The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon
10 When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the LORD, she came to test Solomon with hard questions.
Undoubtedly Solomon played host to many foreign dignitaries and sovereigns. One of the most impressive was the queen of Sheba. Some ancient commentators thought that she was from Ethiopia, but she was not the queen of Saba (Ethiopia) but of Sheba: her nation corresponded somewhat to modern Yemen in Arabia, but our author doesn’t spend much time on where she came from. She came with questions because of what she had heard about Israel’s king, and she came with ḥidoth, “hard questions” or “enigmas.” She wanted to compare Solomon’s wisdom with her own.
2 Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind.
The queen didn’t just come with questions. She also came with lavish gifts, extravagant samples of the wealth of her country and conquests: Jewels and gold and valuable spices. Arabia was famous for these things, and equally famous for its wisdom and love of riddles and the very kind of enigmas that were on the queen’s mind.
3 Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her. 4 When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, 5 the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the LORD, she was overwhelmed. (NIV)
It all took her breath away! Solomon’s answers were amazing. His insight left her speechless. Here was a king who could not be deceived; who was a scholar, a scientist, an architect, a poet—here was a leader whose wisdom carried over into every detail of the court. Certainly he had a wonderful palace and fine food, but even his seating arrangements and the clothes his courtiers wore was impressive. We don’t know why the arrangement was so good, but perhaps Solomon had the men sit by divisions, with all of one sort of official in a group, and others in their groups, rather than simply by age, position or seniority as might have been expected.
The term “burnt offerings” in the last part of verse 5 is uncertain. The New American Standard Bible has:
and his stairway by which he went up to the house of the LORD.
The Hebrew word ‘olah means “to go up,” and although this is the name given to the offering that “goes up” (the burnt offering), here it could simply mean “ascent” or some special private “way up” or ornate stairway going from Solomon’s palace into the temple area. An ordinary burnt offering (if we could call it that) would not impress a visiting queen who would be used to slaughter and animal sacrifices. But a wonderful piece of architecture, ingeniously designed and perfectly constructed, might astound her. In fact, all of what she saw made it so that, as the Hebrew so graphically puts it: “there was no longer any breath in her.” It didn’t just take the wind out of her sails. It knocked the wind out of her completely. It made her breathless.
Maybe your life—the good works you offer to God as a thank you for Jesus’ sacrifice—will knock the wind out of someone someday. Maybe it will be the push that someone needs to listen to the gospel and hear the news that truly takes our breath away: Jesus Christ gave up his life to atone for our sins, and through Jesus we have forgiveness and eternal life in heaven. That leaves us breathless every day.
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn’s father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
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