Solomon and the Queen of Sheba

1 Kings 10. 1 Kings chapter 10, looking at Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. A very familiar story to the Jewish nation that was passed down from generation to generation. And we know that because our Lord Jesus Christ would refer to this incident when he was talking to the Pharisees in Matthew's Gospel, the 12th chapter.

And of course, the question always comes: how do you know that they knew? My son asked me that question the other day. He says, Dad, you always say, Yeah, they knew this. How do you know they knew this? Well, it's because how many times did Jesus say, Have you not read? Have you not heard? In fact, in the Sermon on the Mount, he said, You have heard that it was said by the ancients of old, but I say, Unto you. Remember that? He said that over and over again in Matthew chapter 5. Because the ancients of old had told them, the rabbis had told them certain things about the law of God. But he says, But I say unto you, because I'm going to show you the spirit behind the law to help you understand the attitude that needs to be adopted by you as the people of God.

There are times in which he said, in fact, in John chapter 5, when he said, You search the scriptures, for in them you think that you have eternal life, but you've missed me. So there was this constant searching of the scriptures. The Jewish nation would go to the synagogue in the morning. They would go to the synagogue at night. They would hear the word of the Lord. They would learn the word of the Lord. It was said in the Old Testament that the fathers were to teach the children the truth of the word of God.

In fact, when Joshua was exhorting the people to follow the Lord, they made sure the fathers got together and said, Yes, we will do this, we will pass this down from generation to generation. And then, when you come to the book of Judges, second chapter, the fathers stopped doing that because there arose a generation that did not know the Lord, and that's why God would raise up judges to judge the nation. And yet they were to pass down these truths.

Well, this story about the Queen of Sheba would have been taught to the Jewish people, they would have read the Old Testament and they would have known the story. Christ would refer to it because he would indict the nation, he would indict the leaders by virtue of this story right here. And he would show us how important it is to understand how it is we are to listen to what the Lord has to say.

Okay, so 1 Kings chapter 10, let me set the narrative in your mind. It says in verse number 1, Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with difficult questions. So she came to Jerusalem with a very large retinue, with camels carrying spices and very much gold and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart. Solomon answered all her questions. Nothing was hidden from the king which he did not explain to her.

When the queen of Sheba perceived all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the attendants of his waiters and their attire, his cup, and his stairway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no spirit in her. Then she said to the king, It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. Nevertheless, I did not believe the reports until I came and my eyes had seen it, and behold, the half was not told to me. You exceed in wisdom and prosperity the report which I heard. How blessed are your men. How blessed are those your servants who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom. Blessed be the Lord, your God, who delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel. Because the Lord loved Israel forever, therefore he made you king to do justice and righteousness.

She gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold. Oh, by the way, that's four and a half tons of gold, and a very great amount of spices and precious stones. Never again did such abundance of spices come in as that which the Queen of Sheba gave Solomon. Also the ships of Haram, which brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir a very great number of almond trees and precious stones. The king made of the olive trees supports for the house of the Lord and for the king's house, also lyres and harps for the singers. Such almond trees have not come in again, nor have they been seen to this day. King Solomon gave to the Queen of Sheba all her desire, which she requested, besides what he gave her according to his royal bounty, then she turned and went to her own land together with her servants.

A story that's not too difficult to grasp, but three things that will set in our minds the direction we want to go. And first of all, is her arrival. The second thing is her affirmation, and the third is our application. All right, so three very simple points.

First of all, her arrival. Listen to what the text says. It says, Now, when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord.

There's no doubt that after twenty years of being king over Israel, there was much fame that had been spread not just in the land of Israel, but in the surrounding nations. As he would gather material for his palace that he was building for himself as well as for the temple of God and send ships out to gather the materials, people would speak about what was happening in the land of Israel. Solomon's name would come up, and the fame of this man would begin to spread.

Now, he just, I mean, today, you know, you can just go on Instagram and everybody knows how famous somebody is or how infamous somebody is based on a picture that they see or a report that somebody gives, right? It's so simple today. But in those days, it was all by word of mouth. It would pass from one port to the next port to the next port, and it would just go from place to place, and people would hear about this king named Solomon and all the things that he was doing, and all the wisdom that this king had that, of course, God had given to him.

But notice that the text says that the fame of Solomon, according to the name of the Lord. His fame is associated with the name of the Lord. It wasn't for his own glory. It wasn't for his own purposes. It simply was for the glory and honor of God. No matter what your achievement, no matter what your accomplishment, it always must be in line with the name of the Lord. It's never about us, it's always about the Lord. And Solomon's effort was to make sure that the Lord was put on display. He built a house for the name of the Lord. It was the house for his name, for his glory, for his honor.

And so, as we go through, and we've been 14 weeks now into this series, this is the last good thing in Solomon's life. This is it. Because next week you're going to see how erosion takes place in Solomon's life, how it's been happening over time, but what happens toward the latter end of his kingship and how it takes the nation into ruins. So this is the last good thing that happens, but you need to notice that his fame is associated with the name of the Lord.

I've said this to you before, and my children know well when they leave my house, I tell them, don't defame the name. Whatever you do, don't defame the name. And they used to think it was the Sparks name. It's not the Sparks name, it's God's name. Don't defame God's name. When you leave the house and you go to school, when you leave the house and you go to work, when you leave the house and you go to play, when you go to associate with other people. Don't defame God's name. Honor God's name and make sure that what you do is in line with who He is. So you're giving glory to the Lord God of Israel. That's what Solomon's objective was. Up to this point, he had sought the name of the Lord and his fame that had gone before him was in accordance with the name of God Himself.

And so this queen from Sheba, from Arabia, some 1,500 miles away. Now how long do you think it would take for word to travel 1,500 miles in those days? But she had heard about the fame of Solomon. And so she would set out on a journey to see if what she heard was true. So what she heard had to be incredible, right? I mean, she wouldn't go because there was a smart guy in Israel. She wouldn't go because a guy was building a house in Israel. She would go because of all the things she heard about this man, this king, and the wisdom that he had. And this temple that he built that took seven years, and a palace that he built for himself that took 13 years. And everything that happened in the land of Israel, and the great peace that was in the land because of this man who was king over Israel, she wanted to find out about this man.

And so the text tells us that she came to test him with difficult questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very large entourage. Now you can imagine the streets of Jerusalem with the Queen of Sheba and her entourage. Remember, she gives him four and a half tons of gold. How do you carry that? How do you transport all that? That's not including all the perfumes and all the spices and all the goods that she brought with her. And all of her maids and maidservants, and all the guards, and all the officials that came with her. This was a whole group of people. This wasn't just a few people making a journey. And she wasn't making an overnight trip. I mean, she wasn't getting into her chariot, driving a few miles, spending the night in Jerusalem, meeting with the king the next day, then going back home. I mean, this was going to be a long journey. This is going to take some time to get there. So you had to bring all the food with you in your journey to make sure you could feed everybody that you brought with you. This was quite an ordeal.

And she goes because she wants to ask him difficult questions. Evidently, there were questions that she had that she needed to have answered. And it says these words She came to Jerusalem with a very large retinue with camels carrying spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart.

Now, we don't know what those questions were, right? We have no idea. But from the story, we do know how the king would answer her questions. We do know from the story things that she gleaned from Solomon when he answered her questions. That's very important, and we'll see that in a moment. But think of what kind of questions would be on the mind of the queen from the south? What would be going through her mind? What would she be thinking? Was she wanting to know questions about his God? Was she wanting to know questions about his lifestyle? Well, she wanted to know how it is he actually built the temple or where he got the goods for the temple. We don't know what the questions were that she had. All we know is the text says she came to ask difficult questions. I mean, after all, if he's the man of wisdom, right, what else are you going to ask but the wisest man around. So she goes to ask the wise hard questions. But not only that, but to share with him the things that were in her heart, things that were dearest to her. And we don't know what those were. But Solomon the man of wisdom would be able to impart wisdom to her.

Let me ask you a question. When you have questions, where do you go for answers? Who do you ask? You know, so many times we can gather with a group of people to ask questions, and basically, all we're doing is pooling our ignorance. And hopefully, somebody comes up with the right thing, right? Instead of going to the God who is wisdom, the Bible tells us these words in Job 12, verse number 13: With God there is wisdom and might. Not only does God know everything, He's powerful enough to deal with everything. The Bible says in Daniel 2, verse number 20: wisdom and power belong to him. Romans 16:27. Paul calls him the only wise God. 1 Corinthians 1:24. Christ is the wisdom of God. In Colossians 2, 3, and in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

So, God is the God of wisdom, right? Christ has all wisdom. And so, when Solomon, way back earlier in his life, God says you can ask anything you want from me, what do you want? He goes, I want wisdom. He's asking, I want to be like you. I want to be as wise, Lord, as you are wise. Give me wisdom. And that's why God was so pleased with His request, because it signified that Solomon wanted to be like God, who is all-wise and all-knowing.

And so, the question for us is: where do we go when we have questions? When you have hard questions, who do you ask? Do you ask people who have wisdom and discernment? Do you go to the scriptures which are to us, wisdom and knowledge and understanding. Where do you seek the answer from? On the flip side of that, do people come to you and ask you for answers? Are you the kind of person that exudes wisdom? That when you open your mouth, wisdom comes out? You speak truth. So, when someone comes and has a question, they say, I can go ask this person because they'll know the answer. And if you don't know the answer, you know where to get the answer because you had the scriptures, which give us wisdom.

The Bible says in 1 Peter 3:15 that we're to sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts in order that we might be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks of the hope that lies within. Have we set Christ apart in our hearts? Have we sanctified Christ as Lord? Have we set Him apart as Lord in our lives? So that we are able to answer anybody who asks us a question of the hope that lies within. The hope that's rooted in who? Rooted in God. Remember, you're here on Sunday? Rooted in God. Received by grace. Folks, you got to come back, get a tape. How are you missing this?

Realized in Christ. Revealed in scripture. And released by the church. That's the hope that lies within. And so, if we sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts, we're ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope that lies within us. Are you ready? Are you prepared? Do you have wisdom? Do you know where to get wisdom? Do you know how to answer questions when people ask you? That's the first thing we see in this text. The Queen of Sheba came because she had questions, and she wanted to ask the man who had wisdom.

The second thing we see is her affirmation. Her affirmation. Listen to what she says. She says in verse number 6, It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. Nevertheless, I did not believe the reports until I came and my eyes had seen it, and behold, the half was not told to me. You exceed in wisdom and prosperity the report which I heard. How blessed are your men. How blessed are those your servants who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom. Blessed be the Lord, your God, who delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel. Because the Lord loved Israel forever, therefore he made you king to do justice and righteousness.

What an affirmation from this queen. She says, I heard about you, but I didn't believe it until I came and saw it for myself. And now that I've seen it, the half was not told to me. You exceed what I heard about you. And she blesses Solomon, she blesses his servants, and she blesses the Lord God of Israel. What a testimony this is. This woman, who is not a believer, who is not part of the covenant people of God, comes and sees the wisdom of Solomon and the glory of the Lord, and she gives this incredible affirmation.

And you know what? This is exactly what Jesus was talking about when he said in Matthew 12:42, The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here. Jesus is saying, this woman came 1,500 miles to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and you have someone greater than Solomon right here in front of you, and you won't listen. You won't believe. You won't receive what I have to say.

And that's the indictment that Jesus brings against the Jewish leaders of his day. They had someone greater than Solomon, and they wouldn't listen. They wouldn't believe. They wouldn't receive. But this woman, this Gentile woman, came from far away to hear wisdom, and she believed what she heard and saw.

And so this brings us to our application. What price will you pay to receive the wisdom of God? What price will you pay to make sure that you don't miss out on what God has for you? So important to realize that. But the thing, the second thing I want you to see: not only does this point out the path to gaining and finding wisdom. But it also points to the privilege God gave Israel to be a light.

God gave Israel a huge responsibility, and that was to be a light to the Gentiles. The temple was a house of prayer for all nations, according to the book of Isaiah. Not just the Jewish people, but for all nations. That's what it was intended to be. But Israel was designed with this great privilege to be a light. They were never designed to retain the light or diffuse the light. But they were assigned to make sure that they reflected the light and dispensed the light. Okay? They were never designed to retain it, but to reflect it. Never to diffuse it, but to make sure that they dispensed it. That was their responsibility.

And part of that was what was happening with Solomon, his leadership, the peace in the nation, and the spread of Solomon's fame all around the countries and nations surrounding Israel. They were to be a light. There would be foreigners that would come into the land because of Solomon, his wisdom, and the nation as a light. That's what God designed them to do.

Same is true for the church. We are the light of the world, right? We are light. We are to shine that light brightly so that others can see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven. That's our responsibility as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, in the book of Philippians, Paul says these words: Philippians chapter 2. He says, Do all things without grumbling or disputing. Why? Because if you grumble and dispute, you diffuse the light. So, do it without grumbling and disputing. So, that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent children of God, above reproach, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, you are lights of the world. Christ is the light of the world. Because we are partakers of His divine nature, we by nature now are the light of the world.

Israel had this beautiful privilege, and that privilege was to be a light to the Gentile nations. When they failed to do that, God birthed the church. And the church now becomes that agency through which he reflects the beauty of his presence.

So this story in 1 Kings chapter 10 points to the path by which we find wisdom. It points to the privilege by which Israel was given to be a light to the Gentiles. But it also points to the problem Israel is very soon going to have. 1 Kings 11. And what's the problem? The problem comes with their unholy alliances. The problem is going to come with their unholy involvement with those around them. And that problem is going to escalate to unholy immorality.

You see, we are called to be lights of the world. We are called to influence others for the sake of the gospel. But if we don't guard our hearts, if we don't protect our hearts, if we don't watch over our lives, what's going to happen? Is the same thing that happened to Israel. And that is, there was this slow but sure erosion that took place on the inside. And we'll see this next week with Solomon as he takes a fall because of those unholy and unholy alliances with the nations of the world.

It was a good thing to have an impact in the world. It was a great thing for the Queen of Sheba to come and find out about the wisdom of God. But it's a bad thing that when you get so close to the world, you begin to adopt the characteristics of the world. And let the world begin to influence you into their mold instead of you impacting them toward Christ's mold. And that's what happened with Israel. And that's why this story points to the problem that begins with Israel.

This story shows us how far reaching their testimony had been received, and how far their light had begun to shine. But with that, with that came all kinds of influences from the world, that because they were not careful. They did not guard their hearts. All of a sudden, slowly but surely, things began to erode away. Erosion doesn't happen overnight. Divorce doesn't happen overnight, right? Sexual sin doesn't happen just overnight. There is a slow but sure erosion of the soul that leads that direction. And that's what happened in the land of Israel.

And so while we read this story, mark it down. This is the last great thing that happens in the land. Because from here on out, everything begins to take a huge dive downward that leads to the death of Solomon. Or first of all, the sin of Solomon, the chastisement from God upon Solomon. And the dividing of a nation after his death. Simply because they did not heed God's warnings.

And so, while we are here, understand the beauty of the story and the greatness of the story, and ask yourself: am I on the right path to pursuing wisdom? Will I pay the price to gain all that I can? May nothing hold me back from seeking the wisdom of God. At the same time, there's a great privilege, and that privilege that we are the light of the world to shine so others can see the beauty and wisdom of Christ.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for tonight, a chance to be in your word. Truly, you are great and great to be praised. Our prayer, Lord, is that you go before us. As we travel home this evening, keep us safe. Protect us. Use us for your glory. May we shine bright. Bright, bright. Brighter tomorrow than we did today. Brighter the next day than we did will tomorrow. Because, Lord, we are walking closer and closer to the light of the world. Protect us, Lord, from the evil one. May we stand strong in the faith. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.