She came to test him!

She came to test him! Not only did she come to test him...the Queen of Sheba traveled lots of miles to test him. The commentaries are not exactly sure where she came from, but a great distance is agreed upon. Some think it might have been modern day Yemen. Which is ...a journey of 1500 miles to get to Jerusalem! I think she had some questions that she needed answers for, don't you?

We, women know that feeling, don't you? I know that when I need an answer nothing is going to keep me from trying to get it! I will ask it a million different ways until I am satisfied that I have the complete answer. Now the Queen traveled all of this way to question Solomon and he didn't know she was coming. He had surprise guests.

The first verse tells us that she came to prove him with hard questions, she came to test him...they were difficult questions. The Hebrew word for "hard questions" is Khee-daw. It was used 17 times. Some translations say riddle. Picture the talk between this king and queen. It might have been like a sparring match or it might have been a true learning session.

At the end, the queen concluded that yes, Solomon was very wise. How lucky his people were and everything was true. In 2 Chronicles 9:4 "there was no more spirit in her." our version says "overwhelmed" ..after reserching the hebrew word for spirit is "ruwach meaning breath..same as in the New Testament for "spirit". The Queen of Sheba was left breathless. She couldn't wait to return and tell her findings about King Solomon. Do you know the feeling or let's say remember the feeling after you aced a test that you studied so hard for and you knew the answers? Fulfilled, Solomon fulfilled the Queen's test! The words she used were ...Praise the Lord your God who delights in you and placed you on the throne! She praised God! Solomon was able to answer her questions and she accepted the answers!

Also, interesting in today's reading is the absolute wealth of Solomon. How much is enough, you wonder....How rich was he? Well, let's see. The 200 large shields made out of gold would have been valued at 100,000 each in 2006. (according to the figures I located) He made another 300 shields a little smaller that would have been about 24,000 each. The throne was made of ivory and gold. He ate off silver plates that were to him like our disposable plastic plates. Silver was worthless during Solomon's time...What do you collect?

Solomon was definitely the richest and wisest man in the world and all because he requested wisdom from God. Again, how would you have answered the same question?

Praising the Mighty One,