I Kings Chapter 10
Please read: I Kings 10 –
Solomon is known for his great wisdom, his great wealth and his crazy number of wives. The last matter we will read about in the next chapter. Solomon’s reputation had spread throughout the region and people came to hear him speak. Someone who speaks with great wisdom always draws people to them. But Solomon’s wisdom must have been spectacular, so great that a queen of another country would want to come and see for herself if what she had heard about him was true.
The wealth that Solomon had came largely from gifts from others. He was a shrewd businessman for sure, but people being awed by his speeches of great wisdom just naturally wanted to give gifts to him. In this passage we learn that the Queen of Sheba gave him 120 talents of gold. A talent of gold is approximately 70 pounds of gold. In 2015 it was estimated that 120 talents of gold would equivocate to be about 161 million dollars. But gold was not the only thing this queen gave to Solomon after hearing his wisdom. Wisdom was what Solomon had asked God for, and God gave him so much that people were astounded by it.
Let's Reflect
1. Verse 1 tells us the subject matter of the questions that the Queen of Sheba asked Solomon. What was the subject matter?
2. According to verse 3 how well did Solomon do with all the hard questions she asked?
3. How did the Queen feel about the information she had heard about Solomon prior to her visit to Jerusalem?
4. What did she observe about the men in service of King Solomon?
5. Notice that she acknowledges the one true God and recognizes that He has blessed Solomon and the people of Israel. What gifts did she give to Solomon?
6. The remainder of the chapter is an attempt to explain the wealth that Solomon accumulated. Reading through the verses you get the idea that he was so wealthy that it almost sounds like he didn’t know what to do with it all. He had so much gold that he began to create things made of pure gold. What are some things he made of pure gold?
7. More and more wealth poured into his kingdom. It even came by ship. What was on the ships that brought gifts to Solomon?
8. What was something that Solomon imported from Egypt that God had strictly forbade back in the book of Deuteronomy? Here we see a crack that leads to the downfall of a great king.
