And king Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.
Second Chronicles 9 closes the record of Solomon at the peak of his power. Verse 22 is the summary line: no king on earth matched him for wealth or wisdom. Where did that double supremacy come from? What was God picturing through it? And why did the richest, wisest man alive end up calling everything vanity?
Commentators read this closing summary as the high point of Israel's history, and as a preview of something better.
Solomon passes away, and a brief summary is given of his riches and power (ch. 9). Pagans speak of a golden age of the world. This was surely the golden age for Israel (apart from their glorious future); the world's richest and most prized things are only ordinary things here. Yet this is only the image of good things to come, when righteousness will mark Israel, as gold marked the throne and the temple.
The verse names riches and wisdom together, but they did not arrive together. Solomon asked for one; God added the other.
He asked wisdom of God, and received also riches and honour beyond all (2 Chron. 1). But the house of the LORD rightly took up his attention, and the king of Tyre helped him, and all the strangers in the land served... and his fame spreads far and wide, so that Sheba's queen comes with her precious things and tests his wisdom (2 Chron. 9), as indeed all the kings of the earth acknowledged it.
Why did a king need to ask at all? The higher the position, the more visible the failure.
He asked because he needed. God uses him and sets him in a position where we can look through him, as through a glass, to the glories of the Messiah. Yet He meets him as a man in his needs, and those needs grew greater because he had been lifted so high. The foolishness of an insignificant man might pass unnoticed, but folly found in a king would be like dead flies in the perfumer's ointment.
Commentators see the supremacy of verse 22 as a sketch of a kingdom still ahead.
So Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. Yet he gives us only a faint picture of the greater glory of "the world kingdom" of the Lord Jesus.
The same man who "exceeded all the kings of the earth" wrote Ecclesiastes. That makes his verdict on life impossible to dismiss as sour grapes.
The book of Ecclesiastes, then, is of great value, and men of the world today could study it with profit. Its writer had no reason to hold a grudge against the world: as people would say, it had treated him well, granting him his place, paying him proper honour, and giving full homage to his remarkable wisdom. For "King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind."
It matters who said it.
These are the words of the most prosperous, humanly speaking, of all the men the world has ever seen. "Vanity of vanities" — a mere breath, a vapour passing over the earth, gone quickly. Such is the recorded experience of the son of David, king in Jerusalem, and not of some things only, but of all.
Solomon began by prizing wisdom. The list of what he later imported tells another story.
In the early years of his reign Solomon valued wisdom and understanding above everything else, and God in His goodness answered the desire of his heart... But as the material prosperity of his kingdom grew, we are told that his imports were "gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks" (1 Kings 10:22)... For a man who stood out on earth for wisdom, this is a descent from the sublime to the ridiculous... Apes stand for folly, and peacocks for vanity.
None of it outlasted the conditions it rested on.
All this magnificence soon vanished. The display of glory rested on the presence of the LORD in His house. And His continuing presence there depended on Israel's obedience... the Holy Spirit in Chronicles is foreshadowing the glories and the kingdom of Christ, and not giving the history of Solomon's failures.
- Asked — Solomon asked for wisdom because he needed it; God added riches and honour beyond all others.
- Given — God put that wisdom in his heart, and kings came from everywhere to hear it.
- Displayed — his unmatched riches and wisdom made Israel's golden age, yet it is only the image of good things still to come.
- Squandered — the man who once prized wisdom above everything ended up importing apes and peacocks: folly and vanity.
- Surpassed — the splendour soon vanished; it was only a faint picture of the greater glory of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus.
And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.
Solomon's reign reaches its high point here. Kings from every land travel to Jerusalem just to listen to one man, and the verse tells us where his wisdom came from.
The text does not say Solomon worked his wisdom out. It says God put it there. One writer draws out the limit of what Solomon had in himself:
When God gave Solomon wisdom, it was wisdom from above. His own wisdom, great as it was, was not enough to guide him when he was directing himself. So we find "the fear of the Lord" connected with wisdom.
The kings did not just want answers. They came in person, to stand in front of the king himself:
Seeing the king's face was the supreme privilege. Anyone allowed into his presence could count himself happy. "Happy… your servants," said the queen, "who stand continually before you." To see the king's face is to be brought into his close friendship. That will be the highest honour for the nations in the future — and it is even more our privilege now!
Commentators see this gathering as a small picture of something still ahead. The kings arrived with needs and left supplied:
The first thing stated about "all the kings of the earth" is that they sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom. They needed correction, guidance and instruction. They received all of it from the one who was the centre of the kingdom seen in its glory. They also bring their presents… We know that in the world to come Christ will be "King of kings and Lord of lords."
Solomon drew a handful of kings. What he pictures draws far more:
She is only one of many, for all the kings of the earth sought Solomon's presence to hear the wisdom God had given him. But what are these kings of the earth compared with the countless numbers that heaven and earth and sea will send out? They will all sing the praise of Him who lives for ever and ever.
Jesus later pointed back to one of these visitors: the queen who came from the far south. He used her against the crowd in front of Him:
This showed her earnestness of purpose to hear the wisdom of Solomon. The wise and wealthy son of David was not the vessel of the Word of God in his ordinary speech as the Lord Jesus was: yet she came without a single miracle to attract her, without a sign to guide or confirm her, and heard the wisdom of Solomon: "and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here."
The One who outranks Solomon is still within reach:
Now He lives as greater than Solomon. He is the One we may turn to for all direction in life, the very wisdom of God for us. He can solve all our hard questions, as Solomon solved the Queen of Sheba's. And He can so captivate our hearts by His personal greatness and glory that we desire nothing apart from Him.
The man every king travelled to see also wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. One writer weighs what the world had given him:
Its writer had no reason to hold a grudge against the world. As people would say, it had treated him well. It gave him his place, paid him proper honour, and showed full respect for his remarkable wisdom. For Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom, and "all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind."
- Source. Solomon's wisdom was not his own work. God put it in him, and his own wisdom was not enough to guide him.
- Presence. The kings wanted more than answers. Seeing the king's face was the highest privilege, and it is even more our privilege now.
- Reach. They came needing correction, guidance and instruction, and found all of it at one centre. It is a small picture of the day Christ reigns as King of kings.
- Journey. The queen came a long way with no miracle and no sign to draw her. She still heard the wisdom of Solomon.
- Greater. A greater than Solomon is here. He lives now as the wisdom of God for us, and He can solve our hardest questions.
And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and clothing, armour, and spices, horses and mules, a rate year by year.
The record of Solomon's reign ends with a list of honours, and this verse is the last item on it: kings came, left gifts, and returned the next year to do the same. What did those yearly gifts mean, and why does the list name the horses?
In the Bible a present is not always a courtesy. One writer sorts gifts by the direction they travel.
A present of this kind goes from someone lower to someone higher (2 Chronicles 9:24). It also took the form of tribute, an acknowledgement of submission. When Solomon reigned supreme, the whole earth came to him to hear his wisdom and brought presents, as the queen of Sheba did (1 Kings 10:24-25). This is a picture of Christ's kingdom set up on earth, when all nations will send presents to the Lord Jesus as willing tribute (Psalm 72:10, 15; Isaiah 60:9).
A fixed yearly rate turns a gift into a tax. One commentator finds the same yearly rhythm in the millennium — the coming reign of Christ on earth.
The glory of Solomon prompted other kings to bring presents to him: articles of silver and gold, garments, armor, spices, horses and mules. They brought them at a set rate every year, which shows it was meant as tribute (v. 24). This compares with Zechariah 14:16, which speaks of the millennium, when all nations recognise the authority of the King of kings and are called to give Him honor every year.
Of the holy city we read that the nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it (Revelation 21:24). In Chronicles this is foreshadowed. The first thing stated about "all the kings of the earth" is "They sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom." They needed correction, guidance and instruction, and they received all from the one who was the centre of the kingdom seen in its glory. Moreover, they bring their presents... We know that in the world to come Christ will be "King of kings, and Lord of lords," 1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 19:16.
One writer sets the queen of Sheba at the head of a crowd, then measures that crowd against what is still to come.
The fame of Solomon's wisdom had brought the queen of Sheba to hear it and test it. She is astonished and overcome. But what will the outshining of Him be, of Whom the brightest days of Solomon were only a faint resemblance? She is only one of many, for "all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart." But what are these kings of the earth next to the crowds still to come? Heaven and earth and sea will send out countless numbers to sing the praise of Him who lives for ever and ever.
The same king who received this yearly homage wrote a book about it. One writer puts the two side by side, and notes that nothing in Solomon's circumstances explains the verdict he reached.
The Book of Ecclesiastes then is of great value, and might profitably be studied by men of the world in our day. Its writer had no reason to bear a grudge against the world: as men would say, it had used him well, conceding him his place, paying him due honour, and rendering full homage to his marvellous wisdom.
Yet his own summary of it all was that everything is vanity — a breath, a vapour passing over the earth.
- Upward — A present like this travels from a lesser to a greater. It is tribute, an acknowledgement of submission.
- Yearly — The fixed yearly rate marks it as tribute. Nations will bring that same yearly honour to the King of kings.
- Wisdom first — The kings came to hear before they came to pay. They needed correction and guidance, and got both at the centre of the kingdom.
- Horses — The same list that honours Solomon names horses. He did exactly what the law forbade a king to do.
- Faint — Solomon's brightest days are only a faint resemblance of Christ. His visiting kings are a handful beside the crowds who will praise Him.