CLARITY EDITION · OLD TESTAMENT
1 Kings 10
Chapter 10 of 22
Chapter Overview
What happens in 1 Kings 10
The Queen of Sheba visits Solomon and is overwhelmed by his wisdom and wealth. This chapter describes the peak of Solomon's glory, with gold flowing into Israel from every direction.
Scripture
1 Kings 10
The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon
Study note
The Queen of Sheba, likely from modern-day Yemen, traveled a great distance to test Solomon's wisdom with hard questions. She was completely amazed by his wisdom, his palace, and the organization of his court. She declared that the reality was far beyond what she had heard. She gave Solomon 120 talents of gold, large amounts of spices, and precious stones. Solomon gave her everything she asked for in return.
1 The Queen of Sheba heard about Solomon's fame and his connection with the Lord. She traveled to Jerusalem to challenge him with difficult questions. And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions.
2 She arrived with a great entourage, along with camels loaded down with spices, a fortune in gold, and precious gems. She sat down with Solomon and discussed every topic on her mind. And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.
3 Solomon answered every one of her questions. Nothing stumped him -- he could explain anything. And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not any thing hid from the king, which he told her not.
4 The Queen of Sheba saw Solomon's amazing wisdom and the palace he had built. And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built,
5 She saw the food on his table and how his officials were organized. She noticed how his staff served so carefully. She saw their fine uniforms, his cupbearers, and the offerings he gave at the Lord's temple. It all left her utterly breathless. And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her.
6 She told the king, "Everything I heard back home about what you have done and how wise you are was true." And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom.
7 "Honestly, I did not believe the reports until I came here and witnessed it firsthand. The reality is far beyond what I was told! Your wisdom and prosperity are twice what I imagined." Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard.
8 "How blessed your people must be! How fortunate are your servants who get to stand here every day listening to your wisdom!" Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom.
9 "Praise the Lord your God, who takes such delight in you that he placed you on Israel's throne! Because of the Lord's eternal love for Israel, he made you king to rule with fairness and justice." Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice.
10 She presented the king with 120 talents of gold, an enormous shipment of spices, and precious stones. No one ever again brought such a quantity of spices as the Queen of Sheba gave King Solomon. And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones: there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.
11 Hiram's ships that transported gold from Ophir also brought back huge quantities of almug wood and precious stones. And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees, and precious stones.
12 The king used the almug wood to make structural supports for the Lord's temple and the royal palace, as well as harps and lyres for the court musicians. That much almug wood has never been imported again. And the king made of the almug trees pillars for the house of the LORD, and for the king's house, harps also and psalteries for singers: there came no such almug trees, nor were seen unto this day.
13 King Solomon gave the Queen of Sheba everything she asked for and desired, on top of the gifts he had already given her from his royal treasury. Then she and her attendants headed home to her own country. And king Solomon gave unto the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.
Solomon's Great Wealth
Study note
Solomon received 666 talents of gold each year, plus income from merchants and trade. He made 200 large gold shields and 300 smaller ones, and a magnificent ivory throne overlaid with gold. All his drinking cups were gold. Silver was considered almost worthless because gold was so plentiful.
14 Every year Solomon received 666 talents of gold, Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold,
15 not counting income from traders, merchants, Arabian kings, and regional governors. Beside that he had of the merchantmen, and of the traffick of the spice merchants, and of all the kings of Arabia, and of the governors of the country.
16 King Solomon produced 200 large shields of hammered gold, using 600 shekels of gold per shield. And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of gold went to one target.
17 He also made 300 smaller shields of hammered gold, each using three pounds of gold. He stored them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pound of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
18 The king built a grand throne of ivory and covered it with the purest gold. Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold.
19 The throne had six steps leading up to it, and the top was rounded at the back. Armrests flanked the seat, with a lion standing beside each one. The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind: and there were stays on either side on the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays.
20 Twelve lions stood along the six steps, one at each end of every step. Nothing like it had ever been crafted for any kingdom. And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom.
21 All of Solomon's drinking goblets were solid gold. Every piece in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon was pure gold -- not a trace of silver anywhere. Silver had no value during Solomon's era. And all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver: it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon.
22 The king had a trading fleet at sea alongside Hiram's fleet. Every three years the ships came home loaded with gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
Solomon's Fame and Trade
Study note
Solomon surpassed all other kings in both riches and wisdom. People from around the world came to hear him, bringing gifts of silver, gold, robes, weapons, spices, horses, and mules. He accumulated 1,400 chariots, 12,000 horsemen, and traded horses and chariots with Egypt, the Hittites, and the Arameans.
23 King Solomon surpassed every other king on earth in both wealth and wisdom. So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom.
24 People from around the globe sought an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had placed in his mind. And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.
25 Year after year, visitors brought gifts: silver and gold items, robes, weapons, spices, horses, and mules. And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, and armour, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.
26 Solomon amassed 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen. He stationed them in chariot cities and kept some with him in Jerusalem. And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen: and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he bestowed in the cities for chariots, and with the king at Jerusalem.
27 Under Solomon, silver was as common as rocks in Jerusalem. Cedar wood was as easy to find as fig trees in the lowlands. And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycomore trees that are in the vale, for abundance.
28 Solomon imported horses from Egypt and from Kue. His royal buyers purchased them from Kue at standard market rates. And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn: the king's merchants received the linen yarn at a price.
29 An Egyptian chariot cost 600 silver shekels, and a horse cost 150. Solomon's traders also exported them to the Hittite and Aramean kings. And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and an horse for an hundred and fifty: and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means.
Key Themes
Themes in 1 Kings 10
Wisdom and wealth that draw the nations to GodThe glory of a kingdom at its peakThe danger of accumulating too muchThe world's recognition of God's blessings on His people
Prophetic Connections
How this chapter points to Christ
1 Kings 1-13 Matthew 12:42
Jesus referenced the Queen of Sheba (Queen of the South) coming to hear Solomon's wisdom as a rebuke to those who rejected His own greater wisdom, positioning Himself as the fulfillment of everything Solomon represented.
Apply This Today
Living 1 Kings 10
The Queen of Sheba was drawn to Solomon because His wisdom pointed to God. When we live with genuine wisdom and integrity, others will notice and be drawn to the God we serve. Our lives should make people curious about the source of our peace and purpose.
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