Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.
This one sentence is the high point of Solomon's reign: no king on earth matched him for money or for wisdom. Two questions follow — where did that greatness come from, and what was it for?
Wisdom Asked For, Riches Added
The order matters. Solomon never asked for the wealth this verse credits him with. He asked for something else, and the rest came as an extra.
Leslie M. GrantSolomon was struck by the size of Israel's population. He felt unequal to the responsibility of ruling them. So he asked for wisdom and knowledge, so that he might lead the people (v. 10). This prayer was good. God commended Solomon for asking for wisdom and knowledge instead of riches or honour or the destruction of his enemies (v. 11). So God told him He had answered his prayer with favour, and He gave him wisdom and knowledge. But God added that He would also give him riches, wealth and honour, greater than any other king before or after him (v. 12).
A Spring Open to the Whole Earth
This greatness was not locked up in a palace. The whole world came to hear it, and that pointed forward to something far better.
H. L. RossierThe queen of Sheba was not the only one to come to him: "All the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom" (vv. 23-29). What a blessed time it will be when all can come and draw from this divine spring! They will be sure of finding God's thoughts there in their fullness.
A Rehearsal of the Kingdom to Come
Commentators read the gold, the gifts and the visiting kings as a rehearsal for the millennium — the coming age when the true King reigns.
Leslie M. GrantThus Solomon's riches and wisdom surpassed that of all the kings of the earth (v. 23). From every direction people came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and they always came with gifts: silver, gold, garments, armour, spices, horses and mules. This shows that many in the millennium will come to Israel to learn of the glory of the great King of kings. They will bring gifts of homage to Him.
Set beside the reign it pointed to, Solomon's splendour looks small:
H. L. RossierThe greatness, the majesty, the power and the wealth of his reign were only a feeble image of what the Millennium will show under the reign of the true King of Glory.
The Distance People Will Travel for Wisdom
Jesus later set this queen against the crowd listening to Him.
W. W. FeredayThe Queen of Sheba came a long way to hear the wisdom of a servant of God. The men listening to Christ were unwilling to hear the wisdom of the Son of God. They needed no hard journey at all. The Eternal Son had come from Heaven into their very streets. To reject Him, who is greater than Jonah and greater than Solomon, is the ruin of men.
Gifts Carry Responsibility
Being the richest and wisest man alive did not free Solomon from responsibility. The gifts that made him a picture of God's king were his to use well or to waste.
The Bible TreasuryBut Solomon is also responsible for using rightly the wisdom God gave him. That wisdom suited a man who was to be a picture of God's king, and so did everything that came with it: power, riches and honour. These things did not leave him when his reign stopped picturing that king. He remained responsible to God for the use he made of these great gifts… And was there no misuse of the abundant riches the Lord added to him? Were they given so that he could bring horses out of Egypt, own chariots, and take many wives — things God had forbidden?
God had promised the wealth. The problem lay in how Solomon went about gathering it.
J. N. DarbyGod kept His promise. Solomon was rich and glorious above all the kings of his day. But the means he used to enrich himself showed a heart far from God, and led to his ruin, according to the just judgment and sure word of God.
Summary
- Asked — Solomon prayed for wisdom to rule God's people. He did not ask for money or for the ruin of his enemies, and God commended him.
- Added — Solomon never asked for the riches in this verse. God gave the wisdom, then added wealth and honour beyond any king before or after.
- Sought — the whole earth came to draw from him. That points to a day when all may come and find God's thoughts in full.
- Surpassed — all that splendour was only a feeble image of a greater reign. One greater than Solomon later stood in Israel's streets, and men would not hear Him.
- Answerable — gifts do not remove responsibility. The way Solomon gathered his wealth showed a heart far from God, and it ended in ruin.