2 Chronicles 9

This is the final chapter of the account of Solomon's reign, which begins in 2 Chronicles 1. Following the record of Solomon's city building and the voyages to Ophir in 2 Chronicles 8, this chapter records the visit of the Queen of Sheba and Solomon's riches, and it concludes with his death.

Outline

• Verses 1–9 The Queen of Sheba tests Solomon with hard questions. Amazed at his wisdom and his court, the queen blesses the LORD and presents him with 120 talents of gold, spices, and precious stones.
• Verses 10–11 The servants of Huram and of Solomon bring gold and algum trees from Ophir. The algum wood is used to make terraces for the temple and the king's house, as well as harps and psalteries.
• Verse 12 Solomon gives gifts in return, and the queen returns to her own land.
• Verses 13–21 The gold that comes in each year weighs 666 talents. Solomon makes 200 large shields and 300 smaller shields of gold, and he furnishes an ivory throne with twelve lions and vessels of gold. His ships travel to Tarshish once every three years.
• Verses 22–28 The kings of the earth bring presents year by year. Solomon keeps 4,000 stalls for horses and 12,000 horsemen, and he reigns over all the kings from the Euphrates River to the border of Egypt.
• Verses 29–31 The sources recording Solomon's acts are cited. After reigning forty years, he is buried in the city of David, and Rehoboam succeeds him.

Key Verses

• 2 Chronicles 9:8 "to be king for the LORD thy God." Solomon's kingship is portrayed as a rule exercised on God's behalf over God's kingdom.
• 2 Chronicles 9:23 "his wisdom, that God had put in his heart." The verse makes clear that Solomon's wisdom came from God.

Persons and Places

• Solomon and the Queen of Sheba: Sheba, the land the queen ruled, is identified by some with southern Arabia and by others with East Africa.
• Huram: the king of Tyre who operated ships together with Solomon. In 1 Kings 10 he appears as Hiram.
• Nathan, Ahijah, and Iddo: cited as sources recording Solomon's acts. Ahijah is a prophet from Shiloh, and Iddo is a seer.
• Jeroboam, David
• Jerusalem, Philistia, Egypt
• Ophir was a source of gold, and Tarshish was a distant port. The locations of both remain uncertain.

Points for Reflection

• This chapter is nearly identical in content to 1 Kings 10. However, it omits the foreign wives and idolatry reported in 1 Kings 11. Many interpreters see this as the Chronicler's way of highlighting Solomon as the king who built the temple.
• The "four thousand" stalls of verse 25 appear as "forty thousand" in 1 Kings 4:26. Some hold that this discrepancy arose in the course of manuscript transmission.
• Some interpreters connect the 666 of verse 13 with Revelation 13:18. The text itself, however, speaks only of the amount of revenue.
• The story that a son was born to the queen and Solomon is an Ethiopian tradition and does not appear in the biblical text.
• In the New Testament, Jesus says that "the queen of the south" came to hear the wisdom of Solomon (Matthew 12:42; Luke 11:31). In Matthew 6:29 he also compares Solomon's glory with the lilies of the field.