1 Kings 10:2
Ver. 2. And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train,.... With many of her courtiers and principal men, as well as with a large retinue of servants:
with camels that bare spices; her country abounded both with camels and spices; See Gill on "Isa 60:6", See Gill on "Jer 6:20", and as Pliny {f} observes, who says their spices used to be carried on camels, particularly frankincense, for which Sheba was famous, and is therefore called by him "regio thurifera", the frankincense country {g}, being to be had nowhere else; and Strabo {h} speaks of "cinamon, cassia", and other spices here in such plenty, that the inhabitants burnt the wood of them for fuel; and Diodorus Siculus {i} represents this country as exceeding odoriferous, and as having besides the above spices, balsam, myrrh, calamus, costus, and others, in such abundance that they heated their ovens with them:
and very much gold; see 1Ki 10:10, the gold of Sheba is spoken of in Ps 72:15 and Pliny {k} observes, that the Sabeans are exceeding rich, as in other things, so in gold; and Diodorus Siculus {l} and Strabo {m} speak of gold found here in large lumps, very pure, and of a fine colour:
and precious stones; as crystals, emeralds, beryls, and chrysolites, mentioned by Diodorus {n} as in those parts; and a late traveller says {o}, that Arabia Felix abounds with balsam, myrrh, cassia, manna, dates, gold, frankincense, and pearl:
and when she was come to Solomon; unto his palace, and admitted into his presence:
she communed with him of all that was in her heart; which she had in her mind to discourse with him about, and which she had laid up in her memory for that purpose; and some things which she had kept to herself, and had never imparted to any before, as some think; all which she had full liberty from Solomon to propound unto him.
{f} Nat. Hist. l. 12. c. 14. {g} Ibid. "----Molles sua thura Sabaei", Virg. Georg l. 1. v. 57. & l. 2. v. 117. Thurilegos Arabes, Ovid. Fast. l. 4. Vid. Plant. Trinum. Act. 4. Sc. 2. v. 89. {h} Geograph. l. 16. p. 535. {i} Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 132. {k} Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28. {l} Ut supra, (Bibliothec. l. 2.) p. 133. l. 3. p. 181. {m} Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 16. p. 535.) {n} Ut supra, (Bibliothec. l. 2.) p. 134. & l. 3. p. 181. {o} Ovington's Voyage to Surat, p. 421.