1 Kings 10:1

The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon

1 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.

1 Kings 10:1 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
1 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.
English Standard Version (ESV)
1 Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard questions.
New Living Translation (NLT)
1 When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame, which brought honor to the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard questions.
The Message Bible (MSG)
1 The queen of Sheba heard about Solomon and his connection with the Name of God. She came to put his reputation to the test by asking tough questions.
American Standard Version (ASV)
1 And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of Jehovah, she came to prove him with hard questions.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
1 The queen of Sheba heard about Solomon's reputation. (He owed his reputation to the name of the LORD.) So she came to test him with riddles.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
1 The queen of Sheba heard about Solomon's fame connected with the name of the Lord and came to test him with difficult questions.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
1 The queen of Sheba heard about how famous Solomon was. She also heard about how he served and worshiped the Lord. So she came to test him with hard questions.

1 Kings 10:1 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 10:1

And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon,
&c.] Josephus F21 calls her a queen of Egypt and Ethiopia; but Sheba was in the southern part of Arabia Felix; her name with the Ethiopians is Maqueda F23, and with the Arabic geographer F24 Belequis. Some F25 think that Sheba, or Saba, is not the name of a country, but of the queen herself; and that she is the same with Sabbe the sibyl mentioned by Pausanias F26; but no doubt Sheba or Saba, the metropolis of Arabia Felix, as Philostorgius F1 calls it, is here meant; which Benjamin of Tudela says F2 is called the country of Al Yeman, or the south; and the name of Queen Teiman, given to this queen by an Arabic writer F3, seems to be the same as the queen of the south, (See Gill on Matthew 12:42). The fame of Solomon's greatness and goodness, of his wealth and riches, and especially of his wisdom, had reached her ears; perhaps by means of the ambassadors of princes that had been at Solomon's court, and attended her's. According to an Ethiopic writer F4 it was by Tamerinus, a merchant of her's, she came to hear of him: particularly she heard of his fame

concerning the name of the Lord;
his knowledge of the true God, the favour he was in with him, the excellent wisdom he had received from him, and what he had done for his honour and glory:

she came to prove him with hard questions;
in things natural, civil, and divine; to try whether he had such a share of knowledge and wisdom it was said he had, she posed him with enigmas, riddles, dark and intricate sayings, to unravel and tell the meaning of. She might be an emblem of the Gentiles, seeking unto Christ, having heard of him, ( Isaiah 11:10 ) ( John 12:20 John 12:21 ) . In ( Matthew 12:42 ) she is said to come from the "uttermost parts of the earth"; wherefore some fetch her from Sumatra in the East Indies, where in an old map no other name is put but Sheba {e}.


FOOTNOTES:

F21 Antiqu. l. 8. c. 6. sect. 2, 5.
F23 Ludolf. Ethiop. Hist. l. 2. c. 3.
F24 Clim 1. par. 6.
F25 Vid. Coryli Disser. de Reg. Austral. c. l. sect. 1, 2.
F26 Phocica, sive, l. 10. p. 631.
F1 Hist. Eccl. l. 3. c. 4.
F2 Itinerar. p. 82.
F3 Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. Dyn. 3. p. 54.
F4 Tellezius apud Ludolf. Ethiop. Hist. l. 2. c. 3.
F5 Dampier's Voyages, vol. 2. p. 139.

1 Kings 10:1 In-Context

1 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.
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.
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.

Cross References 3

  • 1. S Genesis 10:7,28; S Genesis 25:3; Matthew 12:42; Luke 11:31
  • 2. Ezekiel 16:14
  • 3. S Numbers 12:8; S Judges 14:12
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