1 Kings 10:1-13 And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions.… I. THAT WE SHOULD DILIGENTLY SEEK THE HIGHEST AND THE HOLIEST, AND NOT BE CONTENT WITH ANYTHING LOWER. II. THAT DIFFICULTIES AND DANGERS SHOULD NOT KEEP US FROM THE RECEPTION OF TRUTH. III. THAT AS WE SHOULD DILIGENTLY, AND IN SPITE OF ALL DIFFICULTIES, SEEK DIVINE TRUTH, SO SHOULD WE ADMIRE IT WHEN WE HAVE FOUND IT. The Queen of Sheba does not attempt enviously to find fault with or to depreciate any of the endowments of King Solomon. She admires heartily his wisdom, his knowledge, his power, his riches, his grandeur. A useful example for the present age — an age especially given to criticise, rather than to admire; an age that laughs at romance, ignores mystery, and ridicules the idea of the supernatural. We know that romance and reality ,are one, that life is itself a mystery, and that without the supernatural there could not be any natural. The credulity of early ages may have been excessive; but it was likely to be productive of more noble deeds than the scepticism and indifference of to-day. IV. THAT IN MATTERS THAT CONCERN OUR ETERNAL WELFARE IT BEHOVES US TO ACT ON EVIDENCE A LITTLE LESS THAN CERTAINTY. It has sometimes been objected to the Christian creed, that if God had sent it as revelation of His will to man, it ought to have been universally diffused and supported by irrefragable evidence. This argument, however, if carried out to its logical consequence, would go to prove that God ought to have dispensed with the necessity of a revelation to man at all, either by keeping him free from sin, or by supplying him with such an additional faculty as would have enabled him to intuitively grasp spiritual truths. All these suggestions, however, are the presumptions of ignorance. God chose to act in His dealings with men in a certain way; and what is man, that he should question the ways of God? V. THAT THOSE WHO ARE IN THE PRESENCE OF PERFECT WISDOM MUST BE HAPPY. "Happy," says the Queen of Sheba, "are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom." With God is wisdom; and those therefore who, whether on earth or in heaven, feel themselves to be perpetually in His presence or watched over by His care, are indeed truly happy. VI. THAT AS THE POSSESSION OF THE WISDOM THAT IS FROM ABOVE CAN ALONE MAKE US TRULY HAPPY, WE OUGHT TO BE PREPARED FOR IT TO OFFER THE BEST GIFTS THAT WE HAVE. The Queen of Sheba pours forth before Solomon her most valuable presents. The best of our life, of our labour, of our talents, of our riches, should we give to God, for from Him we obtained all that we have, and all our blessings we hold at His will. VII. THAT THE POSSESSION OF HEAVENLY WISDOM, WHICH IS THE TRUE RICHES, MORE THAN COMPENSATES FOR THE LOSS OF ANY UNRIGHTEOUS MAMMON. Not merely is the man who has reached to the appreciation and enjoyment of Divine truth happy, he is also rich — rich in treasures that moth and rust cannot corrupt and that thieves cannot break through to steal. (R. Young, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions. |
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