Metaphysical Bible Interpretation of I Kings Chapter 10
Metaphysically Interpreting I Kings 10:1-29
10:1And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of Jehovah, she came to prove him with hard questions. 10:2And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones; and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. 10:3And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not anything hid from the king which he told her not.10:4And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, 10:5and the food of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of Jehovah; there was no more spirit in her.
10:6And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom. 10:7Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me; thy wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame which I heard. 10:8Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, that stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom. 10:9Blessed be Jehovah thy God, who delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because Jehovah loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do justice and righteousness. 10:10And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones: there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.
10:11And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug-trees and precious stones. 10:12And the king made of the almug-trees pillars for the house of Jehovah, and for the king's house, harps also and psalteries for the singers: there came no such almug-trees, nor were seen, unto this day.
10:13And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, besides that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned, and went to her own land, she and her servants.
10:14Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold,10:15besides that which the traders brought, and the traffic of the merchants, and of all the kings of the mingled people, and of the governors of the country. 10:16And king Solomon made two hundred bucklers of beaten gold; six hundred shekels of gold went to one buckler. 10:17And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pounds of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. 10:18Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the finest gold. 10:19There were six steps to the throne, and the top of the throne was round behind; and there were stays on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the stays. 10:20And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom. 10:21And all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold: none were of silver; it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon. 10:22For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram: once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
10:23So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. 10:24And all the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. 10:25And they brought every man his tribute, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, and armor, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.
10:26And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen: and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. 10:27And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycomore-trees that are in the lowland, for abundance. 10:28And the horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt; and the king's merchants received them in droves, each drove at a price. 10:29And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty; and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means.
November 29, 1896: I Kings 10:1-11
According to the authorities of the country of this “queen” was Arabia Felix, but Josephus and many Rabbinical writers, as well as the Abyssinian church, agree that the “queen of Sheba” was ruler of Egypt and Ethiopia. Ethiopia was situated in the mountainous country of the Blue Nile, and for a long time had a dynasty of queens under the name of “Candac,” who dominated Egypt.
Metaphysically Egypt denotes the dark realm of mortal mind, the natural man, whose highest faculty is intellect; and Ethiopia is the higher and finer region of thought, “the uttermost part” of that mind, or “philosophical thought,” which, in its search for Truth, reaches up toward the Spiritual, “for Ethiopia shall stretch her hands out to God.” (Ps. 68:31).
“The queen of the south came from the uttermost part of the earth to hear the Wisdom of Solomon.” (Matt. 12:42). The “south” denotes enlightenment; and philosophical reasoning is the highest enlightenment on the intellectual plane, yet it is not Spiritual Wisdom. Beautiful and irresistible as is the logic of philosophy, it is but cold reason without the warm glow of the Spiritual. Philosophy is ever the searcher after highest truth; she spares no effort in her persistent search; so that Divine Wisdom must be the ultimate goal of philosophic thought.
10:1And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of Jehovah, she came to prove him with hard questions. -- Therefore having “heard of the fame” of a wisdom claiming higher powers and a higher realm of thought, Wisdom Divine (“concerning the name of the Lord”), it comes to the investigation of these high claims (“to prove him with hard questions”); for philosophy “proves” (tests) all things by its geometrically exact logic.
10:2And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones; and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. -- Thus searching philosophic thought “comes to Jerusalem,” the center of consciousness with great pomp of real importance (“with a very great train”), bearing wealth of interior worth (“spices”) and great intrinsic good (“very much gold”). Intellect, while a faculty of the natural or “Egypt” man, is not to be regarded therefore as in itself evil or valueless, for it has an interior quality symbolized by “spices,” “gold” and “precious stones,” not at all of the Egypt character, but of finer, queenly purity and intrinsic worth, manifested as philosophic thought. This is not the masons' line dominion of Ethiopia, the “uttermost part of the earth.” At Jerusalem philosophic thought “communes with Solomon {Spiritual Wisdom} of all that was in her heart;”
10:3And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not anything hid from the king which he told her not. -- And finds there the full answer to all the inquiries of her persistent search. Philosophy is never satisfied with exterior thought; it pushes its investigations into the deeper interior things, “even the deep things of God,” where Divine Wisdom reveals transcendent Truth, affording the calm peace of satisfaction.
10:4And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, 10:5and the food of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of Jehovah; there was no more spirit in her. -- When, through “communing with” the Spiritual, Intellect catches the sublime illumination of Spiritual Wisdom; and sees how Spiritual thought becomes externalized in a perfectly healthy body (“sees the house that he had built”), and gets a view of “the {Spiritual} meat of his table,” and witnesses his perfect dominion in his thought-kingdom, his obedient “servants” and attentive “ministers,” all liveried in the beautiful garb of Truth, and beholds “his ascent” into the perfect ideal realm (“the house of the Lord”); at this revelation of the immeasurable excellence and transcendent powers of one in the consciousness of Spiritual Wisdom, she sees the utter emptiness of all her claims to excellence (“there was no more spirit in her”);
10:6And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom. -- And she confesses to the truth of the “report” heard before she attempted to learn by her own experience.
10:7Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me; thy wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame which I heard. -- Intellect, even on its highest plane of thought, ever doubts what it knows only by “report” of the wonderful powers and glory of thought on the plane above itself, until the test of experience reveals its truth, when in glad surprise it confesses, “the half was never told.”
10:8Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, that stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom. -- Enlightened by Spiritual Wisdom, Intellect says: “Happy” is every thought whether of high or low rank of the mind established in the consciousness of Wisdom, because all thoughts are attentive to the Divine Voice of Intuition (“hear thy wisdom”), which reveals only pure Wisdom and Truth.
10:9Blessed be Jehovah thy God, who delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because Jehovah loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do justice and righteousness. -- This brings redeemed Intellect to worship God saying: “Blessed be the Lord thy God,” and to recognize the fact that God “delights in” and exalts the faithful to perfect dominion (“set thee on the throne of Israel”). “I will set him on high because he hath known my name.” (Ps. 91:14)
10:10And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones: there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon. -- Thought thus illumined and transformed brings to the Solomon consciousness a super-abundance of good (“120 talents of gold”, 10 x 12) and wealth of beautiful expressions and sparkling gems of thought (“spices a very great store and precious stones”). “And king Solomon gave her all her desire.” (10 x 12) [A]nd wealth of beautiful expression learning Spiritual Wisdom is “all her desire” satisfied, “exceeding abundantly, above all ye can ask or think.” (Eph. 3:20) Thus illumined Philosophic thought carries back the Gospel of Wisdom for the healing of Egypt, “whom God shall bless, saying: Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria, the work of my hands, and Israel, mine inheritance.” (Isa. 19:17). Egypt is to be redeemed through the seeking and finding of Christ, the Wisdom of God.
– UNITY magazine.
December 20, 1903: I Kings 10:1-10
Sheba means seven; it also means substance. The Queen of Sheba indicates the ruling intelligence of the whole consciousness pertaining to that part of Being which has to do with substance. Seven is the complete number in the physical plane of manifestation, so we are to understand that Solomon, the Sun man, had to meet and impart to his body consciousness a higher wisdom than it had heretofore possessed.
Ancient mythology mentions Solomon the Sun God and modern critics claim that the whole history of Solomon is an Oriental myth; that the story represents the ushering in of the light and warmth of the Sun in spring, and the building anew of the temple of nature. This is an intellectual interpretation. The intellect finds in external nature an explanation for all the allegories that have been written of the soul. This is not error, because there is an outer representation of every idea, and external nature is a picture painted by thought. But whoever would understand nature must study the cause which produced it, that is, thought. Thought is the creative energy centered by the Divine Law in man; consequently we must understand how thought makes its forms, and unmakes and remakes them. This is an involved process, and the myriad movements of mind, and the intricate structures it has “builded,” sometimes overwhelm the builder and he seems unable to comprehend it all. We are building all the time and the structure is being added to, whether we are conscious of it or not. Our minds grow through wider comprehension of truths; our affections deepen through the exercise of love; and our bodies take on more and more of the universal substance through the food we eat. Thus we see that there is a steady growth of the whole man; and we are sooner or later forced to deal consciously with these different factors of our being, which we may have been adding to without realizing it, or understanding the law. Sometimes this is a day of judgment, and we are found wanting.
Solomon, the one who has been receiving wisdom from the Spirit, becomes conscious of the substance side of his character, the Queen of Sheba. When the illumination from the Spirit first comes to us, we are for a time so absorbed in it and the revelations that come to us, that we are almost wholly unconscious of our bodies. But there is a thought formed in us which presides over that domain called the body substance. Its outer crust is termed flesh, blood and bones. But the real substance is mental and, when we have been illuminated by the Spirit, it will come to us in its true light and ask for our higher wisdom, and bring to us many presents, or valuable substances.
The Queen of Sheba “came to prove him with hard questions.” “She communed with him of all that was in her heart.” Here is indicated the questioning tendency of the substance side of Being. There is implanted in the substance side of our consciousness a certain degree of intelligence, but it is not the source of wisdom, hence not a safe guide for man. This is illustrated in the Eden allegory by the serpent, symbolic of the sensuous intelligence that pervades nature. This is the consciousness that constantly asks an explanation of the riddle of phenomena.
Those who do not seek the Solomon within are constantly seeking without for answers to their many questions as to the origin and character of things material. Never can these questions be satisfactorily answered except by the supreme wisdom of the Sun man. Matter has no real substance; it is the result of a darkened state of consciousness, which passes away when the light is turned on. Hence all matter will disappear when man enters into the real substance of Being. And there is a real substance, and within these corruptible forms of flesh there is a real life and an imperishable flesh that will endure. This inner life is represented by the camels, and the imperishable flesh by the spices which the queen brought to Solomon. The substance idea rejoices when it sees with its eyes, or perceives the truth of Spirit. We thus see the importance of spiritualizing the body consciousness by declaring for it the Wisdom of the Lord. Whenever a question is presented about the character of matter, and the many points pertaining to the overcoming of physical decay, we may know that the queen of Sheba has come up and is seeking to prove our spiritual wisdom with some of her “hard questions.”
– UNITY magazine.
September 12, 1920: I Kings 10:1-13
What is the meaning of the word “Sheba”? “Sheba” means “seven,” and the number seven represents the number of principles in the composition of the complete, natural man.
What is the metaphysical meaning of the Queen of Sheba coming to Solomon “to prove him with hard questions”? The Queen of Sheba has fulfilled the law of the [unreadable line] his power, which has attained the highest degree of dominion in the physical, seeks to connect itself with a higher phase of spiritual wisdom, which Solomon represents.
What is the attitude of Solomon (Wisdom) regarding the spiritual light which the natural man is seeking? He recognizes that the body consciousness is his own unillumined being, which needs light. Therefore, nothing is withheld, but every questioning of the Queen of Sheba, the power which rules over this part of being, is fully answered.
What law action is back of the Queen’s gifts to Solomon being returned to her? It is a spiritual law that, when the natural forces of being express the desire to learn the way of the Spirit, and are willing to pay the price for it, the desire and the willingness are in themselves full compensation, therefore the gifts are returned with abundant increases.
What knowledge was the Queen of Sheba (ruler over the natural plane) able to take back to her kingdom? She was able to take back the knowledge that there is a higher understanding, a brighter light, which, when the body consciousness lays hold of [it], will transmute and lift it to incorruptible spiritual substance. This is the beginning of the process in the body consciousness in which the mortal puts on immortality.
Transcribed by Lloyd Kinder on 02-05-2014
