumps every other form of evidence. You don't need to prove something happened if God told you it did.</p>