1 Kings 10:2

Contextual Overview

¹When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relation to the name of the LORD , she came to test him with hard questions. ¹ When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the Lord , she came to test Solomon with hard questions. ¹Now the queen of Sheba heard the report about Solomon concerning the name of Yahweh. So she came to test him with riddles. ¹ Now 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. ¹ And the queene of Saba hearing the fame of Solomon (concerning the name of the Lord) came to proue him with harde questions. ¹ And the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon as to the name of Jehovah, and she came to test him with hard questions. ¹ The queen of Sheba heard about Solomon, so she came to test him with hard questions. ¹ Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard questions. ¹ When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of Yahweh, she came to prove him with hard questions. ¹ And when the Queene of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, concerning the Name of the Lord; shee came to prooue him with hard questions.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a very great train: 2 Kings 5:5, 2 Kings 5:9, Isaiah 60:6-9, Acts 25:23

spices: Exodus 25:6, 2 Kings 20:13

communed: Genesis 18:33, Job 4:2, Psalms 4:4, Luke 24:15

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 8:41 - a stranger 1 Kings 10:10 - she gave 1 Kings 10:13 - all her desire 1 Chronicles 18:2 - brought gifts 2 Chronicles 6:32 - the stranger 2 Chronicles 9:1 - And when Isaiah 30:6 - beasts Isaiah 39:2 - precious things Jeremiah 6:20 - Sheba Matthew 2:11 - presented Luke 11:31 - queen

Cross-References

Genesis 10:5
(From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.) The Hamites

Genesis 10:5
(From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.)

Genesis 10:5
From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to his tongue, according to their families, into their nations.

Genesis 10:5
From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.

Genesis 10:5
Of these were the Iles of the gentiles deuided in their landes, euery one after his tongue, and after his kinrede, in their nations.

Genesis 10:5
All the people who lived in the area around the Mediterranean Sea came from these sons of Japheth. The people separated and went to different countries according to languages, families, and nations.

Genesis 10:5
From these the coastland peoples spread. These are the sons of Japheth in their lands, each with his own language, by their families, in their nations.

Genesis 10:5
of these sones the ylis of hethen men weren departid in her cuntrees, ech bi his langage and meynees, in hise naciouns.

Genesis 10:5
By these were the Iles of the Gentiles diuided in their lands, euery one after his tongue: after their families, in their nations.

Genesis 10:5
By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train,.... With many of her courtiers and principal men, as well as with a large retinue of servants:

with camels that bare spices; her country abounded both with camels and spices; :-,

:-, and as Pliny f observes, who says their spices used to be carried on camels, particularly frankincense, for which Sheba was famous, and is therefore called by him "regio thurifera", the frankincense country g, being to be had nowhere else; and Strabo h speaks of "cinamon, cassia", and other spices here in such plenty, that the inhabitants burnt the wood of them for fuel; and Diodorus Siculus i represents this country as exceeding odoriferous, and as having besides the above spices, balsam, myrrh, calamus, costus, and others, in such abundance that they heated their ovens with them:

and very much gold; see 1 Kings 10:10, the gold of Sheba is spoken of in Psalms 72:15 and Pliny k observes, that the Sabeans are exceeding rich, as in other things, so in gold; and Diodorus Siculus l and Strabo m speak of gold found here in large lumps, very pure, and of a fine colour:

and precious stones; as crystals, emeralds, beryls, and chrysolites, mentioned by Diodorus n as in those parts; and a late traveller says o, that Arabia Felix abounds with balsam, myrrh, cassia, manna, dates, gold, frankincense, and pearl:

and when she was come to Solomon; unto his palace, and admitted into his presence:

she communed with him of all that was in her heart; which she had in her mind to discourse with him about, and which she had laid up in her memory for that purpose; and some things which she had kept to herself, and had never imparted to any before, as some think; all which she had full liberty from Solomon to propound unto him.

f Nat. Hist. l. 12. c. 14. g Ibid. "----Molles sua thura Sabaei", Virg. Georg l. 1. v. 57. & l. 2. v. 117. Thurilegos Arabes, Ovid. Fast. l. 4. Vid. Plant. Trinum. Act. 4. Sc. 2. v. 89. h Geograph. l. 16. p. 535. i Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 132. k Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28. l Ut supra, (Bibliothec. l. 2.) p. 133. l. 3. p. 181. m Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 16. p. 535.) n Ut supra, (Bibliothec. l. 2.) p. 134. & l. 3. p. 181. o Ovington's Voyage to Surat, p. 421.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See 1 Kings 10:10 note.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Kings 10:2. She came to Jerusalem with - spices, c. — Those who contend that she was queen of the Sabaeans, a people of Arabia Felix, towards the southern extremity of the Red Sea, find several proofs of their opinion:

1. That the Sabaeans abounded in riches and spices.

India mittit ebur, molles sua thura Sabaei

"India furnishes ivory, and the effeminate

Sabaeans their frankincense."

VIRG. Geor. i., ver. 57.

And again: -

Divisae arboribus patriae: sola India nigrum

Fert ebenum solis est thurea virga Sabaeis.

Geor. ii., ver. 116.

All sorts of trees their several countries know:

Black ebon only will in India grow;

And odorous frankincense on the Sabaean bough.

DRYDEN.

______ Ubi templum illi centumque Sabaeo

Thure calent arae.

Where to her fame a hundred altars rise,

And pour Sabaean odours to the skies.

PLINY (Hist. Nat. lib. xii., c. 17) observes,

Non alia ligni genera in usu sunt quam odorata; cibosque Sabaei coquunt thuris ligno; alii myrrhae.

"The Sabaeans use odorous wood only, and even use the incense tree and myrrh to cook their victuals."

2. All ancient authors speak, not only of their odoriferous woods, but of their rich gold and silver mines, and of their precious stones. See Pliny, Hist. Nat. lib. xxxvii., c. 6, &c.

3. It is also well known that the Sabaeans had queens for their sovereigns, and not kings. So Claudian, in Eutrop. lib. i.

_____ Medis levibusque Sabaeis

Imperat hic sexus, reginarumque sub armis

Barbariae pars magna jacet.

By this is meant, says Mr. Bruce, the country between the tropic and mountains of Abyssinia, the country of shepherds, from berber, a shepherd. And he contends that these Sabaeans were a distinct people from the Ethiopians and the Arabs, and that SABA was a distinct state.