If the queen of Sheba’s breathlessness indicates that she was speechless for a time, then in 1 Kings 10:6–9 the writer shows that she regained her speech. These verses can be divided into two parts. 1 Kings 10:6 and 1 Kings 10:7 speak of the queen’s personal reaction to what she has seen and heard. She first mentions in 1 Kings 10:6 that the report that she had received in her own country was true as far as it went, but she also includes the further reaction when she actually arrived and saw and heard Solomon and his wisdom plus the magnificence of his kingdom. Of these things she said that the reports that she had received were only half of what the reality actually was. It may be that a bit of overstatement is in these words; certainly we are not to feel required to believe that the statement that half of it had not been reported was literally true in terms of exact measurement of what she had been told and what she actually experienced.
Yet, we must understand, as well, two things the queen mentioned that were of specific note to her. The first was the wisdom of Solomon, and the second was his prosperity. We should note that she puts wisdom in the first place and prosperity in the second place. A rich fool is little better off than a poor fool; both are in deep danger. The fool who is rich is likely to lose his wealth or squander it on things that are of really no value, and so he soon becomes a poor fool. Yet, we must understand that a poor wise man is superior also to a rich fool. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
It was Solomon’s wisdom that brought him prosperity, not the other way around.
6 And she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom,