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The Histories · Old Testament

2 Chronicles 9

2 Chronicles 9: the queen of Sheba, Solomon's wealth and his death

General context

The queen of Sheba hears of Solomon's fame and comes to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions, bringing a great company, camels with spices, gold and precious stones. Solomon answers every question. When she sees his wisdom, the house, his table, his servants and ministers, and his ascent to the house of the Lord, there is no more spirit in her. She tells the king the report she heard was true, that she did not believe it until her eyes saw, and that the half was not told her. She calls his servants happy and blesses the Lord his God, who made him king because God loved Israel. She gives a hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices without equal and precious stones; Solomon gives her all she asks, and she returns home. Huram's and Solomon's servants bring gold from Ophir and algum trees, from which the king makes terraces and instruments. Solomon's yearly gold is six hundred and sixty six talents, besides what merchants and the kings of Arabia bring. He makes gold targets and shields for the house of the forest of Lebanon, an ivory throne overlaid with gold with six steps and lions, and drinking vessels all of gold, silver counting for nothing. Ships go to Tarshish every three years for gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks. All the kings of the earth seek his presence and bring yearly presents; he has four thousand stalls and twelve thousand horsemen and reigns from the river to the border of Egypt. His acts are in the writings of Nathan, Ahijah and Iddo. He reigns forty years, dies, is buried in the city of David, and Rehoboam reigns.

Cited passages: 2 Chronicles 9:1, 2 Chronicles 9:2, 2 Chronicles 9:4, 2 Chronicles 9:5, 2 Chronicles 9:6, 2 Chronicles 9:7, 2 Chronicles 9:8, 2 Chronicles 9:9, 2 Chronicles 9:10, 2 Chronicles 9:12, 2 Chronicles 9:13, 2 Chronicles 9:14, 2 Chronicles 9:15, 2 Chronicles 9:16, 2 Chronicles 9:17, 2 Chronicles 9:19, 2 Chronicles 9:20, 2 Chronicles 9:21, 2 Chronicles 9:23, 2 Chronicles 9:25, 2 Chronicles 9:26, 2 Chronicles 9:29, 2 Chronicles 9:30, 2 Chronicles 9:31

2 Chronicles 9 (KJV)

1And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard 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.

2And Solomon told her all her questions: and there was nothing hid from Solomon which he told her not.

3And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built,

4And 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.

5And she said to the king, It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom:

6Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard.

7Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.

8Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the Lord thy God: because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore made he thee king over them, to do judgment and justice.

9And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon.

10And the servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, which brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones.

11And the king made of the algum trees terraces to the house of the Lord, and to the king’s palace, and harps and psalteries for singers: and there were none such seen before in the land of Judah.

12And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which she had brought unto the king. So she turned, and went away to her own land, she and her servants.

13Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and threescore and six talents of gold;

14Beside that which chapmen and merchants brought. And all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.

15And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one target.

16And three hundred shields made he of beaten gold: three hundred shekels of gold went to one shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

17Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold.

18And there were six steps 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:

19And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps. There was not the like made in any kingdom.

20And 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; it was not any thing accounted of in the days of Solomon.

21For 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.

22And king Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.

23And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, that God had put in his heart.

24And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, harness, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.

25And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.

26And he reigned over all the kings from the river even unto the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt.

27And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar trees made he as the sycomore trees that are in the low plains in abundance.

28And they brought unto Solomon horses out of Egypt, and out of all lands.

29Now 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?

30And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.

31And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

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Historical context

The queen is not named; Sheba is the only identification, and her own land is not described. Her praise is her own speech, and in it she credits Solomon's throne to the Lord and calls it his throne, meaning the Lord's, a phrase the narrator does not use here. The figures are stated plainly: a hundred and twenty talents from the queen, six hundred and sixty six talents of gold in one year beside what the merchants brought, two hundred targets at six hundred shekels each and three hundred shields at three hundred. The gold shields are later carried off by Shishak, as the book records in Rehoboam's reign. Ophir and Tarshish are named as destinations without location, and the ships of Tarshish are said to come once every three years. The river from which Solomon's rule is measured is not named. The closing formula cites three writings, the book of Nathan, the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite and the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which is this book's first mention of Jeroboam. Solomon's reign is given as forty years; no age at death, no illness and no fault are recorded, and the chapter's trade in horses out of Egypt repeats what the first chapter reported.

Cited passages: 2 Chronicles 9:1, 2 Chronicles 9:5, 2 Chronicles 9:8, 2 Chronicles 9:9, 2 Chronicles 9:13, 2 Chronicles 9:14, 2 Chronicles 9:15, 2 Chronicles 9:16, 2 Chronicles 12:9, 2 Chronicles 9:21, 2 Chronicles 9:26, 2 Chronicles 9:29, 2 Chronicles 9:30, 2 Chronicles 9:28, 2 Chronicles 1:16

Literary context

The chapter opens with a visitor's testimony and closes with the narrator's obituary. The queen's speech moves in four steps, heard, did not believe, saw, the half was not told, so that an outsider confirms what the narrator has been asserting. Her blessing, that the Lord made Solomon king because he loved Israel, repeats almost exactly what Huram wrote before the building began. The middle of the chapter is an inventory in which gold is the recurring word, and the narrator pushes the point until silver is counted as nothing. Superlatives pile up, none such seen before, not the like in any kingdom, passed all the kings of the earth, and the closing wealth notes, silver as stones, cedar as sycomore, horses from Egypt, repeat the end of chapter one, so that the promise of riches and honour beyond any king is shown fulfilled at both ends of the reign. The obituary formula, sources, years, burial, successor, becomes the pattern for the kings who follow. The mention of Iddo's visions against Jeroboam is the one shadow in the chapter, placed just before the kingdom divides.

Cited passages: 2 Chronicles 9:5, 2 Chronicles 9:6, 2 Chronicles 9:8, 2 Chronicles 2:11, 2 Chronicles 9:20, 2 Chronicles 9:11, 2 Chronicles 9:19, 2 Chronicles 9:22, 2 Chronicles 9:27, 2 Chronicles 1:15, 2 Chronicles 1:12, 2 Chronicles 9:31, 2 Chronicles 12:16, 2 Chronicles 9:29

Key moments

  1. The queen of Sheba arrives (2 Chronicles 9:1). The queen comes to Jerusalem with hard questions, spices, gold and precious stones.
  2. The half was not told (2 Chronicles 9:6). The queen says she did not believe the report until she saw for herself.
  3. Blessed be the Lord thy God (2 Chronicles 9:8). The queen credits Solomon's throne to the Lord's love for Israel.
  4. Gold by the year (2 Chronicles 9:13). The narrator sets Solomon's yearly gold at six hundred and sixty six talents.
  5. The ivory throne (2 Chronicles 9:17). Solomon makes a throne of ivory overlaid with gold, with six steps and lions.
  6. Ships of Tarshish (2 Chronicles 9:21). Every three years ships return with gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks.
  7. Solomon dies (2 Chronicles 9:31). After forty years Solomon is buried in the city of David and Rehoboam reigns.

For reflection

The queen says the half of Solomon's wisdom was not told her, and the narrator then counts his gold, his shields and the lions on his throne. What does the chapter's way of setting wisdom beside riches ask a reader to weigh?

People in this chapter

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