1 Kings 10:1-29

God’s lessons from history

1 Kings

Philip Smith

Chapter 10

The Queen of Sheba’s visit

v1 The Queen of Sheba heard about Solomon’s fame and how he gave honour to the *Lord. So she came to test him with difficult questions. v2 She arrived in Jerusalem with a large group of servants. She brought camels that carried *spices and a large amount of gold and valuable stones. She met Solomon. Then she asked him all the questions that she could think of. v3 Solomon answered all her questions. None of her questions was too difficult for him. He explained everything to her. v4 The queen heard Solomon’s wisdom. She saw the palace that he had built. v5 She saw the food that people served at his table. She saw where his officials lived. She saw his servants and the clothes that they wore. She also saw the *burnt offerings that he made at the *temple of the *Lord. These things astonished her.

v6 Then she said to the king, ‘The story that I heard in my own country about you and your wisdom is true. v7 But I did not think that it was true. Now I have come and I have seen it with my own eyes. But I did not hear even half of it. Your wisdom and wealth are much greater than the story that I heard! v8 Your men must be happy. Your officials who always hear your wisdom must be happy. v9 I give honour to the *Lord your God! He has shown how pleased he is with you. He has made you king of *Israel. He has done this because of his love for *Israel that lasts for always. He appointed you to issue good laws and fair judgements.’

v10 She gave the king 4 and a half tons (4500 kilos) of gold. She also gave large amounts of *spices and valuable stones. Nobody else brought Solomon as many *spices as the Queen of Sheba did.

v11 (Hiram’s ships brought gold from Ophir. They also brought wood and valuable stones. v12 The king used the wood to make steps. These were for the *temple of the *Lord and the palace. He also made instruments for the musicians from it. Nobody has imported so much of this wood since that time.)

v13 Solomon gave the Queen of Sheba everything that she wanted. This was in addition to the gifts that he had already given her. Then she and her servants returned to her own country.

This is the famous story of the Queen of Sheba. Sheba was south of *Israel, probably in the south of Arabia. The Queen came to find out about Solomon’s wisdom and perhaps to discuss trade. She had heard stories about Solomon’s wealth and wisdom. She found out that the truth was even greater than the stories. She praised the God who had made Solomon king. She brought great presents with her. Solomon gave great presents to her.

The Queen of Sheba travelled a very long distance to visit Solomon. She very much wanted to see him. Jesus contrasted her with the people in his own time. ‘The Queen of the South and the people who are living now will stand up together on judgement day. She will show that they are guilty. She travelled a long way to listen to Solomon’s wisdom. Now someone who is greater than Solomon is here.’ (See Matthew 12:42.) We will have no excuse if we do not obey the words of Jesus. He is much greater than Solomon was.

Solomon’s wealth

v14 Every year Solomon received 666 *talents of gold. v15 This did not include the money that he received from merchants, kings in Arabia and *Israelite rulers.

v16 King Solomon made 200 large *shields out of gold. Each one contained 7 and a half pounds (3.5 kilos) of gold. v17 He also made 300 small *shields of gold. Each *shield contained about 3 and a half pounds (1.6 kilos) of gold. The king put all these *shields in the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon.

v18 Then the king made a royal seat. He covered part of it with ivory (material from an elephant’s big teeth) and part with gold. v19 It had 6 steps that led up to it. The top of the back of the seat was round. Next to each of the arms of the seat was the form of a lion. v20 At the end of each step was the form of a lion. There were 12 lions in total. Nobody had made anything like it for any other *kingdom. v21 King Solomon made all his cups out of gold. He made all the things that they used at their meals out of gold. [These things were in the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon.] Solomon did not make anything out of silver. Nobody considered it valuable in Solomon’s time. v22 The king had a group of sailing ships that went to sea with Hiram’s ships. Every three years his ships would return and bring goods. They brought gold, silver, ivory (material from an elephant’s big teeth) and monkeys.

v23 King Solomon was richer and wiser than any other king. v24 Everyone wanted to come and listen to the wisdom that God had given to him. v25 Every year people brought him gifts. People had made some of these gifts out of gold and silver. Other gifts included clothes, *weapons, *spices, horses and *mules.

v26 Solomon had 1400 *chariots and 12 000 horses. Some he kept in Jerusalem. The rest he kept in various other cities. v27 Because of Solomon’s great wealth, silver seemed as common in Jerusalem as stone. There was as much *cedar as ordinary wood. v28 He imported his horses from Egypt and Kue (Cilicia). His merchants bought them from Kue. v29 They imported a *chariot from Egypt for 600 shekels (7 kilos or 15 pounds of silver). And they imported a horse for 150 shekels (1.7 kilos or 3.7 pounds of silver). They also exported them to the kings of the *Hittites and the kings of Syria.

This passage shows Solomon’s great wealth. A great deal of it came from taxes that merchants paid. It also came from countries that his father had *conquered (verses 14-15). Much of it came from merchants who explored abroad. Some came from people who paid him for his advice (verses 24-25). He also obtained wealth from trade in horses and *chariots (verses 28-29).

Solomon made some gold *shields that he used in ceremonies. These showed that he protected his people. He also made a royal seat on which he sat to give laws and advice. The dishes and cups in the palace were gold. Silver seemed as common as stones. Note that he asked God for wisdom not wealth. God told him that he would get wealth also. This is because he asked wisely. Some people think that he wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes. If so, he learnt that wealth has no real value. Life has no meaning without God.

The great wealth of Solomon’s *kingdom reminds us about the great wealth of God’s *kingdom (Revelation 21:18-21). But unlike Solomon’s wealth, nothing will ever spoil the precious things in God’s *kingdom (1 Peter 1:4). And the things that God provides are beautiful. Even on this earth, those things are much more beautiful than anything that Solomon could make (Matthew 6:28-29).

But the wealth of Solomon’s *kingdom also reminds us about human desires, and about *sin. God’s law contained rules for the kings of *Israel (Deuteronomy 17:14-17). They must not collect silver and gold. They should not marry many wives. And they should not own great numbers of horses. Solomon did not obey these rules. At this time, Solomon was still serving God. But Solomon had begun to care more about his own wealth than he cared about God’s law.

Lord ~ the name of God. It can translate either of two words in Hebrew, which is the original language of this book. The word ‘Yahweh’ is God’s most holy name, and means ‘God always’. The word ‘Adonai’ means ‘master’.
spices ~ substances with a strong taste or smell; people take them from plants and they use them to cook with.
temple ~ the central place of worship that Solomon built in Jerusalem; or, a place where people worship a false god.
worship ~ to praise God and to give thanks to him; to show honour to God; to say that we love him very much. But some people worship false gods instead of the real God.
Israel ~ the country or nation of people who are descendants of Jacob; the northern part of that country after it divided.
descendants ~ people in your family who live after you.
talent ~ measurement of weight equal to 75 pounds or 34 *kilograms. But some students say that a talent was sometimes twice as heavy as that.
Israelite ~ someone who lives in Israel; or, a descendant of Jacob.
Israel ~ the country or nation of people who are descendants of Jacob; the northern part of that country after it divided.
descendants ~ people in your family who live after you.
shield ~ something that soldiers carry to protect their body from attack.
kingdom ~ a country or nation that a king or a queen rules.
weapons ~ tools of war, for example swords, which people use to cause pain, injury and death.
mule ~ an animal that is born after a horse mates with a similar animal called a donkey. A mule can carry heavy burdens.
burden ~ a heavy thing to carry; or, a difficult duty.
chariot ~ a cart with two wheels that soldiers used. Horses pulled it.
cedar ~ a tall tree whose leaves are always green. Or, the wood from this tree. This wood has a sweet smell.
Hittite ~ one of a group of people who had lived in Canaan before the Jews lived there.
Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children; an Israelite.
Israelite ~ someone who lives in Israel; or, a descendant of Jacob.
Israel ~ the country or nation of people who are descendants of Jacob; the northern part of that country after it divided.
descendants ~ people in your family who live after you.
conquer ~ to take control of a country or group of people by force.'sin/sinful ~ an action that is wrong or wicked. It is against a religious or moral law.
religious ~ about religion.