Solomon Entertains a Queen
10:1 When the queen of Sheba heard about Solomon, she came to challenge him with difficult questions.
Sheba was not in Ethiopa. Sheba was located in Yemen of southwestern Arabia, about 1,200 miles from Jerusalem. Sheba may be the land of the Sabeans, who were mentioned in Job. Solomon’s expeditions to Arabia threatened the caravan routes that made southern Arabia rich. The queen, like many other nations, traveled this great distance on camel to visit and verify Solomon’s reputation for wisdom and devotion to Jehovah. She also wanted to secure her trade routes, because the trade routes made her wealthy. She asked Solomon difficult riddles, attempting to stump him.
The queen of Sheba heard many great things about Solomon. She had heard of a temple where man could approach God. She wanted to know about this God who had blessed Israel so greatly. She heard of Solomon’s supernatural wisdom. She wanted to test Solomon with the most difficult riddles of Arabia.
The modern church is to take the gospel to the world. Ancient Israel was to become such a great example to the world, that nations would travel there to learn more about the one true God. During the reign of Solomon, nations visited Solomon to find out about the one true God.
The Greeks must have also made this visit and established their study of philosophy, science, and history from the inspiration of Solomon. Jewish historians were studying and recording history centuries before Herodotus. The Jewish scribes were recording theology centuries before the philosophies of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Solomon was the Leonardo da Vinci of his time, except that Solomon possessed supernatural wisdom.
10:2 She arrived in Jerusalem with a great display of pomp, bringing with her camels carrying spices, a very large quantity of gold, and precious gems. She visited Solomon and discussed with him everything that was on her mind.
Visiting monarchs usually brought expensive gifts to other monarchs.
10:3 Solomon answered all her questions; there was no question too complex for the king.
Solomon answered every one of the queen’s questions. Solomon was a walking encyclopedia of human viewpoint knowledge. He most likely had a photographic memory, similar to some who are gifted as such today. People who possess photographic memories today may be a small sample of what the mind of Adam was like before the Fall. Today, man only retains about 10% of what he learns. Sin has destroyed about 90% of man’s comprehension and recall capabilities.
10:4 When the queen of Sheba saw for herself Solomon’s extensive wisdom, the palace he had built, 10:5 the food in his banquet hall, his servants and attendants, their robes, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings which he presented in the Lord’s temple, she was amazed.
The Queen of Sheba ruled a vast empire of her own, but she was amazed at what Jehovah had done in Israel. The Hebrew word for “amazed” is ר֫וּחַ (ruach), meaning to leave one breathless or without spirit. There was no more spirit in her, because she discovered she could not get the best of Solomon. She had no more questions to ask and nothing else to say.
Notice that the queen witnessed that Solomon approached God by a burnt offering. The burnt offering was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. She would take this knowledge back to Arabia. During the brief forty-year reign of Solomon, God’s people were faithfully witnessing to Gentiles.
10:6 She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your wise sayings and insight was true!
The Queen of Sheba confirmed that the intelligence reports that she had received about Israel were accurate.
10:7 I did not believe these things until I came and saw them with my own eyes. Indeed, I didn’t hear even half the story! Your wisdom and wealth surpass what was reported to me.
Solomon’s kingdom was so vast and so great, that written words could not express the greatness of his kingdom.
10:8 Your attendants, who stand before you at all times and hear your wise sayings, are truly happy!
The servants of Solomon were living in happiness, because they were blessed by the one true God
10:9 May the Lord your God be praised because he favored you by placing you on the throne of Israel! Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he made you king so you could make just and right decisions.”
Notice that the Queen of Sheba said the Lord “your” God, not “our” God. Solomon informed the Queen of Sheba about the one true God, but she did not receive Him as her God. Like most pagans, she most likely saw Jehovah as one of many gods. She did give Jehovah credit for loving Israel, making Solomon king, and making Israel into a great nation.
10:10 She gave the king 120 talents of gold, a very large quantity of spices, and precious gems. The quantity of spices the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon has never been matched.
The Queen of Sheba was very wealthy herself. She gave Solomon about 4.5 tons of gold. Sheba, like all monarchs in that day, wanted Solomon as an ally and not as an enemy.
10:11 (Hiram’s fleet, which carried gold from Ophir, also brought from Ophir a very large quantity of fine timber and precious gems.
The Hebrew name for the fine timber was almug wood. This was most likely the strong, long-lasting sandalwood, which is black on the outside and ruby red on the inside. This wood is still used today to make musical instruments.
No historian knows the location of Ophir. In view of its exotic trade, many believe it was as far away as India.
10:12 With the timber the king made supports for the Lord’s temple and for the royal palace and stringed instruments for the musicians. No one has seen so much of this fine timber to this very day.)
Solomon used this almug wood as temple supports and for stringed instruments. The author wrote this historical incident sometime before the Babylon Captivity.
10:13 King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she requested, besides what he had freely offered her. Then she left and returned to her homeland with her attendants.
King Solomon returned much wealth to the Queen of Sheba, which gave him another ally and shipping ports in Arabia.
Solomon’s Wealth
10:14 Solomon received 666 talents of gold per year, 10:15 besides what he collected from the merchants, traders, Arabian kings, and governors of the land.
Solomon received 25 tons of gold per year from tolls, tariffs, revenues, and taxes from Arabian kings who used caravan routes under Solomon’s control. The Mosaic Law did not allow kings to multiply gold.
10:16 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; 600 measures of gold were used for each shield.
Solomon made 600 golden shields, which were not usable for battle. They were used for decoration only.
10:17 He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold were used for each of these shields. The king placed them in the Palace of the Lebanon Forest.
Solomon also made 300 smaller shields of gold. Since gold is a soft metal, these shields were used for parade rather than for battle. These golden shields would later alert Babylon to the wealth of Israel, causing Israel to fall into Babylonian captivity.
10:18 The king made a large throne decorated with ivory and overlaid it with pure gold.
Solomon built a large throne overlaid with pure gold and decorated with ivory. The people of Israel must have despised Solomon’s high taxes that were used for his own personal luxury.
10:19 There were six steps leading up to the throne, and the back of it was rounded on top. The throne had two armrests with a statue of a lion standing on each side.
There were six steps leading to the throne, which meant that Solomon was elevated high above his subjects. The throne had two armrests. Two statues of lions were standing on each side. Lions were the symbol of Judah. David, Solomon, and Jesus were all from the tribe of Judah.
10:20 There were twelve statues of lions on the six steps, one lion at each end of each step. There was nothing like it in any other kingdom.
There were two additional lions on each of the six steps, adding up to twelve lions total. These twelve lions may have represented the twelve tribes of Israel. There was no other ancient kingdom in the world which contained this much wealth.
10:21 All of King Solomon’s cups were made of gold, and all the household items in the Palace of the Lebanon Forest were made of pure gold. There were no silver items, for silver was not considered very valuable in Solomon’s time.
Even Solomon’s cups were made of gold. Solomon possessed so much gold, that silver was not worth very much.
10:22 Along with Hiram’s fleet, the king had a fleet of large merchant ships that sailed the sea. Once every three years the fleet came into port with cargoes of gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
These merchant ships were called “ships of Tarshish.” They were large cargo vessels designed to make long ocean voyages. Israel most likely traveled all over the world, including America.
Tarshish is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, but it location is unknown. The Hebrew word for Tarshish is similar to “smeltry,” so it may refer to ships which carry iron. Iron was a very important metal of ancient nations. Tarshish is the name of the son of Javan in Genesis 10:4. He was the ancestor of the Greeks. Since Tarshish citizens were sea-faring people, then they could have been Greeks, Phoenicians or Carthaginians. All of these people had contact with Tyre, meaning that they had access to Solomon. Others suggest that Tarshish may have been in Spain or the British Isles. It is believed that the Tarshish ships sailed even to India and America.
Notice that Solomon was called to give a witness to the world, but he was spending his time and energy on importing apes and peacocks. Many Christians today spend their time on apes and peacocks rather than getting out the world of God.
10:23 King Solomon was wealthier and wiser than any of the kings of the earth.
Solomon was the wealthiest and wisest king in all of history. During the Millennial Kingdom, Jesus will become the wealthiest and wisest king in all of history, except that His kingdom will become global. This is why Jesus said “that one greater than Solomon is standing here.”
10:24 Everyone in the world wanted to visit Solomon to see him display his God-given wisdom.
Everyone in the world, including the Greeks, wanted to visit Solomon.
10:25 Year after year visitors brought their gifts, which included items of silver, items of gold, clothes, perfume, spices, horses, and mules.
God gave Solomon such great wisdom, that rulers all over the world wanted to learn from Solomon. They brought him gifts to become his allies and his pupils. They learned of the one true God. They took political wisdom to their own nations. They learned the architecture skills of Solomon.
These gifts ensnared Solomon, because it caused him to marry foreign wives for political alliances. It was against the Mosaic Law to multiply wives. These foreign wives led Solomon into idolatry. This idolatry spread into Israel, causing them to worship other false demonic gods. Israel entered into civil war and divided, meaning that ten tribes were no longer worshiping Jehovah in Jerusalem. The ten tribes built their own altar and worshiped false gods. Prophets would later warn Israel to turn back to Jehovah, but the people would kill the prophets. Jehovah would eventually have to send Israel into captivity to foreign nations. One hundred years later, Judah followed the same path as Israel and they were taken into the Babylon Captivity. Eventually, Jehovah would send His own Son to Israel while it was under Roman occupation, but He would be called “demon possessed” and crucified. David eliminated idolatry and turned the nation back to Jehovah. Solomon became an idol worshiper himself and tolerated idolatry. Solomon’s multiplication of wives was the seed of all of these future rebellions of Israel.
10:26 Solomon accumulated chariots and horses. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses. He kept them in assigned cities and in Jerusalem.
It was against the Mosaic Law for kings to multiply wives and horses. God wanted His kings trusting in Jehovah and not in military chariots and political alliances. today, America does not trust in God. She trusts in political alliances and the nuclear bomb.
The stone stables of Solomon at Megiddo have been excavated by the University of Chicago archaeologists. They were estimated of housing from three hundred to five hundred horses.
10:27 The king made silver as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones; cedar was as plentiful as sycamore fig trees are in the lowlands.
Silver was as plentiful as stones. Cedar was as plentiful as sycamore trees. Israel was blessed greatly during the days of Solomon.
10:28 Solomon acquired his horses from Egypt and from Que; the king’s traders purchased them from Que.
Solomon acquired horses from Egypt. Egypt was one of the first nations to produce chariot cavalries. They used their chariot cavalries against Moses in the wilderness. However, the entire cavalry was drowned in the Red Sea.
Que was in Cilicia, which was an area south of the Taurus Mountains in Asia Minor. Cilicia was known for breeding and selling the very best horses of the ancient world.
10:29 They paid 600 silver pieces for each chariot from Egypt and 150 silver pieces for each horse. They also sold chariots and horses to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Syria.
Solomon paid about fifteen pounds of silver for each chariot and 3.5 pounds of silver for each horse. He made a large profit in this import-export business.
For centuries, there was no archaeological evidence of the Hittites. Skeptics laughed at the Bible and called it historically inaccurate. Then, archaeologist Hugo Winkler discovered forty different Hittite cites. A peace treaty was found between the Egyptians and the Hittites. These archaeological finds demonstrated that the Hittites were so strong, that Egypt desired a peace treaty with them. Skeptics do not use this argument anymore.
The chariots gave Israel a false sense of security. Israel was placing her faith in her military defenses rather than in Jehovah. This false security would begin to turn the hearts of the people away from Jehovah. Materialism, prosperity, and a strong military lead men into arrogance and apathy toward God. This is why prosperity teachers are so dangerous today. Prosperity leads men away from God, not to God.
In conclusion, the whole world learned about the one true God by visiting Israel. Today, the church is to take the gospel to the world. In the days of Solomon, the world came to Solomon to hear about the one true God. In the future, all of the world will come to visit and learn the wisdom of King Jesus in Jerusalem.