1 Kings 10:1-3
Hard questions
She comes because of his fame concerning the name of the LORD, not simply his wealth. She tells him everything in her heart, and there is nothing hidden from the king that he does not answer.
People of the Bible
The queen of Sheba
Travelled about fifteen hundred miles to test a reputation, and went home saying the report had understated it.
She hears of Solomon’s fame concerning the name of the LORD and comes to prove him with hard questions. She arrives with a very great train, camels carrying spices, gold and precious stones, and she communes with him about all that was in her heart. Nothing is hidden from her. When she has seen the wisdom, the house, the food on the table, the seating of the servants, the clothing, the cupbearers and the ascent by which he went up, there is no more spirit in her. She gives him a hundred and twenty talents of gold and says the half was not told me.
Scroll down to the storyThe movements, in the order the text gives them.
The story of The queen of Sheba
- 01
- 02
1 Kings 10:4-5
There was no more spirit in her
The list is deliberately domestic: the table, the sitting of the servants, the attendance of the ministers, their clothing, the cupbearers, and the stairway he went up by.
- 03
1 Kings 10:6-9
Blessed be the LORD your God
She says the report was true and the half was not told. Then she moves past the man entirely and blesses the God who set him there to do judgment and justice.
- 04
1 Kings 10:10-13
She went to her own country
A hundred and twenty talents of gold and more spices than ever came again. He gives her whatever she asks besides what he gave of royal bounty, and she goes home.
Why it matters
She is the outsider brought in to confirm the verdict from a distance, and she says the thing the account most wants said: blessed be the LORD your God who delighted in you, because the LORD loved Israel forever, therefore he made you king to do judgment and justice. Jesus points at her a thousand years later, calling her the queen of the south who came from the ends of the earth to hear Solomon, and saying a greater than Solomon is here.
2 songs
The music
Every song in the catalogue whose passage falls inside these chapters.
