1 Kings 10:9

Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

1 Kings 10:9. Blessed be the Lord thy God — All blessing and praise are due to him, for delighting to honour and advance so worthy a person. To set thee on the throne of Israel — It was God’s special act to make him king rather than his elder brother. To do judgment and justice — To execute just judgment among them, to govern them according to right and equity. Thus she tacitly admonishes Solomon that he was not made king that he might live in ease, and pleasure, and splendour, but for the good of his people. Such views even the wise heathen had, considering civil government as appointed of God, not for the emolument or aggrandizement of the governor, but for the good of society. Thus Aristotle, in a letter to Alexander, exhorts him to keep in mind, that his kingdom was given him by God for the sake of mankind, that he might do them good, and not tyrannise over them.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:1-13 The queen of Sheba came to Solomon to hear his wisdom, thereby to improve her own. Our Saviour mentions her inquiries after God, by Solomon, as showing the stupidity of those who inquire not after God, by our Lord Jesus Christ. By waiting and prayer, by diligently searching the Scriptures, by consulting wise and experienced Christians, and by practising what we have learned, we shall be delivered from difficulties. Solomon's wisdom made more impression upon the queen of Sheba than all his prosperity and grandeur. There is a spiritual excellence in heavenly things, and in consistent Christians, to which no reports can do justice. Here the truth exceeded; and all who, through grace, are brought to commune with God, will say the one half was not told them of the pleasures and the advantages of wisdom's ways. Glorified saints, much more, will say of heaven, that the thousandth part was not told them, 1Co 2:9. She pronounced them happy that constantly attended Solomon. With much more reason may we say of Christ's servants, Blessed are they that dwell in his house; they will be still praising him. She made a noble present to Solomon. What we present to Christ, he needs not, but will have us do so to express our gratitude. The believer who has been with Jesus, will return to his station, discharge his duties with readiness, and from better motives; looking forward to the day when, being absent from the body, he shall be present with the Lord.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Blessed be the Lord thy God - This acknowledgment of Yahweh falls below the confessions of Hiram 2 Chronicles 2:12 and Cyrus Ezra 1:3. It does not imply more than an admission of His power as a local deity; namely, that He is the God of the Jews and of their country.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9. Blessed be the Lord thy God—(See on [308]1Ki 5:7). It is quite possible, as Jewish writers say, that this queen was converted, through Solomon's influence, to the worship of the true God. But there is no record of her making any gift or offering in the temple.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Blessed be the Lord thy God; he deserves all blessing and praise, for delighting to honour and advance so worthy a person.

To set thee on the throne of Israel; for it was God’s special act to make him king rather than his elder brother.

To do judgment and justice, i.e. to execute just judgment among them, to govern them with right and equity. She tacitly admonisheth Solomon, that he was not made king that he might live in ease, and pleasure, and splendour, but for the good of his people.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Blessed be the Lord thy God,.... Of whom she might have better notions than when she came out of her own country:

which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel; loved him with a love of complacency and delight, was Jedidiah, as he called him, beloved of the Lord, and therefore he chose him and preferred him to be king before his elder brother:

because the Lord loved Israel for ever; to establish them as a kingdom for ever as they were, so long as obedient to him; see 2 Chronicles 9:8,

therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice; not merely for the sake of honour and glory, much less to indulge to pleasure and luxury, and still less to oppression and tyranny; but to administer justice and judgment to the people, which is the principal end of government; see Psalm 72:1.

Geneva Study Bible

Blessed be the LORD thy God, which {d} delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do {e} judgment and justice.

(d) It is a chief sign of God's favour, when godly and wise rulers fit in the throne of justice.

(e) This is the reason kings are appointed.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9. Blessed be the Lord thy God] We need not suppose from the use of this language that the queen had become a convert to Judaism, any more than that Hiram was so from the words put into his mouth above in chap. 1 Kings 5:7. It could not matter, in the mind of the heathen queen, whether she included one divinity more or less in the number of those she honoured. To her, Jehovah was for Israel what her own divinity was for her own people, the national god to whom the prosperity of the king and his subjects had been a special care.

to set thee on the throne of Israel] In 2 Chronicles 9:8 the sentence runs ‘to set thee on His throne, to be king for the Lord thy God.’ This turn of the sentence harmonizes entirely with the tone of the Chronicler, who views everywhere the king as Jehovah’s representative and vicegerent.

The LXX. expands the closing words of the verse, but not in such wise as to change the sense.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 9. - Blessed be the Lord thy God [From this mention of the name of Jehovah, taken in connexion with Matthew 12:42, it has been concluded that the queen became a convert to the faith of Israel. But this inference is unwarranted. Polytheism permitted, and, indeed, encouraged, a full recognition of the gods many of the different races and regions. See on 1 Kings 5:7, and cf. 2 Chronicles 2:12 and Ezra 1:3. Observe, too, it is "Jehovah, thy God." And it is very significant that all her gifts and treasures were for the king; none were offerings to the temple] which delighted in thee [cf. 1 Kings 5:7], to set thee on the throne of Israel; because the Lord loved Israel forever [a graceful and thoroughly Oriental compliment. This visit was as flattering to the pride of the chosen people as to their king], therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice. 1 Kings 10:9

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

She then said with astonishment to Solomon, that of what her eyes now saw she had not heard the half, through the report which had reached her of his affairs and of his wisdom, and which had hitherto appeared incredible to her; and not only congratulated his servants, who stood continually near him and could hear his wisdom, but also praised Jehovah his God, that out of His eternal love to His people Israel He had given them a king to do justice and righteousness. The earlier theologians inferred from this praising of Jehovah, which involved faith in the true God, when taken in connection with Matthew 12:42, that this queen had been converted to the true God, and conversed with Solomon on religious matters. But, as we have already observed at 1 Kings 5:7, an acknowledgment of Jehovah as the God of Israel was reconcilable with polytheism. And the fact that nothing is said about her offering sacrifice in the temple, shows that the conversion of the queen is not to be thought of here.