“When the queen of Sh’va heard what was being said about Shlomo because of the name of Adonai, she came to test him with difficult questions.”-1 Kings 10:1
Alrighty, today I wanna get all Hebrew on your rear ends.
Take a look at the words I have bolded in verse 1 from 1st Kings Chapter 10 above.
Did you do it?
Good.
Next, take a look at the corresponding Hebrew as follows:
שָׁמְעָה (sham‘ah) — she heard
שָׁמַע (shama‘) — to hear / listen / heed
שֵׁם (shem) — name, reputation, character
נָסָה (nasah) — to test, prove
חִידֹת (chidot) — riddles, difficult questions
Why have I done this?
Because there’s an interesting wordplay present in verse 1 that I want you homies to be privy to.
See, when we read verse 1, swapping out the English with the Hebrew, we get the following:
“When the queen of Sh’va SHEMA what was being SHAMA about Shlomo because of the SHEM of Adonai, she came to test him with difficult questions.“-1 Kings 10:1
Now, ain’t that cool as all heck, man?
These are some of the cool wordplays you can only find in the Hebrew.
The idea being put forth is that it was Adonai, the God of Israel, who was getting full credit for Solomon’s tremendous wealth and wisdom.
Ya feeling me here?
Onward.
Next we’re told Queen Saba started testing Solomon with difficult questions.
NASAH means “to test” or “prove.”
CHEDOTH refers to “riddles.”
Queen Saba didn’t just travel all the way to meet Solomon to get wisdom for herself.
Nope.
She wanted to test Solomon to see if all the incredible rumors about his amazing wisdom and wealth were really true.
There’s an interesting takeaway coming to me here.
Notice that Solomon’s great blessings were BOTH wealth and wisdom.
Now imagine if you had just one and not the other.
Wealth without wisdom results in stupidity, like blowing bucks on whores in the backstreets of Bangkok.
And wisdom without wealth results in mindless philosophy that results in nothing happening.
You need both to make a difference.
Of course, I ain’t saying that Solomon’s use of money was always for Godly purposes.
But he certainly did a lot of good with it to further the kingdom of Adonai.
And both his wisdom and wealth served as a powerful witness to the glory of the God of Israel.
As it did to Queen Saba.
This leads to another takeaway.
We are to use our Godly gifts and blessings…
Whether they be wealth, wisdom, or talents…
To further Kingdom purposes…
And not gratify our fleshly egos…
Ya feel me here?
Alrighty, I’m calling this a wrap.
Done.
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