1 Kings 10:5

the sitting of his servants Here -servants" signifies the officers and distinguished persons who were privileged to sit at the king's table, and were ranged according to rank and in large numbers at the royal banquets.

the attendance of his ministers This refers most probably to those persons who stood to serve the guests. The Hebrew word rendered -attendance" is literally -standing." See A.V. marg.

and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord This passage is rendered by the light of the parallel place in 2 Chronicles 9:4. There the word ועליתו does mean -and his ascent", but here the text gives ועלתו, which should be rendered -and his burnt offering." So that the margin of the R.V. (which is also accepted by Luther, Coverdale and the Geneva Bible) is correct for this verse, -and his burnt offering which he offered in the house of the Lord." If she had been present at a great sacrifice in the Temple it would doubtless have impressed her much. But it is possible that the scribe in one of these verses made a small error, and that they ought both to be the same. In that case we must decide whether it is more probable that after a list such as has gone before, about meat, servants, attendants, cupbearers, &c., there would follow some mention of a part of the building, a covered way or staircase by which the Temple could be reached from the king's palace, or a description of a solemn act of religious worship. Most people will be inclined to agree that the A.V. and R.V. have exercised a correct judgement in disregarding the text here, and interpreting by the light of the verse in 2 Chron. The R.V. has however added the rendering of the Massoretic text on the margin, which had not been done in A.V.

The LXX. here gives -the burnt offering," τὴν ὁλοκαύτωσιν, but its rendering in 2 Chronicles 9:4 is the same τὰ ὁλοκαυτώματα, where certainly the present Hebrew text should be translated -his ascent." Apparently the Greek translators regarded the verse before us as the true reading.

there was no more spirit in her Apparently the queen had come with some hope that she might get the better of Solomon, either in her display of queenly splendour, or in the questions which she propounded. What she found was so far in excess of what she had expected, that all thought of comparison of herself with Solomon's state was gone, and she was lost in admiration. For the expression cf. Joshua 5:1.