1 And 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. |
2 And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare 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. |
3 And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not any thing hid from the king, which he told her not. |
4 And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built, |
5 And 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. |
6 And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. |
7 Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard. |
8 Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom. |
9 Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice. |
10 And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, 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. |
11 And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees, and precious stones. |
12 And the king made of the almug trees pillars for the house of the LORD, and for the king's house, harps also and psalteries for singers: there came no such almug trees, nor were seen unto this day. |
13 And 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. |
14 Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold. |
15 Beside that he had of the merchantmen, and of the traffick of the spice merchants, and of all the kings of Arabia, and of the governors of the country. |
16 And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of gold went to one target. |
17 And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pound of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. |
18 Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold. |
19 The 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. |
20 And 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. |
21 And all king Solomon's 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. |
22 For 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. |
23 So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom. |
24 And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. |
25 And 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. |
26 And 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. |
27 And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycomore trees that are in the vale, for abundance. |
28 And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn: the king's merchants received the linen yarn at a price. |
29 And 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. |
10 The queen of Sheba's interview with Solomon, Ki1 10:1-10.
His riches, Ki1 10:11-15.
Targets, ivory throne, vessels, Ki1 10:16-23.
Presents, chariots and horses, tribute, Ki1 10:24-29.
10:1 Sheba - Of that part of Arabia, called Shabaea, which was at great distance from Jerusalem, bordering upon the Southern Sea; forthere, much more than in Ethiopia, were the commodities which shebrought, ver. Ki1 10:2, Ki1 10:10. Name of the Lord - That is, concerning God; the name of God beingoften put for God; concerning his deep knowledge in the things of God.For it is very probable she had, as had divers other Heathens, someknowledge of the true God, and an earnest desire to know more concerninghim. Questions - Concerning natural, and civil, and especially, Divinethings.
10:2 All her heart - Of all the doubts and difficulties wherewith her mind was perplexed.
10:4 House - Or, the houses, the temple and the king's house, in both which there were evidences of singular wisdom.
10:5 Sitting - The order and manner in which his courtiers, or other subjects (who all were his servants in a general sense) sat down atmeals, at several tables in his court. Attendance - Upon the king, bothat his table, and in his court; and when he went abroad to the temple orother places. Apparel - Both the costliness of it, and especially theagreeableness of it to their several places and offices. Went up - Fromhis own palace. See Ki2 16:18, but the ancients, and some others,translate the words thus, and the burnt - offerings which he offered up inthe house of the Lord; under which, is the chief, all other sacrificesare understood: when she saw the manner of his offering sacrifices to theLord; which doubtless she would not neglect to see; and in the ordering ofwhich she might discern many characters of excellent wisdom, especially whenshe had so excellent an interpreter as Solomon was, to inform her of thereasons of all the circumstances of that service. No spirit - She wasastonished, and could scarcely determine whether she really saw thesethings, or whether it was only a pleasant dream.
10:8 Happy, etc - With much more reason may we say this of Christ's servants: Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be alwayspraising thee.
10:14 Six hundred, etc - Which amounts to about three millions of our money. And this gold did not come from Ophir in India, orTharshish; but from Arabia and Ethiopia, which then werereplenished with gold, though exhausted by the insatiable avarice ofsucceeding Ages.
10:15 Merchant - men - Heb. of the searchers; either merchants, who use to search out commodities: or, the gatherers of the king's revenues,who used to search narrowly into all wares, that the king might not bedefrauded of his rights. Spice - merchants - Or rather, of themerchants in general, as the word is often used. So this and the formerparticular contain both the branches of the king's revenue, what he hadfrom the land, and what he had from the merchants and traders.Kings - Of those parts of Arabia which were next to Canaan, whichwere either conquered by David, or submitted to pay tribute toSolomon. But we must not think all these to be kings of largedominions; many of them were only governors of cities, and the territoriesbelonging to them, such as were formerly in Canaan, and were ancientlycalled kings. The country - Or, of the land; the land ofArabia: whereof some parts were so far conquered, that he had governorsof his own over them, who were each of them to take care of the king'srevenue in his jurisdiction; and part only so far, that they still hadkings of their own, but such as were tributaries to him.
10:16 Targets - For pomp and magnificence, and to be carried before him, by his guard, when he went abroad. The Roman magistrates had rodsand axes carried before them, in token of their power to correct the bad:but Solomon shields and targets, to shew he took more pleasure in hispower to defend and protect the good.
10:17 Shields - Smaller than targets.
10:19 Round - Made like the half of a circle.
10:21 Nothing - Comparatively. Such hyperbolical expressions are frequent both in scripture and other authors. But if gold in abundance,would make silver seem so despicable, shall not wisdom and grace, and theforetastes of heaven, make gold seem much more so?
10:22 Tharshish - Ships that went to Tharshish. For Tharshish was the name of a place upon the sea, famous for its traffick withmerchants, and it was a place very remote from Judea, as appears fromthe three years usually spent in that voyage. But whether it was Spain,where in those times there was abundance of gold and silver, as Straboand others affirm; or, some place in the Indies, it is needless todetermine.
10:24 All the earth - That is, all the kings of the earth, (as it is expressed Ch2 9:23,) namely of those parts of the earth.
10:28 Horses, etc - The two chief commodities of Egypt.Price - Solomon received them from Pharaoh at a price agreedbetween them, and gave this privilege to his merchants, for a tributeto be paid out of it.
10:29 Chariot - This is not to be understood of the chariots and horses themselves, but for the lading of chariots and horses, which consisting offine linen and silk, were of great value: and the king's custom, togetherwith the charges of the journey, amounted to these sums. Hittites - Apeople dwelling principally in the northern and eastern parts of Canaan,Jos 1:4,whom the Israelites, contrary to their duty, suffered to live amongstthem, Jdg 3:5, who afterwards grew numerous and potent, and, it maybe, sent out colonies (after the manner of the ancient times) into someparts of Syria and Arabia. And possibly, these kings of theHittites may be some of those kings of Arabia, ver. Ki1 10:15.