Bible Commentaries
2 Chronicles 9

Verses 1-31

Chapter 9

And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with difficult 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. And Solomon told her all her questions: and there was nothing hid from Solomon which he told her not. And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, 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 ( 2 Chronicles 9:1-4 ).

She was wiped out. This was more than she had ever heard. She said, "Man, they told me and I couldn't believe what they told me. But they didn't tell me half the truth. The glory of this whole thing." Now, "she observed the meat of his table." If you go back to I Kings, chapter 4, it tells you the meat of Solomon's table. His daily provision, one day, was thirty measures of fine flour. About three hundred bushels of fine flour for the pancakes everyday. Three score measures of meal or six hundred bushels. Ten fat oxen everyday. Twenty oxen, commercial grade out of the pasture. A hundred sheep, beside the harts and the roebucks and the fallow deer and the fatted fowl. Those were the daily provisions. Man, think of that. A hundred sheep everyday. Thirty oxen.

So when the queen of Sheba saw all this and the way his servants were attired and the way the cupbearers and the way he would go up to the temple of God and the whole thing, it was just too much.

She said, It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of your acts, and of your wisdom: however I didn't believe their words, until I came, and now my eyes have seen it: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for you exceed even the fame that I heard. Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom. 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 He loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore made he thee king over them, to do judgment and justice ( 2 Chronicles 9:5-8 ).

Now, first of all, she blessed his servants. "Happy are they that serve you. Happy are they that can stand here daily and hear your wisdom." He talked of all kinds of things: flowers, shrubs, animals; and he wrote books on these subjects. And so, "Happy are these men that can just stand here daily and listen to thy wisdom. And blessed be the Lord thy God who delighted in thee and put you on the throne."

So she gave him a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices great abundance, and precious stones. And the servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, which brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones ( 2 Chronicles 9:9-10 ).

And she returned back to her land with all of her desire. Whatsoever she asked, Solomon gave to her.

Now Solomon's annual revenue in gold was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold ( 2 Chronicles 9:13 );

An interesting number.

Beside that which chapmen and merchants brought. And all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon. And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels each. And three hundred shields of gold: that were three hundred shekels each. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. And he made a great throne of ivory, and he overlaid it with pure gold. And there were six steps up 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: twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps. There was not like made anything in all of the kingdoms. 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; [because that was accounted sort of gauche in those days]. And 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. And king Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, that God had put in his heart. And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, raiment, and harness, and spices, horses, and mules, at a rate year by year. And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; that he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. And he reigned over all the kings from the river even unto the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt. And the king made silver in Jerusalem as common as stones, and cedar trees as common as the sycamore that are in the low plains. And they brought unto Solomon horses out of Egypt, and out of all lands. 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? And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all of Israel for forty years. And he slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead ( 2 Chronicles 9:14-31 ).

So we find now the reign of Solomon, nine chapters devoted to it. And for the remainder of II Chronicles they will give shorter accounts, because here the kingdom came to a zenith. But it is amazing how quickly you can go from the top to the bottom. How quickly this deteriorated. All of this gold that he had amassed. Vastness of his treasures. These shields and targets of pure gold. All of these cups, gold, and all of these things soon were to be taken. Soon were to be sacked by Shishak, the king of Egypt.

And so the glory of the kingdom faded so very rapidly. They went from the very apex of their glory down so rapidly. At his death, just immediately the glory of the kingdom faded. It didn't even pass on to his son. It didn't really continue past Solomon's death. The kingdom immediately began to deteriorate. And before his son was really established in the throne, the kingdom became divided, weakened. "