CHAPTER 9 Oct. 18 
The Visit of the Queen of Sheba
When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to prove Solomon with hard questions, with a very great train, and camels that bore spices, and gold in abundance and precious stones. When she had come to Solomon, she talked with him of all that was in her heart. 2Solomon told her all her questions; and there was not anything hidden from Solomon which he didn’t tell her. 3When the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, 4and the food of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers and their clothing, his cup bearers also and their clothing, and his ascent by which he went up to the house of Yahweh; there was no more spirit in her. 5She said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your acts and of your wisdom. 6However I didn’t believe their words until I came, and my eyes had seen it; and behold, the half of the greatness of your wisdom wasn’t told me: you exceed the fame that I heard. 7Happy are your men, and happy are these your servants who stand continually before you, and hear your wisdom. 8Blessed 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. 9She gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, and spices in great abundance, and precious stones. Neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon. 10The servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones. 11The king made of the algum trees terraces for the house of Yahweh and for the king’s house, and harps and stringed instruments for the singers. There were none like these seen before in the land of Judah. 12King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, besides that which she had brought to the king. So she returned to her own land, she and her servants. 
Solomon’s Wealth
13Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, 14besides that which the traders and merchants brought. All the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon. 15King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold; six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one large shield. 16He made three hundred other shields 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 either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the stays. 19Twelve lions stood there on both sides of the six steps: there was nothing like it made in any kingdom. 20All king Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. Silver was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon. 21For the king had ships that went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram; once every three years came the ships of Tarshish, bringing gold, silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks. 22So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. 23All the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. 24They brought each man his tribute, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and clothing, armour, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year. 25Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen that he stationed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. 26He ruled over all the kings from the River even to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt. 27The king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars to be as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland, for abundance. 28They brought horses for Solomon out of Egypt, and out of all lands. 29Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, aren’t they written in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? 30Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. 31Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father. Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

Commentary

9:5 No more spirit in her– The Hebrew word translated “spirit” has a wide range of meaning. It can refer to the life force within people; or as here, it can refer to the mind. 
9:6 People usually need to see intellectual truths lived out in practice before they will really believe them. This is why the Gospel is more powerfully taught by people, rather than through impersonal mediums like the internet or reading books. 
9:8 To be king for Yahweh your God- Israel were God’s Kingdom on earth, and their kings were reigning on God’s behalf. The Kingdom was therefore overturned when the last king of Israel was deposed; but it will be re-established at Christ’s return (Ez. 21:25-27;  Acts 1:6). The hope of the coming Kingdom of God on earth is therefore the hope of the re-establishment of God’s Kingdom which once was upon earth. Again we see that the promised Kingdom will be on earth- this is the Biblical hope, not going to Heaven on death.
9:13 The reference to 666 cannot be coincidental; this is the number of a man who is the epitome of “the beast” (Rev. 13:18). There are many other similarities between the descriptions of the beast’s kingdom and that of Solomon’s kingdom. And yet his kingdom was clearly a type of Christ’s kingdom. We see in this the terrible duality possible within human beings; and we see how what may appear very spiritual and wonderful on the surface can in fact be very sinful. This is true of both individuals and communities.
9:19 Solomon came to see his throne as the throne of God; he seemed to think that the promise to David that Messiah would sit on his throne could be fulfilled if he built the most amazing throne ever seen in the world. He made 12 lions to stand on either side of his throne, perhaps in imitation of how the Angels were perceived to be on either side of God’s throne (1 Kings 22:19). He was indeed sitting on the throne of the Lord as king over Israel, but in the sense that he was reigning on God’s behalf; for God was Israel’s true king. Solomon seems to have thought that he himself was some kind of God over Israel. And the lesson for us is to perceive ourselves as God’s servants and representatives, but not to take this to the extent that we think that all of our actions are thereby justified as somehow Divinely sanctioned. The end result was that Solomon lost sight of the future Kingdom- and we too will likewise lose our way if we de facto consider our little kingdoms to effectively be God’s Kingdom.
9:23 Solomon had God's wisdom throughout his apostasy (Ecc. 2:9), as the Truth ever remains with us in intellectual terms. God put that wisdom in his heart in order for him to help others, both in Israel and in the world; yet Solomon failed to realize that he needed to apply it to himself. The more truth passes through our lips to others, the stronger we are tempted to not apply it to ourselves personally.