1 Kings 10:1 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

1 KINGS CHAPTER 10 The queen of Sheba cometh to Jerusalem; admireth Solomon's wisdom and glory; giveth God thanks, and Solomon presents, 1 Kings 10:1-10. His riches, 1 Kings 10:11-15; targets, ivory throne, vessels, 1 Kings 10:16-23; presents, chariots and horses, tribute, 1 Kings 10:24-29. The queen of Sheba; either, first, Of Ethiopia, as that people by constant tradition from their ancestors affirm, which also was truly in the ends of the earth, whence she came, Matthew 12:42. Or rather, secondly, Of that part of Arabia called Sabaea, which was at a great distance from Jerusalem, and really in the ends of the earth, and bordering upon the southern sea; for there, much more than in Ethiopia, were the commodities which she brought, 1 Kings 10:2,10. Howsoever, this is there said for her commendation, that being a woman, and a queen, and living at great ease, and in such remote parts, she was willing to take so long and chargeable a journey to improve herself in knowledge, and that of Divine things, as is here implied. Concerning the name of the Lord, i.e. concerning the great work which he had done for the name, i.e. the honour, and service, and worship, of the Lord, as it is expressed 1 Kings 8:17, and elsewhere. Or, concerning God; the name of God being oft put for God, as hath been noted before; concerning his deep knowledge in the things of God. For it is very probable that she had, as also had divers other heathens, some knowledge of the true God, and an earnest desire to know more of the being, and nature, and worship of God, wherein the heathens were generally at a great loss, and which many of them desired and endeavoured to understand. Or, concerning the great things which God had done for him, especially in giving him such incomparable wisdom, and that in an extraordinary manner. With hard questions; concerning natural, and civil, and especially concerning Divine things, about which there are, and ever where, the hardest questions.