CHAPTER 10

(992 B.C.)

THE QUEEN OF SHEBA

¹And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the Name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions. (Sheba, a grandson of Cush, settled in Abyssinia. Even though many Gentile kings and potentates came to Solomon, none of these monarchs are mentioned particularly, except the Queen of Sheba, the Holy Spirit reserving that dignity for a woman. She is further honored by the Lord Himself in Mat. 12:42, where He predicts her reappearance in the Resurrection.

Evidently, the Queen of Sheba heard many wonderful things about Solomon, but it seems that at first she did not believe the reports. But after a little, moved by its repetition, she determines to put the matter to the test. She undertakes a long and expensive journey, and her quest was not disappointing.

How many today, as this African Queen of old, hear of the fame of the greater than Solomon and, like her, they do not believe the report, but, unlike her, they do not bestir themselves to test what they have heard Williams.

In the coming Kingdom Age, great men and women will come from all over the world to sit at the feet of Jesus, and will do so to have their hard questions answered, as it regards agriculture, industry, science, medicine, and other things. As Solomon of old, our Saviour will give these ambassadors the answer to their hardest questions.)

²And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bore spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. (Our Lord lays great stress on this long journey [Mat. 12:42; Lk. 11:31]. That was in her heart pertained to Spiritual questions, which were answered readily by Solomon. All the other, the gold, the precious stones, etc., were mere window dressing by comparison to the great questions of Deity and eternity.)

³And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not anything hid from the king, which he told her not. (Whatever these questions were, the greater question, as the Text indicates, was spiritual. She now knew that it was God Who had given Solomon these great gifts.)

⁴And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomons wisdom, and the house that he had built,

⁵And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the House of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her. (This is indicative of what will take place in the coming Kingdom Age, when ambassadors from all over the world come to Christ and, for the first time in human history, man will see what this planet can be like with Satan locked away, and the Lord Jesus Christ reigning as King of kings and Lord of lords.)

⁶And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your acts and of your wisdom (even though it is a true report, many today, even most, will not believe the Lord, but, in the coming Kingdom Age, they will, and unreservedly!).

⁷Howbeit, I believed not the words, until I came, and my eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame which I heard (whatever can be said about Christ, of Whom Solomon was a Type, the half has not been told [I Cor. 2:9-10]).

⁸Happy are your men, happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you, and who hear your wisdom (happy are all those who follow Christ and what He has done for us at the Cross).

⁹Blessed be the LORD your God, which delighted in you, to set you on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever, therefore made He you king, to do judgment and justice (proclaiming the fact that this queen now knows the Lord, having thereby accepted Him as the Lord of her life).

¹⁰And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold (about $60 million in 2004 currency), and of spices very great store, and precious stones: there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon (in the coming Kingdom Age, of which all of this is a type, such gifts will be given to Christ, but always, and without exception, what He gives back will be far, far greater!).

¹¹And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees, and precious stones.

¹²And the king made of the almug trees pillars for the House of the LORD, and for the kings house, harps also and psalteries for singers: there came no such almug trees, nor were seen unto this day (it is said that the wood of these almug trees was most sought after for the making of musical instruments).

¹³And king Solomon gave unto the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants. (She left with far more than she came. According to the custom of that time, tradition says that she bore Solomon a son, Melimelek by name, from whom the past sovereigns of Abyssina [Ethiopia] claimed to derive their descent.)

SOLOMONS GREAT WEALTH AND FAME

¹⁴Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold (about $350 million in 2004 currency; however, it is not possible presently to know the true worth, simply because we do not know the purchasing power of gold during the time of Solomon; more than likely, it would have been worth much, much more than the amount we have given, possibly even several billions of dollars),

¹⁵Beside that he had of the merchantmen, and of the traffic of the spice merchants, and of all the kings of Arabia, and of the governors of the country.

¹⁶And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of gold went to one target (nearly a quarter of a million dollars per target; a target was an exceedingly large shield).

¹⁷And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pounds of gold went to one shield (about $20,000 each): and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon (the governmental house built in Jerusalem of timber from the forest of Lebanon).

¹⁸Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold (the ivory was solid, and then overlaid with gold).

¹⁹The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind: and there were stays on either side on the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays. (Even though Solomon was a Type of Christ, he was only a type. The number six is stamped upon his government. The weight of gold paid each year to Solomon was 666 talents. He had six steps up to his throne, which stamps imperfection upon all his glory. Six is the number of man, who, incidentally, was created on the sixth day, and comes short of seven, which is Gods number of perfection. So, this tells us that, as glorious as was Solomons reign, it was still stamped with imperfection, hence the number six. The reign of Christ will be perfect. It will not fall short in anything.)

²⁰And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom. (It is most probable that the Lord gave Solomon the design for all of this, with the number twelve signifying Gods Government. It is that Government which made Israel so prosperous at this time, far above any other kingdom at that time in the world.)

²¹And all king Solomons drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver: it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon (there was so much gold that they did not even bother to count the silver, even though in abundance).

²²For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

²³So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the Earth for riches and for wisdom.

²⁴And all the Earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart (this is indicative of Christ, of Whom Solomon was a Type, which will be made evident to the entirety of the world, in the coming Kingdom Age [Zech. 14:8-10, 16-21]).

²⁵And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, and armour, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year (paying tribute to Solomon and to Israel, in order to partake of his wisdom).

²⁶And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen: and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he bestowed in the cities for chariots, and with the king at Jerusalem (all of this was maintained strictly for the sake of pomp and display).

²⁷And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycamore trees that are in the vale, for abundance (the sycamore trees of that time were of extreme value, equal to the cedars).

²⁸And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn: the kings merchants received the linen yarn at a price.

²⁹And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and an horse for an hundred and fifty: and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means. (For many years, it was claimed by critics that Hittite kings did not exist at that time; however, excavations in Asia Minor proved that assumption to be false. Hittite kings did exist at that time. As a result of such incidents, most archaeologists presently refrain from making announcements if they excavate something that seems to contradict the Bible. Just a little later, as it has proved time and time again, future excavations will prove the Bible to be true.

For instance, except for the Bible, it was claimed that no historical proof was found that David ever existed; however, in 2002, if I remember the year correctly, archaeological excavations proved that king David actually existed. But, of course, Believers of the Word of God do not need archaeological excavations to prove its veracity, even though that particular proof is always forthcoming.)