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1Ki_10:1-9
Without pressing this parallel—though it seems to us the most significant and interesting which modern times can furnish, while the high object places it far above all ancient instances of wisdom-seeking travel—we have to remark, that this was eminently the form which any ancient zeal for knowledge took, and that the earliest instances of it occur in the Scriptures.
They belong to the time we have now reached; for we are told that “there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth which had heard of his wisdom.” In ordinary circumstances, the wisdom of a Jewish king would have been but little heard of beyond the immediately neighboring nations; but the extended conquests of David—the large dominions of his son—the great and magnificent works and undertakings of that son—his extensive commerce by sea and land—his connection with the Phoenicians, who, of all people, were from their position qualified to spread such intelligence far and wide—and even Solomon’s too numerous matrimonial connections with foreign princesses—all contributed to spread his reputation abroad. In some cases, foreign princes repaired themselves to Jerusalem, to view his glorious and curious works of art, and to hear his sage utterances; others sent ambassadors, to felicitate him, and to bring back all they could gather of his wisdom. This concourse of foreign princes and nobles from all parts, with their magnificent retinues, and curious and costly offerings, must have given singular liveliness and splendor to Jerusalem during the reign of Solomon. It must have supplied continual matter of admiration and entertainment to the citizens, who could not but feel great contentment, and some human exaltation, in the glory thus reflected upon them, from the greatness and wisdom of their sovereign.
The only one of such visits from these illustrious pilgrims of knowledge which has been particularly recorded, is that of a woman, the queen of Sheba, who “heard of the fame of Solomon, concerning the name of the Lord, and came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones.” And whence came she? Probability unites with ecclesiastical history, and with the Jewish traditions and Mohammedan accounts, in describing her as queen of the Sabaean kingdom of Yemen, and Mariaba or Saba, as the seat of its government. This point is so well established by Bochart and others, that it may be received as an ascertained fact. It is besides verified by the terms employed by our Savior in alluding to this pilgrimage. He calls her the “Queen of the South,” or Yemen, which is in Hebrew, as in Arabic, the proper word for South; and he speaks of her as having come “from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon,” which exactly corresponds to the Joktanite kingdom of Sheba, Saba, or Sabae, which is terminated only by the Indian Ocean, whose waters, blending with those of the Atlantic, divide Asia from Africa. It may be added, that all the precious commodities which the queen brought to Jerusalem, were such as the region thus assigned to her was in old time famous for producing. The Abyssinians, indeed, claim this illustrious queen for their sovereign, and trace to her their ancient kings—which may suggest, what is on other grounds probable, that the country on both shores of the southern part of the Red Sea was at this time under one government.
It was what this queen heard of Solomon in her own land, which had induced her to undertake this long and costly journey. In all probability, nay, in moral certainty, the Ophir fleet had, in its way, put into her ports, perhaps in both the outward and homeward voyage, which gave her the opportunity of acquiring this information of the great king to whom it belonged; and the successful result of the expedition, must have confirmed the accounts she received of the wisdom of the prince by whom it had been planned.
At Jerusalem the queen was received with courtesy and attention by Solomon, who freely gave her all the required evidence of the wisdom which had been given to him. It is said she tried it with “hard questions,” generally supposed by Jewish writers to have been of the nature of enigmas or riddles; and this is very likely, as the genius of the Orientals inclines them to test wisdom or cleverness by the solution of difficult matters. We have seen this in Samson’s riddles, and more lately in Solomon’s judgment. The reader may be entertained, if not interested, in seeing what kind of problems are conceived by the Orientals to have been submitted to the sagacity of Solomon. The Mohammedan legends on this subject are derived from those of the Jewish rabbis; and at least afford some idea of the notions entertained in the region from which the queen of Sheba came, of the kind of questions best suited to test the wisdom of Solomon.
No name is given to the queen in Scripture. The Arabians call her Balkis. According to their accounts, the princess 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, with instructions that they were to behave accordingly in the presence of Solomon. She had also a thousand carpets prepared, wrought with gold and silver, a crown composed of the finest pearls and hyacinths, and many loads of musk, amber, and aloes, and other precious products of South Arabia. To these she added 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 before 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.
We should be glad to know how this idea of a crystal floor before the king’s throne originated. In Rev_4:6, “a sea of glass, like unto crystal,” is placed before the throne of God; and as the images of that glorious vision are necessarily combined from known objects, it may be that the tradition of a crystal floor before the throne of Solomon already existed, or that something of the kind was somewhere known to exist, or to have existed, as a piece of regal magnificence. If we could suppose this circumstance had any foundation in fact, it might form a curious addition to the considerations we have lately had occasion to offer, respecting the origin of glass.
According to the Scripture narrative, the queen of Sheba found evidence of the wisdom of Solomon, not only in his words, but in his works. His magnificent palace, “the house of the forest of Lebanon;” the manner in which meat was provided for, and served at his table; the ordering of his courts and audiences, with his ministers and high officers standing according to their rank, in their gorgeous apparel; his cup-bearers, with their precious goblets; and above all, the viaduct whereby he crossed the valley which separated his palace from the temple of the Lord; all these things were objects of special admiration to this foreign princess, and drew from her the striking declaration—“It was a true report that I heard in my own country of thy acts and thy wisdom. Howbeit, I believed not the words until I came, and mine eyes have seen it; and, behold the half was not told me. Thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard.” There is a general belief among the Jewish writers, that the queen was turned from her dumb idols to worship the living God, under the instructions of Solomon. There is nothing unlikely in this. Indeed, the words which connect “the name of the Lord,” with the wisdom of Solomon, give much sanction to the opinion that the search for religious truth, the true “wisdom,” was the main object of her journey—as are the words which closed her address to Solomon—“Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand by and bear thy wisdom. Blessed be Jehovah thy God, which delighteth in thee to set thee on the throne of Israel; because Jehovah loved Israel forever, therefore hath He made thee king, to do judgment and justice.”