“Then she said to the king: “It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. However I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard. Happy are your men and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom! Blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you, setting you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord has loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness.”” I Kings 10:6-9 NKJV
a. Indeed the half was not told me: The Queen of Sheba heard wonderful things about Solomon and his kingdom, but upon seeing it with her own eyes she realized it was far greater than she had heard.
b. Happy are your men and happy are these your servants: It is a joyful thing to serve a great, wise, and rich king. If it was a happy thing to serve Solomon, it is a much happier thing to serve Jesus.
c. Blessed be the LORD your God, who delighted in you: This is an example of what God wanted to do for Israel under the promises of the Old Covenant. God promised Israel that if they obeyed under the Old Covenant, He would bless them so tremendously that the world would notice and give glory to the Lord God of Israel.
i. Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth… Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you. (Deuteronomy 28:1, 10)
ii. God wanted to reach the nations through an obedient and blessed Israel. If Israel did not obey, then God would speak to the nations through a thoroughly disciplined Israel.
d. Blessed be the LORD your God: It is fair to ask if this was a true confession of faith, expressing allegiance to the God of Israel. Taken in their context, these may not be more than the queen’s response to the astonishing blessing evident in Solomon’s Jerusalem.
i. “Her statement about the blessings of the Lord on Israel and Solomon in verse 9 were no more than a polite reference to Solomon’s God… There is no record that she accepted Solomon’s God, who was so majestically edified by the temple.” (Dilday)
ii. “Praise to the LORD implies recognition of Israel’s national God and need not necessarily be an expression of personal faith.” (Wiseman)
iii. If we take the Queen of Sheba as an example of a seeker, we see that Solomon impressed her with his wealth and splendor, and also impressed her personally. But she returned home without an evident expression of faith in the God of Israel. This shows that impressing seekers with facilities and programs and organization and professionalism isn’t enough.
iv. Regardless of the result of her search, we can admire her seeking.
· She came from a great distance.
· She came with gifts to offer.
· She came to question and to learn.
· She came and saw the riches of the king.
· She came for an extended period.
· She came telling all that was on her heart.
v. Jesus used the Queen of Sheba as an example of a seeker: The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here (Matthew 12:42). If the Queen of Sheba sought Solomon and the splendor of his kingdom so diligently, how much more should people today seek Jesus and the glory of His Kingdom. The Queen of Sheba will certainly also rise up in judgment against this generation.
e. Because the LORD has loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king: This statement is especially meaningful because Solomon was not necessarily the most logical successor of his father David. There were several sons of David born before Solomon. (Guzik)
i. “It was God’s special act to make him king rather than his elder brother.” (Poole)
Seek Jesus!
We can make a Bible study out of “seek Jesus”. You will find it was used by those seeking a free meal, by those wanting to be healed, by those seeking to kill him, by those wishing to test him and by those when they found an empty tomb. As believers we should seek daily fellowship with him because without it we would slowly fall into our old self before we found Christ.
“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” Ephesians 6:11-13 NKJV
Did you put on the whole armor of God today by seeking Jesus this morning?
Blessings
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