2 Chronicles 9

Chapter context

What is happening in 2 Chronicles 9?

templereformprayerjudgment

2 Chronicles 9 belongs to the early movement of the book, especially the section often described as Solomon and the temple. Second Chronicles recounts Solomon’s temple, the Judahite kings, reform movements, the fall of Jerusalem, and Cyrus’s decree of return. Read this chapter with the wider themes of temple, reform, and prayer in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.

¹ And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great company, and camels that bare spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. ² And Solomon told her all her questions: and there was nothing hid from Solomon which he told her not. ³ And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, ⁴ And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel; his cupbearers also, and their apparel; and his ascent by which he went up into the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her. ⁵ And she said to the king, It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom: ⁶ Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard. ⁷ Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom. ⁸ Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the LORD thy God: because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore made he thee king over them, to do judgment and justice. ⁹ And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon. ¹⁰ And the servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, which brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones. ¹¹ And the king made of the algum trees terraces to the house of the LORD, and to the king’s palace, and harps and psalteries for singers: and there were none such seen before in the land of Judah. ¹² And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which she had brought unto the king. So she turned, and went away to her own land, she and her servants. ¹³ Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and threescore and six talents of gold; ¹⁴ Beside that which chapmen and merchants brought. And all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon. ¹⁵ And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one target. ¹⁶ And three hundred shields made he of beaten gold: three hundred shekels of gold went to one shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. ¹⁷ Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. ¹⁸ And there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and stays on each side of the sitting place, and two lions standing by the stays: ¹⁹ And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps. There was not the like made in any kingdom. ²⁰ And all the drinking vessels of king Solomon were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold: none were of silver; it was not any thing accounted of in the days of Solomon. ²¹ For the king’s ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: every three years once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks. ²² And king Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. ²³ And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, that God had put in his heart. ²⁴ And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, harness, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year. ²⁵ And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. ²⁶ And he reigned over all the kings from the river even unto the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt. ²⁷ And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar trees made he as the sycomore trees that are in the low plains in abundance. ²⁸ And they brought unto Solomon horses out of Egypt, and out of all lands. ²⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat? ³⁰ And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. ³¹ And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

Study helps

Glossary

Jerusalem Place v. 1, 25, 27, 30: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Jerusalem.
Sheba Place v. 1, 3, 9, 12: (1. ) One of the sons of Cush ( Gen. 10:7 ). (2. ) The name of a country and nation ( Isa. 43:3 ; 45:14 ) mentioned along with Egypt and Ethiopia, and therefore probably in north-eastern Africa. The ancient name of Meroe. Modern identification: Sheba.
Ophir Place v. 10: Biblical island. Modern identification: southwestern Arabia.
Arabia Place v. 14: Biblical region. Modern identification: Arabian Peninsula.
House of the Forest of Lebanon Place v. 16, 20: Biblical structure. Modern identification: Jerusalem.
Tarshish Place v. 21: A Sanscrit or Aryan word, meaning “the sea coast. ” (1. ) One of the “sons” of Javan ( Gen. 10:4 ; 1 Chr. 1:7 ). (2. ) The name of a place which first comes into notice in the days of Solomon. Modern identification: Huelva.
Egypt Place v. 26, 28: The land of the Nile and the pyramids, the oldest kingdom of which we have any record, holds a place of great significance in Scripture. Modern identification: Ain Shams.
Euphrates Place v. 26: Biblical river. Modern identification: Euphrates River.
Shephelah Place v. 27: Biblical region. Modern identification: Shephelah.
Ahijah Person v. 29: Brother (i. e., “friend”) of Jehovah. (1. ) One of the sons of Bela ( 1 Chr. 8:7 , R. V. ). In A. V. called “Ahiah. ” (2. ) One of the five sons of Jerahmeel, who was great-grandson of Judah ( 1 Chr. 2:25 ).
Iddo Person v. 29: (1. ) Timely ( 1 Chr. 6:21 ). A Gershonite Levite. (2. ) Lovely. The son of Zechariah ( 1 Chr. 27:21 ), the ruler of Manasseh in David’s time. (3. ) Timely.
Jeroboam Person v. 29: Increase of the people. (1. ) The son of Nebat ( 1 Kings 11:26-39 ), “an Ephrathite,” the first king of the ten tribes, over whom he reigned twenty-two years (B. C. 976-945).
Nathan Person v. 29: Given. (1. ) A prophet in the reigns of David and Solomon ( 2 Chr. 9:29 ). He is first spoken of in connection with the arrangements David made for the building of the temple.
Nebat Person v. 29: Sight; aspect, the father of Jeroboam, the king of Israel ( 1 Kings 11:26 , etc. ).
Shiloh Place v. 29: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Khirbet Seilun.
City People v. 31: The earliest mention of city-building is that of Enoch, which was built by Cain ( Gen. 4:17 ). After the confusion of tongues, the descendants of Nimrod founded several cities (10:10-12).
City of David Place v. 31: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: City of David.
David Person v. 31: Beloved, the eighth and youngest son of Jesse, a citizen of Bethlehem. His father seems to have been a man in humble life. His mother’s name is not recorded. Some think she was the Nahash of 2 Sam. 17:25 .
Rehoboam Person v. 31: He enlarges the people, the successor of Solomon on the throne, and apparently his only son. He was the son of Naamah “the Ammonitess,” some well-known Ammonitish princess ( 1 Kings 14:21 ; 2 Chr. 12:13 ).