II Chronicles Chapter 9
Please read: II Chronicles 9 –
The fame of Solomon’s wisdom had spread across the ancient world. The Bible tells us that the Queen of Sheba had heard about the great wisdom of Solomon and decided she would travel to Jerusalem to see for herself. She was from a country that today we call Southern Arabia. She herself was very wealthy but she was more impressed by Solomon’s wisdom. She came with hard questions that she wanted to present to Solomon, most likely philosophical type questions in nature. As their discussions moved along, she realized that he was even more wise than she had heard and rested on all the knowledge he had shared with her.
We also learn in this chapter exactly how wealthy Solomon was. The fact that gold was so plentiful in the kingdom that it made silver seem as if it were almost worthless. God had kept His promise to Solomon and had blessed him with great riches. A promise that God did not keep because it was a conditional promise was the promise of long life. It seems that Solomon may have only lived to his 60’s but he could have enjoyed a much longer life blessed by God had he kept God’s ways.
Let's Reflect
1. The queen of Sheba was not the only dignitary that sought the wisdom of Solomon. According to verse 23 who else sought his wisdom?
2. The queen was not only impressed with his great wisdom, what else did she say she was impressed with?
3. According to verse 8 we see that the queen understood who had caused Solomon to be blessed. This blessing of God was not only upon Solomon but upon all of Israel. If you have ever asked yourself why God gave the Israelites special attention, we can look to the example of Solomon to find the answer. God chose one group of people to be blessed so that the fame of His greatness, grace and mercy would spread to all mankind throughout all the ages. We cannot say that the queen became a believer, but she certainly acknowledged the hand of God over the nation of Israel. What did she say was the purpose that Solomon had been made king?
4. There was a significant amount of gold that came to King Solomon every year. In fact, verse 13 names a specific amount that came in annually. How much was it? It is a number that is hard to ignore and certainly interesting that this specific number is given. However, it is never clearly explained in scripture if there is any special meaning behind it in this passage, other than we can certainly draw the conclusion that “the love of money is the root of all evil.”
5. The king’s ships went to Tarshish every 3 years and brought back more than just gold. What other items came into the kingdom?
6. According to verse 24 what was another reason that more and more wealth accumulated in Solomon’s kingdom?
7. How many years did Solomon reign in Jerusalem?
