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This is still a very early look into the unfinished text of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check the text in advance before using in public.
10:1 The queen from Sheva visits Shelomoh
10 Now the queen from Sheva had heard a report about how Yahweh had blessed Shelomoh, and she came to test him with difficult questions.[ref] 2 She came to Yerushalem with lots of her top people, camels carrying spices and gemstones and a lot of gold. Then she went to Shelomoh and started asking him everything that had been on her mind. 3 He answered all her questions—there wasn’t any topic that he wasn’t able to shed light on. 4 When the queen from Sheva saw the extent of Shelomoh’s wisdom, the palace that he’d built, 5 the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the uniforms and the service of his waiters, and the burnt offerings that he sacrificed at Yahweh’s temple, she was totally lost for words.
6 She told the king, “Wow, everything that I heard about you back in my own country, and about how wise you are, is true. 7 I hadn’t believed it until I got here and saw it with my own eyes, but then I find that what I heard is only half of how incredible it is. Your wisdom and your goodness is way more than what I’d heard described. 8 Your men are so fortunate and especially your servants who’re always standing in front of you and able to hear the wise things that you say. 9 May your God Yahweh be blessed, who was pleased with you and placed you on Israel’s throne. He appointed you as king to rule them fairly and honestly because Yahweh loves Israel forever.”
10 Then the queen gave to king four tonnes of gold and very many spices and precious gemstones. Never again did King Shelomoh receive more spices than what the queen gave him that day.
11 King Hiram’s fleet also brought gold from Ofir as well as a lot of almug wood and precious gemstones. 12 The king used the almug timber to make railings[fn] for the temple and the palace, and lyres and harps for the musicians. Such a quantity and quality of almug wood has never again been brought in or seen in Israel to this day.
13 Then King Solomon gave the queen from Sheva everything she wanted—whatever she requested on top of what he had already given to her. Then she departed with her servants and returned to her country.
10:12 The exact meaning of this Hebrew word is unknown, especially as it’s only used once. (Other possibilities for the use of this obviously high-quality timber includes ‘steps’ or ‘pillars’.)
10:5 Variant note: משרת/ו: (x-qere) ’מְשָׁרְתָ֜י/ו’: lemma_8334 n_1.2.0.0 morph_HVprmpc/Sp3ms id_11jg4 מְשָׁרְתָ֜י/ו
1 Kings 9-10; 2 Chronicles 2:1-18; 8:1-9:28
Near the beginning of Solomon’s reign, the Lord promised to bless him with great wisdom, riches, and honor (1 Kings 3:2-15), and the fulfillment of this promise led to great fame for Solomon throughout the Near East. Humanly speaking, Solomon had been set up for immense success by his father David, who passed on to him a powerful kingdom that stretched from the tip of the Red Sea to the Euphrates River (2 Samuel 8-10; 1 Chronicles 18-19; 2 Chronicles 8). During Solomon’s reign Israel controlled all land routes leading from Egypt and the Red Sea to the Aramean and Hittite nations to the north, and they also controlled the northern terminus of the great Incense Route leading from the peoples of southwest Arabia to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea at Gaza. Solomon appears to have capitalized on his strategic control over travel and shipping throughout the region by setting up a very lucrative international arms dealership, through which he paired chariots bought from Egypt with horses bought from Kue (the term sometimes translated as “Egypt” should probably be translated “Muzur,” a district near Kue) and sold them to the kings of the Hittites and Arameans. Solomon also likely gained immense wealth from very productive copper mines at Punon, Timna, and elsewhere (see “Southern Arabah Valley” map). All this won him great renown among all the rulers of the Near East, including the queen of Sheba, who traveled over a thousand miles to see for herself Solomon’s great wisdom and splendor. She brought with her luxurious gifts from her land, including spices, precious stones, and gold, which she may have obtained from nearby Ophir. Solomon also arranged for King Hiram of Tyre to provide him with cedar timbers from Lebanon to build the Temple of the Lord and his royal palace (2 Chronicles 2). The logs were bound into rafts, floated down to Joppa, and then disassembled and hauled up to Jerusalem. Solomon also launched ships to sail to faraway lands during his reign and bring back riches and exotic goods. Scholars have proposed various locations for the exact destination of the ships, and some have struggled to reconcile what can seem like confusion on the part of the biblical writers over the term Tarshish. But a careful reading of the biblical accounts indicates that there were probably two separate fleets of ships: the fleet of Hiram and Solomon’s fleet of ships of Tarshish. Both fleets are separately mentioned in 1 Kings 10:22, and the phrase “at sea with” may simply indicate that they were sailing at the same time but not necessarily together. Also, the list of goods brought back by Hiram’s fleet is somewhat different than the list of goods brought back by Solomon’s fleet (compare 1 Kings 10:11, 22; 2 Chronicles 8:17-18; 9:10, 21). Likewise, the wording of 2 Chronicles 8:17-18 is that Hiram “sent to [Solomon] by the hand of his servants ships and servants familiar with the sea,” but the implication seems to be that the ships remained Hiram’s, not Solomon’s, whereas the other fleet of ships of Tarshish appears to have belonged to Solomon, though the ships were manned by Hiram’s men as well (2 Chronicles 9:21). Thus, Hiram’s fleet set sail from Ezion-geber, traveled the length of the Red Sea, and acquired gold from Ophir. Solomon’s fleet, on the other hand, could have sailed either the Red Sea or the Mediterranean Sea, since the term ships of Tarshish seems to have been used at times to indicate a class of trading or refinery ships rather than a specific destination (see article for “Tarshish” map). It is also possible, however, that the term Tarshish referred to the ships’ actual destination, which during Solomon’s reign appears to have been located in the far western Mediterranean Sea. This is supported by isotopic studies of silver found in Israel during Solomon’s time, which have traced the source to Tharros on the island of Sardinia. This also fits well with the length of time given for the voyage of Solomon’s fleet, which returned every three years with their exotic goods.
1KI Intro C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22