| Geneva Study Bible And when the queen of {a} Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions. (a) Josephus says that she was Queen of Ethiopia, and that Sheba was the name of the chief city of Meroe, which is an island of the Nile. Wesley's Notes 10:1 Sheba - Of that part of Arabia, called Shabaea, which was at great distance from Jerusalem, bordering upon the Southern Sea; for there, much more than in Ethiopia, were the commodities which she brought, ver.2,10. Name of the Lord - That is, concerning God; the name of God being often put for God; concerning his deep knowledge in the things of God. For it is very probable she had, as had divers other Heathens, some knowledge of the true God, and an earnest desire to know more concerning him. Questions - Concerning natural, and civil, and especially, Divine things. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary CHAPTER 10 1Ki 10:1-13. The Queen of Sheba Admires the Wisdom of Solomon. 1. the queen of Sheba-Some think her country was the Sabean kingdom of Yemen, of which the capital was Saba, in Arabia-Felix; others, that it was in African Ethiopia, that is, Abyssinia, towards the south of the Red Sea. The opinions preponderate in favor of the former. This view harmonizes with the language of our Lord, as Yemen means "South"; and this country, extending to the shores of the Indian ocean, might in ancient times be considered "the uttermost parts of the earth." heard of the fame of Solomon-doubtless by the Ophir fleet. concerning the name of the Lord-meaning either his great knowledge of God, or the extraordinary things which God had done for him. hard questions-enigmas or riddles. The Orientals delight in this species of intellectual exercise and test wisdom by the power and readiness to solve them. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 10:1-13 The queen of Sheba came to Solomon to hear his wisdom, thereby to improve her own. Our Saviour mentions her inquiries after God, by Solomon, as showing the stupidity of those who inquire not after God, by our Lord Jesus Christ. By waiting and prayer, by diligently searching the Scriptures, by consulting wise and experienced Christians, and by practising what we have learned, we shall be delivered from difficulties. Solomon's wisdom made more impression upon the queen of Sheba than all his prosperity and grandeur. There is a spiritual excellence in heavenly things, and in consistent Christians, to which no reports can do justice. Here the truth exceeded; and all who, through grace, are brought to commune with God, will say the one half was not told them of the pleasures and the advantages of wisdom's ways. Glorified saints, much more, will say of heaven, that the thousandth part was not told them, 1Co 2:9. She pronounced them happy that constantly attended Solomon. With much more reason may we say of Christ's servants, Blessed are they that dwell in his house; they will be still praising him. She made a noble present to Solomon. What we present to Christ, he needs not, but will have us do so to express our gratitude. The believer who has been with Jesus, will return to his station, discharge his duties with readiness, and from better motives; looking forward to the day when, being absent from the body, he shall be present with the Lord. | 
