1 Kings 10:1-9 sermon

the epiphany of our lord

Shepherd of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church (WELS)

Visiting the King

1 Kings 10:1-9

¹ When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the Lord, she came to test Solomon with hard questions. ² Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. ³ Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her. ⁴ When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, ⁵ the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed.

⁶ She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. ⁷ But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard. ⁸ How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! ⁹ Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness.”

Dear friends,

According to Oriental accounts, the Queen of Sheba sent ambassadors with a letter to Solomon before she went herself. With them she sent five hundred youths dressed like maidens, and the same number of maidens like young men. She sent also a closed casket, containing an unperforated pearl, a diamond intricately pierced, and a goblet of crystal. The letter thus referred to these things: “As a true prophet, thou wilt no doubt be able to distinguish the youths from the maidens; to divide the contents of the enclosed casket: to perforate the pearl; to thread the diamond; and to fill the goblet with water that hath not dropped from the clouds, nor gushed forth from the earth.” When they reached Jerusalem, Solomon told them the contents of the letter before they presented it, and made light of their mighty problems. He caused the slaves to wash themselves, and from the manner in which they applied the water detected their sex. He directed a young and fiery horse to be ridden through the camp at the top of its speed, and on its return caused its copious perspiration to be collected in the goblet. The pearl he perforated by a stone occultly known to him. The threading of the diamond puzzled him for a moment, but at length he inserted a small worm, which wound its way through, leaving a silken thread behind it. Having done this, he dismissed the ambassadors without accepting their presents. This and the reports her emissaries brought determined the queen to visit Jerusalem in person. When she came, Solomon, who had heard a piece of scandal about her, - no less than that she had cloven feet, - first of all demonstrated his sagacity by the mode in which he tested this report. He caused her to be conducted over a crystal floor, below which was real water, with a quantity of fish swimming about. Balkis, who had never seen a crystal floor, supposed there was water to be passed through, and therefore slightly lifted her robe, enabling the king to satisfy himself that she had a very neat foot, not at all cloven (Gray & Adams Bible Commentary, p.871).

Perhaps those things happened; perhaps they did not.  It is known that puzzles and riddles were quite common to her culture at that time, so it may be that the Queen of Sheba was fascinated by the accounts she had heard of Solomon’s great wisdom.  While his famed wisdom was a part of the driving force behind her desire to travel so many miles to see Solomon, it wasn’t the only draw.  The Bible tells us, “When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the LORD, she came to test Solomon with hard questions” (v.1).  His wisdom impressed her, but his relationship to the Lord also intrigued her. 

What were the “hard questions” she came to ask?  It might help to ask what the hard questions are today.  “What happens to me when I die?”  “Does it really matter how I live my life?”  “Is there a God?”  Those are hard questions.  Or, did the Queen come to ask another sort of hard question, to merely to recite riddles and brain-teasers – attempts at stumping the wise Solomon?   It would seem doubtful, especially given that once she arrived, she “talked with him about all that she had on her mind” (v.2).  Certainly some of her questions must have spilled into the realm of religion and spirituality, given that she was already familiar with Solomon’s reputation of having some sort of connection with the Lord.  Finally, the purpose of her visit with King Solomon was not nearly as important as God’s purpose for it.

Even if – and it would certainly appear to be a big if – the Queen hadn’t sought out Solomon to pursue religion at all, we can hardly imagine Solomon failing to make the most of the opportunity to take the time to speak to the Queen of his faith and his relationship with the God of free and full grace.  When we read through Proverbs it is clear that Solomon knew very well what true wisdom was, that it began with fearing the Lord (Proverbs 9:10).  Could such an individual, one so richly blessed by God both physically and spiritually, have helped but gush about God and intentionally steer the direction of their discussion toward the divine?  It would be difficult to imagine.

Her visit with the King had left quite an impression on her.  Recall that nothing was off limits; that she had asked about anything and everything on her mind, and “Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her” (v.3).  And it wasn’t just what Solomon said that impressed her, but everything about her visit.  “When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his officials. The attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed” (v.4,5).  She saw his wisdom in action in the details of how he carried himself and how he did things throughout his kingdom.  You can imagine the exchanges they must have shared.  She asked him why he did this that way or why he didn’t to it another way, and every explanation he gave made absolutely perfect sense, as if to lead her to think to herself, “Why don’t we do it that way; why doesn’t everyone do it that way?”  Also leaving her extremely impressed was what she witnessed in seeing worship carried out at the temple.  What a sight to behold the sacrifices being offered up in such a magnificent setting!  The experience she had visiting with Solomon finally led her to acknowledge the greatness of the Lord, saying, ^“praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness” (v.9).

One naturally wants to know the result of the Queen’s visit with King Solomon and the significance of her praise of the Lord.  Was she just paying lip service to another god to cover her bases, or did she become a believer as a result?  Was she converted as a result of Solomon’s witness to the LORD?  Or, was her visit nothing more than an attempt to satisfy her curiosity?  Did she see the LORD as just another of many gods that might be worth her time investing in, since he certainly seemed to bless Solomon? 

We’re privileged to have some insight from the Savior himself on the matter.  In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus was condemning the Pharisees for their refusal to heed his call to repentance.  He pointed back to the example of how even the Ninevites came to repentance as a result of the prophet Jonah’s preaching, and that the Ninevites would in turn stand to condemn the Pharisees for their failure to repent.  In his continued rebuke of the Pharisees, Jesus stressed the same point using another example.  He said, “The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here” (Mt. 12:42).  Though possible, it would seem unlikely that Jesus would have referred to the Queen of Sheba, if she had been an unbeliever, to stand up in condemnation of other unbelievers.  A more convincing case could be made to conclude that the Queen did in fact become a believer in the one true God.  Jesus’ point would then have been to shame the Pharisees, for if Sheba came to faith simply by meeting Solomon, how terrible that they refuse to repent and believe when One greater than Solomon – the promised Savior himself – was in their midst!

Yet even if she did not come to faith, she would have been without excuse.  She had an audience with a believer, knowing full well his connection with the LORD, the gracious, slow-to-anger, abounding-in-love God.  IF she had somehow come away from her time with Solomon without having come to faith, at the very least her visit resulted in her having received a clear testimony of God and his goodness toward his people.  If for no other reason than that, her visit to Solomon was a blessing. A witness to the true God was given.

That essentially sums up what Epiphany is all about.  It is the revealing, the showing, the witnessing of the true God in the flesh of Christ.  The Queen of Sheba’s visit to Solomon wasn’t the only visit with a King by which a witness of God was given.  The magi who traveled to see the Christ child and adorn him with gifts also enjoyed a visit with the King.  They experienced the miraculous star that led them to the King.  They were in the presence of divine royalty.  They saw the Savior with their eyes and another witness to the true God was given.

The Queen of Sheba and the magi were blessed to have visited a King.  Both experiences resulted in a clearer revelation of God.  We have been blessed by Christ the King.  His salvation and gift of grace have been freely given to us and gratefully received.  We know freedom from sin.  We know peace in a way the world cannot offer.  We know what it means to be unafraid of death.  We know joy that cannot be matched by the world.  We know these things because of the time  we’ve spent hearing of God’s goodness in his Word.

So how unfortunate if, rather than maintaining this relationship with God on an ongoing basis, we only visit him once in awhile.  God is interested in an eternal relationship with us, not an on-again-off-again roller coaster ride.  As I saw it stated recently, God isn’t content with just getting us for weekend visitation rights; he wants full custody.  Why only visit him once in a while when he gives us direct access to be in touch with him all day, every day?  Think of all the missed opportunities we’ve wasted.  We’re happy just to visit him once in a while, yet we miss the fact that he’s standing right outside our front door waiting to be let into our homes and our hearts to set up a permanent residence.  It’s a new year.  Don’t be content to see him during visiting hours only; let him have a key to your home.

Then, as he strengthens your faith through the additional time he has with you, he’ll also open your eyes not only to recognize a sad reality, but to start caring about it even more.  That reality?  Solomon’s wisdom and Bethlehem’s star are not present today to lead people to visit the King.  The lost are not flocking to seek God or his wisdom.  I haven’t heard any stories recently about the doors of any church coming off the hinges because so many people are trying to force their way in.  The King’s appointment book is wide open, and the number of visitors he’s got scheduled these days is pretty slim.

So for the Epiphany to really be much of an epiphany at all to people today, someone’s going to have to go to them; someone who’s not only visited the King, but enjoys a close, ongoing relationship with him.  Will it be you?  Will you be instrumental in 2013 in helping someone else come to know the King?  Amen.

“For the freer confidence is from one’s own works, and the more exclusively it is directed toward Christ alone, so much better is the Christian it makes.” (Luther)