The Queen of Sheba visits Solomon and praises all she sees and hears. She tested his wisdom. Solomon passed the test. She marveled at his palace and the temple. Everything she heard was true. She pronounced a huge blessing on him. She said, “Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! 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.” Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, and a very great quantity of spices and precious stones. Never again came such an abundance of spices as these that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.”
An interesting thing about this story is that it caught Jesus’ attention. He used it to contrast Solomon’s wisdom with the current stupidity of the leadership in his day. Whereas the Queen of Sheba pronounced great blessings on Solomon & the nation, the future Queen of Sheba will condemn the nation rather than praise it. In Matthew 12:42, Jesus says, “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.”
Jesus was the one and only true Messiah and yet Israel, the people to which he came, rejected him. Sheba, a gentile land, will receive the messiah and thus stand as a testimony against Israel at the Day of Judgment.
Sheba will also stand as a witness to praise or condemn those who accept or those who reject Jesus in our generation as well.
Chuck
“Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Philippians 4:8