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2 Chronicles 9

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The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon 1–12

1
And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great company, and camels that bare spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. ​
2
And Solomon told her all her questions: and there was nothing hid from Solomon which he told her not.
3
And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built,
4
And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel; his cupbearers also, and their apparel; and his ascent by which he went up into the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her. ​
5
And she said to the king, It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom:
6
Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard.
7
Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.
8
Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the LORD thy God: because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore made he thee king over them, to do judgment and justice. ​
9
And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon. ​
10
And the servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, which brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones. ​
11
And the king made of the algum trees terraces to the house of the LORD, and to the king's palace, and harps and psalteries for singers: and there were none such seen before in the land of Judah. ​
12
And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which she had brought unto the king. So she turned, and went away to her own land, she and her servants.

Solomon's Unmatched Wealth and Glory 13–28

13
Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and threescore and six talents of gold; ​
14
Beside that which chapmen and merchants brought. And all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.
15
And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one target. ​
16
And three hundred shields made he of beaten gold: three hundred shekels of gold went to one shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
17
Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. ​
18
And there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and stays on each side of the sitting place, and two lions standing by the stays:
19
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. ​
20
And all the drinking vessels of king Solomon 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 not any thing accounted of in the days of Solomon. ​
21
For the king's ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: every three years once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks. ​
22
And king Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.
23
And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, that God had put in his heart. ​
24
And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, harness, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.
25
And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. ​
26
And he reigned over all the kings from the river even unto the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt. ​
27
And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar trees made he as the sycomore trees that are in the low plains in abundance.
28
And they brought unto Solomon horses out of Egypt, and out of all lands.

The End of Solomon's Reign 29–31

29
Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat? ​
30
And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.
31
And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for 2 Chronicles 9

Verse 1

hard questions — Chidah, a riddle or dark saying, the word of Samson’s riddle (Judg 14:12) and of the ‘dark sayings’ of Prov 1:6 and Ps 78:2. The queen came ‘to prove’ him, and in 1 Kgs 10:1 she heard of his fame ‘concerning the name of the LORD’. Christ says she ‘came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon’ (Matt 12:42).

Verse 4

there was no more spirit in her — She saw his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance and dress of his ministers and cupbearers, and ‘his ascent by which he went up into the house of the LORD’. Josh 5:1 uses the same words of the Canaanite kings whose heart melted: ‘neither was there spirit in them any more’ (ruach, breath).

Verse 8

Blessed be the LORD thy God — The queen’s praise follows the words of Huram, king of Tyre: ‘Because the LORD hath loved his people, he hath made thee king over them’ (2:11). ‘The throne of the LORD’ is the throne Solomon sat on (1 Chr 29:23), and the king’s task is stated as ‘judgment and justice’ (mishpat and tsedaqah), the petition of Ps 72:1.

Verse 9

an hundred and twenty talents of gold — The gift is the same in 1 Kgs 10:10. Ps 72, ‘A Psalm for Solomon’, has the same picture of the king: ‘the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts’, and ‘to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba’ (Ps 72:10, 15). Christ speaks of ‘a greater than Solomon’ (Matt 12:42).

Verse 10

algum trees — The timber Solomon had asked Huram to send from Lebanon (2:8). It came with the gold and precious stones from Ophir, brought by the servants of Huram and of Solomon together, as the same crews had done in 8:18. 1 Kgs 10:11 gives the same wood the name ‘almug’.

Verse 11

terraces to the house of the LORD — The word is mesillah, a raised way, translated ‘highway’ in Isa 40:3 and ‘causeway’ in 1 Chr 26:16, ‘the causeway of the going up’. The same wood made ‘harps and psalteries for singers’. None like it had been seen in Judah, and 1 Kgs 10:12 calls what it built ‘pillars’.

Verse 13

six hundred and threescore and six talents — The figure is the same in 1 Kgs 10:14. The law of the king said he should not ‘greatly multiply to himself silver and gold’ (Deut 17:17). v.14 adds what ‘chapmen and merchants brought’ and what ‘all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country’ sent, besides this yearly weight.

Verse 15

two hundred targets of beaten gold — The ‘target’ (tsinnah) is a large shield, and ‘beaten’ (shachat) is hammered gold. Each took six hundred shekels. v.16 adds three hundred shields of three hundred shekels each, all put in the house of the forest of Lebanon. Shishak took ‘the shields of gold which Solomon had made’, and Rehoboam ‘made shields of brass’ (12:9–10).

Verse 17

a great throne of ivory — ‘Ivory’ is shen, literally ‘tooth’, as in 1 Kgs 10:18. The throne was ‘overlaid… with pure gold’. It had six steps and a footstool of gold, with stays on each side and lions beside them (vv.18–19). Ps 45:8 speaks of ‘ivory palaces’ in the song of the king.

Verse 19

twelve lions — Two lions stood by the stays (v.18), and twelve more stood on the six steps, one on each side of each step. Solomon’s throne is called ‘the throne of the LORD’ (1 Chr 29:23). The verse says only that there was ‘not the like made in any kingdom’.

Verse 20

none were of silver — The drinking vessels and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon, a hundred cubits long on four rows of cedar pillars (1 Kgs 7:2), were gold. Silver was ‘not any thing accounted of’ (chashab), and v.27 says the king ‘made silver in Jerusalem as stones’.

Verse 21

the king’s ships went to Tarshish — The ships sailed ‘with the servants of Huram’, the Tyrian crews of 8:18, and returned once every three years. ‘Apes’ (qoph) and ‘peacocks’ (tukki) are words found only here and in 1 Kgs 10:22. Ps 72:10 foresaw that ‘the kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents’.

Verse 23

his wisdom, that God had put in his heart — Solomon had asked for it, and the LORD answered, ‘Wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee’ (1:12). 1 Kgs 4:34 records that ‘there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth’. The gift is God’s, and the kings come to hear it.

Verse 25

four thousand stalls — The horses and chariots were placed ‘in the chariot cities’ and at Jerusalem, as in 1:14, where the number is ‘a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen’. The law of the king said ‘he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt’ (Deut 17:16).

Verse 26

from the river even unto the land of the Philistines — ‘The river’ is the Euphrates, the limit of the promise to Abraham: ‘from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates’ (Gen 15:18). Ex 23:31 gives the same bounds, ‘from the desert unto the river’. 1 Kgs 4:21 adds that Solomon’s subject kingdoms ‘brought presents, and served Solomon’.

Verse 29

the book of Nathan the prophet — Three records are named for Solomon’s acts: Nathan, who had spoken to David (1 Chr 29:29 names his book on David); the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, who told Jeroboam that the LORD would ‘rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon’ (1 Kgs 11:29–31); and the visions of Iddo the seer, who is also named at 12:15 and 13:22.