When the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his ministers, their clothing, his cup bearers also, their clothing, and his ascent by which he went up to Yahweh’s house; there was no more spirit in her.
She said to the king, “It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your acts and of your wisdom. However I didn’t believe their words until I came, and my eyes had seen it; and behold half of the greatness of your wisdom wasn’t told me. You exceed the fame that I heard! Happy are your men, and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you, and hear your wisdom. Blessed be Yahweh your God, who delighted in you, to set you on his throne, to be king for Yahweh your God; because your God loved Israel, to establish them forever. Therefore he made you king over them, to do justice and righteousness.”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 8 Or, galleries whereby he went up.
Or, galleries whereby he went up.
Hebrew, there was no spirit in her.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv3–8 2Ch 9:3 And when the queen of Sheba had…
2Ch 9:3 And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built,
Ver. 3. Had seen the wisdom of Solomon.] 1Ki 10:4.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v8 King for the Lord, i.e. in the Lord’s name…
King for the Lord, i.e. in the Lord’s name and stead, both in general, because all kings have and hold their kingdoms from God, and act as his viceregents and deputies; and in a special manner, because he sat in God’s own throne and ruled over God’s peculiar people, and did in a singular and eminent manner maintain the honour and worship of God in his land, and in the eyes of all the world besides.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v8 For the Lord - In the Lord's name and…
For the Lord - In the Lord's name and stead, in a special manner, because he sat in God's own throne, and ruled over God's peculiar people, and did in an eminent manner maintain the honour of God in his land, and in the eyes of all the world. Those mercies are doubly sweet, in which we can taste the kindness and good will of God as our God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v8 2Ch 9:8. To set thee on his throne, to…
2Ch 9:8. To set thee on his throne, to be king for the Lord thy God — In the Lord’s name and stead, in a special manner, because he sat in God’s own throne, and ruled over God’s peculiar people, and did, in an eminent manner, maintain the honour of God in his land, and in the eyes of all the world. Those mercies are doubly sweet, in which we can taste the kindness and good-will of God as our God.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv3, 5, 6, 8 House; the royal palace, or rather the temple, which…
House; the royal palace, or rather the temple, which was much more magnificent than any thing in the East.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 8 4. and their apparel] The phrase is repeated probably…
4. and their apparel] The phrase is repeated probably through an error of transcription; it occurs once only in the parallel place in 1 Kin.
his ascent by which he went up] Render (if the text be sound), his manner of going up, i.e. the pomp with which he went up (so Targ.); but LXX. and Pesh. give, the burnt-offerings which he used to offer, a rendering which is right in 1Ki_10:5 (cp. R.V. mg.). The difference of reading between Chron. and 1 Kin. in the Heb. is slight.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv4–8 (4) And his ascent by which he went up…
(4) And his ascent by which he went up into the house of the Lord.—Kings, “And his burnt offering which he offered in the house of the Lord.” The LXX., Syr., and Vulg. here agree with Kings; and the Arab. reads, “the altar on which he offered.” In all other passages, the word used in our text (‘alîyâh) means not ascent, but upper chamber; it is likely, therefore, that in the present instance it is merely an error of transcription for the term occurring in Kings (‘ôlâh, “burnt-offering”).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv4, 8 The meat of his table. (see 1Ki_4:22, 1Ki_4:23) Translating…
The meat of his table. (see 1Ki_4:22, 1Ki_4:23) Translating our thoughts rather violently into modern language, we might picture the queen inspecting the kitchens of the palace, and remember that the kitchens of an Oriental court did the work, not of an individual "table," but of those of a very large domestic and official retinue; much more these of Solomon now. Keil and Bertheau, however, with others, refer this expression to the set-out of one meal-table (as e.g. that of a modern banquet, wedding breakfast, or the like), where both the abounding lading of the table and the ample variety of the courses, and the rich foreign or home fruits, in season or out of season, and the furnishing and decorating of the table, all come in to add their contribution of effect; and they quote not inaptly our ver. 20, elucidated by 1Ki_10:21. This was a daily glory with Solomon"s palace-establishment. The immediate connection and the contents of this verse, though difficult, favour this direction of explanation, as will be seen in the succeeding clauses. The sitting of his servants. The word here used (bvwOm) occurs forty-three times, and is rendered in the Authorized Version thirty-two of these times as "habitation" or "dwelling." Of the remaining eleven times, one or other of those words would be almost the synonym of the word used, and in every ease the rendering "dwelling," if kept to the general idea of a dwelling or resting-place more or less temporary, would not be inappropriate or inconsistent with the evident drift of the connection; only here and in the parallel is the inconvenient rendering "sitting" adopted by the Authorized Version. Hence we disagree with Professor Dr. Murphy"s explanation, the sitting, i.e. "in council of his chief officers." What the nature of the location (to use a term least specific) of the servants pointed to here is, nevertheless, still not quite clear. It is evidently placed in some antithesis with the standing (i.e. the standing-place) here rendered "inadequately or incorrectly, the attendance of his ministers. The attendance, i.e. "the station (dm) (see the four other occurrences of this word:" 1Ki_10:5; 1Ch_23:28; 2Ch_35:15; Isa_22:19) Of his ministers; Hebrew, wytrvm, participle of a piel verb, trev; This word, in an amazing majority of the hundred occurrences of it, expresses ministry of sacred service of some kind. It may, indeed, be said that the present passage, with only one or two others, are doubtful in this meaning or character of explanation. To our next clause, referring to their apparel, we find in the parallel mention, as here, of the cupbearers, though the matter of their apparel is not included as it is here. Part of the difficulty of the verse arises from the consideration that up to this point the contents of the successive clauses of it may compose possibly enough a sharp graphic description of the daily banquet scene. An apt reference to similar description of Arabian banquets is given in the "Speaker"s Commentary" as to be found in vol. it. pp. 213-215 of "Ancient Monarchies." Our next clause, however, brings us back into difficulty by its reference to Solomon"s ascent by which he went up into the house of the Lord, (1Ch_26:16 with our Exposition, "Pulpit Commentary apparently so unseasonably; nor are we much helped by reading, with the Septuagint, "the burnt offerings which he offered at the house of the Lord." The obscurity and lack of coherence are not formidable, indeed, and perhaps may be with moderate satisfaction set down again to the account of the occasionally careless selection of the compilers from the material of the older work. Possibly the allusion in our ver. 11 to the terraces, or stairs, or highways (see margin) to "the house of the Lord," and to the kings palace, may hold some clue to the ascent being adverted to here. Vers. 4-6.
The unimaginable.
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The Queen of Sheba was completely overwhelmed by what she saw at the court of Jerusalem. When she had seen and heard everything there was to see and hear, "there was no more spirit in her." She was "astonished with a great astonishment." She had not credited what she had been told (ver. 6); but she found that there was a great deal more to find than anything that had been described. What she realized altogether surpassed her anticipation. Her experience was very remarkable of its kind, but in this particular it was by no means exceptional. We have much to do with the unimaginable. It meets us or awaits us in
I THE MATERIAL CREATION. What wholly unanticipated wonders have been disclosed by the advance of human science! The men of remote generations had not the faintest notion of the powers we have discovered to reside in the material universe. And what still undiscovered forces await our inquiry and investigation as we patiently plod on in the paths of knowledge! Surely one-half hath not been told us or imagined by us.
II OUR HUMAN EXPERIENCE. We have our expectation concerning the life that is before us; but it is very little like the reality, as experience will prove. Many things we may picture to ourselves which will find no fulfilment; but many other things there are, of which we have no discernment, that will find their place on the page of our biography. Of these some are unexpected sorrows losses, disappointments, separations, struggles of which we can form no idea; others are unanticipated blessings-comforts, relationships, joys, triumphs exceeding and excelling our hopes. We do not anticipate, for good or evil, one-half of the bright or dark reality.
III THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD. "Eye had not seen, nor ear heard, nor had it entered into man"s heart to conceive" one-half of "what God had prepared for them that love him." No man could or did imagine that such wealth of grace and goodness as that which the gospel of Christ contains would be brought to us by the Anointed of God, would be purchased for us by a Saviour"s sacrifice, would be pressed upon us by a heavenly Father"s urgent and persistent love.
IV THE GLORY WHICH IS TO BE REVEALED. In that "land of great distances" we are one day to traverse, in that home of love in which we are soon to dwell, what unimaginable good is in reserve! What joy and what glory; what rest and what activity; what realization and what hope; what knowledge of God and what pursuit of that knowledge; what royalty and what service; what purity and what progress; what unanticipated and inconceivable blessedness to satisfy but not satiate the soul! C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v8 Therefore made he thee king over them.
2Ch_9:8
Therefore made he thee king over them.
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The Divine appointment of kings
I. That princes are of Divine appointment.
II. That wise and good rulers are a signal mark of the Divine love and favour to any nation.
III. The description of the regal office and dignity, both in respect of God and of the people.
IV. That on the advancement of a prince eminently qualified to serve God and his country we ought to bless God, that is, to return the tribute of praise due to Him. (Abp. Potter.)
The blessing of a Protestant king and royal family to the
nation:--
I. That it is God who maketh kings, and setteth them on their thrones as His vicegerents to do justice and judgment upon earth.
II. All kings should remember that they sit upon the throne of the Lord their God, of whom the Psalmist says, that righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His seat. They must therefore be good and just, ruling in His fear, and after His example. (John Donne, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3, 5, 7 When the queen of Sheba saw Solomon's wisdom and…
When the queen of Sheba saw Solomon's wisdom and the palace that he had built
Here "saw Solomon's wisdom" represents realizing that Solomon was very wise. AT: "When the queen of Sheba realized how wise Solomon was, and when she saw the palace that he had built" (See: Metaphor)
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the palace that he had built
The author writes about Solomon having his workers build his palace as if he himself had built it. AT: "the palace that Solomon had his workers build" or "the palace that he had commanded his workers to build" (See: Metonymy)
the seating of his servants
Possible meanings are 1) where his servants lived or 2) how his servants sat around the table.
his cupbearers
"his wine servers." These were servants who tasted the king's wine to make sure that there was no poison in it. If it was safe to drink the wine, they would give it to the king.
there was no more breath in her
This is an idiom. AT: "she was completely amazed" (See: Idiom)
translationWords
wise
spirit
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v3 9:3-4 The queen observed the unusual grandeur of Solomon’s…
9:3-4 The queen observed the unusual grandeur of Solomon’s court, which demonstrated both his wealth and his wisdom.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.