Commentary on 1 Kings 10:1 (Summary)

Some preliminary remarks are in order at the outset of comments on 1 Kings 10:1–29. This chapter might be said to give us first a demonstration of the greatness of Solomon’s wisdom, and in the second place a demonstration of his magnificent wealth. Commentators are not in agreement on how we should view the chapter as a whole. Some see it as wholly positive; others see it as rather neutral as far as any ethical judgment might be concerned, and still others see a great deal of negativity in the verses.

It is preferable to see it in a mixed manner. The Bible, in other places that bear upon the record that we are given here, marks out a narrow path that we must tread carefully. On the one hand, we must not forget that God had given promises to Solomon that he would keep. Chief among these promises was the promise to give Solomon wisdom. Solomon had asked this of the Lord, and the Lord in his grace had given him beyond what he had asked. Solomon wanted enough wisdom to safely guide Israel as its king, but the Lord gave him such wisdom that the Bible says that there was no one before him who had such wisdom, and there would be no one after him that could match his wisdom until the coming of One who is greater than Solomon. God also promised to give Solomon riches for which he had not asked. Thus, in regard to these two things we must be careful about criticizing Solomon.

On the other hand, God had set down in his law certain requirements that he laid down for the king that would be set over Israel when the people asked for him. There were stipulations that the king was to follow if he were to be obedient to God’s law. The first stipulation was that he was not to be a foreigner—he must be an Israelite. Second, he was not to multiply to himself horses nor to multiply excessive silver and gold. If we see violations of these stipulations of the law of God, are we not allowed to ask questions regarding these things?

The first section of 1 Kings 10 deals with Solomon’s wisdom, and this is largely positive as an example of the fact that God’s promise to give wisdom to Solomon was kept. Jesus uses the Queen of Sheba (or as he calls her, the Queen of the South) as a warning to those who would reject his wisdom, since she came to stand in awe of the wisdom of a mere human being. This is surely a positive analysis of Solomon and his wisdom. Yet, there are some questions that we might ask. Possessing wisdom is one thing; utilizing it correctly is another matter.

The second part of 1 Kings 10 deals with the display of the greatness and magnificence of Solomon’s wealth. Does God’s promise to give Solomon riches forbid us from asking questions concerning the wealth that is displayed in this chapter of Scripture? The answer to this question appears to be based on the question concerning Moses’ words in Deuteronomy 17:17 describing excessive gold and silver. Furthermore, as in the case of the discussion of wisdom, there is the question of the proper use of the gift that is given. God is able to dispose of the wealth of his creation as he pleases, and no one has the right to criticize that disposition. However, those who have received this disposition of God’s bounty are answerable to Him for the manner in which they use his distribution. Yet, a warning must be issued: is asking questions the same thing as knowing the answers to those questions?

1 Kings 10:1–13 deals with the visit of the Queen of Sheba, who had heard a report of Solomon’s wisdom and came to get a first-hand view of it. Essentially, she wanted to see if the reports were true.

Bible scholars are not in agreement as to the location of Sheba. Some hold to the view that it has some relationship with the nation we now know as Ethiopia. This would coincide with the legend that the imperial house of Ethiopia was descended from a son of Solomon and the Queen. There is no evidence that supports the legend. The emperors of Ethiopia did at one time call themselves the lion of the tribe of Judah. That of course does not make the legend true, but we always have to ask the question regarding a legend: what is its origin? We simply do not know in this case.

Other scholars are convinced that the location of Sheba was on the opposite side of the Red Sea somewhere in Arabia. I believe that Sheba was related to the origin of the Sabeans, of whom we learn in the book of Job. It is claimed that the kind of things that the following verses tell us were brought by the queen to give to Solomon were the kind of things that this ancient nation dealt in.

I do not see that we can decide for certain one way or the other. At the end of the day, it does not greatly matter where she came from. The point that the writer of 1 Kings is making is that she came from a long distance. Jesus called her the Queen of the South, which also suggested someone coming from a long distance. Yet, his designation does not solve the question of the two alternatives that scholars have brought forward. It might even have been a different place altogether.

The occasion of the Queen of Sheba’s coming to visit Solomon is based in this verse on the fame of Solomon. Yet it is important that we understand that the report is said to have a connection with the name of Yahweh. What are we to learn from this? It is not too far of a stretch for our imagination to connect it with the building of the temple. The text makes it clear that this was to be a house in which the name of the Lord would dwell. Thus, the fame of Solomon and his wisdom was not confined to a worldly wisdom, but it was a wisdom connected with God.

The Queen is said to have journeyed with hard questions to ask Solomon to test him. Some have argued that this was standard practice for a ruler who wished to enter into some kind of trade agreement with another ruler. Riddles would be proposed that were designed to show whether or not the other monarch would be able to be trusted in such an agreement. Those who hold such a view point to practices in other parts of the ancient Near East at that time. We cannot be certain about this being the case in this specific instance. It might be that Solomon’s wisdom with reference to the name of the Lord raised in her mind questions that truly disturbed her spirit.

The former suggestion casts some doubt upon how to interpret Jesus' words concerning this queen in Matthew 12:42 and Luke 11:31. He suggests that the queen came to hear Solomon’s wisdom, not to ask him riddles that would make a trade agreement advantageous to her. That would have certainly demonstrated Solomon’s wisdom but a wisdom that would have nothing to do with the name of God. Also, the following verse tells us that the Queen told Solomon all that was in her heart. This, too, does not seem to fit with tricky riddles devised to test Solomon’s intellectual acuity.