cording to the hand, of king Solomon. The &c. Again: " The visit of the queen of chronicler has, "beside that which she hnd Sheba seem to have been without e.ny spi- brought unto the king." That is to say, in addition to the fitting presents which he ritual result." "In like manner," he adds, made in return for her gifts, be freely ge.ve "we hear nothing of any attempt on Solo- her whatsoever she a.eked for. To e.sk for a mon's part to improve his friendship and coveted thing is no breach of Oriental pro- co=ercial relations with Hiram into an priety. The Ethiopian Christians find in occasion for communicating the better mer. these words (and considering the charaoter chandis6 of Divine truth to the Sidonians." of Solomon and the license of that e.ge, per- haps not altogether without ree.son) e. be.sis But surely this criticism overlooks the for their belief that she bore Solomon fact that Judaism wa.s not e. missionary a son, Melimelek by name, from whom, religion, and that the chosen people had no indeed, the present sovereigns of Abyssinia. sort of co=ission to convert the heathen. claim to derive their descent.] So she It is, no doubt, a mystery ; but it is e. fact, turned and went to her own country, she that for 2,000 yea.re the light of God's truth and her servants. Bishop Wordsworth has remarked (p. 44) was, by the counsel and pUipose of God, that the record of this visit disappoints us. restricted within the extremely narrow con- He says, "He (Solomon) answered her hard fines of Israel, and that the " fu.lness of the questions. He showed her his palace .•. time," when the Gentiles should be "fellow. but we do not hear that he invited her to go heirs," was distant from Solomon's day by tip with him into the house of the Lord," a whole millenninm.
HOMILETICS. Vere. 1-13.-The Queen of Sheba,. Well may the journey of this Eastern queen have a triple mention in the sacred page (1 Kings x. ; 2 Chron. ix. ; St. Matt. xii. ; St. Luke :xi.), for it is almost, if not altogether, BUi generis. We are so familiar with the story from our infancy that we often fail to realize its trne character and proportions. A woman, e. princess, an Arab queen, travels some three thousand miles in search of wisdom. We have read of long voyages undertaken and of great hardships endured by men who were in search of gold. Fable tells of the search for agolden:fieece; history tells of many voyages to a fancied El Dorado, but here only, and in the case of the Magi, do we read of a traveller who bTought gold and sought wisdom. And our Lord has honoured this history-this almost romantic story-by drawing one of its lessons with His own hand (Matt. xii. 42). But though He has there furnished the outline, He has left it for us to fill in the colonring. And the rest of the story He has left untouched; the other lessons we have to gather for ourselves. We have, therefore, to consider, I. The journey of the queen. II. Her rich offerings to Solomon. III. Solomon's royal presents to her. I. As to the JOURNEY-the one point noticed by our blessed Lord. He has reminded us (1) of its character. She co.me " from the ends of the earth.'' (2) Of its pwrpose. It was to "hear the wisdom of Solomon." Let us collect our thoughts round these two centres, the natnre and object of this enterprise. I. THE NATURE OF THIS JOURNEY, Four particulars must be borne in mind. (1) The length of the way. Presuming that Sheba was Yemen (see note on ver. 1), her capital would be at no great distance from Mocha or Aden, i.e., it would be some fifteen hundred miles distant from J ernsalem. But ancient journeys are not to be measured by miles, but by hours. Now both the queen and her company travelled by camels, and the camel can only go, with any degree of comfort, at a. walking pace, and, like other beasts of burden, must have occasional rests. Even if they had some" swift dromedaries'' for the queen, the pace must have been regulated by the su.mpter camels. We may be pretty sure, therefore, tho.t the party would not travel, on the average, more than twenty 10iles a day, which would give some- thing like seventy-five days for the journey to Jerusalem, and the so.me for the return. (2) Its fatigues wnd hardships. Eastern queens, even of the So.beans, 206 THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. [oH, X. 1-18,