A Visit From The Queen of Sheba
November 27, 2021
Commentary
Solomon’s wisdom captured international attention. It even reached out to the Queen of Sheba, which in modern terminology is Arabid which is about 1,200 miles from Jerusalem. Probably Solomon’s merchants had been operating along the Arabian coast and made contact with this prosperous and important kingdom.
The Queen of Sheba decided to visit Solomon and it seems that her primary purpose was to see if he was really as wise and wealthy as she had heard. Her very great company of followers and the expensive gifts she brought reflected her own prestige. The Queen was quite wealthy as she gave Solomon 120 talents (4 ½ tons) of gold and great quantities of spices and precious stone (v. 10). In return, Solomon gave the Queen gifts and all that she desired and asked for (v. 13).
The Queen had been quite skeptical about all of Solomon’s wealth and wisdom, but she said it all far exceeded what she had been told. Even though she was probably a pagan she was willing to credit the Lord with giving Solomon all that he had (vv. 6-9).
The last half of this chapter gives a summary of Solomon’s wealth. The annual revenue of gold was almost 25 tons or an equivalent of over 67 million dollars (vv. 1-15). God had told his kings not to multiply god (Duet. 17:17), but Solomon disobeyed. The reason for this prohibition was that the Lord wanted His people to depend on Him and not on their wealth. It was soon evident that the heart of Solomon and his people were turned away from God.
Application
The true test of a humble servant is not how much I am willing to take in terms of suffering, but how much I am willing to give in terms of sacrifice. The question is how much of self am I willing to place on the cross?
Philippians 2:1– 08 (NET)
1 Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort provided by love, any fellowship in the Spirit, any affection or mercy, 2 complete my joy and be of the same mind, by having the same love, being united in spirit, and having one purpose. 3 Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. 4 Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well. 5 You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had,
6 who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature.
8 He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death —even death on a cross!
Illustration: We Need to be Christians Above All
We need to be Christians above all. Martin Luther said: “I pray you leave my name alone. Do not call yourselves Lutherans, but Christians.” John Wesley said: “I wish the name Methodist might never be mentioned again, but lost in eternal oblivion.” Charles Spurgeon said: “I say of the Baptist name, let it perish, but let Christ’s own name last forever. I look forward with pleasure to the day when there will not be a Baptist living.” (Encyclopedia of Illustrations – #3786).