42 The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, someone greater than Solomon is here.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The queen of the south. As Ethiopia lies in a southerly direction from Judea, I willingly concur with Josephus and other writers, who assert that she was the queen of Ethiopia. In sacred history she is called the queen of Sheba, (2 Chronicles 9:1.) We must not suppose this Sheba to be the country of Saba, which rather lay toward the east, but a town situated in Meroe, an island on the Nile, which was the metropolis of the kingdom. Here, too, we must attend to the points of contrast. A woman who had not been at all educated in the school of God, was induced, by the desire of instruction, to come from a distant region to Solomon, an earthly king; while the Jews, who had been instructed in the divine law, reject their highest and only teacher, the Prince of all the prophets. The word condemn relates not to the persons, but to the fact itself, and the example which it yields.
The queen of the south - That, is, the Queen of Sheba, 1-Kings 10:1
Sheba was probably a city of Arabia, situated to the south of Judea. Compare the notes at Isaiah 60:6.
From the uttermost parts of the earth - This means simply from the most distant parts of the habitable world "then known." See a similar expression in Deuteronomy 28:49. As the knowledge of geography was limited, the place was, "in fact," by no means in the extreme parts of the earth. It means that she came from a remote country; and she would condemn that generation, for she came "a great distance" to hear the wisdom of Solomon, but the Jews of that age would not listen to the wisdom of one "much greater" than Solomon, though present with them.
The queen of the south - In 1-Kings 10:1, this queen is said to be of Saba, which was a city and province of Arabia Felix, to the south, or south-east, of Judea.
Uttermost parts of the earth - Περατων της γης - a form of speech which merely signifies, a great distance. See Deuteronomy 28:49.
The queen of the (g) south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the (h) uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon [is] here.
(g) He means the Queen of Sheba: whose country is south in respect to the land of Israel; (1-Kings 10:1-13).
(h) For Sheba is situated in the farthest coast of Arabia at the mouth of the Arabian Sea.
The queen of the south,.... Called the queen of Sheba, 1-Kings 10:1. Sheba was one of the sons of Joktan, a grandchild of Arphaxad, who settled in the southern parts of Arabia: hence this queen is called the queen of the south. Sheba is by the Targumist (p) called Zemargad: and this queen the queen of Zemargad: she goes by different names. According to some, her name was Maqueda (q), and, as others say, Balkis (r): a Jewish chronologer (s) tells us, that the queen of Sheba, who is called Nicolaa, of the kingdom of Jaman, or the south, came to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, and gave him much riches: and Josephus (t) calls her Nicaulis, queen of Egypt and Ethiopia; of whom it is here said, that she
shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: the meaning is, as before; that she shall rise from the dead, and stand as a witness against that generation at the day of judgment, and, by her example and practices, which will then be produced, condemn them, or aggravate their condemnation:
for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth; an hyperbolical expression, meaning a great way off from a far country, a very distant part of the world from Jerusalem, , "to hear the wisdom of Solomon"; the very phrase used by the above Jewish (u) writer.
And behold, a greater than Solomon is here; one that was infinitely greater than Solomon was, in everything; so particularly in that, in which he excelled others, and on the account of which the queen of the south came unto him, namely, wisdom: for he is the wisdom of God, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The Jews themselves (w) own, that the king, meaning the Messiah, that shall be raised up of the seed of David, , "shall be a greater master of wisdom", or "wiser than Solomon". Now what an aggravation of the condemnation of the Jews will this be another day, that a Gentile woman, living in a foreign and distant land, should, upon the fame of the wisdom of Solomon, leave her own kingdom and country, and come to Jerusalem, to hear his wise discourses about things natural, civil, and moral; and yet the Jews, who had a greater than Solomon in the midst of them, and had no need to take much pains to come to the sight and hearing of him, yet rejected him as the Messiah, blasphemed his miracles, and despised his ministry; though it was concerned about things of a spiritual and evangelic nature, and the eternal welfare of immortal souls.
(p) In 1 Chron. i. 9. & 2 Chron. ix. 1. (q) Ludolph. Hist. Aethiop. 1. 2. c. 3. & not. in Claud. Confess. sect. 1. (r) Pocock. Specimen Hist. Arab. p. 59. (s) Juchasin, fol. 136. 1. (t) Antiqu. 1. 8. c. 2. (u) Juchasin, fol. 136. 1. (w) Maimon. Hilchot. Teshuba, c. 9. sect. 2.
The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, &c.--The queen of Sheba (a tract in Arabia, near the shores of the Red Sea) came from a remote country, "south" of Judea, to hear the wisdom of a mere man, though a gifted one, and was transported with wonder at what she saw and heard (1-Kings 10:1-9). They, when a Greater than Solomon had come to them, despised and rejected, slighted and slandered Him.
The queen of the south. Of Sheba (1-Kings 10:1), supposed to be SabÃ&brvbr;a in Southern Arabia.
From the ends of the earth. A great distance. On the extreme southern shores of Asia.
A greater than Solomon is here. A calm assertion of superhuman majesty and wisdom.
She came from the uttermost parts of the earth - That part of Arabia from which she came was the uttermost part of the earth that way, being bounded by the sea. 1-Kings 10:1.
*More commentary available at chapter level.