Z1 m 1-. Queen of Sheba. Journey.
n -1. Presents brought.
o 2. What she heard.
p 3,4. What she knew.
o 5-8. What she said.
n 9-11. Presents exchanged.
m 12. Queen of Sheba.
894? B.C.
2 Chronicles 9)
1 And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, (for further notes, see 1 Kings 10) she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great company,
and camels that bare spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.
2 And Solomon told her all her matters: and there was nothing hid from Solomon which he told her not.
3 And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built,
4 And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel; his cup-bearers also, and their apparel; and his ascent (i.e. the causeway of 1 Chron. 36:16,18) by which he went up into the house of the Lord; there was no more spirit in her.
5 And she said to the king, "It was a true report which I heard in my own land of your acts, and of your wisdom:
6 However I believed not their words, until I came, and my eyes had seen it: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of your wisdom was not told me: for you exceed the fame that I heard.
7 Happy are your men, and happy are these your servants, which stand continually before you, and hear your wisdom.
8 Blessed be the Lord your God, which delighted in you to set you on his throne, to be king for the Lord your God: because your God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore made he you king over them, to do righteousness and justice."
9 And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, (1 talent = 75 U.S. pounds) and of spices great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon.
10 And the servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, which brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones. (See 1 Kings 10:12)
11 And the king made of the algum trees stairs to the house of the Lord, and to the king's palace, and harps and psalteries for singers: and there were none such seen before in the land of Judah.
12 And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which she had brought to the king. (this, like other differences, is complimentary.) So she turned, and went away to her own land, she and her servants.
Y2 q 13,14. Importation.
r 15-20. Manufacture.
q 21. Importation.
r 22. Possession.
897-880 B.C.
13 Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and threescore and six talents of gold; (666. Denotes the human number. Man was created on the sixth day; and this first occurrence of the number makes it (and all multiples of it) the hall-mark of all connected with man. He works six days. The hours of his day are a multiple of six. Athaliah usurped the throne of Judah six years. The great men who have stood out in defiance of God (Goliath and Nebuchadnezzar and Antichrist [who is Satan]) are all emphatically marked by this number.)
14 Beside that which traffickers and merchants brought. And all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.
15 And king Solomon made two hundred pointed shields of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one pointed shield.
16 And three hundred protection shields made he of beaten gold: three hundred shekels of gold went to one protection shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. (This is the palace of cedar in Jerusalem. 1 Kings 7:2)
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, (see v.13) with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and stays on each side of the sitting place, and two lions standing by the supports:
19 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.
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 purified gold: none were of silver; it was not any thing accounted of in the days of Solomon.
21 For the king's ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: every three years once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
22 And king Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.
23 And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, that God had put in his heart.
24 And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, armor, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.
25 And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, (see 1 kings 4:25) and twelve thousand horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.
26 And he had dominion over all the kings from the river (i.e. the Euphrates) even unto the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt. (Not river. Gen. 15:18 yet waits fulfillment)
27 And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar trees made he as the sycamore trees that are in the low plains in abundance.
28 And they brought to Solomon horses out of Egypt, (yet horses out of Egypt had a leading part in destroying Judah. Cp. 12:3,4,9. Ps. 33:17) and out of all lands.
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? (so that he had warning from God.)
30 And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.
31 And Solomon slept with his fathers, (see Deut. 31:16. Solomon died at the age of 60) and he was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.