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1 KINGS 10

PARAGRAPH DIVISIONS OF MODERN TRANSLATIONS

READING CYCLE THREE (see "Bible Interpretation Seminar")

FOLLOWING THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR'S INTENT AT THE PARAGRAPH LEVEL

This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

Read the chapter in one sitting. Identify the subjects. Compare your subject divisions with the five translations above. Paragraphing is not inspired, but it is the key to following the original author's intent, which is the heart of interpretation. Every paragraph has one and only one subject.

1. First paragraph
2. Second paragraph
3. Etc.

WORD AND PHRASE STUDY

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 10:1-10
  ¹Now 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. ²So 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. ³Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was hidden from the king which he did not explain to her. ⁴When the queen of Sheba perceived all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, ⁵the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his waiters and their attire, his cupbearers, and his stairway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her. ⁶Then she said to the king, "It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. ⁷Nevertheless I did not believe the reports, until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. You exceed in wisdom and prosperity the report which I heard. ⁸How blessed are your men, how blessed are these your servants who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom. ⁹Blessed 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." ¹⁰She gave the king a hundred and twenty talents 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 King Solomon.

10:1 "Sheba" There is still scholarly discussion about where this name (BDB 985) originated.

1. Yemen ‒ from local contemporaneous literature it was known as Saba (ABD, vol. 5, pp. 1170-1171). This may have been the Sabean traders of the period.
2. Northern Arabia ‒ a colony called Sheba is known, which had several queens as leaders.
3. This term first appears in Gen. 10:7,28; 25:3, which makes it an Arab tribe that migrated to Ethiopia (Josephus, Antiq. 8.6.5.). If accurate she was an ancestor of Candace, Queen of Ethiopia. Jewish tradition says she had a child with Solomon who became Ethiopian royalty (Abyssinian line).

Option #1 fits history best. This locale was known for

1. its spice trade
2. its wealth in silver and gold

▣ "the name of the Lord" See SPECIAL TOPIC: "THE NAME" OF YHWH.

▣ "to test him" This VERB (BDB 650, KB 702, Piel INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT; NIDOTTE, vol. 3, pp. 112-113) can mean

1. Gideon seeking another test of YHWH ‒ Jdgs. 6:39
2. David testing military equipment ‒ 1 Sam. 17:39
3. Qohleth's mental actions ‒ Eccl. 2:1; 7:23

This term can be negative but here it denotes curiosity and probably refers to riddles or practical wisdom decisions/judgments (NIDOTTE, vol. 2, p. 107).

10:2 Behind the queen's curiosity was the commercial purpose of obtaining or maintaining trade routes.

▣ "large retinue" This word (BDB 298) can refer to

1. large military force
2. large number of servants and merchants (BDB 299, #4)

10:4-5 She was impressed with

1. Solomon's palace
2. Solomon's food
3. Solomon's servants
4. the stairway (BDB 748; see note below)

The MT has "his burnt offerings" (BDB 750) but the parallel in 2 Chr. 9:4, "his stairway." See my exegetical note below from 2 Chr. 9:4.

2 Chronicles 9:4
NASB, NEB	"his stairway"
NKJV	"his entry way"
NRSV, NJB, NET, LXX, Peshitta	"his burnt offerings"
JPSOA	"the procession"

The UBS Text Project, p. 455, gives the NASB translation a "B" rating (some doubt).

1. and his stairway ‒ וצליחו (BDB 751)
2. and his burnt offerings ‒ וצלוחיו

The parallel in 1 Kgs. 10:5 has "and his burnt offerings" ‒ וצלחו (BDB 750)

The NASB seems to fit the context best and refers to a royal procession to the store houses of the temple (i.e., "upper chambers," cf. 2 Chr. 3:9,51) or to a special place for the king to worship in the temple.

▣ "there was no more spirit in her" Notice the different way the translations handle this idiomatic language.

1. LXX ‒ "she was beside herself"
2. Peshitta ‒ "she was greatly overcome"
3. NJB, TEV, JPSOA ‒ "it left her breathless"
4. REB ‒ "she was overcome with amazement"

SPECIAL TOPIC: SPIRIT IN THE BIBLE

The UBS Text Project, p. 311, asserts that the Masoretic scholars changed "wives" to "men" to protect Solomon's reputation. They give the change a "C" rating (considerable doubt).

1. your men ‒ אבשיך (BDB 34)
2. your wives ‒ בשיך (BDB 61)

The parallel in 2 Chr. 9:7 also has "men." Josephus (Antiq. 8.6.5.) calls them "servants" and "friends."

10:9 This is a surprisingly theologically informed prayer of a foreign queen.

1. Possibly she learned this language from Solomon (possibly becoming a convert; Jewish tradition).
2. Possibly she knew of YHWH before she came.

This phraseology is similar to Hiram's remarks in 1 Kgs. 5:7.

▣ "to do justice and righteousness" The king of Israel was to embody YHWH's character and reveal it to the world, as he did with the Queen of Sheba (cf. v. 24).

This pair of terms first appears in connection to David's reign in 2 Sam. 8:15 (cf. 1 Chr. 18:14).

1. Here, they are used of Solomon (cf. 2 Chr. 9:8).
2. In Isa. 9:7 they are used of the coming Davidic King, the Messiah (also note Isa. 32:16; 23:5).
3. They are used of idolatrous Israel in Isa. 59:14.
4. In Jer. 9:24 they describe YHWH's character.

10:10 "talents" See SPECIAL TOPIC: ANE WEIGHTS AND VOLUMES.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 10:11-12
  ¹¹Also the ships of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir a very great number of almug trees and precious stones. ¹²The king made of the almug trees supports for the house of the Lord and for the king's house, also lyres and harps for the singers; such almug trees have not come in again nor have they been seen to this day.

10:12 "almug trees" The UBS Helps for Translator Series entitled "Fauna and Flora of the Bible", p. 81, notes there are two spellings of this tree.

1. algummim (2 Chr. 2:7)
2. almuggim (only here)

It is often called "sandalwood" (from Sanskrit), which was imported from southern India. It was a hard wood of reddish color.

▣ "to this day" This is a literary marker of a later editor or an author living after the events described.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 10:13
  ¹³King 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.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 10:14-22
  ¹⁴Now the weight of gold which came in to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold, ¹⁵besides that from the traders and the wares of the merchants and all the kings of the Arabs and the governors of the country. ¹⁶King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold, using 600 shekels of gold on each large shield. ¹⁷He made 300 shields of beaten gold, using three minas of gold on each shield, and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. ¹⁸Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with refined gold. ¹⁹There were six steps to the throne and a round top to the throne at its rear, and arms on each side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the arms. ²⁰Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps on the one side and on the other; nothing like it was made for any other kingdom. ²¹All 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 was of silver; it was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon. ²²For the king had at sea the ships of Tarshish with the ships of Hiram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks.

10:14 This was the revenue Solomon received from trade routes and vassal states in one year (cf. v. 25).

The MT has the PARTICIPLE (BDB 940, KB 237, Qal ACTIVE) which denotes "going about" for

1. trade
2. gossip

The UBS Text Project assumes it refers to "men" (i.e., traders), not "tolls" (i.e., Targums) but gives its suggestion only a "C" rating (considerable doubt). The parallel in 2 Chr. 10:15 has the same text as 1 Kings.

The MT has a root that has several possible origins.

1. Arabian ‒ BDB 787, ערבי
2. mixed, BDB 786 I ‒ ערב
3. "Arabs" comes from the parallel in 2 Chr. 9:14, BDB 787, see #1

NIDOTTE, vol. 3, p. 520, suggests it refers to "people of assorted ethnic groups."

Verse 15 lists several groups from whom Solomon received revenue.

1. traders
2. merchants
3. kings of the Arabs
4. governors of the country

10:16 These decorative shields were common in the ANE. They were cultural items to denote wealth and power.

10:17 "the house of the forest of Lebanon" This was a large building for public/state gatherings. It also was the place for Solomon to judge Israel. His great, unique throne is described in vv. 18-20.

▣ "minas" See SPECIAL TOPIC: ANE WEIGHTS AND VOLUMES.

10:21 This demonstrated Solomon's great wealth (cf. v. 27).

▣ "in the days of. . ." The NOUN "day" (BDB 398-401) can refer to

1. a 24 hour cycle
2. a period of time

Here, the PLURAL refers to Solomon's life as king.

SPECIAL TOPIC: DAY (yom)

10:22 "ships of Tarshish" This was a class of ocean going large commercial ships.

SPECIAL TOPIC: TARSHISH

▣ "once very three years" The ports were far away and took over a year to reach.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 10:23-25
  ²³So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. ²⁴All the earth was seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart. ²⁵They brought every man his gift, articles of silver and gold, garments, weapons, spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year.

10:25 "horses" Josephus describes in detail these horses (Antiq. 8.7.3.). For a good brief note see NIDOTTE, vol. 3, pp. 234-236.

Solomon's business was to match horses with chariots and sell them together.

SPECIAL TOPIC: CHARIOTS

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 10:26-29
  ²⁶Now Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen; and he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, and he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. ²⁷The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the lowland. ²⁸Also Solomon's import of horses was from Egypt and Kue, and the king's merchants procured them from Kue for a price. ²⁹A chariot was imported from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver, and a horse for 150; and by the same means they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of the Arameans.

10:26-29 This describes Solomon's military power and arms trade with the Hittite Empire (cf. 2 Chr. 1:15-17).

The MT has "from Egypt." The UBS Text Project, p. 313, gives it an "A" rating. The other suggestions are based on the name of a horse breeding area near Kue (Cilicia) in western Anatolia (Turkey).

1. from Egypt ‒ ממצרים
2. from Muzur (Musri) ‒ ממצור

The MT has קוה (BDB 875), which can denote

1. a verb "to wait" or "to pool" (see UBS Text Project, p. 314)
2. a place name (probably Cilicia)

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

This is a study guide commentary which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.

1. Why is the account of the Queen of Sheba's visit inserted into the story of Solomon at this point?
2. Was she a convert to faith in YHWH?
3. What is the theological significance of v. 24?

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