Everyone has heard a story too good to be true and felt the urge to see it with their own eyes. That is what led a foreign queen to cross the desert to Jerusalem: she was not willing to settle for rumors about the wisdom of a king.
She ruled Sheba, a prosperous kingdom traditionally located in southern Arabia, in the region of present-day Yemen. When she heard of Solomon’s fame, tied to the very name of the LORD, she decided to go in person and test him with hard questions (1 Kings 10:1).
She arrived in Jerusalem with an impressive caravan: camels loaded with spices, gold in great quantity, and precious stones. She brought everything she had in mind and laid before Solomon all the questions she could think of (1 Kings 10:2).
Solomon answered every one of them; nothing was too hard for him to explain (1 Kings 10:3). But what impressed her most was not only the answers, it was seeing up close the palace, the king’s table, his officials, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the LORD (1 Kings 10:4-5).
She admitted the obvious: she had heard the reports, but had not believed them until she saw with her own eyes. The reality exceeded the report, she said, not even half had been told her (1 Kings 10:6-7). And then she did something remarkable for a foreigner: she blessed the God of Israel for placing him on the throne to administer justice (1 Kings 10:9).
They exchanged gifts: she gave gold and spices as had never been seen before, and he gave her all she desired (1 Kings 10:10,13). Then she returned to her own land, but her story did not end there.
Centuries later, Jesus cited her as an example: she traveled from the ends of the earth to hear Solomon’s wisdom, and something greater than Solomon was standing there, before a generation that would not move an inch to recognize him (Matthew 12:42).
How many times have we heard of God’s greatness and settled for merely hearing about it? The Queen of Sheba reminds us that seeking God up close, with honest questions and a willingness to make the journey, tends to reveal that not even half has ever been told.
