1 Kings 10:1–29

10:4–5 As the focus shifts from what she has heard to what she sees, the sight takes her breath away. The wealth and wisdom of Solomon have become inseparable.⁴ The “wisdom” of Solomon is displayed in the temple (“the house that he had built” and “his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord”), which is surely positive but also a depiction of stunningly extravagant royal practices. These too are the gift of God (cf. 3:13), although the question does remain: Will Solomon be able to maintain a “Deuteronomy 17 kingship” while enjoying such wealth?

The “food of his table” is impressive (in both quantity and quality, as already highlighted in 4:22–23). The royal bureaucracy is similarly impressive. “The seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cupbearers” could reflect the spectacle of a banquet Solomon-style or more generally the brilliance of the organization and administration of the royal court.⁵

10:6–9 The queen now gives her verdict on the visit to Jerusalem in her own words, and her statement (“Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard”) encapsulates the message of this section: Solomon’s “words” and “wisdom” are both impressive. This foreign queen appears to recognize what matters most, what lies at the root of all his prosperity, when she exclaims (perhaps with greater clarity than Solomon himself at this point): “Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness.” One cannot help but see this as a fulfillment of the promises to Abraham in Genesis 12:1–3 and an anticipation of the reality described in Isaiah 2:1–4, when the nations flock to Jerusalem to hear the wisdom of God. It also contains strong echoes of Psalm 72, which celebrates Solomon’s own kingship.

10:10 The queen of Sheba responds to all that she has seen and heard in typical fashion. The amounts of gold are extravagant but not unprecedented in the ancient world. More than 4 tons of gold is actually surpassed in the eyes of the writer by the surfeit of spices in particular: “Never again came such an abundance of spices as these that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.” The inclusion of this detail is almost certainly a simple reflection of the historical reality of this encounter.

10:11–13 At this point, the writer momentarily switches focus from these royal exchanges to the ongoing trading activity of Solomon and Hiram. Solomon’s wealth is not dependent on tribute from visitors seeking wisdom. Once more “Ophir” is highlighted as a rich source of gold but now also of both precious stones and “almug wood.” The identity of the tree is uncertain, but it serves to underline the surplus of resources in Solomon’s kingdom, since “no such almug wood has come or been seen to this day.” God clearly has blessed this reign materially, as “King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all that she desired, whatever she asked besides what was given her by the bounty of King Solomon.” Not only does the queen receive generous tributes from Solomon (in line with general diplomatic practice); such is his wealth that he is able to allow her to take her pick from his vast resources, probably in the context of a trade agreement (cf. 5:12–14; 9:11). And so the queen of Sheba returns to the south having been “blessed” by the king of God’s people.

10:14–17 Solomon’s generosity to his visitor then flows naturally into an inventory of his annual income (or at least the gold component). Every year, Solomon can count on “666 talents of gold” (well over 20 tons [18 metric tons], an amount fairly typical of significant empires in the ancient world), presumably from his own mining and prospecting activities. Added to this is the gold he gathers through taxation of “the explorers and from the business of the merchants,” presumably those who belong to his own kingdom, as well as “from all the kings of the west and from the governors of the land.” These taxes from foreign kings and territories (“governors” is an Assyrian loanword) are almost certainly duty paid for access to trade routes through Solomon’s territory. Solomon, it seems, is an expert in generating such revenue—a fact that does not fit particularly well with the nature of the kingship he should be exercising.

Much of this gold is used to create five hundred ceremonial “shields of beaten gold” to decorate the large hall, the “House of the Forest of Lebanon” (cf. 7:2; 10:21). Three hundred of these are full length, with 11 to 22 pounds (5–10 kg) of gold hammered onto base metal, and two hundred are smaller and lighter, using 3 to 7 pounds (1.5–3 kg) of gold. This array of glittering “weapons” would provide a stunning backdrop for the daily life of Solomon’s court.

10:18–20 If the trappings of Solomon’s wealth are vaguely troubling, so is the description of his throne. Its “six steps” may be an allusion to the Babylonian belief that kings ruled the cosmos from “level 7” of creation. In any case, the lion carvings (“two lions standing beside the armrests, while twelve lions stood there, one on each end of a step on the six steps”) bring together both the symbol for the house of Judah and a grand statement about Solomon’s power and significance. The details of the throne are typical of the period, but the fact that “the like of it was never made in any kingdom” makes it clear that Solomon not only is a king like the kings of the other nations but in many ways surpasses them.

10:21–22 The chapter continues in this vein with a note on Solomon’s dishware. In both Solomon’s own quarters and the “State Hall” of the House of the Forest of Lebanon, only gold utensils are used. The difference between “gold” and “pure gold” is not clear, but the fact that “silver was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon” is confirmation that the royal court of Israel is truly “world class,” with the quality of its kitchenware matched by regular, exotic deliveries from the ends of the earth of “gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.” Yes, Solomon has been granted spectacular wisdom and material blessing by God, but this level of decadence may be included to produce a growing disquiet in the reader.

10:23–25 The purpose of all of this detail is made explicit in the double-edged statement of verse 23: “Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.” Despite the fact that these blessings are given by God (1 Kings 3:13), the insistence of Deuteronomy 17 that, should Israel choose a king, he shall not “acquire for himself excessive silver and gold” (Deut. 17:17) is never far away. However, “the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind.” The phrase the “whole earth” suggests a fulfillment of God’s plans of both creation and blessing (Genesis 2; 12), underlined by the fact that every visitor “brought his present . . . year by year.” God has given both wisdom and blessing, but the fact remains that Solomon’s reign is far short of the divine ideal.

10:26–29 A reference to horses leads to the closing note in the chapter on Solomon’s acquisitions and dealings in horses and chariots. This must be read against the background of the instructions to any future king in Deuteronomy 17:16: “Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’” The issue is twofold: first, the assembling of an army (and its attendant temptation to trust in chariots and horses; cf. Ps. 20:7); and, second, returning to “Egypt” either literally or metaphorically. So the fact that “Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen” is in itself problematic. The fact that he had “1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen” adds to the picture, especially given the fact that his cavalry is so extensive that he must establish dedicated barracks to accommodate them. And, while raw materials and precious metals are readily available, the deeper issue from God’s point of view is how Solomon has brought about such prosperity:

Solomon’s import of horses was from Egypt and Kue, and the king’s traders received them from Kue at a price. A chariot could be imported from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver and a horse for 150, and so through the king’s traders they were exported to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria.

Importing anything from Egypt is bad (and to trade in horses and chariots with any state, including “Kue,” part of the Hittite Empire in southern Turkey, for a commission is not much better): to trade in chariots and horses is a telltale sign that the king has abandoned the ways of Yahweh. In addition, Solomon the Wise is arming his neighbors in a way amounting to recklessness. At every level, this chapter closes on a note of alarm.