2 Chron 9 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: 2 Chron 9:1-9

1 When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions. Arriving with a very great caravan – with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones – she came to Solomon and talked with him about all she had on her mind. 2 Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for him to explain to her. 3 When the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, as well as the palace he had built, 4 the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, the cupbearers in their robes and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed.

5 She said to the king, ‘The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. 6 But I did not believe what they said until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half the greatness of your wisdom was told me; you have far exceeded the report I heard. 7 How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! 8 Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on his throne as king to rule for the Lord your God. Because of the love of your God for Israel and his desire to uphold them for ever, he has made you king over them, to maintain justice and righteousness.’

9 Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. There had never been such spices as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

A. Find Out:

1. Who came to Jerusalem to do what? v.1
2. What response did she get? v.2
3. What did she see and what did she feel? v.3,4
4. What did she say about it all? v.5-7
5. What did she say about the Lord? v.8
6. What gifts did she leave with Solomon? v.9

B. Think:

1. What had brought the Queen to Jerusalem?

2. How would you summarise what she found?

3. What does all this say about Solomon and the Lord?

C. Comment:

     When the world comes beating on your door to see what is going on, you know something good is happening! The word has gone out about what is taking place in Israel under Solomon and this Queen comes on a royal visit to investigate for herself. She comes bearing great gifts, possibly to display her own wealth?

     It wasn’t only the wealth she wanted to see, it was also Solomon’s wisdom, so she gives him a good grilling and tests him to the utmost. Solomon comes through with flying colours. He has no problem with anything she asks. She hears and she wonders. Then she looks around and sees the incredible affluence, the incredible provision and she is overwhelmed! She can hardly believe her eyes.

     In her tribute to Solomon, she rightly gives glory to the Lord for she recognises that all this is beyond the natural, this is the gift of God. Observe her words, because of “the love of your God” (v.8). She recognises something that others miss. All of this is an expression of the love of God. How did it all come about? God chose Solomon and blessed him with wisdom above any other man on the earth. That wisdom AND God’s blessing brought about great material prosperity for this people. God designed this world, the material world, for our blessing, and so He blesses Solomon in abundance.

D. Application:

1. True wisdom. True wisdom comes from the Lord. Seek Him for it.
2. The fruit of wisdom. Wisdom brings God’s blessing with it. May we know it!

Passage: 2 Chron 9:10-22

10 (The servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon brought gold from Ophir; they also brought algum-wood and precious stones. 11 The king used the algum-wood to make steps for the temple of the Lord and for the royal palace, and to make harps and lyres for the musicians. Nothing like them had ever been seen in Judah.)

12 King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for; he gave her more than she had brought to him. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country.

13 The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents, 14 not including the revenues brought in by merchants and traders. Also all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the territories brought gold and silver to Solomon.

15 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of hammered gold went into each shield. 16 He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold, with three hundred shekels of gold in each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.

17 Then the king made a great throne covered with ivory and overlaid with pure gold. 18 The throne had six steps, and a footstool of gold was attached to it. On both sides of the seat were armrests, with a lion standing beside each of them. 19 Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other kingdom. 20 All King Solomon’s goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon’s day. 21 The king had a fleet of trading ships manned by Hiram’s servants. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons. 22 King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. 

A. Find Out:

1. What was brought to Israel & used for what? v.10,11
2. What did Solomon give the Queen of Sheba? v.12
3. What did Solomon receive & what did he make? v.13-16
4. What else did he make? v.17-19
5. What else did he do with the gold? v.20
6. How was he supplied and how was he known? v.21,22

B. Think:

1. Where did all Solomon’s riches come from?
2. What must it have been like in Israel at that time?
3. What is the overall picture conveyed?

C. Comment:

      This chapter conveys the most staggering prosperity of any king recoded in Israel. The end verse we’ve read for today declares it all: King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than ALL the other kings of the earth, i.e. he’s the richest man in the world!

      Where did it all come from? Abroad? Who brought it? His own men and those who served him in the alliance with King Hiram of Tyre (8:18, 9:10,21). Whether the gold and other materials was taken as tribute from other nations, simply taken, or taken in trade is not revealed, but the fact is that vast wealth poured into the country during Solomon’s reign. Whatever else this shows, it shows his incredible international influence; this wasn’t just something internal to the nation.

      The result of all this, it seems, it that wherever you turned near Solomon you came across gold – gold decorative shields, a gold throne, and gold utensils. Whether the ordinary people would have gained benefit is unclear, but at least vast numbers of them would have been employed by him and so had work.

      The picture conveyed is of incredible wealth. Where did it all come from? From the result of the wisdom given to Solomon by God. Is God against riches? No, just against unrighteousness. Riches gained by righteous means are just part of God’s blessing.

D. Application:

1. Riches as a blessing? Dare we accept that riches are not wrong but can be the blessing of God?
2. God’s station in life for us? Is absence of riches a sign of absence of blessing? No, it can be a calling.

Passage: 2 Chron 9:22-31

22 King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. 23 All the kings of the earth sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. 24 Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift – articles of silver and gold, and robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.

25 Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. 26 He ruled over all the kings from the River Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. 27 The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills. 28 Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from all other countries.

29 As for the other events of Solomon’s reign, from beginning to end, are they not written in the records of Nathan the prophet, in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat? 30 Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. 31 Then he rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.

A. Find Out:

1. What was happening to Solomon? v.23
2. And so what did they bring? v.24
3. How far did he rule? v.26
4. What did he have in abundance? v.25,27
5. How long did he reign? v.30
6. Who succeeded him? v.31

B. Think:

1. Why, from these verses, was Solomon getting richer and richer?
2. What impression would you have coming into Israel ?

C. Comment:

       The writer in Chronicles simply gives us the historical facts, not the spiritual causes behind the facts. To see why things happened as they did we’ll need to go in the next study to 1 Kings. For now though, the picture that we are given is simply of an incredibly affluent king.

      The reason for his affluence is made quite clear: kings all over the earth hear of his wisdom and come and avail themselves of it and, of course, when they come they bring great gifts. The result is that Solomon grows richer and richer. So what was the cause of this great wisdom? It was God; He had gifted Solomon in that way. The tragedy, we’ll see in the next study, is that Solomon became complacent and even disobedient.

       The case of Solomon almost seems to be a materialistic case history where it is as if God says, “See, it doesn’t matter how materially prosperous I make you, Sin will still break through.” The person who wants to solve all the world’s problems by making each person wealthy is naïve. The basis of the world’s problems is Sin. Solomon shows us this. He was given incredible WISDOM from God, and then incredible RICHES but neither stopped him being seduced into idolatry and foolishness.

     Solomon is a classic case that reminds us that we need the salvation of God through His Son, Jesus Christ; we need the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit, for material prosperity will not make us good people!

D. Application:

1. Proper foundations. Do not rely upon, or place you hope in material things, but in God.
2. Our primary need. We NEED God’s salvation to deliver us from Sin. THAT is the most important need that we have.