Solomon and the queen of Sheba
9
📚And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with hard questions, with a very great company and camels that carried spices and gold in abundance and precious stones. And when she had come to Solomon, she talked with him of all that was in her heart. 2 📚And Solomon answered all her questions; and nothing was hidden from Solomon which he did not tell her. 3 📚And when the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, 4 📚and the food of his table, and the seating of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers and their apparel, and his cupbearers and their apparel, and his stairway by which he went up to the house of the LORD, no more spirit was left in her.5 📚And she said to the king, “It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your deeds and your wisdom. 6 📚However I did not believe their words, until I came and saw it with my eyes. And, see, the half of the greatness of your wisdom was not told me; for you surpass the fame that I heard. 7 📚Happy are your men, and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom. 8 📚Blessed be the LORD your God, who delighted in you to set you on his throne 📖, to be king for the LORD your God. Because your God loved Israel he made you king over them to establish them forever, to administer judgment and justice”.
9 📚And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents 📖 of gold and spices in great abundance and precious stones; nor had there ever been any such spices as the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.
Solomon’s wealth
10 📚And also Huram’s servants and Solomon’s servants, who brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones. 11 📚And from the algum trees the king made steps for the house of the LORD and for the king’s palace, and harps and lyres for the singers; and such had never been seen before in the land of Judah.
12 📚And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all she desired, whatever she asked, besides gifts in return for what she had brought to the king. So she turned and went away to her own land, she and her servants.
13 📚Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred an sixty-six talents of gold, 14 📚besides that which traders and merchants brought. And all the kings of Arabia and leaders of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.
15 📚And King Solomon made two hundred shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of hammered gold went for each shield. 16 📚And he made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; three hundred shekels of gold went for each shield. And the king put them in the house of The Forest of Lebanon.
17 📚Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. 18 📚And there were six steps to the throne with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and arms on each side of the seat, and two lions standing by the arms. 19 📚And twelve lions stood there on this side and that side of the six steps. Nothing like it had been made in any kingdom. 20 📚And all the drinking vessels of King Solomon were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of The Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver. Silver was not something taken into account in the days of Solomon. 21 📚For the king’s ships went to Tarshish with Huram’s 📖 servants; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks.
22 📚And King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. 23 📚And all the kings of the earth sought out the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom that God had put in his heart. 24 📚And each man brought his present, articles of silver and articles of gold and garments, weapons and spices, horses and mules, so much year by year.
25 📚And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem. 26 📚And he reigned over all the kings from the Euphrates river to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt. 27 📚And the king made silver in Jerusalem as common as stones, and made cedar trees as plentiful as the sycamore trees that are in the lowlands. 28 📚And they brought to Solomon horses out of Egypt and out of all lands.
9:1-28 Notes at 1 Kings 10:1-29. God had promised Solomon great wisdom, wealth, riches, and honor (2 Chron 1:11-12). This chapter shows in some measure the fulfillment of that promise.⚜
Solomon’s death
29 📚Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the prophet and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat? 30 📚And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. 31 📚And Solomon slept 📖 with his ancestors, and he was buried in the city of his father David. And his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.
9:29-31 1 Kings 11:41-43. The author does not record the sad story of Solomon’s great sin toward the end of his life (1 Kings 11:1-10).⚜