When you hear from several people that something is good, what do you do?
It may be a film, or for Malaysians, it could be a restaurant or a particularly good source of durian. Well, of course, you have to check it out yourself.
Possibly because I’m a bit cynical and I’ve been hugely disappointed before. The Star Wars prequels, the Hobbit trilogy, to name a few. Oh, I will check it out, but I will also dampen my expectations. I go in hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. That way I can’t be too let down.
Now have you ever come across an experience that exceeded your expectations?
For me, one of the ones I always talk about, it’s the Grand Canyon. I mean we drove across the desert, and I have to say that Las Vegas, was impressive… in a scary superficial way. Then we cross the Hoover Dam, and that was massive and an amazing human achievement. But then we came to the Grand Canyon… and it took my breath away. The size and beauty of it, words cannot describe.
Today, we are continuing our series on 1 Kings. I’ve talked a lot about Solomon, his good points and his bad. We’ll very briefly touch on Solomon, but we’re going to spend a lot more time on the Queen of Sheba.
READ 1 Kings 10
PRAY
Any who’s studied any overview of the Old Testament knows that it all pivots on these great promises by a faithful God. God’s great promises to Noah, to Abraham, to Moses, to David and now to Solomon. They all find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
The great of these is to Abraham, and initially it just straight of the blue. We know nothing about Abram, as he was called originally, and this is the first we hear about him.
Genesis 12
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
All the families of the earth shall be blessed through you, God says, and we start to see that in hints of those who foreshadow Jesus. We see that in Joseph becoming in charge of the famine aid in Egypt, not just to help Eygpt, but all the nations surrounding it too, including his own family to come to take aid. And we see it here, don’t we?
Verse 23: Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind.
Even those who have never read the bible today, who have sadly grown up with no Christian content in their education, will probably have heard of the Wisdom of Solomon. I know that it’s one of the powers of the superhero Shazam for those who want a nerdy reference.
So in the second half of this chapter we see God keeping his promises to Solomon and blessing him with, not only wisdom, but wealth, power and fame: everything that most men desire and what Solomon chose not to ask for. And by increasing Solomon’s fame and glory, God’s fame and glory was spread far and wide too.
One more thing before I move to the Queen of Sheba. Notice how Solomon didn’t have to go anywhere. He didn’t have to go on a tour of Asia, that notoriously tough nut to crack. He didn’t need to visit other countries and hold court and show off his wisdom. They came to him… and so to did Jesus. The word spread out like wildfire, and soon the whole world knew of his wisdom.
But as I said, I don’t really want to talk about Solomon today. Let’s have a look at the Queen of Sheba. Nobody is certain where Sheba is, but we guess that it’s somewhere around Yemen and Ethiopia. Some have drawn links to the Ethiopian ambassador that was reading the scriptures when he passed by Philip in his chariot, only then to be converted and baptised. Who know whether that ambassador received his scriptures handed down from this Queen.
We do know, even just by her gifts along that she was a Queen and enormously wealthy. She came to hear the famous wisdom of Solomon, but she wasn’t some sycophantic fool, she had come to test him.
I wonder what you would ask if it was you who was coming to test Solomon?
It might be some deep theological question, like the free will and predestination debate. I know that Sh.. would be interested in that.
Perhaps it might a complex maths question: one of the millennium problems? or the formula for the prime numbers?
We can see that this Queen came with a sharp mind, seeking answers, undoubtedly to deep philosophical questions of the day, but we can also see that she see the wisdom in what Solomon has built and how he rules. For her, it’s not just an intellectual exercise, it’s practical wisdom too. It’s so that he can execute justice and righteousness.
Verse 3
Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her. 4 And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, 5 the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the LORD, there was no more breath in her.
And she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom, 7 but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard. Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!
That last statement is astounding. This was a time where kings, queens and rulers cared less about the people under them. She notes how happy his people are.
How often have you heard reports of how good something is, only to be disappointed?
It’s good, but it’s not something to write home about.
No, the Queen of Sheba is more than impressed, she’s astounded.
So, today I want us to learn from the attitude of this queen. You see it’s sometimes easy to be cynical and hard to impress, and sometimes that cynicism can turn into being impossible to admit when you are wrong. Some of you know that have a terrible habit of arguing with strangers on the internet. One thing I despair of is the confrontational arguments where the opposing party refuses to give any ground. I will admit when I’m wrong, and I work really hard to acknowledge when the person I am arguing with makes a valid point, but some people won’t do that. Instead, they’ll switch the subject or the question, or just resort to mockery or outright insults.
Here, we need to learn from the attitude of the Queen of Sheba:
Are we seeking God?
Are we seeking real wisdom, not just an intellectual exercise, or theological debate?
She came looking for wisdom and when she found it, she was quick to praise.
And that brings me onto my second point: did you notice who she praises?
It’s pretty amazing isn’t it?
Verse 9
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.”
She gives credit where credit is due: she gives praise to God for Solomon’s wisdom.
This is a foreign queen giving glory to God, the God of Israel, our God.
Solomon must have told her about God, and many draw that link with the Ethiopian ambassador because, even just from this statement, many are convinced that she was converted… and we’ll see more of that in a minute.
So the second lesson to learn from this queen is:
Are we giving God the glory?
I don’t have a third point, but I want to point us to a passage that shows that the bible highlights these two points as well.
Some of us have been studying the book of Luke, so should be familiar with this:
Luke 11: 29
29 When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. 30 For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
You see the queen of the south, left her country and travelled a great distance seeking wisdom, because she knew that that was the most important thing in this life. And when she found it, she acknowledged it and praised God for it. And so for those that have the bible so readily available to them, but don’t seek God’s wisdom from it, the queen of Sheba, when she rises from the dead on Judgement Day, she will say, “look at all the effort I went through to seek the truth!” “You have the bibles right there and you don’t read it!”.
Jesus often challenged the Pharisees and teachers of the law and said those famous words: Are you not in error because you do not know your scriptures?
One of the things that drew me to this church was not the music, lovely as it is, nor the people, amazing as they, nor the charity giving, and you know that I think that is an amazingly worthwhile thing to do. It was Craig’s insistence that we teach from the Word of God.
The points today:
Do we seek wisdom?
And do we give glory to God?
Day-by-day, I make sure that I am listening to God’s Word, and I mean that both figuratively and literally. My quiet time now consists of me listening to a podcast quiet time, repeated three or four times so that I really get the meaning. And that encourages me to praise God, and live my life as a living witness to him.
PRAY
